Excellent review brted! As usual, sweet pictures and great attention to detail. Very interesting to me, as I know very little about individual flashlight parts. Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.
Could you explain the regulation term "Buck/Boost"? Thanks!
Buck/Boost: A LED needs maybe 3.5V to light up; this is called Vf. So the driver needs to supply that voltage. If you have a 1.2V NiMH in the flashlight, the driver needs to "boost" the voltage up to 3.5V. But if you have two 3V CR123A's supplying 6V, then you need to "buck" the voltage down to 3.5V. A lot of times you will see a boost driver with an input voltage of 1V to 4.2V or something like that, but if the voltage is over 3.5V (or so) then it just goes to "direct drive" where there is no regulation, the batteries are just directly powering the LED. Then you have drivers that are 3.6V-9V or something higher even. Those are buck regulators, knocking the voltage down to something that won't fry the LED.
So a buck/boost supposedly can do both: buck a high voltage and boost a low voltage. I'm not entirely sure this driver is truly bucking, but I don't really know. KD says it is a buck/boost, so I put that on there.
There is more on the CPF Wiki. If any of that info is wrong, let me know and I'll fix it.
Ah, I see. I wondered how this could support both 18650 and AA batteries. Very clear explanation, thanks!
Hi,
I think I followed your steps & the reasons & I sympathise with the soldering issue.
I also "can solder" but often find that space, or heat input restrictions, cause me grief & I often just hope that I have not damaged anything.
I find de-soldering much more difficult generally so I try to avoid this.
What I could not quite see, was how you knew what to do to get a given result, did you receiev some instruction sheet or equivalent of a manual????
Rgds
Peter O
There wasn't a manual, but there were some sketchy instructions at KD's product page here:
http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10243
But there was a lot more info at the post I linked to at CPF here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=258635
Those posts give more info, including where to solder the positive and negative wires.
Looking at the back, with the stars on the bottom, if you connect the negative outer band to the first star (clockwise) you get two modes, if you continue to the second star you get three modes, to the third star you get two brightness levels and strobe. If you connect the 4th star or do nothing, you get five modes.
There is another similar driver available at DX with stars called the AK-47 (plus a similar one at KD) and it seems like it has only recently been discovered that those offer various groups of modes as well. Here is that driver:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6190
Here is the post on CPF:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=3325063#post3325063
For some strange reason , the ones I got all pull way over 1A , I think 1.6A to 1.8A measured at the tail , [ Xp-G R5 ] Did I buy two or three ?
Yeah , mine go into low battery warning @ 3v [ tried it with a Primary ]
For single 18650 use with a XP-G R5 emitter , its a good driver ... + mode options [ I left one 5 mode and did the other as 3 mode ] I should maybe order another or two ...
Anything similar buck/boost for use with single 18650 around the net? I can't find a direct replacement.
KD has had this driver sold out for some time now , I would like a another 2 ... Just to see how they go with the XM-L
Me too. But never found a similar replacement.
KD has a new driver [ SSC P7 ]
Its only available as a 5 pack , Ive asked KD to sell them 1 at a time .. Will see what happens ..
Wont be buck boost though , Dealextreme sell a 1A buck boost driver ..
Really? which one?
Good review personally I like these drivers with selectable modes: gives you options
I have found a GREAT site that list a great number (budget) drivers
http://www.videofoundry.co.nz/ianman/laboratory/research/driverlist.php
Thank you , keep loosing track of that one ....
anyone know where this can be bought....seems to be discontinued on KD...
I think a lot of people would like to get one, but they don't seem to be available anywhere.
Welcome to BLF, TALLP! Hopefully we can be of more help next time.
thank u 4 the welcome....how bout ideas to heat-sink the 1 from DX.. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15880
Aloha and welcome to BLF TALLP!
is there anyway/anywhere we can order this driver from?
KD is sold out long ago
This might be a dumb question...
What are the chances of sanding, grinding, trimming this driver to fit into a 15mm heat-sink?
I had to ask.
Thanks.