One cell battery Flashlight design

[dat2zip]

Yes, I am a newbie poster in CDF. I could probably retire,I've been in the electonics industry for over 20 years.

I've created a web page with some of my personal projects that date back to 1994 and possibly earlier.

Check out my web page. I've got a super simple Luxeon Star Flashlight design you can build that is pretty impressive. May look like crap but, what the heck!

Let me know what you think. I love this this place CDF!!!. I've been reading for some time. Guess I'll jump in and get wet.

 

[dat2zip]

My Home Page

 

[Darell]

Wayne -
Great work! Keep 'em coming. If you wanted to market you step-up circuit, you could sell them like hot-cakes around here. Seriously.

Even better would be a regulated step-up circuit. I'd be happy to beta test it for you

Much appreciated!

 

[dat2zip]

Thanks for the input. I choose the battery holder design since I'm not too worried about the packaging and I've measured or worked with NiCAD, NiMH for a while now. I measured the actual voltage at the LS directly at the solder contacts and under full battery voltage found the voltage around 3.6 Volts. When I switch it off the open circuit voltage jumps quite a bit which I didn't think the batteries sag that much. Maybe losses in the switch or the wiring. I havent't checked.

The other thing is efficiency. I only use high full brightness momentary and low power mode most of the time. Under these situations the flashlight beats the socks off a regular flashlight since the color remains nearly constant white under low current conditons and full current mode. In low power mode the battery life is awesome and efficiency is still very high.

 

[dat2zip]

I'm not sure what I do whether it is KISS or Just outright lazy. I think the latter more suits me.

A simple down converter might be a good long term solution. One reason I say this is the battery current would be less. It's better on the battery than the other case going from a single 1.2 Volt to 3.5 converter. As in the other threads, you can see this path can be difficult and requires careful attention to many details to get the maximum efficiency.

 

[ElektroLumens]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dat2zip:
Yes, I am a newbie poster in CDF. I could probably retire,I've been in the electonics industry for over 20 years.

I've created a web page with some of my personal projects that date back to 1994 and possibly earlier.

Check out my web page. I've got a super simple Luxeon Star Flashlight design you can build that is pretty impressive. May look like crap but, what the heck!

Let me know what you think. I love this this place CDF!!!. I've been reading for some time. Guess I'll jump in and get wet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello dat2zip,

Nice work on the Luxeon and other mods. Wow, in the electronics industry for 20 years! You must have lots of experience and knowledge! As far as electronics go, I am a newbie. I've only been looking into electronics for a short time.

I just purchased a digital camera from a pawn shop, so now I can take some decent pictures. I bought a Epson PhotoPC, for $100. It does not have directions, nor any cables or anything, so I downloaded the information, and am going to make a cable so I can download the pictures to the computer. I hope to have a web site up within a few months, and post my work there. You're an inspiration to me.

Wayne

 

[ElektroLumens]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
Wayne -
Great work! Keep 'em coming. If you wanted to market you step-up circuit, you could sell them like hot-cakes around here. Seriously.

Even better would be a regulated step-up circuit. I'd be happy to beta test it for you

Much appreciated!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Darell,

Thanks for the encouragement. Before I attempt to market anything, I have to be sure it's really good. So far the best one I've made is the MAX757 one inch disc.(This is a dc/dc switching step-up regulator.

I am making both step-down (buck) and step-up (boost) dc/dc regulators. For a single Luxeon, a step up switching dc/dc regulator seems to be fine. I did a little more testing of the MAX757 one inch disc regulator, and with 3 volts in from 2 AA batteries, it was putting out 3.3 volts, with a solid 390mA current, under load with one Luxeon Star. I just put this regulator in a 'D' cell dummy, and put it in my 3 'D' cell MAG LITE, modified with a Luxeon Star.

It would probably be good if I could get a few of these in the hands of some CPFers, to see if they can test them and evaluate them, find the weaknesses, etc.

I plan to do another efficiency/current/voltage test, hopefully on Monday. I think the efficiecies might be up a bit, but I'll find out then. The current out is definately better.

When I get my web site up, I will be selling stuff too, like some of the mods I do, and the regulators. Well, we'll see what happens.

Wayne