Nitecore D11 Resurrection (direct drive & cosmetic mods)

Matt7337

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As some of you may know, my Nitecore D11 went poof a while ago and after the past few months of discussing the return of the light to Nitecore for warranty repair/replacement the outcome is that I don't have proof of purchase and they're not accepting it under warranty. So, I threw in the towel and opened the head on the light up the other day to have a nosey around inside and see if I could find what exactly went wrong with it. So far I've discovered that some of the small components (I believe they were SMT resistors) on the battery terminal side of the board are missing - how this happened I have no idea but that's probably what went wrong with the light. I also know that the LED works, I connected it to a 3v source briefly to make sure that it was illuminating, so I have an XP-G R5 led on a 14mm board for my spares bin. I have the spring and brass heatsink, reflector and everything else that the light is made up of - it's fully disassembled. I was thinking of buying a new driver circuit from kaidomain and building a new light using the bits that I have. I've no idea what I would build though. There seems to be a nice 5 mode AA/AAA 13.5mm driver circuit on KD (see below) but how could/should I switch this if it was installed in the head and heatsink of the D11?

Any help would be much appreciated folks - so far my only experience with building flashlights has been adding dropins/different bodies/different bezels to existing lights :)

Driver circuit @ KD - http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=11063

Cheers,

Matt

[update 10-07-11]

As promised, here are pics of the driver board:



d11pcbback.jpg


As you can see, there are some components missing from the front (battery terminal side) of the board. At least two SMDs are missing from what I can see - C3 and R9. There also seems to be a 3 pin component missing from the board at about 4 o'clock, a voltage regulator perhaps?
 
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Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

Just realized that a better forum for this thread would be "Custom and homemade flashlights discussion". I have requested a move, if a mod sees this before that request is received, please move it. Thanks.
 

Flucero28

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Which components got knocked off? Post a pic of your damaged board if you can. I may have some extra parts.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
 

Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

I'm not sure what's wrong with the link, I'll fix it when I'm back at my computer (posting this from my phone). I'll also take a couple of photos of the board when I get back. If it's just that, I will be able to get new components and replace them but if not then I want to build a new pill and put it in the D11 head to build a new light with.

Any ideas on the switching mechanism? I assume the Piston Drive system doesn't work with non Nitecore PCBs.
 

Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

Hey ^G, that sounds quite cool, the only problem being that I would have no idea how to implement it! :p Is there a DIY AA/14500 battery tube & clicky tailcap that would fit the head of the D11?
 

pistolsnipe

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

you wouldn't need anything new except a positive battery contact for the direct drive idea

you would just have to figure out if you want the light to turn on from the first contact point or second
 

Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

One thing that I didn't mention was that I damaged the brass retention/contact spring whilst taking the D11 apart. It was ridiculously hard to take out and I eventually had to bend it out of shape to pull it out of the head with pointy nosed pliers. I assume that makes a difference to the direct drive idea.
 

Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

Okay, to get the ball rolling on this I went to see a guy I used to work with at a local engineering plant yesterday. I put him to work on machining me a new brass LE retention ring for the D11.

Pistolsnipe - I don't really know what you meant by the first or second contact point switching mode on the D11, which contact points are you referring to?
 

pistolsnipe

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

basically the way the pd system in the d10 works, is that first, contact is made with the brass ring, then when you keep pressing, the brass ring makes contact with the pcboard, thus there are 2 points of activation in the light.
 

Matt7337

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Re: Help resurrecting a dead Nitecore D11?

Ah ok, so what are these two points related to then? I presume one turns the light on and the other is a mode switch? How would I set it up to achieve the direct drive for the modified D11? Am I right in saying that there would be no permanent contact? I have it in my head that it would just be momentary without some sort of latch circuit...

[edit]

Ok never mind the question about the contact points, I just realized that only one of those contact points actually performs any electronic function in the light. The first is just to get the piston in contact with the ring.
 
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Matt7337

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Updated first post with pics of the dead/damaged driver board. I'm not really interested in that now though, I like the idea of direct driving the light. Can anyone answer the question asked in my previous post regarding the "latch" function of the light for the PD system?
 
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pistolsnipe

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okay, so this is how the pd system (in the nitecore lights) works in full:

the battery + contact remains in constant contact with the driver board, the spring on the - end of the battery keeps the piston sleeve out of contact while the head is unscrewed sufficiently.

as you screw down the head, the piston sleeve comes into contact with the brass ring, which powers on the light to whatever setting you last left it at

while the piston sleeve is in contact with the brass ring, you can press the sleeve in further by pressing on the rear, to bring the brass ring into contact with the driver board. the driver board, which already has power from the brass ring, through the spring, uses the brass ring to circuit board contact as signal information only, this signal means to ramp up/down or change modes in some way.

if you want to maintain momentary and constant on, you need to hook up your ground side of your led to the pill directly, or to the spring, as the pill and the spring will be 'grounded' by the sleeve touching the brass retaining ring (before the ring touches the driver board)


so basically if you want direct drive:
hook up the - side of your led directly to the pill, or to the spring somehow
hook up the + side of your led to the + contact of the driver board somehow

this means that when you screw in the head and it comes into contact with the brass ring you will have constant on

when you unscrew the head so that there is no contact, you can create momentary contact by pushing the piston down till it hits the brass contact ring

the second contact, where the brass ring contacts the circuit board, will have no meaning to the circuit
 
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Matt7337

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Thanks for that very helpful description pistolsnipe! My understanding of and use of the PD system differs from your description slightly, I only ever unscrew the tail to lock the light in momentary operation or to lock it out in my pocket or pack. I hadn't realized you could use it like a twisty/clicky UI light. That makes the direct drive solution much easier to understand and implement. I had no idea that the piston was in contact with the brass ring when the head and tail are completely tightened into one another - so now once I get the new retaining ring machined I should be able to put the light together in it's new form :)
 

pistolsnipe

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sweet, glad i could help

i usually carry mine unscrewed as a lock out in my pocket as well

-kyle
 
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