Lume1-FW3X: Constant Current Buck-Boost & FET Driver with Anduril1/2 + RGB Aux

The drivers are currently being fabricated for production as of a week ago. Unfortunately I haven't really been able to get much details from Neal since it appears that Lumintop is the one actually manufacturing the driver with their partner fabrication houses. I've been trying to get a detailed timeline from Neal but as mentioned, it looks like the initial offering is to have the Lume1 driver as part of some special edition FW3 flashlights, and I'm strongly suggesting to Neal to offer the drivers for sale as individual drivers ASAP. If you contact Neal directly, it can help us let him know the interest everyone has for the driver :).

I'll continue to give more updates as I receive them. In the event the drivers take a little too long, I will reconsider another separate group order.

Thank you!

Man i want some of these drivers so bad.
Ive got something like 12 FWxA lights now with every LED you can think of.
Would love to increase the efficiency on some of them.
I really dont want to have to buy a new $200 light though from Neal…

Yes that would not be acceptable, so I'm really trying to make sure Neal will be offering bare drivers at least for sale to members, and hopefully RGB Aux PCBs. It's not very likely that Neal can offer tri-LED aux boards because there are too many possible LED colour combinations, so for those, it's probably best to order the board yourself and assemble it with the LEDs of your choice.

I sure hope Neal or Lumintop doesn’t have any funny ideas here. The driver sure as heck better be made publicly available. .

Another quick update - just got a message from Neal that the drivers are in preparation for sale and Lumintop / Neal will be expecting to begin having them on sale in about 2 weeks or so.

I'm not exactly sure what their plans are for drivers in flashlights, but Neal confirmed that he will definitely be offering standalone drivers for sale.

Thanks for your patience everyone!

Awesome! Thanks for the update.

What a good example of businesses being open to external ideas and expertise to keep products on point.

Thank you loneoceans and Neal/Lumintop. I’m looking forward to these offers.

Honestly it’s probably the least they could do. They got multiple new driver designs and dozens of new lights in their catalog all based on this one light.

Great news.
Cant come soon enough, ive got two drivers that are somewhat broken.
This way i can free up some spares as well :slight_smile:

Will Neal also be selling the aux boards?

as far as i know : YES

Hello! Just wanted to keep more updates as I get them. It's moving along slower than I would have hoped, but I think I can't complain with everyone hit by the pandemic from supply chain to shipping and manufacturing.

Regardless, yes, Neal will be selling the Aux LED boards (RGB version). I was recently request to also make some adjustments to improve manufacturing process. The answer I get from Neal about timeline is 'very soon', though he's also probably bottlenecked by Lumintop's production. Thanks again for your patience everyone!

Hi loneoceans - thanks for the update. I will keep an eye on Neal’s shop. I’m in for at least two of these and the sooner the better!

Hello all, finally I have more updates! Neal just received a first shipment of assembled Lume1-FW3X driver boards and RGB Aux boards from Lumintop:

Here's a photo I received from him this morning. I noted to them preferences from BLF members of the soldermask colour but it looks like they went for the same as the default driver - Purple. Looks OK with ENIG finish.

I'm expecting more details to purchase one will be available from Neal shortly, and hopefully I'll get a sample from Neal to validate.

As usual, when I get more specific details myself, I will be posting them here. Thanks!

Outstanding!

Thanks for the update!

I liked the idea of a less common PCB color, but the purple still looks pretty good.

Fantastic! I can’t wait to get my hands on a couple of these!

Did the separate LED RGB boards, the ones that could use hand picked colors, end up on the chopping block?

I think the general thinking was that it was too difficult for a manufacturer to produce, mainly because of the hand-picked colors part. I believe loneoceans made the designs available for anyone that wants to make their own.

I’m very excited for the lume1 and aux board.

Yeah! I do recall that. The question I guess was more aimed towards the boards that omitted just the SMD LEDs themselves, I recalled some mention of that being looked into for folks who wanted to do custom color mixes themselves, although my memory could be off.