Sold/Expired ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $40 ●-●-●

LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H Lux III -- $40


Spoken: "LDO cubed". Dimensions: .55" diameter, .535" tall; pretty much the standard sandwich size.

Up for sale are the LDO^3 drivers designed and built by andrewwynn. These are designed to work with rechargeable CR123s and will provide the LED with an initial 800 mA (+/- 20 mA) current. As the driver warms up, one can expect the current to climb closer to 900 mA, which should offset the dimming of the LED due to heat buildup. In other words, one should expect a very even lux during the majority of battery life. As the battery reaches depletion there is a rapid transistion from 'full bright' to 'moon mode' which will last quite a while as the battery exponentially decays to the Vf of the LED (typicaly close to 2.5V).. in other words, it won't over-discharge even if left on.

On a long run, when the batteries start dying off, and the light starts to cool, due to reduced current available, the light outputs more lumen per watt and it makes for a very constant output.

In testing, the output in a Groovy! has been typically close to 1,200 lux (that compares to about 950 lux with the NG 750 driver).

For somebody with a desire to have a longer runtime with less output, lower output models will become available in the future.

An example of the driver used at a different power level.

Due to the shut-off at about 2.5V, it should be perfectly fine to use unprotected R123s with this driver. The light output will drop like a brick at about 3.45V, so in normal use the battery voltage will never get below about 3.3V because you will know to recharge the battery.

TX0H LED: Price is $40.

All postpaid via First Class Mail to CONUS, foreign orders please add $2 per order. Orders for $30 or over sent with Delivery Confirmation. For insurance or other mail service, please PM.

PayPal cash to: PayCashPal (at) photonfanatic.com
or
PayPal with credit card to: fanatic (at) photonfanatic.com

Those wishing to pay with a money order should send me a PM for details.

Some pics:

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Some photos from andrewwynn. The guy obviously has a better camera than I do.





Alien invader:

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

You can always edit the post to change pics :-D.. better pics are coming. (also you can put that chart picture inline with the tags like the other pics.

You can also check out the current photo album [url=http://homepage.mac.com/rouses/circuits/PhotoAlbum311.html]here[/url].

oh.. BTW.. the 'ldo-cubed' name came from the fact the same exact ckt board can be used for 1-way, 3-way or infinitely variable output. This could be a modder's dream driver.. because it would not be difficult to wire in a potentiometer for example in the right light.

These only work from a single LiON solution it's not a 'buck' or 'boost' driver.. you can run in 'emergency' mode with a primary CR123 since they have the "H" Vf emitter.

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Very nice sandwich! What is the voltage drop once Vin drops below that required for full regulation? Can you contrast the behavior of this circuit to a Downboy?

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

the downboy actually uses switching technology so it can deal with a bigger variance in input and output voltage... from a functional standpoint.. very similar.. regulated light 'til the Vbat gets below Vf of the LED.. but with the LDO driver the overhead is EXTREMLY low.. the circuit has 95 miliohms of resistance.. so at 900mA.. that is 86mV of overhead.. (0.086V).. less than 1/10th of a volt.

Since the Vf on an "H" emitter is probably below the practical use voltage of a single LiON cell at depletion (3.45V).... you'd get 3.36V to the emitter even when the batteries are virtually exhausted.. i'll have to do a test to see what current goes through a TXOH at 3.36V. (and also what voltage they are at while running in regulation).

I would have to see a side-by-side comparison to see how they compare.. but with 'constant current'.. i'm quite certain you would measure a drop in output as the light heats up using any driver with constant current like the downboy.

I would be VERY surprised if there is less than 2/10ths of a volt overhead in the downboy.. (but impressed if it is less).. usually there is at least 200mohm overhead in such a circuit, but i'm also certain wayne did a tremendous job of reducing resistance overhead to the absolute minimum.

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Any idea how these will do with 3 AA's?

I'm thinking it will fit in a Litepro Teknolite with a cutdown MM reflector.

Also, how's the heat dissipation??

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

The heat dissipation appears to be the same as for the NG750. After running the driver in a Groovy for 10 minutes straight, it was quite warm, but nothing painful to the touch. Holding the light in my hand dropped the temperature fairly quickly.

I'll let andrewwynn chime in on the three AAs question.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

3AA would be perfect if LiON.. NiMH to LiON is exactly a 3:1 ratio.. i.e. virtually any light that works on 9NiMH will work on three LiON.

heat gets sucked out really quickly.. you will feel the heat on the body, which is good.

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Andrew,

TWOH at 3.3x V is darn near spec, 720 to 760 ma depending on ambient temp and heat-sinking.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

so.. that means that it'll only dim to about 750mA before it hits the 'brick wall' of decline.. that's pretty cool. I do notice that i never notice the light dimming before it hits that brick wall. The light seems to be full power and 1 minute later it's a night-light. (exaggerating a little bit).. In my case i can 'cheat' to test for bat. remaining by attempting to use high beam when i usually use medium or low.

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

MEGA CONGRATS ANDREW!!!

A real home run design, VERY impressive indeed! I might have to grab one of these just for the sake of it, my compliments.

Are these the new style "joker" slugs? I've noticed the TWOH of the 2 new style emitters has a pinkish tint to it compare to the warm white I see with the old style W0. Thats to the bad for me. To the good, the new style TX0H seem a pure cool white like the old TY0H that I really liked. Am I just getting wierd picks in the Lux lottery or is there something to this tint shift phenomenon? The arrows point me toward the TX0H, then.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Lunarmodule said:

Are these the new style "joker" slugs? I've noticed the TWOH of the 2 new style emitters has a pinkish tint to it compare to the warm white I see with the old style W0. Thats to the bad for me. To the good, the new style TX0H seem a pure cool white like the old TY0H that I really liked. Am I just getting weird picks in the Lux lottery or is there something to this tint shift phenomenon? The arrows point me toward the TX0H, then.

Click to expand...

Yes, these would be the new, lower height dies. As I have both of these already mounted on the LDO^3, I would have to say that I see no sign of any pink in the TW0H. Between the two, TW0H and TX0H, I would say that both are white, but the W0 has a slight yellow tint to it, making it the warmer color of the two.

I do like the X0, but I really can't see any blue tint to it, unlike the Y0 color bin, which is almost always a pale blue tint.

If you were to order the TW0H and didn't like it, I'd be more than willing to swap it for the TX0H. But, from what I've read, you'll want the TX0H anyhow.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Thanks Steve.. any 1-R123 light will really rock n roll with this driver. They are going to be upgradable to 3-level if you buy the 1-level now.. i specifically designed it that way.

I think that the XO tint is fantastic.. i usually like a little warmer tint like X1 even... but it looks pure white.. the Vf of H is key in making this driver kick a little more butt... holds regulation longer.. probably not as efficient as with a Jbin.. so will run a little warmer on fresh cells, but i like having that extra overhead to hold solid regulation.

-awr

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Sorry for my ignorance here, but where goes the emitter heat? I don't see any heatsink or termal path for the emitter slug. Thanks.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

The top of the sandwich has a copper layer, covered with tin, that transfers the heat to the body of the light. It works well, the Groovy warms up within minutes of being turned on.

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

yeah the copper top heatsink is 'sneaky' because of the solder mask.. if you look reaaally closely you can find the solder buimp on the 'top' that is labled 'gnd' and notice that it is much smaller than the rest.. because that is the ground plane that is the whole top of the emitter board other than where there are other electircal connections (led, and the switch connections).

I was surprised that i could get away with just the copper layer on PCB for emitter heat removal but after first making solid copper slugs and then even solid silver slugs.. i'd made the next few with just this method and the light heats up nearly as fast.. anybody that's touched a copper trace on a ckt board while soldering near by knows how fast heat goes down copper traces.. it works really well.. thanks to dat2zip for giving me the idea.. love CPF.

-awr

-awr

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

Very interesting! This should drop right into a FireflyII correct? FFII small size and rechargable battery joy sounds like a winner!

Re: ●-●-● LDO^3 Drivers -- With TX0H or TW0H Lux III -- $45 ●-●-●

i believe that is the fact, jack.

-awr

Smaller......

I'm Curious,

As an Arc modder (small light with very little workroom ), I would really like to know if the boards could be assembled closer together. And if so, what would the height be ?

I've used FluPICs in Arcs with no problems; https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/109380

Any chance you could be using thiner circuit-boards in the near future ?

Thanks !

Cheers !
George.

Re: Smaller......

bombelman said:

As an Arc modder (small light with very little workroom ), I would really like to know if the boards could be assembled closer together. And if so, what would the height be ?

George.

Click to expand...

George,

As you can see in the photos, there is a lot of room between the boards that can be eliminated. The LDO^3 was made that size so that it will work with any light currently using the standard sandwich, i.e., .55" in diameter and .300" tall.

Now as an "ARC modder", I'm sure you have the skills to unsolder the wires holding the boards apart, which will allow you to make the boards .1055" shorter by my measurement.