Dimming options for high current DD setups??

With the luxeon K2 coming out, I've been thinking of a Tri-Light again, but this would pull 4.5amps of current, quite high and quite bright. To make this light an all in one light, I'd want to dim it down as not to blind myself at times, and to extend the runtime.

The runtime on my Tri-LuxIII is plenty, and really bright using 5000mah C NiMH. Current draw is ~3amps.

I like the momentary of the mag switch, Id like to keep that functionality... I was wondering is there any cicuits out there that aren't boost/buck but just provide simple dimming features? A 2 level dimming feature would work too. Perhaps level 1/off/level 2/repeat? Or fully rampable too? The first one would allow you to have momentary I would think...

That way too you could press for momentary, if it's not the level you want, lift off, press back down fully and you'd have the other level and the switch would latch on... I think that'd be cool. Perhaps 2.1 amps for level 1, and 4.5 amps for level 2?

You can use POP2 to drive N-channel FET to switch on/off each Luxeon. It will be common cathode low side switch. Naturally it will give you all the features of POP2 as well including PWM brightness control, strobe and SOS. Momentary OFF switch works best.

the thread
features
latest firmware/UI

If you prefer high side switch (common anode) instead, you will need to use P-channel FET and the output of the PIC needs to be inverted. If so, I can program a fresh PIC for you.

-- dj