making a small batch of Texas Avenger "TA" Drivers fully tested running Bistro or Narsil, Clicky or E-switch, SIR800

Tom, that’s a great announcement! Thanks for all the coding work you do for us here at BLF! Narsil is amazing!

Thanks! As many as you know, Narsil is built on top of, and using tools by other major contributors.

Roughly, and probably leaving a lot out - Dr Jones, JohnnyC, ToyKeeper, Werner

Also a hugh contribution from BLFers for input on adding features, and others involved in testing and providing feedback.

I should have kept better track of it all...

The leaded solder is FAR better then the tin, both in paste and rod forms.

Also, you can order solder paste stencils from https://www.oshstencils.com/ using the files from oshpark. These make it WAY easier to apply solder paste and is HIGHLY recommended if you are making these in bulk. I assumed you would already be doing this is the only reason I didn’t mention it before.

I would also recommend the stainless steel versions for the top sides at the very least. You can shrink the outside overhang to the minimum they allow for these small drivers as well without an issue.

as i am a little short on SIR800 FETs to assemble more drivers

I stripped some FETs from an dead gaming Laptop mainboard
7 nice Infineon that are as good as the SIR800

IRFH7932PbF - Infineon: 3.3mOhms@VGS = 10V
SIR800: 2.3mOhms@VGS = 10 V

How is it possible to put more board sizes to one stencil foil?

I personally use the NXP FET’s just fine in most of my lights, only the extreme hotrods do I even worry about using the sir800.

You can’t put multiple stencils on a single sheet as far as I know, this would be a question for oshstencil. You could make up a custom stencil by extracting the different pcb paste files and combining them. Although I have no idea how to actually do this easily.

Yeah I've used some cheaper FETs too and not cared. Most of the time I'd rather spend the $1 on having the controls not be frustrating, but then I don't mind spending it on both. Infeons in general are not low quality fets though, and hard to even call them inferior. Actually there are some that are possibly better, although not that one. That particular one is going to struggle a little when the battery is very low, because it has a high turn on voltage, but the voltage falls so quickly when the batteries are that low anyway, that it's probably the equivalent of running out of battery 1 minute faster, no big deal.

yeah that Infineon has 12mOhms at 3V

Anyway our TA drivers with Bistro and Narsil have LVP which reduces output anyways ramping down output when the cell gets low, so the FET wont be used at that level

On Narsil you can see it, when Battery is low you can get to DD the brightness raises a lot, then you see 3 blinks and it steps down, 3 blinks next stepdown aso. as the LVP kicks in

That would be awesome. I’ve been loving v1 narsil in one of my headlight builds. I’m looking forward to checking out how its matured. I still haven’t got around to learning how to flash drivers, so I’m glad Lexel is whipping these up so I can upgrade to the latest Narsil.

Good, point, not much use for the FET at low output.

I got a stupid setback

Tried to do paste on the boards the first were OK, then it gets harder to squeeze out the paste and I get way too thin stuff containing almost flux
then the remaining stuff gets rock solid in the syringe

Crappy stuff they sold me, my lead free 10 year old stuff is better

I recycled some from the syringe and applied it with a toothpick

could do 10 boards with remaining fluxed solder paste

I had the same thing happen with some of my solder paste. I ordered another tube and so far it has been working fine. I think it is more a matter of age, the older it is, the more it separates.

Yeah, I bought a tube of solder paste from eBay a while back, and it was a bit dried out. They also sent me a tube of just flux as a bonus. I took the ‘needle’ off the tube of solder paste and squeezed it into a cup. Then, I added some of the flux from the other tube and stirred until there were no more lumps. I got as much solder paste as I could back into the tube, and it seems to work fine now. Maybe you can do something similar with yours?

I bought some Kester EP256 on ebay. Vestureofblood recommended it in one of his “how to” youtube videos. I’ve only used it a few times but it’s been working great. I’m pretty sure solder paste has a limited shelf life. The one I bought on ebay was fresh when I bought it last year with a date of manufacture written on the tube.
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I’ve tried the lead free regular solder, but had a much more difficult time getting nice solder joints with it. So I just stick with the leaded stuff now.

Sorry for the setback. I understand if things get delayed while you wait for additional supplies.

Thanks for the support of our service budgetlight community in using our stencils at https://www.oshstencils.com

Just a heads up that we also sell solder paste in syringes, similar to the one shown here. We carry only high quality paste for reasonable prices, and are proud to see many of these designs come through our site.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Thanks Oshpark. Do you have a link to your solder paste etc?

I hope tomorrow new solder paste arrives
today I got 3 21mm and 6 more 30mm LDO boards

Can you PM me as to details for these, costs, time schedule, what soldering will be left to do for me, etc.

Thanks

Im interested as well if thats whats fit the L6.

Edit. I want one 30mm after reading what jason wrote :smiling_face:

Prices are in first post. I ordered mine for the L6 with a spring, Led and Power indicators (because I added a clear side switch cover and I want to know when the rear switch is on. Plus it helps you find the light and the switch in the dark), Narsil because it works with momentary switches, plus an option in the firmware to have the light turn on when you first apply power at the tail switch. After the tail switch is on, you can then turn it off with the side switch or tail switch. Turning off with the side switch puts it into standby mode and allows you to use the side switch to turn it back on as well as switch levels. I think it’s a pretty sweet setup. With shipping and tracking it was $26.

Not bad for the ramping firmware. The MTN driver only has preset brightness levels, although you can choose what levels you want.

The TA drivers are harder to get since they usually require building yourself. I’m not at the level of assembling complete drivers.

I don’t think there is an exact time schedule, but I’m guessing I might get mine in 4 to 6 weeks. No biggie since I appreciate that Lexel is doing this service for us when he certainly doesn’t have to. He’s certainly not getting rich building these. Lol

Edit, As far as what you’ll need to solder: the 2 emitter leads, switch leads if on the L6 and maybe a spring if you didn’t add one to your order. That’s about it.

I’ll be soldering more because I plan to add the switch lights to mine.

I’m sure Lexel will PM with all the little details.

I’m interested in one of the unreserved 30mm LDO drivers. 70c temp. PM me the price. I’d like to see how it does adapted to my chimera.

edit: Adapted = mounted to a stripped srk board. There’s more than sufficient space. I really like the chimera as it is now but with the TA driver I suspect it will be :heart_eyes: