The There Are No Stupid Questions Thread

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Thank You JasonWW :+1:
I am setting up a 2S or 6-8V configuration. Does it matter the voltage going into the switch ?
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As far as the colored leds are concerned, the resistor will drop the voltage way down to within their normal range. Without a resistor it would blow right away.
There are many different smd leds with all types of specs. Specs even change within the same model, but different color. This is why you need to experiment with resistor values. Start around 15k-30k. See what the brightness is. I think I’ve even had to go up to 100k on one of my lights due to the color and it’s high current draw.

If it were a 3 volt source I’d say start between 7k and 15k. With 6v you basically double the resistance, hence 15k to 30k.

Here is the info from MTN Electronics.
So your saying I should start with the 36K since using 2S and stack more to lower brightness ?
It comes with 2 leds installed.
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Connection Points / Bridge Points:
Because this switch was designed to be as versatile as possible, there are several different connection points and possible configurations.

Switch Connections: SW+ & SW- GND (SW- is ground).
LED Connections:
If connecting directly to Batt+ or from an MCU output: LED+ & bridge “LED- GND BRIDG.”
If switching from a negative side (such as a MOSFET): LED- & LED+. Do not bridge anything.
LED Option:

Optionally, you may have two color or white LEDs pre-installed on the switch, which are often used as indicator lights.

Three SMD 0603 resistors will come included, but not installed (4.7K, 19.1K & 36K). You can try different resistor combinations depending on your input voltage and desired LED brightness. We recommend that you start with 36K—-you can then swap or stack more resistors to increase the current from there. It is not recommended to go above a few mA of current to these small LEDs. The lower the total resistance value, the brighter the LEDs will be.

OK , I see, your L6 is a S2 configuration.
Thank You very much JasonWW :smiley:
The switches will come in Monday and I will experiment at that time :+1:
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And I’m sorry for not understanding your earlier post, Grand kids are here distracting me :person_facepalming:
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And start with the 19K resistor first. :+1:
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I’d start with the 36k.

Stacking resistors reduces resistance and makes it brighter. Higher resistance makes it dimmer.

To go above 36k you need to add another resistor in series. Sometimes you can stack them like this /\ to squeeze 2 resistors on a single pad. The proper way is to swap to a higher resistance resistor.

36k should be fine, it might be brighter than you want, but should work. If you want to dim it you can order some more resistors from ebay. I see MTNE sells a 69k resistor. If you haven’t ordered the switch yet you can have him add some of those. Otherwise, you can order an assortment on ebay. Shipping may take a while, but they are cheap. It’s handy to have an assortment on hand. You can also order an assortment of smd leds as well. It’s fun to mix and match colors.

Thank you very much Jason for explaining that so clearly for me. :smiley:
I wanted to order some in the past, but its confusing what size and resistance range to order.
Three SMD 0603 resistors will come included, but not installed (4.7K, 19.1K & 36K).
I will try again.
:+1:

If you wanted, that driver could likely be flashed with Anduril, in which case you could probably get one of pins 5/6/7 for the switch LED (likely one controls the FET and the others are unused). But that would take a bit of doing…

I was looking through the details of that driver and I noticed Richard does not recommend the zener mod in a 2s design.

“Not recommended for use with the Zener Mod option. For 2S+ cell momentary use, check out the LDO 20mm driver instead.”

What are the best resources on building a Convoy? I’ve seen a couple videos.

Can I build a Convoy S21B quad, which requires a 20 mm MCPCB and 22 mm driver?

What would be a good driver, board, and optic?

What sizes of LED would such an optic limit me to?

Lumileds Luxeon are reportedly very efficient. Opinions on this brand?

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Yep you are correct. :+1:
I looked at the reason and he said the parasitic drain was bad on this driver and a momentary switch used with batteries left in the light would drain the batteries quickly. I thought it will work, and the tail cap switch should control the parasitic drain. The reason for trying to get the lighted momentary switch hooked up, is to know the light is powered up. When not in use, just make sure the momentary switch light is off by clicking off at the tail cap. I may have overlooked something here because electronics are still a very weak area for me, so let me know. :question:
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I wanted to use the LDO 20mm driver at first, but they were out of stock.
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I do have a backup driver that uses just the tail cap switch if needed.
https://asflashlights.com/-diy-parts/75-10-amp-capable-17mm-led-driver.html

Is swapping the LEDs of a Convoy S2 UV and an S2+ with a more powerful driver a bad idea?

The UV leds can’t take much power so don’t mess with those.

What led does the S2 have?

im selling something i bought on amazon in a second hand market, the buyer is asking for the gift receipt. is there anything i should be concerned about? like is there anything they can do with the gift receipt that can be linked back to me in a negative way?

You may get some thicker PCB and file them down to the desired thickness.
It’s a bit painful with copper, so for people who have them I’d recommend some Virence / Led4Power alu PCBs. These are hard to get nowadays though…

It never produced much heat so I figured it wasn’t being worked hard.

According to the description on Banggood:

  • LG UV365nm LED 5W lamp beads are used.
  • The built-in drive is 7135x5 single file.

As far as I know, about the best they can do is attempt to return it to amazon for the original purchase price.

That said - in the secondhand market, if people want weird things, I usually just consider that it’s either too much trouble, they’re up to something, or both. Hopefully for you it’s an option to just move on to a less suspicious buyer.

Sorry, I thought you were saying you had two different lights.

Appreciate you trying to help. I have three in total: the S2 UV, an S2+ with 7135*8 driver and T6-4C XML2, and an S2+ with (if memory serves) a 7135*6 driver and a U2-1A XML2.

Xml2 leds can handle up to about 8A. So you can swap the driver on them for sure.

The UV leds are not robust at all. They can not handle high amperage. So I would not swap their driver.

Maybe somebody that knows what specific LED is used can give us some numbers as to how much power it can handle. My guess is no more than 2A.

I’m not sure on the current handling, but if you search around BLF some you’ll find that all the UV LEDs can’t handle much heat, either. Even treated nicely they don’t have great runtime ratings. You can probably run them at 3A briefly and get lots of power - but, at least for all the examples I’ve looked at, you’re also going to need a 2 cells+buck driver or one cell and a boost driver to hit much current on them - the forward voltage starts high and ascends rapidly.