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

It seems that the examples of the values I see here so far for the AUX board resistors are lower than the ones above. I also like the very dim AUX LED’s. I hope the recommended values above will bring very dim like tritium at the low setting and brighter at the high setting as close as to the moon mode.

I was checking around this thread for more about with the AUX board. I just happened to notice something else. The higher value for the sense resistor was used in the prototype. I am guessing the sense resistor is the big one with the “R 020” label. What did the higher value do? Did it simply limit the current even further for the TURBO mode?

Yes. It is time to move on from 219B. Indeed, the prototype has been built with them (and several others). There have been no problems. So, my questions now are more for the curiosity. I will go ahead and use 219B.

Thanks.

@contactcr, Don’t work on them one at a time like through-hole components, work them all at once until the last moment.

1) With a dab of solder flux on your finger, scrub it onto all 4 pads at once.
2) With a small drop of solder on the solder iron tip, brush back-and-forth across all 4 pads at once a few times. Individual older domes will form over each pad. If any of them connect, repeat with less solder on the iron. Wiping perpendicular can fix it too. Eventually they will all have individual domes.
3) Tin each wire by rolling the wire over a solder drop on the iron’s tip.
4) Trim the wires if you stripped and tinned too much.
5) Hold a tinned wire on top of the correct solder dome. Tap with solder iron corner to add heat. The tinned wire should sink into the dome. Repeat for all wires/domes.
6) Done.

I have already done precisely this but I will elaborate since the combined information will be helpful to others.

In addition to the above:

- The right wire length helps tremendously

- When you feed your wires through consider how they will be attached to the boards so you aren’t crossing them over each other above the PCB (it probably wont fit otherwise)

- If your wire will retain any shape at all consider bending it a little into position so you aren’t trying to juggle tweezers, a clean iron tip, steady hand, etc.

  • If you have one use a smaller tip for only the final 4 RBG wires. A big chisel tip or similar will work better for everything else.

:+1: :beer:

Got 1 set in today - dunno when I'll get a chance to install it, hoping soon! I got 2 FW3A's

I did my FW3C today, and did a few improvements, took some images.

For the resistors, I ended up using r=330 b=330 and g=680 or 1k. It definitely tooks much better, especially with 1k.

I only had 0804 at hand, so I had to improvise the fit. The green fits sideways, but the blue needs to stay flat to clear the optics. Note that the image below was before I figured this out.

I also twised the ends of the enameled wires differently this time, instead of marking with sharpie. Worked nicely.

Installed sliced dogfarts as I previously mentioned. Absolutely fabulous leds, massively underrated.

I installed my Lume1 driver earlier today, I love the idea of a buck/boost for the FW3A, but I have encountered a bit of a problem. I am experiencing visible PWM until level ~20, I am not particularly sensitive to it, but on the very low levels it has an almost candle like flicker.

I am assuming that I received a dud, but I am curious if anyone else is experiencing something similar.

Will buy two once the mi/mo issue is fixed. Great work.

I’ve recieved my driver 2 days ago and after some playing with it, I want to write something about it.

First issue I encountered was when I tried to solder rgb wires to driver. I ripped one of the solder pads from the board :frowning:
They are so incredibly delicate, I have some expirience with soldering and never encountered pads so sensitive. Since i never really liked aux led boards, it isn’t that big of a deal for me.

Second issue is extremely strong flickering in lower end of the ramp. It flickers like it’s in candle mode up until I hit ramp level 35-40, which is too bright for a ramp floor. So after puting in this driver, I definetly won’t use my FW3A in “middle of the night toilet run”, unless i want flicker.

Other than that driver works well, especialy the thermal stepdown from top of ramp, which is much better than in factory driver. It doesn’t overshoot or step down too fast like it did with factory driver. There is also obvious improvement in battery life. Overall runtime is about the same, but it is fully stabilized now until deplating battery when cooled. I also feel like pwm of fet channel would be better than just on/off. Fet being just on/off causes turbo step down before flashlight body gets appropriately warm.

Overall it’s good driver but needs improvements, especially in low brightness flicker.
Sorry for all grammar mistakes that I unknowingly made.

Could it be that flickering is related to some bad conntact? Kawiboy would have notice it already...

My Lume1 does not flicker at any brightness setting.

Nor the 2 of mine… one in a FW3 and the other in a NovaTac…

Have you tried a better battery? What’s the resistance of the one you are using?

Thanks. I just emailed Neal to see about getting a replacement.

I’ve used a few different batteries with the same results. I even took it apart and made sure my solder joints and contacts looked good.

Probably the driver then. Let us know how the new one works.

I think i found the source of flickering issue. I decided to take out the driver and clean it with both acetone and IPA.

After cleaning, flickering is still there, but nowhere near as bad as it was. Now it completely stops flickering at 15+ ramp level (it was 35-40 previously). I wonder why it was dirty straight from the mail (I didn’t use flux for soldering) and which component is so sensitive to dirt.

Was your solder ‘rosin core’?

No, I was deliberately avoiding using any flux, because in past I had other flashlight drivers malfunction just from flux residue.

Maybe make sure to also disassemble and clean the tailcap contacts.

I recommend getting some Deoxit Gold for cleaning contacts.