Smiling Shark SS-5039 1 x AAA size flashlight, modification notes, Now 3 x 7135 with modes, on a BLF Tiny 10 board.

With the resistor replaced by a heavy gauge wire, I am getting readings around 0.4 A. With various cells and running down two Eneloops, I get this.

The curvature may be only an artifact due to the internal resistance of “1.5V” lithium cells.
First, this is lower current than I would like but usable.
Second, this shows us how to make drivers even smaller than 12 mm.
Third, Smiling Shark has, at some level, selected leds with unusually low minimum forward voltage for this model. An led from a 5039 made no visible light with the same two cells as the lowest point, and an XP-G drew only 0.06 A. (The light output must go to zero by the point where the voltage reaches the photon energy in electron volts.) Practically, this means it is not clear whether it would improve it to replace the led with a Cree.
Comparing the light output and current shows that at least this example will benefit from a new led.

Got my 2 Smilies today. A SS-5039 and a 49. I like em, especially the texture of the tubes. Nichia 119 definitely going in at least one of them. Light out put isn't too bad on Eneloops. I may keep the stock driver. Although, I will try to read this whole thread and see if it has any info on modding the driver up just a hair. I'll stick with Ni-Mh though.

Thanks Fritz :)

Two AAAs work better with low V forward, so I used a red XP-E. I read 1.1 A on the bench. Assembled: 1.4 A at 2.65 V, without the tail spring. This shows that a 2 x 1.5 V configuration is good for red light, but raises the question of whether it is still in its primitive form of regulation or whether I have shorted out the transistor.

Clever idea that. Red emitter with low Vf. I really like the idea of having a AAA red for in the house with dark adjusted eyes. I think I will have to copy that idea.

It is quite a lot brighter than my Nanjg 102 1 x AAA Shark. The driver efficiency is very good, whether or not the transistor is still in the circuit.
Nanjg 1 x AAA alkaline on left and direct drive 2 x AAA alkaline on right.

Because of the smaller led, the focus is more sensitive to the relative positions of the led and reflector. My way of judging this is how the led color disappears as I rotate the light away from my eye. If it stays longer on the near side, file more off the bottom of the plastic reflector. Then I file the pill until everything fits in the head, the front of the battery tube contacting the driver or connection board, as in a twisty.
I have an XM-L and an Osram on my table that I took out of larger lights for better leds.

Examining the second 5049 driver board, the resistor and transistor are in parallel on the positive side. The negative side goes straight through. Perhaps the transistor’s rating is too small to be used alone, but it helps out when the battery is low? I get 0.17 A connected normally and 0.45 A connecting the positive to the other side of the resistor. (It was no brighter with 0.45 A and now is very dim and low current, so maybe that is too much for the led.)


So that explains why the red one is direct drive. Shorting across the resistor also shorts across the transistor.
I have Mini 12 driver boards on order but don’t know if I can actually build them. I could also run them on alkalines with more internal resistance.

With 2.7 V Ni metal hydride I get 0.04 A through my old XM-L. I get 0.23 A with nearly new alkalines and 0.46 A with new Lithium primaries. So except for red leds, Li primaries, particular leds or long run times, 2 x AAA cells need boost.

With one of the less badly broken Nanjg 102s and alkalines, I get 0.40, 0.38 A through the Osram and XM-L, respectively. Another measurement suggested poor driver efficiency.

Back to 5039s. With an AK-007 0.8~1.5V 3-Mode Circuit Board for Flashlights (11.9mm) from DX and a 1.3 V white Eneloop, I get 1.8 and 0.35 A, on high and low modes. High is the same as with a Nanjg 102, and it appears to be the same coil, but it has three modes and the two board configuration protects the coil in shipment. The first light I tried to put it in, a 5038 with an Osram, had a short pill and it didn’t fit. Now it is in a 5339 with an XP-G on a 10 mm. star. I had to file the reflector a lot to clear the wires. Brightness is similar to Nanjg 102s versions. Ordered three more.

Someday, I will understand the electronic stuff you are talking about. At first I will be using the stock driver like I did in this light with a Nichia 119H as I don't have any AAA sized Li-ion cells.

I really like the beam patterns on your 2 red emitter lights above.

My little lithium ion cells and charger are from Mountain electronics. Efest IRMs and a mini USB Xtar charger. Great output, if you don’t mind five or ten minute run times.
Hadn’t noticed your thread before. Looks like the same pill solution. That one that resembles the 5039 looks the same as an AA Smiling Shark I have.

I built a BLF Tiny 12 driver, but it doesn’t work.

Here is a braided switch. It goes easily in spite of the size. Click on the pictures for larger views.

I see no good way to beef up the steel plate and washer.
This is for a 5049 with direct drive and an XM-L, the white led I have with the smallest forward voltage. With two used alkaline cells it is about as bright as a 5039 with a Nanjg driver and draws a quarter of an amp.

The 5039 I used to hybridize with a 5038 has unusual marking on it. It shows that lights marked Smiling Shark and Police do come from the same factory, as suspected.

By filing down the 5039 body, I got it to fit well, except that the tail button takes more force than usual.

This is as small as one can be made with all its outside anodizing and the tail switch in tact.

Per Microa

Yeah that tiny IC is a solid state version of the joule thief

AX5505-VFM synchronous Step-up DC/DC converter

I think that green resistor is actually a linear choke…a coil 100uH

here is a slightly larger but more powerful VFM voltage booster!
up too 200mA (drive a XR-E or XP-G at lower end power)
http://www.ricoh.com/LSI/product_power/dc_up/rp400x/index1.html

You’re kidding right :stuck_out_tongue:

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/m2Rw8HzQ

Thanks.

Interesting. So this is really a boost driver, another Jewel thief. Shorting it out only increased the current because the battery was well charged.

It shouldn’t have lit the emitter if only from a 1.5vdc battery though

Oh, you said you shorted a small Li Ion…then yes…shorting it made it a direct drive contact board more or less

I use the Li ion in the 5039. The 5049 in direct drive with two Eneloops give very low current and output, but with alkalines or “1.5 V” lithium primaries, it works fairly well, with the original led, with a red led or with an XM-L. With a red XP-E it even works with Eneloops. 3 V is above the forward voltage of some leds.

From general physics, machines of smaller size can work faster without being limited by diffusive processes such as respiration or cooling. So AAA lights that need the best cooling have very short run times.

Main reason is there ain’t alot of metal to soak up all that heat when you run Li Ion pretty much direct drive to an emitter…no mass = heat up quickly

That can be helped by holding it by the head unless the head gets to hot to hold anyway. Your hand has much more heat capacity than the light.
My point is that the distance the heat has to go to get to air or hand is less, so there is less decrease in cooling than there is in battery capacity as a light becomes smaller. At 2 amps. with a 350 mah IMR the light will be way down in output in five minutes. So it is not worth building a solid pill and trying for three or four amps.

I have destroyed two Philips Luxeon deep red leds while filing down the stars to fit. I put a sort of duct tape on the dome while I filed and cleaned it off with “Odorless” mineral spirits. The second one shows no physical sign of damage and worked when I got it down to 12.3 mm, but not after repeating the tape and filing grooves for wires and scraping off the insulating layer over the leads for contact with the wires.