Need a good 2 mode 14mm driver board

[Lightwise]

I have a DX UltraFire A10 AA or 14500 flashlight and really like the light. It's a single mode and while very bright on the 14500 battery it does get really hot fast. I would like to replace the board with a 2 or 3 mode board that can still handle the higher voltage of the 14500 battery, but would let me lower the output some. It needs a 14mm to 15mm PCB and they seem much harder to find than a 17mm board. I do not mind paying for a good board.


Any ideas are very welcome, I know you folks have so much knowledge in this area.

Thanks, Louis

 

[ti-force]

Go here or here. CPF member TorchBoy created this useful page. Maybe you can find a driver to fit your needs.

 

[Lightwise]

Thanks Tri-Force, I'll check it out.

Louis

 

[Lightwise]

The site only had two 14mm driver boards, still looking for a good multi-mode one.

Louis

 

[ti-force]

The site only had two 14mm driver boards, still looking for a good multi-mode one.

Louis

This one is expensive, but it meets your qualifications and it's made from high quality parts.
Click here

 

[Lightwise]

Tri-Force,
Thanks for helping me out, I do appreciate the help. I need all I can get! This is a very good driver board. I guess most of the multi mode 14mm drivers are a two board design so they get all the parts into the .55 inch diameter. My only problem is the cost. I just can't see paying $48.00 to modify a $18 DX flashlight (UltraFire A10). Call me cheap. I would go 10 to to maybe even 20 bucks.
I may have found another solution, last night I ordered a Nitecore D10 SP flashlight. At $53.00 it was not that much more than the driver board. I have never owned a piston design light, and I'm looking forward to having one in my small collection.

Again, thanks for helping out.

Louis

 

[ti-force]

Yeah, it's an expensive board. I only mentioned it because you mentioned you didn't mind paying for a good board in you first post. I don't know of anything else that fits your requirements. What is the actual inside diameter where the driver has to go? Is it exactly 14mm? Or have you decided not to mod it now since you purchased a Nitecore?

 

[Lightwise]

Tri-Force,
I'm going to still look for driver boards for the A10, as it's a good basic body with good LED and reflector. Anyway I like doing the work. The max inside diameter I can take is just a little less than 15mm. I can file down a 15 board to work I'm sure, so if you find anything like this let me know. Two or three mode is fine for my application. Again thanks!

Lightwise

 

[Tido]

Hi Louis,

I, too, have been looking for a replacement driver for the UF A10, but neither DX nor KD had anything suitable on offer. So, on a slow Sunday I just grabbed a DX sku.7882 I had lying around and made it my day's mission to get it working in the A10.
Since the PCB didn't fit inside the pill, I decided to put it on top instead. First, I had to shorten the pill by the thickness of the PCB, about 1.5mm, by grinding down the edge. Then I filed gaps for those surface components that where too close to the PCB's edge to fit inside the pill. Once I could place the PCB onto the pill without shorting out any component, I just added the wires to the LED, soldered an additional wire from the PCB's ground to the inside of the pill, and glued the board in place with some epoxy resin.

Granted, this thing won't win any prizes in a beauty contest, but now I've got an EDC with lots of modes (although I really just use the low-mid-high group) that will run on Li-Ion, NiMH and alkaline batteries. Not bad for about two hours of work, I'd say.


Tido

I

 

[Lightwise]

Tido,
Great job, and very good pictures! I'll check out the sku on DX, but I don't think I have the skill to do the metal work. Did you use a metal file for all the work or any power tools? I don't care about how things look, as long as they are reliable. But your mod even looks good.
I think there is a market, maybe a very small one, for good 14.5mm driver boards with a .8 to 4.2 volt input and two or three modes.

BTW, I did get my Nitecore D10 and I like the light. But it's not that much better made than the UF A10 from a case standpoint and the Nitecore is 2.5X more money. But is does have 5 modes.
Thanks for sharing.

Louis

 

[TorchBoy]

:welcome: tido. That's a lovely bit of work. I'll link it from my list.

 

[Tido]

Thanks for your kind words and the warm welcome. As for how I did it, first I used a powered grinder to shorten the pill. The gaps where cut by hand with a regular metal file.
I had no real prior experience with this kind of work and figured the filing would take a lot of time. But since the brass was surprisingly soft, it really took only about an hour, and half of the time was spent on checking how well the PCB already fitted and where to file down some more. The whole thing was really much easier to do than I had expected.

Bye,
Tido