Texas Avenger "TA" Driver series - Triple channel + Bistro or Narsil + Clicky or E-switch - The Ultimate open source driver!

Been looking at the MTN MAX buck thread and I think that it will be simpler then I first thought to convert that into a SRK driver.

The only issue is the parasitic drain issues. Where does this drain come from? I assume it is from the Buck converter itself.

Tell me if this sounds reasonable:

Could this drain be eliminated by powering the MCU from the batteries directly as in the driver I posted above and not using the voltage regulator on the Buck converter.

Then adding a small FET to another pin of the MCU that would cut power/ground to the buck converter when the light was off / the MCU was in sleep mode?

This would seem to eliminate all of the parasitic drain when the light is off past what the MCU is using normally since everything else would have the power cut. The buck converter should not have any issues with delay on turn on as it is used in clicky lights.

Thoughts? If this is the case then it would seem that the standard MYN MAX setup with a bigger inductor would be a great match for a SRK setup.

An inductor such as this random unit I stumbled across that is rated for 18A SRP1265A-6R8M Bourns | Mouser

It is also easily small enough to fit in a SRK / Q8 without a hassle. I am sure there are better options as well, just not got that far yet.

18A for a Quad XHP35 in the Q8 would be way more then enough for ~2500 lumens each and a total of ~10,000 lumens. It would also be a blistering 130+ watts I am guessing. The equivalent to a 16x XG-G2 SRK.

Yeah, I must build one of these now that I put it into words like that……

I would propose to move the whole discussion about the skyray driver to a new thread if this is possible.

Yeah, that is a good idea since it would not be the same as these. Think I will leave the FET version here as it would work the same minus the second 7135 bank but the buck driver would be very different.

So to get this thread back on topic, I am about to order the TA drivers from OSHpark. I was curious what peoples opinions are on the 2oz copper / .8mm boards vs the normal 1oz?

I have only ordered the 1oz in the past but was trying to figure out if the thicker board has any benefits over the thinner one?

Think I will order one of them in 2oz just to see how it looks.

The 2oz option is actually half the thickness, but double the copper.

They are really really thin. Might be ok for a 17mm driver, but anything bigger I can see snapping in half under a lot of pressure or 26650 battery or something. I would just stick for 1oz for drivers, which is a shame because the 2oz gives better performance

I’ve used the 2oz option for some little 14-15mm boards and they’re pretty nice though. It seems whatever fab they come from has better QC or consistency than normal for Osh

Ok, made a new thread for the SRK buck driver here: The Texas Buck driver series, Q8 / Skyray King 2S/4S buck driver RELEASED!

The possible Q8 driver changes to a triple channel driver with 7135’s are welcome to remain here since it would fit in perfectly with the current lineup of drivers here.

I would personally love to see the Q8 driver add some 7135’s for a regulated med mode. In a production light the reset pin could be used for an indicator LED as well, which would be super cool!

Or since the Q8 driver would be 1S only, you could move the voltage divider to the internal voltage reference. It seems to work well. That would free up a pin as well and allow for both the bank of 7135’s and the indicator LED without having to use the reset pin.

I noticed the thickness difference, I could not figure out if it was a big deal or not but I can see your point, it would be thin enough to possibly crack under compression loads. Plus even just it bending a little could wear on the solder joints.

1oz it is.

Back when we started the Q8, I didn't see the 7135 bank as a possibility, since then for me, there were too many unknowns, and didn't want to take the risk , plus the risk of having to spend more time in development/testing. Now however, it's a different story. But still, I have no triple board with to test. I could start the development in Narsil now for triple support, but I got nothing to test on. So, chicken & egg - do I go ahead and order some of your untested boards? I'm think'n - yes...

Also, not sure what you mean by the internal voltage reference working well? Uhhh, do you mean in Dr Jones boards? If so, there's no source code, no help there to cut down on development... It would have to be developed from scratch - all his work/efforts just means it's possible, that's all. Dunno if it would take me 4 hours or 80 hours to develop and test. I'm a full-time software consultant. I can't afford to take days off for my hobby, unfortunately at this point - I'm more than full-time bizy on my consulting gig, least through the end of the year, probably more.

I totally understand the busy with work thing, only reason I have had time to work on these the last week is because I have some downtime ATM. Also why I am in a bit of a hurry to finish them before I get too busy to work on them again lol.

If no one else has said it recently, I must say thank you for all the work you have given to this site (along with everyone else).

Far as the driver boards go, you could try some of these, I am about to place an order myself. Then going to order the parts to make them work from digikey.

PD has his version of the tripledown which we know works but doesn’t have the new layout. I could send you one of those if you needed, I think I still have one not in use. Or they are on oshpark as well.

I forgot that Dr jones is closed source, yeah that does make it harder. The reset pin would seem to be the easier option for the Q8 driver since it would not need to be re-programmed once installed by 99.5% of users.

Thanks for the thoughts!!

Hhhmmm. Thought I ordered tripledown's recently, but turned out they were doubledowns... Yours though have all the bells&whistles for the clean 25/45/85 support - nice!! I could of course air-wire something up, specially in something easy to work with - SupFire L5, M2-Z, M6, or even just an open bench setup. Funny - all the easiest lights to work with are SupFire... They still have that classic design, didn't cheap'n out with the masses, or add the advanced features, reduced size, etc.

Well think I'll order one set of yours - gotta pick a size I can use first. If I got time and meld something into Narsil, I can always hot wire up a tripledown setup - can use a Nanjg in air, re-wired pin#3 to the FET, etc.

Hhmm - yours need 0603 parts, but probably can use my existing 0805's - I have all sizes needed in resistors. Been stocking 0805's, but nothing in 0603's much. Got more 85's and SIR800DP FET's on the way from Richard, though the USPS tracking doesn't exist yet... He supposedly shipped it Saturday.

I just placed an order for all the sizes I currently have made, figure I need to look them all over myself. If anyone else places an order for some please do let us know!

I have to agree, I really like the supfire line of lights, them and convoy are my go to brands. Astrolux is good for some interesting designs but not as good for modding.

Reading online you can indeed us 0805 parts but obviously it has not been tested yet. I am ordering some 0603 components since I am missing some of them anyways. Anything else besides the ones on the parts list by DEL that you think I should order while at it?

I need to order some 85’s as well, only have a few here. Didn’t think Narsil would support these so only stocked up on the 25’s for bistro.

Narsil is up to about 80% of 8K used for code space, so only an 85 will do.

Yeah, I didn’t figure you would be fitting it on a 25 anytime soon lol. I have a few on hand, just not enough to really mess around with it. This is why I like stocking up on little things ahead of time.

One thing when picking a board size, the 17mm will not fit the 85 without taking up half the stinking board, so you will have to bend the pins as you know. The 20mm+ versions have the full sized 209mil pads so it would be simpler to fit the 85.

It will be not very funny when bridged pads will short cut 4S high current cells:

I am not sure what you mean? How would it short the cells as long as you insert them into the correct tube? The cells would have to be inserted from the tail, the battery tube would need to be glued into place and springs installed onto the driver pads.

You would not be able to screw the battery tube on like normal, there is no way to allow that in a 4s/2s setup.

The driver simply makes the conversion easier, it is still very much a DIY project. Now in the Q8 it is possible we could have the tailcap designed to allow for easy battery insertion, in fact this is something to consider.

We could change the design quite easily to have the batteries always inserted from the tail. There is really no reason that they have to be inserted into the battery tube and screwed into place. This would also solve the issue of wearing down the contact ring and needing button top batteries at the same time.

Something to think about actually.

Im not sure you are right.
If we want to use various of different cells, we need to use springs.
If we have springs from driver side, and glue tube to the head, so cells are fixed and then screw tail with tail pcb, you will short cut 2 from 4 cells in 4S config and the only way to avoid this is tail pcb that can slide around incide tail (Klarus G30 and etc.)
If we have springs from tail side, and use fixed tail pcb (insulated from host) and cells that inserts from head side, we have same problem with some extra solutions.
If both - and + pads are on head side, we can use some extra part that is made from plastics and inside it - pad goes to host, + goes to driver and all extra space are insulated to prevent unforeseen short-cuts.
If both pads are on tail side, we can use same plastic insulator for intermediate cell connections and connect negative to host through tail pcb, positive should goes to tail pcb center with should be connected to some solid rod which should goes through center hole between cells to the driver.
All posted describes 4S connection and I think this solutions are much better that tail switch and big bada boom if it is on when you screwing the tail.

I am not totally sure what you were describing but I am also into a pile of buck drive data sheets and can’t really focus on it at the moment.

I was talking about the conversion that many have done to the SRK over the years where the battery tube stays fixed meaning it can not short at the front of the light.

The tailcap is then modified to allow the PCB to spin as you screw the tailcap into place.

Just like the Klarus G30 now that I look it up, that would seem to be the simplest option. Anyone can do it, particularly if the Q8 already had the screw hole machined into the tail cap and PCB.

K, just ordered the 17's and 22's, 3 each, 17's in 2 oz. copper. For $6 shipped, not much of a risk.

Curious how the 2oz version holds up, I forgot to change one of mine to that sadly.

Mine are supposed to be made on the 29th, curious when yours get done.

Last time I ordered I got them in like 5 days! lol.

Sometimes they upgrade to the express service, simply because they got room on an express panel our small boards fill in to. It's happened to me several times. The17's are nice in the thin size. I really don't think it makes much of a difference for us having the heavier copper, because typically the batt+ is connected direct from the spring w/bypass to the LED, and the other critical power path is batt- (grnd) to the FET input. When I piggyback a driver in, I make sure I got a nice wire connected from a good grnd point on the contact board straight to a FET input pin. I also sometimes will wire a jumper from the grnd ring to the FET, all depends.

I figured that was the case, these little boards would fit into lots of small areas.