Oshpark Projects

I don’t know what you could use to dissolve fiberglass leaving behind the dielectric, copper and mask layers. Maybe instead of doing that a person could delaminate the board? As I understand it you could just add a ton of heat until the dielectric layer no longer wanted to be stuck to the fiberglass layer. The other layers might delaminate before the one you want though.

Either way…going to be a “destructive” method [and probably toxic/chemically as heck], getting that top layer masking and traces off the pcb then mounted to a copper slab is the end goal without destroying the integrity of the overlay…getting there is the tricky part…unless you pay a hogillion dollars to have someone MAKE them from the get go

oh and anyone want to see the process for making the boards…as in the actual construction and whatnot…pretty interesting…it’s european…but I don’t think the process is much different here

http://www.eurocircuits.com/index.php/making-a-pcb-eductional-movies

In fact in the last video, you can see some tell tale purple boards…not sure if OSHPark…but makes ya wonder

I’ve purposely de-laminated boards. Some boards are are not bonded as strongly as others.

(This post will de-laminate / self-destruct momentarily)

Oh boy... Not all the boards have their own thread, like the 15mm. Is there any one place I can find the latest, greatest info on the BLF15DD? I just got mine today but they don't have the R4 and R5 resistors, so, am I out of luck? Should I just go ahead and order the latest? Anyone test it yet? Do I have to navigate thru this massive thread?

IIRC the IRLML2502 used on BLF15DD hasn’t yet been reported to be buggy without R4 & R5. No need to jump to order replacement boards just yet.
Also, if they are needed, you could cut a trace & scrape a bit of soldermask off to add R4. R5 would fit across 2 vias.

Rufusbduck, was trying originally to keep this thread less cluttered. Seems he was forced to abandon that goal.

Hi Tom, I was hoping to have original research done in other threads and just use this one for links but I’m not willing to go tyrannical over it so it is what it is. If you have any questions just ask and I’m sure those of us that monitor this thread will speak up.

After Comfychair finished the initial research on the SRK version( most of which was discussed in pm’s) Mattaus worked up the 15, 17, and 20mm versions and then I posted them here without any real testing on those versions. A few bugs have shown up and since been sorted out but this is new enough territory that unknowns may persist until others can duplicate results.

Dbcstm reported complete success using a customized version of firmware but I myself had iffy results using stock Qlite firmware. He was using one of the Tiny10 boards without extra resistors and I used a Qlite depopulated of 7135’s and needed a 200 ohm gate resistor to obtain stable results. There’s no question in my mind that either board can be made to work and as Helios points out it’s pretty simple to break the gate trace for the 100 ohm resistor and jumper to ground with a 10k if one or both are needed. The irlm2502 seems fine supplying as much current as you are likely to get from any 14500 or 14650 cell but standard programs need to be adjusted downwards for the lower mods as each pwm pulse is an unregulated DD rather than a pulse limited by the sum of the 7135’s. Unless you are limited by space or after a very high drive current(both of which Dbcstm overcame) you are better off with a stack of 7135’s.

I had issues with the Qlite FET as well, including blowing out the positive trace under the MCU. I bypassed this by drilling a hole through the pcb at one of the non used 7135 chip ground pads next to the diode and running a 22ga wire from the top of the contact spring to the emitter in a direct route. Then we learned of the resistor in the pwm gate and that has been working. I built my first one containing both extra resistors yesterday on the BLF 17mm DD board (#1 with no grnd springside) and used a contact board of larger size for this particular light. The driver is functioning just fine, albeit with a bit of whine in the middle modes. I used a 200 ohm resistor between the FET gate pin and pwm pad (vertical orientation), one of the 1912 resistors for the pulldown. Not using moon in this light.

The BLF Tiny10 with irlm2502 FET is running perfectly with no extra resistors, 3.11A from an Efest IMR10440. The 4 base modes work perfectly with no audible. Everything done here for these boards is greatly appreciated, and this particular BLF Tiny10 has made my year! :slight_smile:

While that BLF 17mm DD board is capable of well over 5A with the right cells, I’m having difficulty achieving that in the light. It would seem that the battery tube to head connection isn’t permitting solid enough ground to reach the high amperage. Testing with the same cell applied directly to the back of the pill results in nearly an amp higher readings. I’ve filed anodization, wire brushed threads, don’t know what else to do. (Defiant Super Thrower with a different make of light’s cheap 26650 battery tube and tailcap)

I'll do a separate build thread for each version once I have the boards. Oshpark estimates they'll be back from the fab on the 13th.

I tested the same version of STAR FW with the only change between them being the PWM speed, one at 9.4kHz and one at 19kHz (both using the same CPU clock, 4.8MHz). Both worked the same, except the 9.4k one was noisy in the upper-middle modes, and the 19k one was silent. Some of the early prototypes weren't happy running the fast-PWM code, but the latest versions seem to handle it just fine.

I've since tested the 19kHz NLITE and also luxdrv converted to fast-PWM, those work fine too.

Sorry if it's obvious but there should be NO noise at 100% PWM...

All good, thanks guys!! Sometimes I think I know this sh#$%, then I realize I know squat, so at this point, some things sound obvious, some are goin right over my head... The terminology can throw me off, and then there's the real details of doing the work - I'll miss something obvious to many others... Ugh.. trials/tribs.

I probably got into the boards too early, more my fault than anyone's. I need way too much hand-holding at this stage. Also, I'm trying to do way too much for what I have time to do. Losing billable hours (pays the bills), way behind on promised mod lights, etc.... I really want to do more, but at my age, I still need some hrs of sleep, otherwise I'm worthless at work (finding that out ).

I've been stay'n with the 9.4 kHz (not the fast-PWM), guess because of the moonlight PWM's.

Yes, for example the version of luxdrv I used for so long has levels of 2,16,84,255. It's only audible at 16 if you hold it close to your ear, but at 84 you can hear it in normal use held out at arm's length.

Tom, the FETs work reliably all the way down to a PWM level of 1, they're not like the 7135s that only start working at 4 or 5.

Yes, understood with the FET's you can go full scale down to 1 PWM - I've been using that feature, but with 7135's, the min PWM value is higher than the standard value of 5 I've been using (4 works flaky). I'm also used to specific PWM values based on phase corrected PWM's, and I thought the output levels scale differently with fast PWM's. All a matter of experimenting I suppose.

I received some of the LFPAK56 FETs from mouser and put one on the test board (standard Qlite firmware with star 4 soldered). After cutting some traces to isolate the drain tab it wasn’t at all difficult to solder. A cheap protected 14500 delivered ~35mA moon and 3.5A high with no pwm noise. Any cell that could deliver more current had unstable modes so I added back in just the gate resistor(no pull down) and this resulted in stable modes. An efest 14650 delivered ~75mA moon and 5.5A high before the led started smoking(obviously I need to upgrade to a copper star for testing high currents) also with no pwm noise in any modes. Both cells were 4.05-4.08V rested. The modes still seem well spaced though it would be nice to have the moon shifted back down to under 10mA. I don’t know if the instability is a firmware issue or not. Someone would have to try the same board with stock and custom firmware to find out but the resistor does seem to alleviate it. The chip easily fits on the board without covering either the ground ring or the wide central pwm trace. Pics of this mod are in the phone and will be posted later tonight.

Qlite firmware is using fast PWM at 19kHz, so it's not going to whine no matter what hardware it's controlling.

Anyone know this guy or has seen this project?

http://oshpark.com/shared_projects/e1nOdOdw

Here are the pics of the LFPAK56 FET mod of a qlite 105C driver. I did this for no particular reason other than I wanted to try it and I think it’s a better fit for some instances than the 70N02 FET since it doesn’t have any parts that need to be filed off to fit. Some pills have a lip that might interfere with the larger FET.

Here is the board cleared of 7135’s. It’s the same one I used to test the irlm2502 FET.

Here is the board with the LFPAK56 FET sitting where I’m going to install it. Most of the bottom of the chip is the drain tab so I’ll need to make cuts through any traces that are used elsewhere. The drain trace where it goes through the board is not a concern as those traces to not connect on the other side. Also, the former ground pin pad is shortened to prevent one of the three ground pins from soldering to two pads and shorting them together.

Here is the board with all the traces cut that run under the chip. The drain trace(formerly led-) is cut to prevent a short to ground but left intact elsewhere.

And finally, here it is with the chip and output wire soldered in place. For testing purposes I soldered both Vin+ and led+ to the center pad on the other side. Likewise, ground and led- had wires soldered to them.

I posted the results of the first test above. Next time at home I’ll switch to a sinkpad and run it with some bigger cells. A mostly full efest 14650 pushed 5.5A through it.

I'll be around in a couple of hours for a lesson. Looks orsm what you have done.

Rufus, pretty cool setup there. I love seeing new options out there, you never know unless you try!

Does it change modes properly without the resistor?