Those tiny RGB pads do make this 100x harder. I know nothing about PCB design, I only wonder if maybe the K pad could be relocated and then spread out the RGB pads evenly in the same spot.
I tried to get away with not taking my own advice and pre-tinning a few RBG wires and that was a big mistake. I’m using stranded 30 AWG PTFE wire and it wanted to spread out and fray on me. In my series of pictures I also left the RBG wires too long so they really had to be pushed down to make optic seat.
I think for me the biggest challenge was getting the wires in position to comfortably solder. The actual solder process is so quick and with flux they resist making shorts since it tends to melt straight downwards. I still did redo some that looked bad and ultimately ending up with a “good enough” result.
Hopefully the driver is rock solid, able to be flashed easily, etc and the aux board can just be “icing on the cake” for people who want the additional challenge of defeating the final solder boss.
I would say it’s a matter of risk. The 219B’s on a FET driver will be overdriven relative to Nichia’s specs. I believe there are some people using 219B’s on the stock driver with the stock firmware, on the assumption that because they don’t use turbo much, and use a medium drain battery like the Sanyo 18650GA or Samsung 35E, it is low risk. However I may have misunderstood some of the previous posts.
There is a Nichia-targeted firmware in Toykeeper’s repository that limits the FET channel to 50%. This technique probably shouldn’t be used with the Lume1, because it can not PWM the FET channel. On Lume1, the FET channel is max on only. The Lume1 also has a customized version of Anduril, and I missed if the code for that is shared yet.
If the Lume1 firmware is tweaked to disable the FET channel entirely, then it is entirely safe, but obviously the max output is reduced. However, you still get probably 700-800 lumens, high efficiency, and RGB aux capability, all in super high CRI.
Keep in mind E21A has noticeable tint shift across the beam if using narrow optics. As a result, most people choose the medium beam optic with the E21A, so the spot is not very small.
Well, I am using 219b LEDs in all 5 of my FW3x lights. 2 are now running Lume1 drivers. Fingers crossed it does not end up badly.
On the aux LEDs front, I measured the following resistor values:
R: 330Ω
G: 100Ω
B: 220Ω
Is is possible the green and blue resistors were swapped by mistake? I am thinking of swapping them to use 220Ω on the green and 100Ω on the blue to see if that will fix it. Unless any of you guys are about to install a driver and fancies doing it (I don’t know when I will have time for the next installation).
Despite my experience soldering, the aux pads are indeed challenging
These are the same values I measured. I swapped a 120ohm resistor on the green channel. It’s better but still too bright. After my resistors arrive, I will be installing some lower value resistors on the blue/red channels and slightly higher value on green.
Soldering the aux pads was definitely challenging. I used 30awg stranded wire. I feel like this would’ve been slightly easier with solid core wire.
Does that even help much? Those values just set PWM on the FET, they don’t magically lower the maximum current. So while the LEDs don’t get so bright that it’s obvious that they’re overdriven, they are still overdriven half of the time. I’m not exactly sure how this in turn affects LED life expectancy.
My understanding may be off here, because I really don’t get how limiting the FET should save the LEDs.
Lets move on from 219B. The prototype used it and people have been building them for years.
Stick with 3500mAh battery (like was already mentioned above) and assuming heat path and reflow are good, enjoy your CRI. If you think someone will stick their brand new uber vape batteries charged to 4.25V in your light you can ask for $9 LED deposit when you lend it out.
The 50% PWM firmware is just a hack and probably protects edge cases. The stock driver really had no other way besides disabling FET so people asked and that’s pretty much all you can do.
Yep… :+1: I have to agree… Lexel sent me a boat load of different micro resistors for these or his boards, I might mess around with the last driver, lowering the green and maybe the red a tiny bit more? Winter is coming…
