T1 driver is making sounds

[Nos]

i got my T1 for a month now, when i was switching it on in high mode near my ear i realized a buzzy sound

low mode seems silent but.....now that i know the sound i can hear the high mode from ~2m away


well....its not that annoying and the N30 is louder anyway :duh2:

anyone else here noticed it too?

 

[Kiessling]

There are two possibilities:

1) Some drivers do make sounds, like the SF L2 on low for example. No worries then. The other T1 users will have to tell you as I do not have a T1.

2) There is a bad contact and "arcing" occurs, making a buzzing sound. You'll need to find the culprit then and cure it. Often, the switch is the culprit in such situations.

bernie

 

[supawabb]

Mine buzzes as well
I really only notice it when I am playing with the light when there is nothing else going on (no other background noise). Realistically, if you are walking, or where there is background noise, you do not notice it at all.

 

[Illum]

2) There is a bad contact and "arcing" occurs, making a buzzing sound. You'll need to find the culprit then and cure it. Often, the switch is the culprit in such situations.

your thinking of high current switches and short-arc ballasts
you need voltage, not current to make an arc or to ionize the surrounding atmosphere for one...I think in HID lights there may have the possibility but I doubt this would occur in the T1
[then again I don't own a T1 so I can't disprove that the drivers are not running on Kv's]

if you listen for it...just about any light that uses PWM for dimming will whine
Also...if its a boost circuit/has an inductor or if the contact isn't solid...thats another possibility for it to whine

Some say inductors of poor quality that results in ferrite chips lodged inside the coil is the culprit to the noise as current running through the coil will result in an "impromptu speaker." but to date all my A2 whines, both of my L0D-CEs whine....and gee...even my USB MP3 player charger that runs on 2AAs whine:candle:

 

[litework]

I just tried out my T1 in a quiet area of the house and didn't notice a buzzing or humming noise.

 

[Kiessling]

Illum ... you can simulate what I mean by slowly pressing the switch of a light untill it almost engages. Sometimes you get a buzzing sound, and there our experts said this would be "arcing" due to a bad contact or "almost contact". They said this was bad because it could damage the light.
I myself have absolutely no clue and I am just regurgutating what people more knowledgeable than me told us on CPF some time ago. But I am able to reproduze the buzz.

bernie

 

[Marduke]

The harder the circuitry has to work, the louder it is. Try eliminating any resistance by cleaning all contacts.

But no biggie, lots of lights sing to us.

 

[Fallingwater]

Illum ... you can simulate what I mean by slowly pressing the switch of a light untill it almost engages. Sometimes you get a buzzing sound, and there our experts said this would be "arcing" due to a bad contact or "almost contact". They said this was bad because it could damage the light.

True, but then you have 110 to 240 volts. You can barely get a high-current low-voltage cell to spark if you really try, but it's not quite the same thing.

 

[Kiessling]

No. I mean a flashlight. With one or two CR123 primaries.

 

[kts]

both of my L0D-CEs whine

I got 3 LODs, LOD luxIII,LOD P4 and LOD Q4 and theyre all silent.

But I did buy a L2T V.2.0, that had the whining sound, it was the tailcap, cuz it was silent when I tried it without the tailcap.

It was returned, and I got a P2D Q5 instead, its silent too, maybe you got some bad units.

 

[Illum]

huh.....:thinking:
mmm, Kiessling I noticed the sound in the A2 TC for momentarily on xenon....but its not as loud as the PWM's inductor. but if xenon is activated by turning the tailcap...no sound from neither

kts, the sound is nonexistant on high, but noticeable on all other levels, my 7090-XRE is loudest on medium, the Q4 on the other hand, is loudest on strobe.
you wont hear the sound unless you put the light right by your ear, personally I don't find it annoying, just interesting

 

[Saiga]

Just checked mine,both levels, nary a sound. But, mine has VERY little use.

 

[Crenshaw]

Never noticed anything, but ill go have a hear-listen when i get home....

Crenshaw

 

[kts]

I just rechecked my 3 LODs, and it turn out that the P4 is the only one that is total silent on all levels.
The 2 others do buzz slightly on lower levels and strobe, but you have to hold it right by the ear to hear it.

 

[betalight]

Both buck and boost converters can produce sound:

For boost converters....the now classic sound of a photo flash charging:
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformer

"Magnetostriction:
Magnetic flux in a ferromagnetic material, such as the core, causes it to physically expand and contract slightly with each cycle of the magnetic field, an effect known as magnetostriction. This produces the buzzing sound commonly associated with transformers,[6] and in turn causes losses due to frictional heating in susceptible cores."


For buck converters like in the T1:
From: http://powerelectronics.com/power_s..._buckconverter_design_demystified/index2.html

"Ceramic capacitors are the better choice when pc-board area or component height is limited, but ceramics may cause your circuit to produce an audible buzz. This high-pitched noise is caused by physical vibration of the ceramic capacitor against the pc board"

Whoa... how about this last 29 seconds.....

 

[SenderGreen]

I can only hear mine whine on turbo when the batteries are getting almost too low to use turbo mode. I don't think I have ever heard it whine in normal mode.

See if you can still hear it whine on a fresh set of batteries. I never can.

 

[Nos]

*after long testing: it only whines in turbo mode if i press the clicky over the "stays on point" regardless of the batteries i use ( accu/prim
- full/used)

seems to be the clicky causing the buzzing sound....but how? :shrug:

 

[Marduke]

*after long testing: it only whines in turbo mode if i press the clicky over the "stays on point" regardless of the batteries i use ( accu/prim
- full/used)

seems to be the clicky causing the buzzing sound....but how? :shrug:

Resistance in the clicky can cause the inductor to buzz. You can probably replicated it by removing the tailcap and shorting out the batteries and tube at the back. The sounds is actually coming from the head, but it follows the battery tube to the back where you hear it.

 

[Kiessling]

huh.....:thinking:
mmm, Kiessling I noticed the sound in the A2 TC for momentarily on xenon....but its not as loud as the PWM's inductor. but if xenon is activated by turning the tailcap...no sound from neither

kts, the sound is nonexistant on high, but noticeable on all other levels, my 7090-XRE is loudest on medium, the Q4 on the other hand, is loudest on strobe.
you wont hear the sound unless you put the light right by your ear, personally I don't find it annoying, just interesting

Exactly, tjis is what I mean. I can get this sound in some of my mechanical switches such as the A2, L2 and a McLuxIII. When pressing firmly or after cleaning or sometimes after a battery change, everything is fine again.

bk