What is the best circuit to use with a Q5?

[Cavelightchris]

I wanted to design a caving headlamp using the Q5 from dealextreme, but I wasn't sure which circuit I should get. I just want it to be simple with a few different power modes.

I thought this one at kaidomain.com looked nice, and it was even double side gold plated, but I didn't know if kaidomain.com is a very reliable place to buy stuff from? Anyone had any bad experiences there before? Also do you think that would be a good circuit to use?

If anyone can suggest any other circuits I might want to use that would be great. Also I am a total beginner at this, does anyone have any wiring diagrams so I can figure out how this stuff is supposed to get wired up.

That circuit above said you can Switch the light mode by tapping any reverse clicky switch, what exactly is a reverse clicky switch? Kaidomain sells one named that, but I was wondering if all reverse clicky switches have to have that in the name, or is any switch that looks like a button a reverse clicky switch?

The Q5 says that at 1000mA its 214 ~ 228lm

does that mean 1000mA is the maximum amount of current you can send to it? I always here about people running an LED at over 1 Amp, does this mean they are overdriving the LED, or can the Q5 handle even more than 1 Amp? 1000mA is the same thing as 1 amp right? I hope I'm starting to get this stuff, I would like to start working on my light soon.

Well if there is any information anyone can give me about any of those questions, it would be much appreciated by me, and thanks.

Chris

 

[gearbox]

Can't TELL you what driver to get -- that depends on what you'll be doing. You could get away with the one you linked to. I think I've got the same one, but bought from DX. Beware that you won't get 1 candlepower if you run it at 3V. It may say 2.6V minimum, but you need more like 4 input volts.
It all boils down to finding the components to compliment your components. If you're running from 6 CR123A batteries you won't be using the same circuit as someone running a single rechargeable AA.
KaiDomain and Deal Extreme are about the same. They're pretty much all chinese boards. Nothing special, nothing bad. Maybe not the quality control that SureFire would have, but probably *good enough* for any purpose.

Caving probably won't require multi-modes. Is it all above water? Do you have a host? Does it need to be headmounted?

The mode-changing description is actually not 100% accurate, or at least it is misleading. The circuitboard is programmed to change modes based upon interruption of the current. If you cut out the power for less than ~1 second you will cycle to the next mode. This also means if your light is built poorly, or you nudge the switch, or if your switch flickers your light changes modes. I get that in my Fenix pretty frequently.
Not all buttons are reverse clickies, but for the purpose of the circuit board you refer to it shouldn't matter. For example, Surefire G2s have a button, but they don't even click. They are true momentary, and have a tactical advantage in that sense.
A reverse clicky must actually click. For instance the Fenix in my pocket won't turn on if I put increasing pressure on the button until it clicks and I let my thumb off. Putting pressure on it again without clicking will shut off the light, letting me just barely tap the button to change modes.

As far as wiring diagrams, just surf here and on deal extreme's customer photos in the product descriptions. Negative here, positive there, this wire to the emitter's neg leads and so forth.

The higher the current the better heatsinking is required, and/or the faster the emitter will deteriorate. As in, theoretically you could run it at 3 Amps in a freezer, but only 350 mA in an oven. There's not really a maximum current because you could still easily burn out an emitter with a poor coupling to the heatsink. I ran a bare Seoul P4 at around 1000mA with no heathsink just to see it shine, and just for a minute. Seriously, not even 60 seconds. It started smoking. I thermal-epoxied it to an aluminum rod (a wand somewhat) and that helped. On the other side of things you can epoxy an emitter to a finned CPU heatsink with a fan or water cooling and run it high-current for a long time! It's not sensible to do so generally, since they make the most lumens/watt at a specific mid-range current,

 

[Mark620]

On the other side of things you can epoxy an emitter to a finned CPU heatsink with a fan or water cooling and run it high-current for a long time! It's not sensible to do so generally, since they make the most lumens/watt at a specific mid-range current,

Wonder what could be done...think phase change -34F or colder...light output before

 

[Gunner12]

What driver depends on what output you want and what batteries you use.

KD is a pretty good place to shop from what I've heard, they are pretty active at the marketplace.

A reverse clickie is a switch that only lets current pass after you let go of the switch after the click. No momentarty, that would be a forward switch.

Actually, any switch that is capable of turning on and off quickly can be used with that and similar driver.

 

[Mark620]

CLC,

Some thoughts...

You have picked out your LED,

Now...
What battery do you want to use?
Also what type of runtime do you anticipate/need?

Another thing about a caving light will be - What type of beam pattern do you want? can you see your feet and in front of you far enough so you are not constantly adjusting your light?

For instance some sten users complain about the narrow beam pattern.

How about a 3 LED system with 2 drivers - a single failure would not result in the light failing...(i'm not considering your back-up light sources)

 

[Cavelightchris]

I always end up making my name too long, sorry about that, so CLC will do.

I want to thank everyone on their input, it helped and meant allot, thanx.

I knew I should decide on a power supply soon, but I just don't know enough about them right now. I really just want it to use AA's since they are so cheap, but I am aware of how bad their current output can be.

I figured I would use 4 of them in series to make 6 volts, and that way if I use 1.2 V rechargeables it will still be 4.8 volts total.

I have a really great design for the light, it involves aluminum pipes, and lexan Plexiglas. I might use a stainless steel pipe on the outside, but I hate how it can't dissipate heat good at all.

I was wondering if lexan is a good material to make a lense out of, I heard it is the most clear Plexiglas made?
I don't want it to be made out of glass because I need to be able to drill holes in it, and I want it to be really strong(I might even use 1/2 inch).

I have developed a triple o ring design that would use 3 o rings on each side to make this thing as waterproof as I can. I also have a really great idea on how to make the ultimate waterproof switch.


The reason I wanted it to have multiple modes was to help out the runtime during an emergency I can put it in the lowest mode it has, but if my ropes get tangled above while vertical caving, it would be nice if I could see 200 feet above me to check out the situation.

Gearbox, thank you so much for reporting all the problems with those kind of circuits, I need this thing to be as reliable as possible.

What if I used 2 circuits, one that ran at 1000 mA, and another that runs at 350 mA, couldn't I find some type of simple switch to trade off between the two?

Are all of the circuits at deal extreme regulated, I mean will they all ensure that your light is bright for as long as possible?

I am so freaking confused about drivers like this It doesn't say regulated in the description, so does this mean if I use it my lights will get dimmer and dimmer every second? I don't even see anything about how many volts it can accept, what is it direct drive, so confused, please help.

I heard SSC is the best for a flood light, but a cree is the best at being a spotlight. I think it would pretty cool if your light used both of these, can you wire up a P4 to a Q5 in series? I think their the same volts so shouldn't they work in series together I wonder.

If I was going to really go with a multi LED I think I would rather have 2 Q5's, so when I'm in 350mA flood mode, I have officially the most power efficient light on the market. Also I could have one use a spot reflector and the other could use a flood reflector. I don't know, would combining a spot and flood to run at the same time be a good idea, I guess I would rather have them each wired to a switch so I could use one or the other.

So if a circuit is only %90 efficient, does that mean %10 of the power its consuming is being waisted, well if so that seems like the opposite of what I want. Do all circuits use some power? I know in car audio all component speakers have computers that end up taking up some of your watts, like if you ran 100 watts to them, only for instance 90 would actually make it to the component speakers.

I was hoping maybe someone could give me some insight on how to build a multi brightness mode flashlight, while being reliable and efficient as can be.

Are resisters really reliable?

Could I possible use this regulated circuit in combination with 3 different resisters on the same LED, and attach them to a 3 position switch? I was hoping maybe each resister could give me a different level of brightness? and having 3 would make things sorta reliable right.-'

Someone told me in my caving group that everything on a space shuttle has triple redundancy, I mentioned that even nascars use double redundancy, well not on everything, like not the engine of course, but they do have 2 duplicate computers, and two of allot of other stuff too.


Lens:

I was hoping when it comes time to make the exact to scale blueprints, I will worry about it then, but honestly I was hoping to ask some questions and have you all help me with that too, sorry I'm such a pain, ha ha, speaking of which; my posts are way too long, but honestly I have a lot to learn, and I am too impatient to take my time, I want to know everything about this hobby, but it is quite puzzling trying to figure it all out with my semi basic knowledge of electronics. I am hoping to buy a book on it soon, I found one called "teach yourself about electricity and electronics" for $35, but I'm not sure if I should even buy it. Can anyone recommend a book that would be great for learning about flashlights and electronics? O no, my post is now ridiculously long, sorry again, bye!

 

[gearbox]

You been drinkin'?


It's perfectly normal to be completely overwhelmed when trying to figure out lights. I'm far from knowledgeable, so I can only pass on the experiences and observations of my own.

I don't know much about caving, but I for damn sure would carry at least 4 different lights. If one light's batteries die you have three more. If you drop one you have two more. If you smash one swinging at invisible demons you have one last chance to find your way out alive. Hmm, I still don't like those odds. Maybe I'd opt to carry 8 of different types and makers. Surefire, Pelican, Pentagon, keychains, LED, incandescent, cyalume. I'd definitely have chemical light. And a knife, and a multi-tool, and some GITD paracord, and a whistle, and a 1st aid kit, and a few energy bars, and some water.

I know what you're saying about having a multimode light. Hard to have one light capable of reaching far out but not be blinding up close. That's also why you want multiples. Tether them to your body and swap one for another as the situation dictates.

If you want to make a light that's fine, but please don't rely on it (or any other single light) if you're caving the way I think.



Read this one, it's very helpful. Once you mod a Mag you'll have an appreciation for what quality workmanship is (being that I did a mod myself and wouldn't trust my life to it )
Then look for more build threads with photos and explanations. There are a lot of build threads, but you'll just have to do some reading since my search and bookmarks haven't turned up much else for you. Good luck

 

[Cavelightchris]

No I am in a grotto, and I know all of the beginner rules so don't worry. I was even thinking of selling my headlamps to help raise money for our grotto, like some of the proceeds would go there. I surely wouldn't ever rely on one light, I carry 3 sources like your supposed to, and I also bring a glowstick in a travel toothbrush case(so it doesn't accidentally get snapped), and I also bring first aid, candles, lighters, waterproof matches, multi-tool, whistle, but what is the GITD paracord for?

No more importantly, I don't want to hijack my own thread, and look at all these unanswered questions I still have from my last post:

* Is Lexan is a good material to make a lens out of?

* What if I used 2 circuits, one that ran at 1000 mA, and another that runs at 350 mA, couldn't I find some type of simple switch to trade off between the two?

* Are all of the circuits at deal extreme regulated, I mean will they all ensure that your light is bright for as long as possible?

*and all of the others from the last post of mine.-'

I hope someone can please help me out..

 

[Gunner12]

Yes, all electrical components take some energy. at you voltage, most are 90-80% efficient. You can also cover the driver in epoxy to ensure it won't break easily.

Not sure about Lexan

You could have two switches. Do you want multimode on the driver(One switch, on-off cycles to change modes, some are simple some are hard) or have multiple drivers.

Depends on the circuit. Also current and voltage regulation are different.

 

[Mark620]

Not sure about Lexan

Lexan is what bullet proof windows are made of...Just dont get it too hot...