How to change modes with the KD V2 driver?

Both KD V2 drivers I have behave the same way - they stay in one mode, probably "high" (about 0.5A but I measured through rather thin wires), no matter what I do. I tried tapping the switch (or the connected wires), tried turning off for a few seconds, tried changing modes only after a few seconds of on, nothing helps, they only stay in high.

At first I thought I soldered the driver wrong, maybe connected any of the S1/2/3/4 pads, but I didn't (checked continuity with a DMM), and it also happens with my other driver that I didn't solder at all.

So is there some trick to changing modes? My methods work well with any other driver I have...

The ones I have soldered up have worked just fine. Sounds to me like either a bad driver or you do have something soldered incorrectly.

Just to make sure - mode switching is the usual "when flashlight is on, do a quick off/on for next mode", right?

(and why would two drivers behave the same? I must be doing something very wrong here...)

yep, I'm using a twist/momentary for the one I EDC and each quick touch changes modes.

Please check for excess solder contacting something it shouldn't, or a short to the rim.

Thanks.

I did check for excess solder (actually again tested for continuity) and found nothing wrong.

I also tried the unsoldered driver with crocodiles and insulating tape, again checked for continuity and all seemed fine, but the result was the same - only one mode.

Arrrggghhhh it's driving me crazy.

Don't let LED - short to the outer ring (ground) or else you'll get this symptom. Very easy to get it solder-bridged by mistake. Done it a few times.

Rich

That's the first thing I checked, but there was no short there.

Any way you can get us a good macro pic of the driver with your LED wires soldered and showing?

Are you testing it in assembled flashlight ? If so try to unscrew or completely remove reflector due to the possible short circuit and try changing modes.

Don't feel bad... I cooked one of them into DD without any effort at all. (And couldn't see any solder connection wrong, either.) The one quirk was that it would blink off-on once every minute or so. Those things are $%^#@ tiny!

I don't know what happened then, but now I was able to change modes.

First thing that is weird is that the modes order is L-M-H-L-M-H-fast strobe-slow strobe, without SOS or beacon, which I couldn't get no matter what Sx bridges I connected.

Second thing that is weird is that with or without mode memory, when I want to change modes I always need to start from the first low, then cycle through until I get the mode I want. If I wait more than about a second (maybe even a half second) before switching to the next mode, I need to start again from the beginning. Is this the way it is supposed to work?

Yes. The driver has no means to distinguish between a short tap and being switched off and on again later; it can't measure the time it's off. So to switch modes you need ta have it ON for only a short time (~1s). Having it on for longer means you found your desired mode. With no-memory the next time you switch it on it starts at the first mode again.

L-M-H is doubled in that order to hide strobe even more, in case you missed the right level at the first pass of L-M-H.

This is a bad design, it'll probably drive me crazy when I use it... :(

Now I understand what the review at KD means, I wish I understood it before I bought the driver.

Is there a recommended driver with similar L/M/H/strobe/slow-strobe that behaves normally with regards to mode switching? High PWM or current control.

Not that I know of. However, I use that kind of driver very often, you'll get used to it :)

If you are good at soldering, you could try mod a NANJG105C as described somewhere here, i.e. solder some components and reprogram it with Tido's firmware, because it's able to work with that mod. Maybe you could ask someone who did that already to do it for you.

Looks like programming drivers is the way to go for me, I just can't be satisfied with standard drivers... :)

Maybe in the future, right now I'm not sure I have the time to debug drivers, and anyway the NANJG's memory will probably also bug me and I don't want to add a capacitor (not THAT good at soldering :) )...

A difficult person, I am.