Sold/Expired Custom designed and built step-up drivers for $22.00

I will take requests, so let me know if you need something you don't see.

I have the following designs:

-1 cell NIMH, .8 watt up to 1.7 watt, also can be designed for lithium-ion 3 watt operation but the same driver will only drive 1 watt with a single NIMH, not 1.7 watts when it's configured this way. Also the voltage bias bin for the lux is best if it is K and higher and the li-ion cell must be self protected.

-2 cell NIMH, 1 watt drive to a Lux I up to 3.5 watts drive to a lux III

-3 cell NIMH, 3 watt drive to a Lux III up to 5.5 watts to a Lux V

For boards that I don't have a layout for, I will hand cut the traces and charge 2 dollars less because they aren't manufactured. Unless you want a layout designed for more than 25 boards. I will then have them manufactured.
You may specify the diameter or dimensions of the board you would like custom built. Some drivers I can layout on as little as 10mm diameter board space.
I also give bulk discounts starting on 2 boards and up, so ask me and I'll give a quote.
My drivers are very efficient, at the very worst about 80%. Most of them are 85% to 93%.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Allrighty then, single cell cut down MMag, 20mm reflector, protected li-ion 14500, need to check my lux III bins. Looks like .570 max diameter, maybe a bit less? I can make a sink, how thick will this be? I definatly want to try this. What is the downside to running J bin vs K or L ? Is positive contact on one side of your pcb? Will the driver need any sinking? I'll stop there.........

Im in!

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

My manufactured driver boards are 16mm diameter and can be cut down to as little as 14mm 14.4 is equal to .57 inches. They are 7mm thick top to bottom. Kind of thick I know but this picture shows why. I had the mount the inductor on top to get the the size of inductor I needed to achieve the efficency and power I was looking for.



Here's the bottom


This is the 1.7 watt single cell driver. It will drive higher with lithium L91's. With the right voltage bin, L and higher, you can even use a li-ion without hurting the circuit. It will drive the lux at around 4+ watts though.

No sink needed for the driver. It is very smooth and efficent with very little heat, maybe a little warm after it's been running for awhile at the most. I can make even smaller drivers than this for lithium-ion applications, but you'd lose the ability to run NIMH cells. I'll have to do some more looking around, maybe I can find a driver that has a higher switch speed and will still operate down to .9 volts, but it wouldn't be as efficent with the low input voltages. The voltage of the lux should be K bin or higher because otherwise the lithium-ion is forced to direct drive and no regulation is possible unless a buck/boost is used, and I haven't gone that far...yet.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

MillerMods said:

It will drive the lux at around 4+ watts though.

Click to expand...

Perfect !!

:wow:

Still looking good here, a couple twists to keep my wheels turning......

Thickness is ok, I can lower the cell nearly that much.....

Very versatile with the battery options, let me ask this to see if I understand, if I use L bin or higher lux III, this one driver will run single NiMh @ 1w , or single li-ion @ 4w, with L-91 somewhere inbetween?

I'm going to need 2 drivers, 1 to run a H or J bin on NiMh or L-91, and 1 to run a L bin on li-ion, both single cell, am I thinking right on this approach?

The sinking requirements are so far apart, I think I need separate methods of install. Won't get by with twist on-off on 4w, he he...

Do you have an easy method to reduce diameter for additional fee? I'm sure I can do it, however, with enough time and patience using a dremel.

If my thinking is pretty close to right, I'm ready to order 2 drivers, for the applications I mentioned above....I use cash paypal as first choice, or let me know your preference.....

Thanks for your patience !

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Slightly OT, but do you plan on working with L0P's in the future? I have one on the way along with some 10440's for another project.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

ddaadd said:

Perfect !!

:wow:

Very versatile with the battery options, let me ask this to see if I understand, if I use L bin or higher lux III, this one driver will run single NiMh @ 1w , or single li-ion @ 4w, with L-91 somewhere inbetween?

I'm going to need 2 drivers, 1 to run a H or J bin on NiMh or L-91, and 1 to run a L bin on li-ion, both single cell, am I thinking right on this approach?

The sinking requirements are so far apart, I think I need separate methods of install. Won't get by with twist on-off on 4w, he he...

Do you have an easy method to reduce diameter for additional fee? I'm sure I can do it, however, with enough time and patience using a dremel.

If my thinking is pretty close to right, I'm ready to order 2 drivers, for the applications I mentioned above....I use cash paypal as first choice, or let me know your preference.....

Thanks for your patience !

Click to expand...

I can cut down the boards with no problem, I just use an outline and a dremel. You're correct about what these drivers can do. If I set it up to drive 1.7 watts on one NIMH cell, the circuit will draw about 1.7 to 1.9 Amps, it's a little tough to get it perfect because the induction will ever so slightly change when it's mounted inside of a flashlight, at least with the Fenix it does. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention some details here; if I set it up for lithium-ion I can set the draw anywhere between .9 to 1.5 Amps giving you about 3 to 4.5 watts with an L-bin voltage Lux III giving you almost the exact same current draw from a NIMH giving you between 1 to 1.6 watts to the lux. Lunarmodule did a review of one of my circuits here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/101480
I didn't have this circuit set up for lithium-ion, and his current measurements are way off, but you'll get the idea.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

VWTim said:

Slightly OT, but do you plan on working with L0P's in the future? I have one on the way along with some 10440's for another project.

Click to expand...

I bought an L0P from 4sevens and I plan on trying one of my circuits with a different layout and a smaller inductor for a true 1 watt drive from a NIMH AAA cell. I'm guessing the board diameter will be about 10mm and I already have a layout done (in a circuit layout program) for that size. I'm just concerned about the height factor. We'll see, I'm might have to change my planning a bit on that one.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Just want to recommend MillerMods to all of you He designed some custom driver boards for me (they all fit Fenix L1P/L2P) :
- LuxI Vf-J-bin 350mA driver for 1 NiMH cell
- LuxIII Vf-J-bin 700mA driver for 2 NiMH cell
- LuxI 1.7W driver for 1 NiMH cell
MM made a good impression on me and he looks very skilled in this matter

My drivers are on their way, a review can be expected in 2 to 3 weeks.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Erasmus said:

Just want to recommend MillerMods to all of you He designed some custom driver boards for me

Click to expand...

That is a worthy endorsement for you MillerMods! :rock:

Thanks for the additional info on the drivers, (and for offering to trim down) and I'm still thinking I am good to go here for the 2 drivers. .....

1 - 1xNiMh @ 1.7w @ 14.4mm o.d. TWOH
1 - 1xli-ion @ 4.0w @ 14.4mm o.d. TxxL

and

1 - 2xNiMh @ 3.0w TWOH
1 - 3xNiMh @ 5.0w WXOT

Paypal ready......

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

ddaadd said:

That is a worthy endorsement for you MillerMods! :rock:

Thanks for the additional info on the drivers, (and for offering to trim down) and I'm still thinking I am good to go here for the 2 drivers. .....

1 - 1xNiMh @ 1.7w @ 14.4mm o.d. TWOH
1 - 1xli-ion @ 4.0w @ 14.4mm o.d. TxxL

and

1 - 2xNiMh @ 3.0w TWOH
1 - 3xNiMh @ 5.0w WXOT

Paypal ready......

Click to expand...

Thank you Erasmus!

ddadd, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that these drivers(the pictured ones) won't go higher than N bin voltage but can use 3 NIMH cells.
The Lux V driver that I have for 3 NIMH cells is a different circuit all together.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

MillerMods said:

The Lux V driver that I have for 3 NIMH cells is a different circuit all together.

Click to expand...

OK, sounds cool, do you have one available? Or I've got a lux3 that's begging to be overdriven on 3 x NiMh....

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

ddaadd said:

OK, sounds cool, do you have one available? Or I've got a lux3 that's begging to be overdriven on 3 x NiMh....

Click to expand...

I can build the lux V driver, I have all of the parts I need. As for the Lux III driver that uses 3 NIMH cells, I don't have any buck/boost designs yet, but if the bin voltage is between K and N, I have the perfect circuit.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

MillerMods said:

I can build the lux V driver

Click to expand...

That would be excellent! :thanks:

I would need this at 14.4mm o.d. also, if possible.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Hey Miller, just wondering: what kind of regulation do these drivers have? This question is more relavant to use with alkaline cells and not NiMH and Li like what you and Lunamodule uses.

Does the driver have 'open circuit protection'? (if not connected to a load when powered up, will it damage the driver?)

Will I be able to hook up two drivers in parallel without problems?



Thanks.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Hey Millersmods,

Told ya I was slow, but finally got 1 done, the single cell li-ion driver for L bin lux 3 is cranking away! Running 1.35a at the tail and UX1L looking bright! With a cut down MMag using SO20 reflector I'm getting 3780 lux @ 3ft.

I recall telling myself not to get anymore *X1* tints awhile back, why don't I listen to myself?

PM at ya......

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Millermods

Since you are the designer, would please you post input voltage vs. efficiency plots for your converter? Of most importance to me is the range from 0.9V to 1.3V.

It would also be great if someone could post a runtime plot of the Single L1P and single NiMH AA combination, at a 1 meter distance.

Thanks!

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

NewBie said:

Millermods

Since you are the designer, would please you post input voltage vs. efficiency plots for your converter? Of most importance to me is the range from 0.9V to 1.3V.

It would also be great if someone could post a runtime plot of the Single L1P and single NiMH AA combination, at a 1 meter distance.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

BentheadXT will be doing that work so that it's not just my words everyone sees.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Heya MM

Have a project im working on, just got a few Cyan LuxIII's From Photonfanatic...) LXHL-LE3C-S5JC, LUX III STAR, CYAN
This will be housed in a Dorcy Metal Gear. Lots of room inside that light!
I will try this running two cr123's

Goal is to push the Lux to its limits, runtime is unimportamt to me.

BTW, I live near lebanon

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

bikeg said:

Heya MM

Have a project im working on, just got a few Cyan LuxIII's From Photonfanatic...) LXHL-LE3C-S5JC, LUX III STAR, CYAN
This will be housed in a Dorcy Metal Gear. Lots of room inside that light!
I will try this running two cr123's

Goal is to push the Lux to its limits, runtime is unimportamt to me.

BTW, I live near lebanon

Click to expand...

Sorry, right now all of my designs are step-up converters.

Re: Custom designed and built drivers for $22.00

Gotcha,

I will be doing something sweet to a 4D MAG in the near future, I will keep you posted!
Hmmm I suppose I need a stepdown?
Yup, Im a newb

Thanks again