I’ve given serious consideration to that, TA. I was just giving them a look earlier this morning. This sounds a bit ridiculous, but I just feel like they have more than I’m looking for at the moment. I guess I’m just not ready to step my game up to a triple-channel just yet But given any more difficulties, I’ll probably take the plunge (though maybe just a single-sided version for simplicity sake).
Installing the bleeder over C1 was actually the very first thing I tried. But it didn’t work properly for me. I think it may be how C1 and D1 are ordered in Richard’s driver.
LOL, well the TA series is really not any different from the MTN17dd from the UI standpoint. Only the mode groups are different in the UI.
As far as the rest of the driver goes the triple channel really doesn’t effect anything except the firmware, which is already taken care of. And like was said, you can leave the bottom side 7135’s off if you want, although I would recommend that you use them if you can, they really do add a nice high regulated mode.
Any chance someone here has tried adding one of these to a light with a lux-rc v5 driver? I’ve got a light I’d like to do this to, but I’m a bit apprehensive because its more expensive than most of what I tinker with.
I’ve already posted about this build in another thread, but I couldn’t help but add a quick pic here too. I put a lighted tailcap in a Sinner Tri-EDC today. Its one of the larger 6-emitter boards with all warm-white emitters, mounted under an orange translucent tailcap.
….except not really, because its actually much dimmer than this in real life and I can’t get it brighter without freaking out the driver. Lower resistance in the tail is a no-go, adding a bleeder causes all sorts of malfunction. So unfortunately it came back out and my Boss35 won’t be sporting a lighted tailcap.
If anyone else wants to attempt something similar though, these boards can be made to fit a McClicky switch. I used the 5.1 “big switch” ring board in 0.8mm thickness, then dremeled away basically everything but the traces. The switch body has to be thinned slightly too, and machined out underneath the ring board to clear the resistors. If this light had a driver that would accept a bleeder it would be no problem.
Also posted in another thread:
I was never able to do the lighting tailcap in triples with low voltage leds (new Oslon Square, Nichia 219C, XP-G3) in combination with BLF-A6 or bistro drivers. But now that I know the fix for the bistro driver (pyramid with C1, D1 and extra 5 Ohm resistor) the lighted tail can be done! . The above light has 4x219C and fixed X5/X6 driver from Banggood, 470 Ohm bleeder, 3x 4 KOhm resistors on the 6x dumb tail ring with red 0603 leds and red silicon cover.
I have not checked yet how the ‘fix’ +lighted tail works for the BLF-A6 driver in this same set-up.
I prefer Rev5.1 which is good for most of the Convoy single 18650 lights like S2+ and C8. Now I put in white leds on all boards and do the coloring with tailcap rubber’s color. Easy to swap colors if you bored with one.
Whatever comes in the light, usually. Unless you want a pot or something like that. The v5.1 board will work great with any mini-omten switch board (and others with some work)
What’s this fix you talk of? I ask as I have had lots of problems with getting the illuminated tailcaps to work in a triple 219C Convoy S2. The off timings go from normal to impossibly short (requiring faster and faster half-presses to switch modes) when it heats up.
Maybe I’m missing something obvious and my lights are borked too, but I’ve had no problems with Bistro driver triples and lighted tailcaps. Is it because I’m using Richard’s mtnelec driver or should I be more aware of some issue I may not be noticing?
So after reflowing a whole new DD+7135 driver (eliminating all parts but the LEDs as the source of the problem) and doing the X5/X6 driver fix with an extra resistor 10k resistor, the temperature sensitivity issue is STILL present.
I used a 750 ohm bleeder and 10k tailcap resistor driving 6 white tailcap LEDs which work normally (when flashlight is cold).
OTC values are: CAP_SHORT = 245, CAP_MED = 130 (I prefer a fast medium press time)
Out of curiosity, has anyone else experienced this problem? To test, get a feel of how quickly you need to half press to move up and down modes. Heat up the flashlight with turbo mode until fairly warm, then try switching modes again. If the issue is present, the flashlight will either switch down modes or not switch modes altogether.
My hypothesis is that the OTCs supplied by RMM [0805 1uF X7R Ceramic Capacitor] I’ve been using are heat sensitive and thus drain much faster than normal when hot.
The fix of the X5/X6 driver, as suggested by DEL, reduces the voltage spikes on the MCU and fixes the drop to low when switched to TURBO, and as I found out it (perhaps coincidentally) makes a lighted tailcap possible without screwing the UI. Reducing the temperature sensitivity of the driver is not mentioned for this fix.
As both drivers (Wight DD+7135 and mtn FET+7135) work fine without the X5/X6 fix, it must be unrelated. In any case, I didn’t notice a change between fix/no fix. Nobody else seems to have seen this temperature issue surprisingly. Maybe nobody with a lighted tailcap has driven their light hard enough to see it?
But given any more difficulties, I’ll probably take the plunge (though maybe just a single-sided version for simplicity sake).
. The above light has 4x219C and fixed X5/X6 driver from Banggood, 470 Ohm bleeder, 3x 4 KOhm resistors on the 6x dumb tail ring with red 0603 leds and red silicon cover.