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

Anyone had any drivers shipped in the last 2 weeks?
I ordered another batch and the orders seems to be doing the common Neal “sitting there doing nothing and not repling” order thing.
Just trying to work out of the stock is gone and he doesnt want to say so, which has happened before.

I suspect since the resistors were wrong you will have to contact him and say you don’t mind and to ship first batch anyways

Looks pretty convincing that a satisfactory solution is just swapping blue/green resistors. Thanks.

Will be available thoese drivers for EDC18 and emisar D4V2?

A great thanks to everyone for the feedback and comments, as well as for sharing your build photos. These are all very useful and the learnings from them will be conveyed in future designs, and I greatly appreciate them.

pc_light, thanks so much for your photos, those look really good!

contactcr, thanks for your build video, I'm sure it will be useful for others trying to do this mod.

Whezzel, g_damian, etc, thanks for the photos and for trying out different resistors!

Just to remind everyone, my suggested build instructions are detailed in the PDF datasheet linked on the Github for this project. Please refer to it for details on how to get started. For example, soldering the Aux wires is a lot easier if you use thin wire, such as AWG30 (especially solid core). These wires carry very little current so there is no need to use silicone wires, which typically have thick insulation, and are typically fine-wire-multi-stranded, making soldering a fair bit more challenging.

Unfortunately I don't even have any of those two flashlights myself so I can't even begin to do any design work on them. I'd had to purchase all the flashlights I design drivers for myself. I dropped a message to Intl-outdoors a while back but I believe they are tied up in ongoing projects and have no plans to collaborate on a design just yet! I haven't heard anything about the EDC18 from Lumintop either though.

Just a little fyi on the EDC18. It's got a switch mounted on the driver:

The blue wire is a jumper (cut+jumper mod) I added to wire up the switch LED to be controlled by the MCU. Stock, it's hard wired to power

The driver is glued and has those bump outs at the holes for alignment, so the switch gets properly centered.

I could provide more details and dims if you are interested.

What happend with nealsgadgets ? I waiting for lume1 shipping already a month. Is this driver really exist?))

I recived from him 12 pcs driver and aux board.
Neal was on vacation last week

Can I ask, how did you remove the glued driver and what glue do you use to reinstall it?

I've removed many glued drivers. Hhmm for this one, probably used a solder pick tool through the LED wire hole. Forst feel around and try to be sure you are not on an IC. Then I'll apply gentle steady pressure - works if the glue is weak. Next would be harder held pressure, possibly off to one side - an edge. If still not breaking, try the hammer with a few light taps.

No need to re-glue a driver like this - simply re-assemble the batt tube and that holds it in place. Really no need to dis-assemble at that thread connection again. The EDC18 from the pics above I've been using to EDC for quite a long time now.

The problem with the aux board fitment on the Ti (and probably stainless) models is that the double thickness PCB is not quite centered. I guess it was cut wrong or something. You can kind of see it just by looking at the optic. The edge of the optic shows more on one side than the other.

Outside the light the aux board fits on the LEDs flush but hangs over one one side. This is why it’s such a PITA to get it seated IN the light.

code version: ~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/lume1 : revision 492

my options:

#define DEFAULT_THERM_CEIL 50
#define USE_SOFT_FACTORY_RESET


Soft reset… good
Voltage check… good
Temp regulation… good
Ramping… good
Steps… good
Aux… good
Lockout… good
Momentary… good
Manual/Auto Memory… good
Strobes… good

LVP… not tested
Muggle… not tested

One thing that works different from my other Anduril lights is: Turbo > Stepdown > double click takes me to last memorized and not back into turbo

Not sure if bug or by choice.


Also, are my fuses wrong? Datasheet shows another value for High :question:

First attempt failed at the initial step. Couldn’t get the wires to desolder from the mcpcb. So could I potentially solve this with a better soldering iron (all I had laying around was an attachment for a little propane torch), or do I need to unscrew the mcpcb so it’s detached from the shelf?

It’s not screwed on. Take tweezers and stick in one of the optic holes to break suction from paste and sit the mcpcb on the screw to prevent it from sitting flush.

Put fresh solder on your iron clean it off and you can even put a bit more fresh solder to help it desolder right before.

You should feel good about this step or else you will have more trouble resoldering them.

For anyone planning to do a little more DIY work, having the right tools will absolutely make your life significantly easier and I highly recommend picking up a decent soldering iron.

Personally I use a Radio-frequency Metcal MX-500 - these are usually extremely expensive but I managed to purchase a 'damaged' one for ridiculously cheap on eBay and repaired it, and the performance is unbeatable - for anyone who hasn't used a RF iron, once you try it you can't go back!

  • For general soldering, I recommend a decent chinese-brand iron such as this one, paired with genuine T-12 Hakko tips:
  • For tips, please purchase a genuine high quality tip. A cheap knock-off will have you banging your head in no time.
    • For small work, get the J-12 tip (very fine bent-tip)
    • For larger everyday work, something like the D-24 tip is good (chisel tip)

Learning how to use the tips and how to set the temperature is also important. This guide is very detailed: https://www.hakko.com/english/tip_selection/type.html

I use equivalent tips for my Metcal. For SMD soldering, I use a JBC precision rework station but you don't need this unless you're soldering QFNs or smaller.

Finally, flux is very useful, likewise with the correct solder width. I recommend a 0.2 to 0.3mm diameter solder for the really fine work (this is very important). For regular solder, 0.5-0.8mm works well. For flux, #186 or #951 Kester pens are my most used.

I do so miss the JBC station I used when I did micro-soldering professionally. Out of my price range, though… An ERSA i-CON Pico might eventually be on the table though.

I can definitely recommend the i-CON Pico and Nano. We have a Nano at work and it is amazing. Pico is basically the same thing but with no ESD protection.

Not doing anything wrong. The voltage mode is there twice, to make it easier to select. When there was just one, people found the timing difficult… so a second one was added to give the user a wider time window.

That means the battery is full, or close to full.

Thanks! I think you are the first to try it.

About the fuses, I vaguely recall that some avrdude versions report swapped values for two fuses… so it might just be that. Not sure.

About double-click going to mem after turbo has stepped down, that sounds strange. If you have the ceiling set to 149/150, and the current brightness is below that, double-click should go back up to turbo. If it’s not doing that, something doesn’t sound right. Could it be that the ceiling is set to a lower level?

The main areas of risk in this version are the voltage and temperature measurement, and thermal regulation. If those are working though, it’s probably safe to merge into a bigger branch for more people to use.

Convoy S21A or B, M21A, B…