Not more changes is it? Will this ever get made?
I am still not understanding why the vias should even exist at all? Why not simply use the silk screen?
Its done with vias because I want it that way
Its my first board I ever used a program like diptrace, so I am open for help and critics
v2.0 is it now I am ordering this board when everyone likes it,
then it goes to djozz for fitting test in the prototype Q8 v2
Just learning things how it is done and safe
the Q8 v1.6 vias were cleared with 0.3mm, so short would be less likely than the other thin clearings on the back side,
I also increased the back side clearings between the copper areas a bit from 0.16 to 0.25mm
another solution would be edit their properties to be no vias, just holes in the copper layer
Anyway I moved the LED connections offcenter, reduced their size and did additional markings
The Q8 vias are now all fully operational connecting batter+ to LED+
I would reduce the V+ pads to 2 of them, they are too close together to be safely soldered with thick wire, the wire itself can bend over and short if nothing else when they are that close.
Here is the Q8 driver I posted in the Q8 modding thread for anyone interested.
We are waiting on statusupdate for ledboard and spring tests. Should b good, should be confirmed this week.
Is that a Ichthus I se on the driver?
I like it Lexel! Here’s hoping it tests out well with djozz! :+1:
I always dodge the cars that have those ichthus fish badges attached :sunglasses:
v2.1
not sure why but diptrace also now lost the top silk TA logo
from the time I did in this I could have made a boarf from scratch faster
With only a couple of small items of interest waiting for production, shouldn’t anything (everything) about a custom driver be in another thread? On and on it goes…
Thanks Dale. I was wondering what I missed and if the Q8 was back at the beginning. Now I understand. Isn’t there already a Q8 mod thread? I thought I remembered reading something about it, but I’ve been wrong before.
Good question. I am somewhat confused also. I was not aware of a driver redesign…. but maybe I missed something & this is the announcement of it.
Or maybe it is an option???
Or an upgrade??
Beats me…. ???
—————
EDIT: …. Nevermind… upon further reading this driver has nothing to do with the production Q8. It is being done as an aftermarket mod it seems.
Likkely Upgrade
Unlikely that the produced lights get a board with pads and traces for 7135*15 bank as the MCU has different pinout on the Q8 board, but why not then I have to reroute normal NarsilM pins
Its a matter of a minute to reroute PWM pins in Narsil
/\ …. :+1: … 
No indeed, to be very clear, Lexel wants to build drivers to mod the Q8 with afterwards, and he sells them in another topic (click Lexel username -> my threads to find them)
The driver talked about now is that one, not going to be used in the Q8. Yes please use the modding topic for further discussion please.
Using the Q8 pretty often I am very happy with the driver as is
We had a party last Saturday and the Q8 with a simple cup as diffuser lighted the table for lots of hours (ramping a down from max so not to overheat it, still blinked twice so on FET) and I had not charged the 30Q cells beforehand
The little more efficient regulated medium modes do not seem like a big enough advantage to justify swapping driver for me.
If I wanted even more runtime I’d just put the 3500mAh GAs in for 10%+ more mAh compared to the 30Qs.
Or just carry 4 spare cells. A 4 cell carrier costs near (or under) a buck last I checked. Cheap enough and no hassles at all.
That is possible too it with the bigger li ion cells I don’t like carry extra.
The party was at the neighbors
In the barn they normally part the cars.
Very nice, when it got dark they put a construction light up, way too bright and wide angle in harsh tint.
So I placed the NW TN42 on med pointing at the ceiling and the Q8 with cup on central table
And light was good 
Am I the only one who thinks that using components with non-standart dimentions in developed to be customized Q8 is epic fail?
So many pages about this, I remember several hundreds pages ago we discussed if there is any need in retaining ring for driver. And after all this time, we see improvement which makes all existing 46mm drivers not suitable. :weary:
if you have read the Miller and others said the layout with screw holes on the driver is a final choice
also as the threads for the retaining ring are dropped the PCB got 1.65mm larger, filing this down on a 46mm final light is no problem
also I have looked at the original Q8 driver which is public to get the dimensions as well having 2 people measured the latest prototype sample
46mm drivers can fit in there the rim is 48mm, the component clearance 40mm as it is in SRK designs
There is no reason the 46mm driver wont fit without scres, you just need a paperclip or something similar to fill the gap around the driver
last but not least I am sending djozz a driver of my design to see if it fits
The SRK drivers I ordered from RMM long time ago had two parts needing filing to make them fit properly. These will work fine in the Q8 because of that I think (Q8 still at neighbors, drivers in part box so tricky to measure it now)
I hope you are one of the few seeing the current design as epic fail.
For one, when using 3V LEDs the stock driver is just a very good, solid nice working driver that needs no changing
Idk 16*7135 chips deliver 1400mA to each LED, how many lumens would that be?
I mean it is clear fet+1+n is better for lower to med regulated modes, hence we do it in the FW3A and probably in other specials from now on if no other tech blows it away.
Would getting 1312,5mA per LED from the FET be so much worse in terms of runtimes, what would be the difference?
At those relatively lower amps, is sagging a real big issue?
Really I don’t know.
If one goes for a mod with different LEDs then 3V there TA based drivers are not more expensive then others (are there a lot of other 46mm good drivers?) and are designed to fit perfectly.