/Repaired/ burnt out Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

[Linger]

Solarforce L2, gunmetal, with sf (warm tinted request) r2 drop-in.
it smelt bad, so I swapped out drop-in (put in Nailbender warm mc-e), no luck, tail-cap wouldn't clicky.

I've read in the market place another person replaced the solarforce with a JETbeam clicky, so I did that, and IT"S ALIVE!

But then I tried putting my solarforce beam demon back in and no luck. The r2 emittor looks fine, but the board looks pretty black, and it smells burnt.

suggestions?
I don't have a soldering iron yet, but i've wanted to get one for a while. Is this a reason to begin diy'ing it? (I've done my share of household electrical wiring but realise micro-electronics is a different skill set)
any easy solutions? Is there a simple way to take out the board and direct drive it?
can replacement parts be sourced (dx, etc.)?
heck, anyone know if solarforce has a warentee on user stupidity?
Best,
Linger

 

[DM51]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

Sorry to hear about your problems. That emitter sounds as if it's had it, but I'll leave the electronics experts to pronounce on that.

In the meantime, I have changed your thread title, as it was a little misleading - the general convention on CPF is that SF means SureFire, not SolarForce.

 

[Black Rose]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

You probably toasted the circuit in the drop-in as well as the one you already replaced in the tailcap.

Having modded a couple of those Solarforce/Superbright P60 drop-ins with better circuits, I can tell you than any 17mm board will fit them.

DX and KD are the popular places to get replacement circuits, as well as Shiningbeam.
I've only ever purchased replacement circuits from Shiningbeam since the only other place that sells circuits that I wanted was KD, and I don't do KD (unless it comes in a blue box )

You could try briefly direct driving the LED to see if it's good or not.

 

[Der Wichtel]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

the led should be ok, since a diode does not conduct when the polarity is reversed until the breakthrough voltage is reached.

 

[old4570]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

Highly recommend this driver

 

[Norm]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

Highly recommend this driver

SSC P7 Li-ion 5-mode driver SKU: S005025

Testing CSX0I P7 LED
Vin(V) Iout(A)
4.1 3.3
4.0 3
3.9 2.9
3.8 2.7
3.7 2.3
3.6 2
3.5 1.7
3.4 1.4
3.3 1.2

OP has an R2 this driver states p7, won't the R2 be over driven by this driver.
Norm

 

[Zeruel]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

If emitter looks fine and there's a smell, then it's definitely the driver that's fried.

You could change the driver as the rest has suggested, but for me, I might as well get a new drop-in which costs about $12 -$15 (depending which)... unless you like to experience changing driver or on a tight budget constraint... :thinking:

 

[old4570]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

OP has an R2 this driver states p7, won't the R2 be over driven by this driver.
Norm

I run 2 or 3 R2's on this driver ...

 

[old4570]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

OP has an R2 this driver states p7, won't the R2 be over driven by this driver.
Norm

No , the LED will draw the current it wants ..
1A drivers limit current to 1A , this driver limits voltage , current to 2.8A or there abouts ...

I havent seen more than 2A with this driver ,

I like it , it gives the LED what it wants , I ran a P4 on this driver = 700mAh
My SSC P7's do 1.8A , and my best R2 about 1.6A with a fresh batt ..

Ive run , P4 - Q5 - R2 - MC-E - SSC P7 with this driver ...

I have 2 more SSC P7s on the way , and ill use them to test drivers ..
I also have a Luxeon K2 on the way , and it will most likely be driven by this driver ... 1A is old hat , as cree's get better , they will handle more Amps ..

Cree R2 - Luxeon K2 - Diamond Dragons - can run 1.5A or more ...
Ive done the R2 thing , I also tried some 3 Diamond Dragons , and now its time to go Luxeon K2 .. SSC P4 is also hot if you can get the good ones , esp at 1A ... Some seriously good LED's out there , but there just not mainstream as yet ... R2's are hard to beat for throw , I just want to see some R4's or 5's , I read somewhere that R4 was out and about , but where ?
I would love to see a 2A buck boost driver 3-4.2v , or a 2.5A buck boost driver ... Id love to push a R2 to 2A .....
My Q5 is running about 1.1A or just a little more ....
My R2's run from 1A [ Poor one ] to 1.4/1.6A for the good ones .

 

[Linger]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

DM51- thanx for cleaning up after me.

Black Rose - thank-you for suggested replacement sources

Der Wichtel - then yes i suspect emittor should be fine as battery only discharged a small amount (cell went into the light at 3.9x volts, was 3.96 volts when it came out).

Zeruel - Subjective impression that the green board just looks fried, a lot blacker now. Still smells 3 days later (though i've kept it bagged and in a container)
I liked this one emittor, it was a thrower for sure, and while cpf'ers have said it couldn't have been a true warm bin, it did have nice purple-red tint.

 

[Black Rose]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

I have a 5-mode circuit (without memory) here that I no longer need.

Not sure when I'll be in Kingston next, so I can mail it to you if you want to take a crack at replacing the driver.

 

[Linger]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

thanks, pm sent

 

[Linger]

It's alive!!!

It's alive!
My first time using a soldering iron has been completely successful. I de-soldered the old parts (removed excess solder, removed driver spring), clean them up, and rebuilt the drop-in with thanx to Blackrose's donated board.
What a great night for it too. I took it out to the back-yard and it's raining out so very humid and, with the r2 emittor, the hotspot is illuminated from torch to target. It looks better than a surefire ad.

I rock. You guys rock. Thanx. I could have never done with without y'all.lovecpf

 

[DM51]

Re: It's alive!!!

Good job! You can now enjoy a justified sense of achievement!

 

[Justin Case]

Re: burnt out my Solarforce L2, battery inserted wrong

OP has an R2 this driver states p7, won't the R2 be over driAlthough ven by this driver.
Norm

Although OBE, KD SKU 1845 is not a driver. It is a PWM direct drive controller. Thus, the amount of current sent to the LED is dictated by the voltage sent to the LED by the batteries and the LED's Vf-If curve.

 

[Linger]

Justin Case
vf's exceed my knowledge base (beyond operational definition of the term).
Are you confirming Old4570's statement that this board is better because the led takes what ever current it wants?
I've bookmarked a ton of your posts to go back and learn about the flow of voltage but I haven't gotten there yet. dumb it down for me a bit please.

Linger

 

[Justin Case]

Whether direct drive is better or worse than some other choice depends on what your requirements are. Direct drive can be very efficient. But output depends on the discharge profile of your batteries. If they have a "droopy" profile, your flashlight output will mirror that. If you don't match the Vbatt with the LED's Vf, you will either underdrive or overdrive the LED. Sometimes it is hard to match the voltages, since Vf is sort of a lottery. The Vf that you get is whatever you draw. If you get a low Vf LED (say a Cree R2 with Vf=3.3V at 1A), then it can be tricky to match it with Vbatt. Normally, a low Vf LED is desirable since they are more efficient than a higher Vf LED. The problem is that something like a 1xLi-ion setup will probably drive the LED at 3.7V and whatever If corresponds to that Vf. Thus, the LED will be overdriven. By how much depends on the LED's Vf vs If curve that you drew from the lottery. Note that the Vf vs If curve gets quite steep at the upper end. Thus, small changes in Vf can result in relatively large changes in If. If that matters to you, then you can use a current limiting resistor, but then you start sacrificing the efficiency of direct drive.

A driver approach costs more money since you have to get a driver. That cost can be small (e.g., a couple of dollars) or relatively large (e.g., $20-$30). A high quality driver can be 90% efficient (or even more) and give you constant current, regulated performance. Such a driver will deliver whatever its designed output current is to your LED. If you have a single die LED like a Cree R2 or Seoul P4, you might choose a constant current driver that outputs 1A to the LED. If you have a multi-die LED like a P7, you might get something that can deliver 2.8A constant current.

A driver also can give you more power source flexibility in terms of battery configurations that can work with the light. Direct drive requires battery selection such that you match Vbatt and Vf. In contrast, a buck driver, for example, can allow operation from 5V to 16V in full regulation. That allows you to use a lot of different battery combinations and chemistries. A boost driver can allow you to use battery voltage less than Vf, e.g., 2xNiMH to run a Cree R2 in regulation. A boost-buck can give you the flexbility to use something like 2xNiMH or 1xLi-ion to drive an R2 in regulation.

The point in my last post above is one of clarification and explanation of why the referenced driver can work with both a P7 and R2. It wasn't a value judgment. The referenced "driver" is not a driver. It's merely a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller (that's how the multimodes are achieved) that runs the LED in direct drive. That's how you can run both a P7 and an R2. Each LED has its own Vf vs If curve. For the P7, at Vf~3.50V-3.75V (J voltage bin), If~2.8A. For the R2, at Vf~3.5V, If~1A.