DIY Kit Instruction: Arc-AAA-Lux-POPL uP
Some of you are already receiving the kit (POP, LDO & cap) and I thought it is about time to show you how I soldered those.
Head preparation
I don't have a photo to show about pulling the pill out of the Arc-AAA head since it was done some time ago. But there are many thread about the process and here it is explained in text. Is there someone who want to post DIY instruction for it?
Here is repeat of my recent post about it.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=884620
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First, open the crimp, then the easiest way I find is to keep the head in the boiling water for a while and push the led from the top with something not sharp such as plastic (ball pointed pen tip). The storage temperature of the parts are higher than water boliling point and it is safe.
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Make sure there is no part blocking any part of the board. Pressing the head out with blocking behind is too much for bear hand.
This post includes the modding of the original pill taken out of Arc-AAA head. Here is the proof. It can be done.
Since I don't have an original form of Arc-AAA, I used a bare head acquired some time ago.
This is the tool I used when I grind the head. The chuck is rotating on a vice. The shaft is 17670 li-ion cell. While it is rotating by hand, the Dremel look-alike tool goes on the head.
This is very time consuming task and the result is never guaranteed with hand tools only. If only someone can cut a nice reflector out of the AAA head.
Soldering parts
This can be a challenging task to many people. A magnifying glass with attached light, a fine solering tip (with temperature control if possible) and a stand to hold the board while working on are important tools, also not to forget a set of tweezers.
<font color="red"> 3D/SMT soldering tips </font>
<font color="blue"> I use low temperature melting lead. It flows fast and covers the parts quickly so that I can remove the soldering iron without heating the entire parts.
It is important to remove the iron from the parts as soon as it is fixed. Holding on to the parts any longer will transfer the heat to the entire parts and the parts or joining wires can come off along with the iron. </font>
Let's follow with the pictue.
1) These are the parts to go in. The board taken out of the original Arc-AAA is wiped out and cleaned with sandpaper.
2) The unused leads of the PIC are cut off to reduce the space needed within the head. Be sure to cut the correct pins. The pin1 marking shall be at the top-left.
3) Since I removed the battery input thread, I had to solder a wire through the hole to supply the battery to circuit. I added some lead to the bottom to make it as a blob.
4) Solder the PIC on board. The only lead to solder is pin8 (top-right) to the ground of the board.
5) Solder the battery wire to pin1 (top-left). Do not cut the wire yet.
6) Solder the cap above the PIC. Each end shall be soldered to pin1 and pin8 of the PIC.
7) Place LDO on top of the PIC and solder the pin1 (top-left), pin3 (bottom-left) and pin5 (top-right).
LDO pin1 -> PIC pin1
LDO pin3 -> PIC pin3
LDO pin5 -> PIC pin6 (be careful)
8) Solder the ground wire to LDO pin2 and pin4.They are taken from the ground thread around the edge of the board.
Sicne it is very likely damaged, I added a wire along to ensure the connection. Also it can work as cusion when you press the board against the head.
9) Positive LED output is taken from LDO pin5 and PIC pin6 and negative goes to a ground point.
10) A quick testing shows 0.38A for high brightness, 0.10A for low brightness and 0.01A (actually 15mA) for survival mode.
heat sink and fixing
No photo in a hurry. But this is already described in the main post.
I hope this is helpful to many.
-- dj
