Custom RGBW driver (with some interesting features)

Wow. Your wife must really be tough on you. Mine kicks me out so I can do what I like.

Nice build! I always wanted to do an RGBW quad TIR build, but I never did.

Yes, I know what you mean by 'being a family man' - having 2 small children has a devastating effect on my hobby time - and even in the late evenings, when they are finally asleep, I'm usually too worn out to do anything productive and prefer to relax instead.

It is not that bad, but I have been hobbying an entire week now, like 8+ hours a day. It would even not be healthy to keep doing this, they are rescueing me :-)

You are exactly describing my situation, I have enough energy late in the evening to write some posts but no energy to go building or testing stuff. There is some time on mondays though, with the kid to school, and it is my day off :-)

About the mod above, it looks like it is not good yet: slightly flickering behaviour on various leds, but what is worse, low voltage protection kicks in at 4V instead of under 3. I can't find the source of the flickering, except perhaps a fairly dirty driver board (flux remains). And the flickering can of course cause low voltage detected, but could it also be a wrong type of diode? (The one I use now is tiny and labeled 'S4')

Strange. Measure the voltage across the MCU's pin 8 and 4 (VCC/GND) while running. The diode "S4" should be ok. My assumption however is some bad contact since it flickers. Maybe even board to pill or pill to body.

BTW I have a disassembled SC02 lying around on my desk for months now...

Further checking on monday, I will tip every solder joint with the solder iron, and it is time to replace all wires . The driver-to-pill and pill-to body contact is good.

Are you going to do the quad mod then sometime? :-)

Are you very patient djozz? If so I may attempt this in the future but would need so much help.

DrJones did have the option for an already assembled driver, but I will be glad to help you out :-) (not that the above mod is proof that I'm very good at it )

Fixed

It was the driver to pill connection after all. I had a wire to a little screw in the pill, the screw was leftover from the stock light and made of iron. The solder joint was cold but still sticking well. Replaced with a brass screw and soldered the wire before screwing in to prevent the heat wicking away.

Ran the light with a NCR18650B, the LVP kicked in at 3.27V resting voltage, close enough to empty for me :-)

I'm glad it turned out well :)

Yes, the LVP is at 3.0V under load.

I currently have no concrete plans for a quad TIR, as I have not really the means to make a heatsink-spacer.

I used a piece of 20mm copper bar, a saw, a drill and sand paper (and some patience). I think next time I would use aluminium as it is more lightweight and easier to work with.

Thanks for the help troubleshooting!

Has anyone built the roche f6 with xml rgbw? If so, did you have to file down a 20mm sinkpad down to a 16mm? I read through this thread and expected to hear mention of this, but I did not. So, was curious if the head on my light is different than the older roche f6. I ordered an roche, but I received a convoy f6 instead. I really donโ€™t like that kind of action on behalf of the seller, but the light appeared to be the same so I just let it go. Maybe the led shelf is smaller on mine? Either way, I think Iโ€™m going to have to file down the 20mm rgbw sinkpad to 16mm. Ive never done that before. There are a lot of traces to file through, so I will have to find a way to keep them from shorting to the base. If anyone has some tips for me, please let me know.

For sanding down from 20 to 16mm I use a disk sander, the high speed helps preventing the copper from the traces smearing out across the insulating layer. To finish the work I sand a tiny bevelled edge to prevent shorts to the inner edge of the pill cavity.

Ok. thanks for the tips. yesterday, I tried sanding it down with my dermal. every pad was shorted when I was done:) the copper pads and the copper layer under the insulating layer were smeared together as you forewarned. I put on my magnifying headband with the two highest powered lenses and tried to carve a clean cut and scraping away any material spanning the insulating layer. The insulating layer on these rgbw sinkpads is much thinner than a noctigon I filed! Anyway, all the pads are short free for now, but it doesn't leave me feeling good about it.

Need those drivers!!!

Iโ€™m interested in a 17mm assembled driver. Where can I find one?

Write a PM to DrJones asking for it :slight_smile:

I know this is an old thread but I wonder if these drivers are available in one form or another? I find them very suitable for the quadtrix boards offered by Clemence

DrJones very rarely logs in these days (busy with real life as I understand), last seen a year ago. But the way I got a driver from him is by writing him a PM, he may well respond to that.
If you are succesful, let me know, I would like one more of these drivers too :slight_smile:

Done, thank you for the advice!