It’s not “good” if you have to fix them Not everyone is able to do that. And Richard’s have a pulldown on the FET gate and something else I can’t quite remember to avoid the reset issues. I’m not certain how it all works but it does.
The A6 one is indeed solid and a very good bargain. As far as I know, its only problem is the short/long tap time which changes when it gets very hot. I think some people blamed a cheap OTC for that. It’s a minor problem in any case.
I have two Convoys with the DIY Driver from RMM, one with XP-G2s, one with 219Cs.
The desert tan S2+ is on the way and I want to make another 219C Version with 18350 tube - and I don’t want that thing to be any less bright than the other one
Denigrating a budget “mass produced at low final price” driver and glorifying a custom-made driver is exactly the type of answers that are all over CPF.
Except that in this case there is a functional difference between the two. Nobody’s saying the BG driver doesn’t work or that nobody should use it, only that Richard’s version is objectively better. And it is.
Besides, CPF has nothing to do with this and there’s nothing wrong with paying extra for custom-made and/or prettier lights that are functionally identical to budget offerings, if the buyer wants to spend his/her money that way.
RMM’s drivers are hardly what I would call custom made. I seem to remember pictures of large plates being reflowed with several dozens of them at once. They’re certainly premium quality products but they are also produced at decent volumes.
And I’m not denigrating the BG drivers. They are what they are: a bunch of cheap parts thrown together with minimum care to make something surprisingly good, considering the price point. I have some and even spent countless hours writing custom firmware to get the most out of them. But just because they’re inexpensive does not mean all flaws must be overlooked and hidden from someone who asks. I believe in informing people and letting them make their own decisions.
Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that a mass-produced driver will never be as good as a “custom-made” driver but thank you to djozz (and jerommel) for sharing a way to turn a “one dollar store” “low quality” driver into something better…true BLF spirit.
I use the BG FET+1 in all my C8s with various LEDs, XP-G2 and XP-G3 triple build Convoy S2s, plus a few other random hosts. I mostly like them, but the short and long click times are not always the same and I couldn’t get the long click working with the illuminated tail cap.
O, i thought the FET on the Banggood drivers were pretty good actually.
Was planning to use them on my (still not attempted) MT03 mod (in stead of 2 tiny cheapo FETs per LED).
Maybe best to look for something better then…
They are, or at least were. Not the best we know now but back when they were picked, 3 years ago or so, I think they were considered one of the best if not the best option. There might have been quality fade since then (part substitution for $:money_mouth_face: or there is some hyperbole going on in this thread. I have not bought any recently so I really can’t say.
Well - the thing is, that I don’t want to spend 15$+ on a driver (We’re still on *B*LF, right?)- if I need two, the shipping cost for the DIY FET drivers with my loved 6 modes are cheaper.
I will try one out but just for a not so important light.
Yes, i can’t agree more with this.
If KD understand what we want in drivers (triple channels and Narsil, clicky/e-switch options) we may see them for less than 10 bucks
Of course the banggood driver has lower quality components, but it is fine depending on what you do with it.
If you are planning a full option/full throttle mod, than maybe you are better of using a better driver (RMM for instance). As proved by comparing the Emisar D4 against the Astrolux S41.
If you just want to add better modes and more power to a simple light, than the banggood drivers are a nice cheap option. I use them like this in simple/cheap budgetlightforum mods like my OTR i3 and the supwildfire ‘’poor mans mx2 ut’’.