I was just thinking about building some lights again. I’ve got money ready! Thanks for all your work.
Max. Current setting in UI is different thing,for 12A driver you could set it anywhere between 8 - 12A;all modes will be scaled down by same percentage. Graph shows max. theoretical DD currents on high mode (if you choose DD in settings). For example,if you want to build triple xp-l,you should choose 12A version;with good battery max. Current on high could be 13-14A with DD activated. It’s important that this “predicted” current is lower than max. DD current from graph. It would be bad to choose 6A for driving triple xp-l,since its max. DD current is lower than those 13-14Amps;driver would limit current to value from graph (9.2A at 4.2V and lower than that at lower voltages).
^ PM sent.
So since I won, could I use this to drive at 11amps from 4S cells? It’s only clicky switch right now though, not e-switch?
4x XHP35?
This would generate too much heat for little 17mm driver with typ. batteries and leds (output power is ~175W). With enabled DD on high - maybe, but for these big bad setups you should wait for LD-M3 to do that job.
Yes, for now only clicky switch is supported.
Yes, 4 XHP35 is what I was thinking.
TELL
ME
MORE!!
:D
Since the lower modes are % and not fixed values, If I want to use it with a triple XPL HI setup but want lower mid modes, because if I chose the 6th group mode 30% of 12A is 3.6A which is way too high for medium in a small light, can I go with the 6A version instead?
This way I can set it to DD on 100% mode and get 6A+ while the 30% would remain at 1.8A which is perfect for medium. Would there be any negative by using the 6A version to power a triple XPL setup other than lower current and efficiency at turbo?
Also, is the temperature step down flash still present on the LD3?
Thanks
Is there current limits for multi-cell multi-leds versions?
6A version has 9,2A max. DD current,this is maybe Ok if you power that triple xp-l with 18350 or non-high drain 18650,but if your plan is to use high drain battery,you can use 9A version,decrease max. Current to 7A to get lower medium-low mods,and enable DD on high for max current oh high.
Driver works equally in all setups.
4Sx12A=180W powered by 17mm driver? It should take extra 24W somewhere away from components, how this could be real? I suppose chips have internal thermal protection.
I don’t need it necessarily but I still like it 
LD-3 can handle about 5Watts of power dissipation in typ. light with help of silicone cubes,fujik and similar.
For your setup check post #30
I really like your drivers
They work really great in some of my flashlights.
What I do not understand is the UI.
In my opinion( and I am not alone) and use,
the LD2 has the best UI,specially the ramping is really cool.
Why change the “best” ?
Regards Xandre
You mean LD-1? LD-2 didn't have ramping.
This version of LD-3 is clicky switch only (so there isn't ramping UI of-course) and I don't see what LD-1 or LD-2 had that LD-3 doesn't have when we talk about clicky switch?
Your suggestions are welcome, so if you have more ideas except ramping for e-switch firmware, feel free to post it.
Is it XHP35 ready m8 ? Can you tune a 2.5amps XHP35 version since i`ve found out that 3amps are kinda high for XHP35
You can use 3A version for that, and set current between 2.0A and 3.0A (0.125A steps) in configuration settings.
Could I make a few little requests/suggestions for a future e-switch version?
I have 2 main EDC lights, both e-switch only, both using LD2 drivers. One is an XPL-HI triple (at 12A), The other is a 6V XHP70 (at 9A). Both of these lights work brilliantly (pun intended), and I appreciate the work you have put in to make such fantastic drivers.
However, there are a few main issues that I have found with the UI:
1. It (XHP70 at 9A) has, on two occasions, turned on by itself in my pocket. The first time, it was in low, so it just wasted battery life, no harm done. The second time, it was in turbo, and didn’t thermal throttle until it had already burned the inside of my coat pocket and roasted the VTC5s.
Of course this is always a risk for e-switch lights, but it would be very nice to have some form of electronic lock-out (maybe a certain number or timing of button presses).
2. Both lights use UI2 (mode step ramp). This UI is better than the other 2 for me, as the ‘hold to ramp through modes’ is my favorite mode change method, and the ‘hold from off = moonlight’ is essential for me to use any light as an EDC.
Unfortunately, the ramping interface has (for me at least) a very significant flaw: the ramp direction cannot be switched quickly, and a quick press followed by another press and hold is counted as a double click, which goes to moon or turbo.
I may not have worded that well, so I think an example I have everyday will be clearer:
I long press - turns on the light in moon.
I press and hold - light goes up to low, which I use for a few seconds.
I decide I need more light than low, so I press and hold - light goes down to moon, so;
I have to release and re-press and hold - light goes back up through low to medium.
If I try to do a quick press before it gets to moon (to change the direction), and then press and hold again, this is registered as a double-click, which puts it into turbo, which I then have to press and hold to get out of.
I would suggest removing the double-click feature, and making it so that a quick press followed by press and hold carries on ramping in the original direction. I.e; if I’ve just gone from low to medium, a quick press, release, and then press and hold should ramp up to turbo (for example).
3. I love your decision to set medium at 20% of the max current, as it corresponds to approximately 33% of the max LED output, which, to human perception, appears approximately 50% of the max brightness.
That mode spacing works very well, especially considering the battery usage efficiency of that method. It is honestly the best mode spacing ratio I have ever seen or used. However, the next mode down is not 20% x 20% = 4, but rather it is 2. I’ve noticed this as low appearing too large a jump down from medium. This also means that with only 3 regulated modes, that low is too far from moon (in my case low= 300lm, moon= 0.5lm).
I would suggest using that 20% ratio universally between 4 or 5 regulated modes, with moon and DD being optional settings like in LD-3.
i.e: moon-0.2–0.8–4–20–100%/DD
Those are my humble suggestions. I don’t expect you to use your time and energy to implement anything just because I asked; I am saying if I could rewrite any LD-2 UI code, those are the only changes I’d ever want to make (oh and maybe triple-fast-click for strobe or battery monitor or something).
If you do make any changes similar to the above for the next e-switch version, you can at least put me down for 2 .
Would silicone cubes or potting with thermal adhesive be required if using this with a single XP-L HI or XM-L2?
If my calculations are correct, there would be 2 - 2.6W of dissipation from a fully charged battery (4 - 4.2V).
Edit: I’ve just realised that it’ll be higher…I’ve only calculated the dissipation up to 3A and I’d want to use the 6A driver, probably set to 4A. :person_facepalming:
So…follow up question, would potting the back of the driver with silicone thermal adhesive before installing be sufficient?