KaiDomain super output P7 driver -rant-

Ok so I bought all the parts I needed to build a nice little XM-L light but since it was my first build I did not know about the differing sizes of drivers. so I order myself a the above mentioned driver as it's supposed to be 17mm and will fit nicely in the pill of my light. Flash forward to a month later and it finally arrives. at almost 19mm wide. Well it fit onto of my pill and made good contact with the side wall of the host body so it works, but not well. Especially when I notice the dent in the bottom of my battery from the spring on my tail cap pressing too hard against my battery. Fearing the worst (fire explosions you know the deal) I ripped the driver back out and did some measuring. There is a white ring around the edge of the driver that all of the electronics sit inside that is 17mm wide. so I take out my trusty sandpaper and get to work. I finally get it to fit in the pill, and it does not look like any traces have been damaged so I'm excited. I power it up and it's on High, give it a half press to switch to low it flashes off for a moment and back on to high. All of my modes are now gone. I'm stuck running a crazy high power light on high all the time.

Anyone have any ideas what I screwed up and how I might fix it?

Better yet does anyone have any driver solutions for it's future replacement?

pimaxc said:

Better yet does anyone have any driver solutions for it's future replacement?

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You will have to give us your supply voltage number of batteries and which type? Here's a good driver list from several sources. Good for finding specific drivers.
If your running a single li-ion with a xml. I like the 8-amc7135 2800ma driver with three modes L,M and H. Its 17mm in diameter.

a single XM-L EZW with dual AW IMR 16340 batteries. so I have a peak of 7.4V

Did you use KD sku#S005296. Funny thing is the ad states 17mm dia. since Aug. 28th. And I know that it's been stated there a year or two. I have also searched for a xml driver with a input voltage of 8.4v and 3amp output but the KD was all that I ever found in (stated) 17mm Dia.

pimaxc said:

Yea that's the one. What about DX SKU 106805 any one tried one of these?

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That driver has a 2amp output. If you are looking for a 2amp driver that should work good. Then you could try DX sku 26110. I have used this in automotive applications (12v) and does work well. You will have to modify the driver by changing sense resistor to .125ohms. Then it should give you a 2 amp output from a 8.4v source.

I'd really prefer 2.8A or 3A I think that's more what I need.

I really don't know of any other driver for a 2 li-ion's in series with those specs. KD maybe your only option in 17mm. If you can change your design to a single li-ion, then the 8-amc7135 driver will work. You may have to try KD again if not.

The outside ring on the driver should be ground. The only way you could hurt it by sanding is to file it down to nothing (no connection). You may have damage a component while holding the driver while sanding? It could possibly be a capacitor.

If the driver can be less than 17mm diam and if your pill can accommodate the height, you can build a 2xSOB1500 parallel driver to give you 3A drive current in a buck driver. I'd estimate that the SOB is about 0.18" tall from bottom of the PCB to top of the inductor. So to fit a two-board stack, you'd need at least 0.36" in your pill, plus any clearance needed for LED wires.

I think I have enough clearance for that. Do you have directions on building one, or know someone who can sell me a pre built one?

Justin Case said:

you can build a 2xSOB1500 parallel driver to give you 3A drive current in a buck driver.

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The highest output SOB driver I can find is the SOB1000. Am I missing something?

PCC said:

The highest output SOB driver I can find is the SOB1000. Am I missing something?

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You have to solder on your own sense resistors to give you 1500mA nominal output. It doesn't look like you can order SOB Blank Converters anymore. So get a SOB500, which has one 0.10 ohm sense resistor, and the other sense resistor position empty. Fill that spot with a 0.05 ohm, 0603 sense resistor. If you are not comfortable with such small SMD devices, ask Wayne if you can order an SOB1500 from him.

See here for an example of what an 0603 SMD sense resistor looks like.

Then you make some posts that connect the two SOB1500 drivers in parallel. The posts can be stripped 24 or 26 ga wire that is subsequently tinned.

Run Post #1 to connect each of the GND holes of the SOBs. Run Post #2 connecting the matching LED- holes at J6 for the two boards. Post #3 connects the matching LED+ holes at J5. Post 4 passes through each of the Vin holes of the SOBs. Then solder a post to the remaining open LED- hole on the top SOB board and another post to the remaining open LED+ hole on the top SOB board. Solder all of the posts to the associated through holes of the boards.

Thanks for that. I'll have to order a few of those drivers and sense resistors!

I wish Task LED's drivers were smaller, their designs are really nice

Smaller? They're 14mm in diameter. The Shark Buck drivers are 19mm (I think).

the b3flex from Task LED is 1in diameter, or about 15.4mm and that's the smallest buck they offer.

pimaxc said:

the b3flex from Task LED is 1in diameter, or about 15.4mm and that's the smallest buck they offer.

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1 inch = 25.4mm, not 15.4.

you are right, I think I just mistyped

Well I ordered one of these, anyone worked with them before?

http://dx.com/p/5-mode-p7-led-driver-circuit-board-for-flashlight-dc-0-8-4-2v-106805