I don’t think there will be much difference in multi-emitter lights. They don’t tend to drive the LEDs to the max anyway, so amps per LED are not near the limit.
Unless the light is large.
With single LED lights you can drive the LED much harder which was a problem with 3030. It may still be a problem with 4040 but the limit should be higher.
Problem is, some (cough! many) of you still use unregulated drivers, which is just (sort of) wrong(no matter what).
In other matters, in a sort of related way and conversely, people like me believe in being impervious to Covid-19. Did it nearly from the start. Awaken to your spirit (or better, to the reality of the soul). Learn to believe. The sooner you do the same, the sooner this sort of Zelda Majora's Mask tale will end.
Just like you Barkuti I’m not a fan of direct drive. But with limited choice on the market that’s what I tend to choose.
Times are changing, availability of regulated drivers increases. Still not with Andruil….but these will come as well.
I swear into this diy FET DD driver as the best for certain setup(1x18650, 1x emitter setup) maybe not perfect for this new Osram emitters (but it could be reworked if we restrict current over the fet to around 4.5A) but for old XPG2 in mentioned setup is really, really the best, unbeatable…
The problem I have is that AK-47 C1 driver (firmware with high,med,low no memory effect) disappeared from the market… So for me that means “GAME OVER”.
I would take 17mm regulated drivers (4.5A on high) but I need high, med, low mode without memory effect so it always starts on high… I don’t want to mess with re-flashing and reprogramming or any kind of fiddling(short press, long press, 5 flashes etc.) to get into that…
So we all have wishes and preferences… My vote, but only for mine mentioned type of setup goes to above mentioned type of FET DD driver.
Mmm, the standard 4 modes ∅17mm 5A driver is close, but I guess close is not enough, namely because of the low to high mode order. It's maximum driving current, being slightly below 5A, is spot on for the fashionable CSLNM1.TG, though.
I understand the preferences thing, I know how the mind works and when one believes something could happen, it's only a matter of time for it to happen. Thus, to completely preclude driver misconfiguration wise or pragmatic man sticks to unmessable driver. :-D
This statement is too vague to answer as is. A buck or boost driver may benefit from low vF while a linear driver may have no impact or slightly worse and a FET driver may be worse still (as far as runtime).
“Efficiency” is in the datasheet for each brightness bin but it all depends on how you power it.
First of all, if you need to measure runtime you must provide a clearer definition of runtime. I understand it basically can be defined as “the amount of time the flashlight remains powered from switch on until condition”, thus you need to define condition for runtime measurement (battery voltage, amount of flashlight output, etc.).
With the above in mind…
Using a boost-buck or a boost driver it is easy: slight increase in runtime. Switching drivers usually have well defined cell voltage windows and a boost-buck or boost driver would be able to run the emitter at the condition specified power/current from full battery until cut-off. With a buck driver, at some point battery voltage would get close enough to the emitter Vf as to force a reduction in driving current / emitter power. With a lower Vf emitter the regulated window is larger (coupled with a little bit higher efficiency), so runtime at selected current or emitter power is larger. However, high Vf emitters (slightly less efficiency) also cause the driver to stop switching operation and reduce current and power sooner, this means the runtime would be larger in this particular case for a high Vf emitter (if condition allowed); and thus, comparatively speaking the low Vf emitter would have less runtime (with these conditions) because of a higher runtime window at full power.
With linear drivers (regulation using MOSFETs as variable resistors) a low emitter Vf reduces runtime, this is because the window at which current remains constant (battery voltage > emitter Vf + other component voltage drops) enlarges (causing higher average battery drain), so the amount of regulated time is larger but total runtime gets reduced. Regulated time is a fraction of total runtime, by the way.
With unregulated MOSFET drivers the answer is @#$% easy: less runtime. This is because the larger the difference between battery voltage to emitter Vf, the more the driving current (and emitter power, lemons, etc.).
Note: had to edit this more than once. If you find something worth being corrected, say so. Thanks!
Yes something like that but with H,M,L no memory and no thermal regulation. Who wants thermal regulation anyway? That ain’t for serious modders :laughing: