New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

[rush]

Hi Archimedes,

Good questions.
The calibration sets the zero point of the output and the maximum current defined in the respective setting. All level outputs scale to that maximum output.
Hence in case 1 there is no need to calibrate.
Case 2 will therefore need recalibration and the driver automatically does so when you change the maximum output setting after leaving the setup mode.
A LED change does not require a recalibration in most every case, at least as long as you stay in the realm of white LEDs that have comparable forward voltages. If the LED forward voltage was completely different then the calibration might need a bit of a tweak to be spot on and it would make sense to do so.
You cannot damage the driver by not recalibrating. If the swapped LED would not be able to deal with the original high current then of course it could be damaged but otherwise neither.

I hope this answers your questions 🙂

 

[archimedes]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

Yes, thank you.

Another few questions, to follow on from there .... If in Case 2 the driver automatically recalibrates, what is the purpose of the "Run Calibration" setting (Step 17) ?

Is it only to force a recalibration, when the Maximum Current (Step 16) has NOT been changed ?

In other words, if Step 16 is changed, but Step 17 is "No" , does it still recalibrate ? And conversely, if Step 16 is unchanged but Step 17 is "Yes" , does it recalibrate anyway ?

And finally, what if Presets #1 / #2 / #3 are all set to different max outputs ? Does it need to recalibrate every time you change presets ? If so, will it do so automatically, or does one need to force it to do so manually ?

 

[rush]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

Hi Archimedes,

If the maximum current (setting 16) is changed, the driver automatically sets setting 17 to "Yes" to make it recalibrate after leaving the setup. This means you could purposely change setting 17 back to No after changing the maximum output and the driver would not recalibrate, which would not make any changes to the calibration and thus the setting 16 and the calibration being out of sync.

You can change setting 17 only and make the driver recalibrate but i am not aware at the moment of this really being necessary at any point.

It is not possible to have different maximum outputs for the presets, i. e. setting 16 is not saved in the presets. They all are based on one setting value and scale to that value when you change it.

 

[archimedes]

Thanks @rush .... I think I am understanding this driver better, with your detailed explanations here.

Thank you, also, for including both "capped" and "rotating" output modes in this version.

 

[ironhorse]

When switching from primaries to rechargeable, would I need to change programs?

 

[rush]

Ironhorse,
While you do not have to make any changes to the configuration for the light to work, you might want to alter the battery chemistry setting (setting #4) to Li-Ion rechargeable. That way the driver will give you a visual indication for a low battery before the protection circuit in the battery would shut off everything all of a sudden.

 

[Thetasigma]

So far I am loving this driver, very handy even with the default settings, nice work RUSH. Works well in my Haiku with the 119V.

I have tested it with a Primary and RCR123 so far with default settings and everything works as expected. With the primary thermal protection worked perfectly indicating with a quick blink and the double blink voltage indication worked as well.
I tested a RCR123 on high out of curiosity, and at room temperature with an Olight 650mAh cell total runtime was approximately 38.5 minutes with the driver reducing the output, then stepping back up a couple times to manage the temperature. As expected towards the end of the runtime, since the voltage reduction threshold is set for primaries, there was no blinking, however the driver dropped down to low. After stepping the output back up manually for maybe another 30 seconds the voltage dropped enough for the cell's discharge circuit to kick in and the light would no longer light. Not too bad considering the abysmal capacity of RCR123's, with LL through Med it makes RCR123's look plausible for scenarios where cells are switched out regularly.

 

[ironhorse]

Can changes be made to preset 1, or is it always factory default?

I would like to change setting 4 to rechargeable and keep all other settings the same for the time being.

Ideally I would have one preset for primaries and one for rechargeable with all other settings in those two presets at the default settings.

 

[rush]

Thank you Thetasigma for your thoughts and great that you are enjoying the Hive driver! 🙂
The low level output reduction of course cannot work when being set to primaries and using rechargeable Li-Ion (RCR). But as you noticed, if the input voltage drops below the minimum requirement of the driver (happening sooner under high currents) the result is the same as cycling power with the switch. You basically have to decide which battery chemistry you use more often.

This leads me to your question Ironhorse:
It is perfectly possible to have to presets that just differ in the battery chemistry setting. All 3 presets can be changed freely. Preset 1 is called factory default because this is what will be used without any programming changes, but it is also customizable.

 

[ironhorse]

I tried programming and now I have some settings messed up. I want to go back to factory defaults and start over. I got level 18 (reset to defaults) changed to yes (2 blinks), but for some reason it is not resetting.

Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

I am also having trouble exiting programming. (Level 6)

 

[archimedes]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

I think you may just need to cycle twice more, past one more stage ( "save preset" ) , to get to "end" ....

 

[ironhorse]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

After restoring defaults, when I save and exit, it goes into a single mode, on / off, and I can't cycle through the levels. After it sits for some time, it will go back to a 4 level operation.

No matter how many times I turnout off and on, it stays at one level.

I can go through the levels, make changes without any issues, it just seems to lock up for me when I exit.

 

[ironhorse]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights.

I got it figured out. I wasn't clicking hard enough or it was too fast to register to exit programming.

 

[ironhorse]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights. The HIVE

Good call on the voltage thresholds for the output reduction for different cell types. The reduction steps span a certain voltage range, for all but the 2x NiMH/alkaline that range is 0.5 V.
I've added this information to the manual.

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD]

Setting / Cell type​

[/TD]
[TD]

Voltage threshold first reduction step​

[/TD]
[TD]

Voltage of last reduction step​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

1: Li-Ion minimal​

[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3.0 V[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2.5 V[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

2: Li-Ion optimal​

[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3.3 V[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2.8 V[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

3: Lithium primary​

[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2.5 V[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2.0 V[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

4: 2x NiMH/Alkaline​

[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2.1 V[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1.9 V[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Are those voltages in your step down chart correct?


According to this:
LiIon Battery Charge Status

4.2V – 100%
4.1V – 87%
4.0V – 75%
3.9V – 55%
3.8V – 30%
3.5V – 0%

The first step down for setting 1 and 2 would be after 0% capacity.

I'm thinking setting one should be 4.0 and 3.5 and setting 2 should be 4.3 and 3.8 volts.

 

[rush]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights. The HIVE

Hi ironhorse,

The numbers for the voltage foldback of the driver are indeed correct as listed in the table. At the same time the charge status values in percent that you posted are not wrong.
Why the discrepancy?
The voltages the drivers are using are lower based on the fact that the cells are under load and thus the actual cell voltage at a certain charge level is lower than it would be when the cell is rested. That means, if the driver does the first step of voltage reduction at 3.0 V, the cell voltage will recover once the load has been reduced.
I have arrived at those numbers from various measurements on actual cells and found those to give a good balance of remaining runtime and enough usable cell capacity until the first step down.

I hope this answers your question, please just ask if you have more questions.
By the way i am glad you figured out your programming problem before.

 

[ironhorse]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights. The HIVE

Thank you. I had not considered the effects of the load.

 

[rush]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights. The HIVE

You are welcome!
The relationship between battery voltage, discharge current and resistances in the system are quite complex and the preset values are a result of continuous testing and optimization. However this is not to say that they are perfect, i am always open for any suggestions for further improvement.

 

[tab665]

Re: New driver from RUSH for the 1x123 "E-Series" lights. The HIVE

has anyone tried closing the jumper with just a pencil yet?

 

[Tejasandre]

I tried. Didn't work for me.

 

[stoli67]

Anyone recorded any videos of programming the driver......

Was reading the info waiting for mine to arrive but nothing like seeing someone do it on a video.