AA is used to test = To see if its working .. 3v is just enough to cycle through the modes and make sure the pill is working as it should ..
You test to make sure everything is fine , as you go , makes life easier if you can catch mistakes early . Also 3v is much safer as its far less likely to do damage if something is wired or soldered incorrectly , you can oops and laugh about it latter .. [ + wont pull 10A ]
Use a 4.2v 18650 and you may get the magic smoke as your reward ... [ You fried something ]
New driver Brighter ? I dont think so , more efficient , user friendly , better .. + Folks wanted a guide on doing a driver swap , and I wanted to see what this driver does ...
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write this article. It's a little advanced for me as yet, but the pictures really help. Better than a lot of text books.
I highly recommend a solder sucker or solder removal wick for when you are removing the original driver. Either of these can be purchased cheaply from DX. Having these tools will really help if you are going to be doing a lot of soldering.
Thank you so much for posting this, I haven't done anything like this with flashlights yet but have been thinking about getting into it, this helps greatly and it seems straightforward.
Is there any chance you, or someone else could post or link me to a similar tutorial for swapping an emitter???
You would want to make sure that the driver you need is the right diameter. 17mm is a very common size and is the sized used in the P60 dropins, but some drivers are larger and some are smaller.
If I’m not mistaken the one used here can be made to do a few different modes ie 6 ways ,now how yobdo that I’m not sure ?
When my drivers arrive I will post pics here as well if u don’t mind old?
Another way to remove the old driver is to cut away the solder blob with a sharp hobby knife (mind your thumb) and also cutting vertical along the edge of the driver. This is normally sufficient for prying the driver out at its edge with the knife (again mind the fingers).
I have found that this can snap the blades on hobby knives, so now I have an old small, precision flat blade screwdriver that I use to pry out drivers.