Led4power.com : LD-4 CC linear drivers, ILC-0/1 illuminated tailcaps, optics, MOSX, copper DTP MCPCBs...

No, LD-2/3 are not available anymore.

I finally tried 0805 RGB slow flashing LEDs on ILC-0 to see if they work. I think djozz is the first one that tried to use them in illuminated tailcaps: RGB tailcap flash

Problem is RGB flashing LEDs draw too much current with low resistor values, and with normal bleeder values LEDs spend quite a bit of time in red only mode, and stay almost 100% of time in red when battery voltage drops below 3.8V or so.

ILC-0 RGB actually works nicely, but only when used in combination with LD-x4's bleeding which limits current to ~1mA max. with fresh battery. With 380Ohm resistor bleeder, it works but tailcap is too bright (2-3mA) and spends a lot of time in red mode after some time, and usually most leds have similar transitions.

With ILC-0 RGB + LD-x4 bleeding colors become random for each LED after few minutes which looks great, and tailcap doesn't stuck in red mode.After 12hrs test it still works the same way. Below ~3.8V blue becomes more rare, and below ~3.5V green appearance is also more scarce, so when battery is nearly empty red is dominant - nice "self-made" feature. Below 3V ILC-0 goes to sleep like any other ILC-0 and consumes 1.2uA, so battery is safe from over-discharging.

Random color mix looks really nice,but it's hard to capture it without good camera, here is one capture with non-pro camera(colors in reality are much more saturated):

I'll try to make a video tonight with two tailcaps, one with LD-x4, other with resistor bleeder.

Few videos:

In this video tailcap on left is in light with LD-x4 driver vs. light on right with 380Ohm resistor bleeder:

After few minutes light with resistor bleeder doesn't really works, it's mostly in red mode for a long time, with occasional short green color appearance, blue doesn't show up at all even with fresh battery.

led4power, did you consider making complete LED engines with LEDs and driver on a single DTP board?

For like a light fixture or something? Curious what is the purpose of that.

Flashlights.

Frankly, sometimes I’m just throwing ideas around to see if they resonate. This is one of the cases.
We know that some light makers do light engines like that.
But all that I’ve seen use non-DTP boards for that.
It seems to me that the led4power tech would be better in this regard.

Such use has a number of benefits, but also creates some problems.
And even if it makes technical sense, for almost all hosts it won’t be significantly better than separate board because they already have space for such board. But maybe there are benefits other than size? Or maybe there’s a market that I don’t see?
I’m curious what people, especially led4power, think about it.

It definitely has it’s use in some lights. Not sure about the market value for someone to make them though, to me it seems more a custom job for specific lights.

Yes I guess it’s like putting a $120 371D driver in a Convoy S2+. I’ve seen people do it but not sure why.

Shortly, yes, light engines are very convenient to use in theory, everything is on one pcb and there are no thermal issues. But they have quite few disadvantages:

  1. Light engines are pretty much limited to triples and quads, it's not possible to make light engine on standard single LED on 20mm pcb,at least not with lights which use reflector,
  2. LEDs become outdated pretty fast these days,with light engine configuration you are stuck with default leds, and for most modders changing 3-4 LEDs on very tightly populated pcb would be too challenging,
  3. For each type of led (3535,4040...), for every number of leds (3 or 4) there is need for different pcb design, which complicates assembly and increases initial cost,
  4. With bigger leds like 4040 there is very little space for all driver components on typ. 20mm 3x or 4x PCB,
  5. Central hole for wires on 20mm light engine is generally not possible because this is most useful area for bigger driver components - this means you can't use available triple/quad spacers or lights without drilling holes for wires closer to edge of spacer/flashlight pill.

Generally speaking standard drivers/LED DTP PCBs combination have only one disadvantage (IHMO) vs. light engines and that is more limited heat dissipation,regardless of driver type. LD-B4 is something between normal driver and light engine, its disadvantage is larger number of driver<->LEDPCB wires and need for special MCPCB (mosX,mosDTP).

So after some thinking,I have another idea around which I will build some future drivers, shortly they will be simple to use just like "normal" drivers (two leds wires,optional temp. sense wire,normal DTP), and have thermal dissipation capability close to LD-B4/mosX combination, so they will be perfect for most common builds (single LED,triples,quads). LD-B4-like drivers will still be there for very high power builds.

ILC-0 RGB color changing module on sale: ILC-0 RGB

I tried it with BLF A6 driver and it works nicely, except current draw is higher (2-3mA), whit different bleeder value it should be possible to reduce it. Anyway,battery is safe from overdischarge since LVP kicks in at <3V (1.2uA sleep current).

^ the BLF-A6 driver as it comes from Banggood does not have a bleeder resistor (while the X5/X6 driver does have one, 470 Ohm), which value did you use and with what led that works well?

I have tried at least five A6 drivers from BG and all worked with lightened switch.

My experience is also that the BLF-A6 driver is very tolerant for the lighted tail with varying led configurations and bleeder resistor values (unlike the X5/X6 driver which is extremely finicky!), it is just that l4p’s post above suggests a standard bleeder value for this driver while stock there is no bleeder at all, hence the question.

Sorry for late reply, this driver has 470Ohm bleeder, I didn't even try to connect LED or see how modes are affected, point of test was to check if it works with regular resistor bleeder, and it does,but in combination with driver input caps that prevent rgb leds to stuck in red mode.

I have an idea for an addition to your shop: The Osram LE UW Q8WP is basically a bigger version of the popular Osram Black Flat. It reaches the same luminance at maximum current, but is 80% larger, so the resulting hotspot is 80% larger and it produces 80% more lumens. It also does away with the three biggest downsides of the Osram Black Flat:

  1. The central solder pad is now electrically neutral
  2. The solder profile matches that of XP-LEDs (The Black Flat is smaller and doesn't center itself well)
  3. The Vf is much lower

It has a new downside though: the die is not centered on the package. It is shifted slightly in one direction. Can you envision offering a real copper (one piece) dtp-pcb specifically for this LED where the die is in the center of the pcb? This way the LED could be easily centered like other LEDs and we will have brighter ultra throwers!

I think quite a few people would be interested. You could do a poll to get an idea. I would be in for at least 5, maybe up to 10.

Thanks for suggestion, I will check, pcbs are not problem if there is interest (BLF Q8 pcbs are in production BTW).

Added some Carclo and LEDIL optics:

https://led4power.com/product-category/optics/

Pity that Angie wont fit cute-4 boards if youll make them…

I will make both pcbs.

Excited for these new PCB’s. Really enjoying my M2 quad w/ Luxeon V