Driver question

[gcbryan]

How do constant current drivers work?

Do they compensate for varying Vf's of different emitters or are they designed for one specific emitter?

In the case of the W200 many seem not to have drivers but I think some do...Packhorse found one I believe.

If a W200 does have a driver would this compensate for the low vf of a XPG?

Of course this question is only if there is a driver and if it is a constant current driver.

 

[Packhorse]

If it is a constant current regulator then it should put out a constant current regardless of Vf.

The real question is the W200 regulator a constant current design?
All the W200's I have brought in the last few months have had regulators.
It does suprise me people report getting ones with resistors or nothing.

What are the ridges like on the handle? The 1st ones I got ( perhaps all with no resistors or drivers) had smooth ridges where the later ones have sharper edges to the ridges.

 

[gcbryan]

If it is a constant current regulator then it should put out a constant current regardless of Vf.

The real question is the W200 regulator a constant current design?
All the W200's I have brought in the last few months have had regulators.
It does suprise me people report getting ones with resistors or nothing.

What are the ridges like on the handle? The 1st ones I got ( perhaps all with no resistors or drivers) had smooth ridges where the later ones have sharper edges to the ridges.

I don't have anything to compare it to but based on your description I'd say mine have sharper edges to the ridges.

I'll take mine apart at some point to see if I have a driver and I'll order an xpg from DX and probably just use the existing reflector. I see that DX will be more or less shut down for several weeks due to the Chinese New Year.

I'll order a second W200 at the same time so if I screw up I'll still have a working backup light.

 

[Packhorse]

I have not seen any smooth ones for awhile. The feel a lot nicer in your hand but you wouldnt notice oit wearing a glove.

 

[gcbryan]

OK, I decided to take mine apart. It has white paste on the pill. I scraped some of that off, desoldered the two wires and got the pill out.

There is no driver or board of any kind. I ended up pulling the black and red connector wires off thinking they must be connected to a diver board of some kind.

Apparently they were just soldered to the heat sink somewhere down under the pill.

What size/type wire is this and can I possibly solder it back on? I don't see how to even get a soldering iron down there.

Not that it matters at this point but how do you clean the white paste off?

I don't even understand exactly how/where the driver is fitted for those that have them.

There is the heat sink assembly with the "lip" and a slotted hollowed out area under that that you can't get to. The wires that pulled off were soldered in there some how.

 

[Packhorse]

I have several W200 pills with driver and LED if anyone wants to buy them.
Prefer to not sell one at a time.

 

[DaYerk]

Yepp, this is a driver

But my W200 came without one and a different LED...

 

[gcbryan]

Yepp, this is a driver

But my W200 came without one and a different LED...

So where/how are the wires (red and black) connect on your's?

I pulled my off trying to see if there was a board in there. Now I'm not sure exactly where they were connected.

Is one connected to the copper band that seems to go around the side and the other one just directly on the bottom surface?

I can't actually see how this thing works or rather I don't see why it doesn't just short out. The +battery seems to just contact the pill assembly from the bottom and the - path seems to be the sides of the pill assembly so...why doesn't it just short out?

 

[DaYerk]

This little disc inside the pill is a simple printed circuit. Red goes to center (+) and black to the chassis (-).

 

[gcbryan]

This little disc inside the pill is a simple printed circuit. Red goes to center (+) and black to the chassis (-).

I guess it's hard to talk about these DX products since no two are alike.

There is no little disc inside the pill on mine. It's just hollowed out aluminum with a copper band around the sides.

The wires were just soldered I guess black to the chassis and red to the center but it was just to the metal.

 

[gav6280]

No driver on mine too.

Negative wire goes from Led to brass side wall inside head of pill.

Posative wire goes to the back of that little disc thing that just sits ontop of the battery's positive end.

It took me 3 hours! to rebuild the little ******* due to not being able to get a soldering iron in there to re attach the negative to the side wall.

Good Luck, or just accept you've killed it and dump it.....

 

[gav6280]

I have several W200 pills with driver and LED if anyone wants to buy them. Prefer to not sell one at a time.

How about i post out to you an xpg R5 and an LXP optic to put onto one of your "with driver pills" and we see if it works?

Give it a little review? And then i could send you some $$ for your additional parts / pill and to get it back to me?

 

[gcbryan]

It's going to be hard to affix a wire to the side and bottom when the only thing holding it there is solder.

It sure would be nice if one robust host would come out of all of the lights produced in China.

It's amazing when a light is produced with no easy way to get power from the battery to the emitter.

 

[Packhorse]

How about i post out to you an xpg R5 and an LXP optic to put onto one of your "with driver pills" and we see if it works?

Give it a little review? And then i could send you some $$ for your additional parts / pill and to get it back to me?

Or you could just buy a completed light off me and save all the hassles.

 

[gav6280]

Or you could just buy a completed light off me and save all the hassles.

I actually already have 3 in total now, all the same, and all driver and mod less.

Also i cant really afford one of your fully modified ones . Im on a low wage and the exchange rate is crap these days. Hence doing the way i suggested.

GC and i have just found out that the latest ones are almost impossible to modify without building a custom pill, and i don't have a lathe or the drawing ability to get one made.

There seems to be quite a few of us now with theses W200's and all the guys over at the YD forum are starting to grab them too, so im sure there might be a market for a custom pill drop in. I know myself an GCbryan would definitely be interested.Could you be tempted to sell off some of your spare parts in kit form or as just single parts, like maybe a pill with driver and wires? Or even a W200 drop in system that peeps could pick there specs from.:twothumbs

My ideal line up would be 1 pill for 18650's + P7, another for xpg+lxp and AA's. And A 3rd With R2 Aspheric.

 

[Packhorse]

I could and I will consider it.
Although I believe the MC-E is a much better option than the P7 for this set up since you can wire it 2P2S and run it off AMC 7135 based drivers which will make it much more efficient.

What would you pay for such pills?

 

[gav6280]

I could and I will consider it.
Although I believe the MC-E is a much better option than the P7 for this set up since you can wire it 2P2S and run it off AMC 7135 based drivers which will make it much more efficient.

What would you pay for such pills?

Dont know? Obviously depends if you use the original or make new custom pills and how much of your time is envovled etc and depends on your other parts costs i guess?

What are other people charging for other dropins in other lights?

 

[Packhorse]

Dont know? Obviously depends if you use the original or make new custom pills and how much of your time is envovled etc and depends on your other parts costs i guess?

What are other people charging for other dropins in other lights?

Not at all. It all depends on supply and demand!
Low supply and high demand = high price
High supply and low demand = low price.

I have just completed a W200/MC-E drop in.
Cost of parts was about $80nz plus 3 hours labour But I am sure I can cut that down to 2 hours. My normal jobs labour rate is $60-$100 per hour.
Does $150nz plus shipping for a full kit including MC-E, driver, pill, O rings and battery tube sound fair? Obviously I couldn't warranty it except to say that the pill will work when it leaves me since it is in kit form.

 

[lucca brassi]

How do constant current drivers work?

Excellent book :
http://books.google.si/books?id=Pvn...resnum=4&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

I have it in pdf -237 pages.
There are many books on net based from datasheets of drivers from companies that produce them.
like :
http://www.national.com/vcm/NSC_Content/Files/Documents/national_lighting_solutions.pdf
or http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slyt084/slyt084.pdf


Today I just get constant surrent drivers for SST90 5 pcs - still waiting on coils :twothumbs slow but sure (my own design)

BTW I have looked that driver for SST90 - (still voltage contoled - bat can not go over SST90 specifications )
http://si.farnell.com/artesyn/smt10e-12w3v3j/converter-dc-dc-ni-0-8-3-63v-10a/dp/1632910?Ntt=1632910
it has also enable pin like all artesn's (reed switch in lamp) head with no othe

 

[gcbryan]

I'm trying to learn a little more about how my W200 works so since it's torn apart I'm doing a little experimenting.

1). Why doesn't this work... when I put the pill on the batteries and push down to fully engage the spring I should be able, with a multi-meter, to touch the center of the little disc and the wall of the light and get 4.5 V?

I am able to remove the pill and just touch the top of the battery with one probe and touch the aluminum battery tube with the other and get 4.5V.

What am I missing?

2). I thought the basic rule with soldering was that you needed a solid mechanical connection first and that soldering was just for the electrical connection.

In this case, both attaching the wires to the pill and attaching the wires to the emitter it seems to be that the only connection is that created by soldering. Is that just become the parts are so small and there is little stress on the wires? Otherwise, I would think that there would be holes for the wires to go through for the mechanical connection and then solder for the electrical connection.