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

In the detailed information, the following is noted:

“Max Turbo is done with a DD-FET, but the current path does go through the sense resistor, adding 20mR in the path. This reduces slightly the absolute max brightness. It’s possible to ‘fix’ this with an additional FET to bypass the resistor, but I’m not sure if it’s really worth the effort. This however can be beneficial for some kinds of lower V_fwd LEDs (marginally).”

So in a sense, that makes this driver even better for 219B’s, and I would think it should be fine for a single XP-L.

A related note, the FET is not PWM’d. If I understood right, the other components interact with it, and the resulting rise time of the FET is somewhere in the ballpark of a full millisecond. So the firmware works normally up to max regulated current, and then the FET 100% on / full turbo only.

I’m a little curious what the effect of trying to PWM it at high frequency would be - might it smooth the output at an intermediate value with ripple at the PWM frequency, or would it risk burning something out?

i have some 30 AWG solid wire-wrap silver-plated wire with Kynar insulation, measures 0.5mm OD, wire diam is 0.25mm. 50 in a pack, 5” long with 1” on each end already stripped off. i doubt this wire is being used to carry any significant current, it could be used as a fuse in a high current circuit.

I’m sure it’s a non issue but I’m pretty sure mcpcb can be higher than 100c but the wire (insulation) will likely never have good enough contact to cause issues. I only had down to 28awg silicone so just decided to get PTFE

Could this be used with very low vF LEDs, like red for example?

My drivers are in the country with an eta of Monday Aussie time. :smiley:
Now to choose the lights and emitters to go with them!

Mine were clearing on Wed, apparently - good old Australia Post being ded. Still in customs last I looked.

Mine is still UNFULFILLED...

I wanted a set but the $8 shipping killed it for me sadly. For $29.90 I can almost buy another whole FW3a with free shipping which makes it unjustifiable.

My Lume1 driver with aux LED board just arrived! :heart_eyes:

I’ll have to try installing it this weekend.

Also got a few Oslon White 2 boost LEDs. I plan to try them in my Sofirn S11.

Is there a newer datasheet?
https://cdn.shopifycdn.net/s/files/1/0031/0155/6806/files/LUME1-FW3X_Datasheet\_-\_PRELIMINARY.pdf

I installed one of the drivers I received yesterday. It is definitely not the easiest but doable.

1) start by filing down the pcb cut marks.
2) My FW3A had a flat lip on one side of the PCB, but Lume1 did not. If you don’t file it down, the driver does not sit properly. The circuit still works fine, but you will have a 1mm gap once you screw on the tube. I filed it down to the inner ring on the pcb, and then it fit just fine.
3) I used 0.3mm (28awg) enameled wire for RGB wire, marked them ahead with sharpie dots to distinguish later.
4) You absolutely have to have the original mcpcb. I had a noctigon mcpcb with sliced dogfarts, and did not have the right wire routing for secondary PCB to sit properly. So I switched over to original FW3A mcpcb with SW45K flowed.
5) It is a major PITA to make sure that the secondary LED pcb sits properly. It does not need to be flush with the mcpbc (I was not able to), but it needs to be as close as possible. In then end I had about a mm of gap and the optic sat nicely.
6) By the time I got to wiring the secondary LEDs, the sharpie dots were already cleaned out. However, it is ok if that happens - put together the battery tube, and test out the primary LED. Once you verify it works, turn it off and then start probing the secondary led wires with a voltmeter, you will find that one pair has some voltage between them on the order of volts. Between those, the (-) polarity is K on the secondary PCB, and the remaining three wires are RGB. Now, the modes are cyclic, so I honestly think it is not important how you wire between RGB wires, all permutations are valid, they just change the blinking order. I wired them randomly, and the flashlight seems to be working quite nicely so far.

In the end, I have a FW3A with a buck boost driver supplemented with a FET for DD and SW45K. It is the almost the same size as my SW45K SC64C LE (not McBob version, my DIY version, but definitely inspired by him) and a similar efficiency for most lo-mid modes, but with a much more powerful hi-mode. Honestly, this is quite the holy grail for me, thanks lone ocean.

Next, I’ll switch over my FW3C to Lume1 and the sliced dogfarts which are another favorite of mine for when I prefer purer white of sliced LH351D over rosy 219B.

We already went through the pcb variations with Lexel’s boards, even the OEM ones have like 3 versions. If you have to you can scratch off a new pos or neg pad if you really want to.

Thanks for the report. It sounds like the main challenge is fitting the RGB board into a tight space?

Do you think a Noctigon board can be filed or drilled to make room for the RGB wires?

To be honest, probably it can fit, I initially thought that the secondary led needed to be flush with mcpcb so I did the swap.

I ended up with a 1mm gap between them, probably that has enough clearance to route the cables underneath, though you would have to make sure that the solder bridged pcb connections on the mcpcb are not too tall, and that the primary led wires are somewhat flattened.

You know, I always try to salvage the mcpcbs if I lift off one of the pads. I was never successful, maybe I was unlucky. Is there a trick to it? I usually use a sharp blade to drag/scratch the coating

I’ll add a bunch of commentary and tips but here’s album from my build today:

For those of you that have installed this in your lights. Are your green aux leds much brighter than the red and blue leds? I just installed this driver rgb board in my light. The mixed, red-green and blue-green, colors look solid green instead of yellow and teal like my other lights.

The resistor on the green channel has a value of 100ohm. Does anyone know what the correct value should be? I checked some of my other lights and they have 120ohm resistors for the green channel.

I would like to confirm that the triple 219B can be used with Lume1 with the existing/installed firmware. The stock driver (the one with 7135’s) needs the different version of the firmware (less current) for the triple 219B.

219B SW45K with Lume1 is the holy grail for me as well. E21 would be good, too. It should result in the smaller hot spot/less flood.

I believe with a high capacity cell the 219b should be fine. There is a series sense resistor with the FET and that should probably be enough to keep the current in check for those emitters. Just my gut on this though…

Just finished installing my Lume 1 with aux RGB board inside my LM10.

It took me around 3 hours to complete the assembly, but it works.

Some assembly notes:

  • It was necessary to file down the outer edges of the driver board to get it to fit in the socket. Unlike the FW3A, the LM10 doesn’t have a flat edge on the driver so I didn’t need to bother with that.
  • I also had to file down the outside of the aux LED board to enable it to fit in the star’s compartment.
  • Even then, my aux board didn’t fit over the LEDs properly Not enough leeway around the holes in the aux board for the LEDs and they didn’t quite line up. I used a square needle file to make the holes slightly bigger until it fit. I might have been able to omit this step if I removed the screw preventing the star from torquing as it may have been holding the star to one side of its compartment. However, I liked the protection for the wires so didn’t do that.
  • It took me several tries to solder on the driver wires on the star. This was expected as it is very important that they do not overhang their slots in the aux board. If they do, the aux board can bend and break when pressure is applied. I had to desolder and remove excess solder and shorten the wires a couple times before I had it just right.
  • The bondpads on the aux board are absolutely tiny, and they’re all together… separated by maybe 1/10 of a mm each!!! I spent an hour soldering them in place as after each wire I had to pull out my DMM to check to see if it shorted to the pad next to it, which happened often. When it did, then I had to redo and try again. I ended up using 2.5 power magnification reading glasses combined with a fine tip on my soldering iron.
  • Once I finally got the aux board soldered up and working, I then discovered the optic wouldn’t fit since the holes in the optic were not perfectly aligned with the holes in the star. To fix this I took a fresh #10 X-acto knife and thinned down the legs on my Carclo 10507 optic until it.
  • It is VERY important that if things don’t fit, do not force it. Those aux boards are super-delicate. A small amount of pressure the wrong way might cause it to snap in half. And don’t use much pressure when filing it down either.

My impressions:

  • The Aux LEDs are dimmer than that in my Emisar D4v2. Especially the blue. And that applies to both high and low brightness settings. Low brightness mode is barely visible. I think they’re a bit too dim in low brightness mode. I’m not sure they could be used to locate the light at night unless the bezel is pointed right at your face from close range.
  • This is a VERY tough soldering job. The contacts on the aux board are too close together in my opinion. For a hobbyist board they should be spread apart. Or at least have a couple mm gap between them. I suspect most modders aren’t going to be successful in their wiring of the aux board. I found this board far harder to solder on than the aux board in my Emisar D4V2 or Lexel’s aux board in my Emisar D4v1. If you do plan on soldering this I recommend using a DMM that tells you when you have a short. Also, plan on the project taking multiple hours. Then slowly and methodically work your way through it without forcing anything.
  • Ramping mode is not completely smooth. It smoothly ramps up, but then there is a stairstep jump in brightness at the very top of the ramp. This is different from an FW3A that smoothly ramps up all the way except for the 2 blinks when switching channels.
  • I don’t think there’s any chance I’m ever going to change the main LEDs in this light, since if I did I’d have to redo the nightmare soldering job on those tiny bondpads.