The Photon Proton driver

Hi all :wave:,

A good friend of mine wrote to me about modding the Proton. So I
suggested a CR2 cell since it has higher capacity and small but I have to
find out if it's possible or else he would let out the magic smoke. I haven't
been playing with it because of its' flickering but now it's time for some
action.

I also have to add that this Proton was given to me by a highly respectable member.
I am not sure why a Proton, maybe he wants me to do some 'research' with it.

So I defeated the red loctite, this is what I get...



A circuit in a capsule... little white tactile switch for show


Splitting the capsule, reveals the boost chip and the mosfet?
The RED lead connects to the RED 3mm LED, it is connected directly to the microcontroller.
The boost chip is the Linear Technology LTC3401 3MHz Synchronous boost converter. With a 5V max input operating voltage.


And behold the rather odd looking green pill inductor..
Odd as in, these axial encapsulated 'chokes' are usually used for filtering purposes.
I was feeling quite let down at first especially the presence of the huge SS14 Schottky diode but readon...

A custom Microchip PIC, interesting...
Removing the tactile switch reveals the custom PIC chip


So I did some probing... probably a 3.3uH 10%


Thats 28mOhm, a lot better than I was expecting
Although the inductor has a very low dc ohm, I am not sure what is the max current it will do.
In case if you are wondering, the equipments are calibrated yearly to NATA standards.

Unfortunately for nekomane, the circuit does not work beyond 2.5volts.
The microcontroller was doing crazy stuff, switching between leds, won't switch off and etc.
I'll continue my research when I have more time.

I should also admit that I am very inexperience in electronics. I know it's a simple circuit but
it's something interesting for a $69.95.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day.

It's difficult to see in those pictures, but how hard do you think it would be to replace the red LED with a white one of the same size?

It's cool that it uses a PIC, a fairly common and easy to program microprocessor. It raises the possibility of modders reprogramming the UI. I know that Ray has some wishes in that department.

well, Axial inductors are pretty useful in low current applications. running 1+ amps into them could burn it

very nice pics!
I was thinking this proton until I saw the CREE

this_is_nascar said:

It's difficult to see in those pictures, but how hard do you think it would be to replace the red LED with a white one of the same size?

Click to expand...

Very easy, it's normal through hole mount 3mm with leads, sits on the board.
Just poke a big head tip / flat slot tip, across the two leads and the LED should come off with a bit of thug.

Thanks for posting this. I like to see this stuff.

I'm not sure if my monitor is showing the inductor band colour properly. Can you list them off? Thanks,

Paul

Hi Chimo,

Sorry for the off white balance. What is the color bands showing on your monitor?

The picture shows (from left) Silver-Gold-Brown-Brown bands.
My homemade LC meter could be wrong, but it detects bobbin and toroid style inductors with high accuracy.

I had one of the first Proton with 7 leds when it came out, modded it with a cree and wired it to ramp the cree up or down... if i remember correctly the leds work on a common + with two -

Thank you for your efforts. :thumbsup:


It's nice to get to see the insides of my Photon Proton Pro.


:goodjob:
_

koala said:

Hi Chimo,

Sorry for the off white balance. What is the color bands showing on your monitor?

The picture shows (from left) Silver-Gold-Brown-Brown bands.
My homemade LC meter could be wrong, but it detects bobbin and toroid style inductors with high accuracy.

Click to expand...

That looks about right, thanks. The reading on these are fairly frequency dependant - that could explain the difference from the band values. Cheers,

Paul

Hi chimo,

I don't know if these green inductors follow the standard color coding system. I believe it is 3.3uH with the gold band being 0.1x and the silver for 10% tolerance.

The first two bands looks like brown-brown(1.1uH) but I don't think it's that low. The color seems close to orange, so I assume 3.3uH. I may be terribly wrong.

I have a few of these green axial inductors in different values that salvage from pc modems. My LC meter read them accurately. You are right the LC meter depends on the operating frequency.

Koala said:

Sorry for the off white balance. What is the color bands showing on your monitor?

Click to expand...

Orange orange gold silver

33/10 x +/- 0.1

I think thats about right...as far as what your meter has told me

Hey koala,
Sorry I missed this thread until now, been away for a while.
A lot of the info is beyond my understanding but has
kept me from conjuring up any of that magic smoke
Thanks!