Impressive driver

[MillerMods]

I ordered some of these to play around with and revive some old AA lights. I took some quick measurements and found that these drivers are actually very efficient especially for what they are doing. They take a little over 3 amps from a NIMH cell and put out 700-800mA @ 3.4V. It actually drives a Cree really well on high mode. For anyone wanting to mod a AA light with a new driver this is the one to get.

I did have to cut down the diameter to get them to fit in a Fenix Civictor LE and also for a DX light.

 

[Sabrewolf]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

I ordered some of these to play around with and revive some old AA lights. I took some quick measurements and found that these drivers are actually very efficient especially for what they are doing. They take a little over 3 amps from a NIMH cell and put out 700-800mA @ 3.4V. It actually drives a Cree really well on high mode. For anyone wanting to mod a AA light with a new driver this is the one to get.

I did have to cut down the diameter to get them to fit in a Fenix Civictor LE and also for a DX light.

Wow, That thing has a Big Inductor!
Good find !

 

[BigBoy]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

BTW these can be wired as single mode if you don't want 19 modes. Just connect LED- to the boards outer ground ring (instead of using the LED- white wire).

 

[CM]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

Wow, That thing has a Big Inductor!...

Probably has a lot to do with the efficiency.

 

[purduephotog]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

BTW these can be wired as single mode if you don't want 19 modes. Just connect LED- to the boards outer ground ring (instead of using the LED- white wire).

Thank God.

I was looking at one of these but passed because there is no way in heck I'm going to click thru 20 modes. It's back on the wishlist now

 

[MillerMods]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

Thank God.

I was looking at one of these but passed because there is no way in heck I'm going to click thru 20 modes. It's back on the wishlist now

Actually, it has a memory and stays on the level you set it. To advance levels you just turn it off and on within a couple of seconds and leave it on for a couple of seconds if you want to set that level in memory.

 

[TexLite]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

I ordered some of these to play around with and revive some old AA lights. I took some quick measurements and found that these drivers are actually very efficient especially for what they are doing. They take a little over 3 amps from a NIMH cell and put out 700-800mA @ 3.4V. It actually drives a Cree really well on high mode. For anyone wanting to mod a AA light with a new driver this is the one to get.

Hi MillerMods,
I was told these were designed originally to have very high efficiency at the expense of regulation.I have been impressed with the effeciency as well.

I did have to cut down the diameter to get them to fit in a Fenix Civictor LE and also for a DX light.

...I was looking at one of these but passed because there is no way in heck I'm going to click thru 20 modes. It's back on the wishlist now

There was another version available at one time that had three levels and was 16mm instead of the current 17mm.They made a great replacement for L1P's and similar lights such as Jetbeam.

-Michael

 

[MillerMods]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

There was another version available at one time that had three levels and was 16mm instead of the current 17mm.They made a great replacement for L1P's and similar lights such as Jetbeam.

I've successfully trimmed them down to 16mm with no problems though.

 

[Illum]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

Wow, That thing has a Big Inductor!
Good find !

I don't think thats a toroid inductor...if you look closely you see 4 wire ends, I think its a transformer of some sort...you know, like the joule thief?

 

[rantanplan]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

Isn´t that the driver that "RV7" sold here some years ago? He had a 3-mode version, and on DX appeared this multi-mode driver soon after. Don´t recall the details ...

Very impressive driver ... I put one of RV7s 3-mode and a Seoul P4 into an old Fenix L1T and it´s still one my most used lights. Together with an Eneloop (low internal resistance) this thing rocks .

I had the impression that this driver puts out as much power as the battery can provide, some kind of semi-regulated design I guess.

 

[MillerMods]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

I don't think thats a toroid inductor...if you look closely you see 4 wire ends, I think its a transformer of some sort...you know, like the joule thief?

It actual appears to be two separate boost converters in parallel using one core with 2 windings or something like that. I took a quick look at it but haven't drawn the schematic...yet.

 

[TexLite]

Re: Impressive driver from Dealextreme

Isn´t that the driver that "RV7" sold here some years ago? He had a 3-mode version, and on DX appeared this multi-mode driver soon after. Don´t recall the details ...

It is indeed.

Very impressive driver ... I put one of RV7s 3-mode and a Seoul P4 into an old Fenix L1T and it´s still one my most used lights. Together with an Eneloop (low internal resistance) this thing rocks .

+1.

It is a hoss for single NiMH output.

I have one in an L1P with high CRI SSC and its one of my favorite lights,its actually MIA right now .

I had the impression that this driver puts out as much power as the battery can provide, some kind of semi-regulated design I guess.

Thats what I was told as well.

It actual appears to be two separate boost converters in parallel using one core with 2 windings or something like that. I took a quick look at it but haven't drawn the schematic...yet.

It would be interesting to know,though it wouldn't do me any good,mostly all over my head.Let us know if you work it out.

-Michael

 

[MillerMods]

I'm going to take four of these drivers for my Quad Mag and run them all off of one of the PIC's. It's a cut down Mag and will use 1x 12000mAh D cell to power the 4 Cree XR-E's with McR17's. It'll likely draw around 8-10 Amps from the cell. It might be more current than that but the voltage will drop a little across the contacts and switch limiting the current.