Toroids and MOSFETs and firmware, oh my! (aka:'Tiny13+N-FET=???')

Woohoo, never checked AE for eparts. There are some crazy prices.
I will definitely order some Tinys and some nfets from them.
The FET you found is extremely cheap.
I will first go with 10packs of tiny and to220fets I already have so that I can compare.

I also found used FETs, which got disassembled and have still some solder on the legs, lol.

Anyone planning a single board for this? OL was drawing up one for etching with just Attiny parts and lots of 7135 pads but an Oshpark set up for this would be great.

How about a 46mm board with a tiny13 and three of those 2SK4212s? :O

And a single FET 17mm version?

Include the 105c's stars for compatibility with clicky switches and other firmwares.

I don't know squat about PCB layout though. Somebody else would have to do it... but the parts to make it work have already been sorted out.

A Mag D tube is~34 mm ID and the 52mm Fastech reflector base is 26mm so my vote would be for <32mm ( ideal sizes 28.5mm, 26.5mm, 20.5mm)which would leave plenty of room for the chips, stars, and extra pads for momentary switch.

Never thought of three of these big FETs, in my eyes the advantages are not big enough…just to save some millivolts…

I ordered a 20mm PCB with space for tiny13A and some other neat things like space for a zenerdiode or the off time checking parts.
It features the nanjg layout so firmwares are compatible. No 7135 but space for some sot23 nfets or a TO220Fet( IRL3803). Along with two pads for an eswitch…
4 parallel sot23 FETs are good for 12A and have around 12mOhm so they work perfect in single cell lights, there are even better ones available but I am a budget guy…
The IRL3803 is a beast of transistor and would be suitable for everything we know…
Also we could use bigger resistors for voltage divider to reduce standby current for eswitch es.


There is no need to pay extra for a bigger board which costs 5 times more if you can just add a small PCB on top of the original driver.
I am not sure if the layout is correct because I tried some new things to test, they are already shipped but I guess I will get the the prototypes in a week or so.

45mm*45mm=3squareinch so oshpark would charge 15$ for a batch of three
20x20 cost only 3.1$ for a batch of three…

So basically parts for the whole 20mm board would be around the price the bare 45mm board costs…and the big board would only work in a single type of light because all the big lights are different…
Also you could not assemble a FET and just use the custom firmware with another driver like the 3T6 driver :wink:


I have a 17mm driver in mind like TiVo did with the zilog but just compatible with nanjg firmware. If the prototype works i will make one, hopefully I can learn something from the 20mm driver so that the new one even is better.

I HATE stripping down drivers just to use them as contact boards... :Sp

Wow -Werner this sounds awesome. I have all the parts on order for a small run of Tivo's boards. Wish you could go with a Tiny85 though - much more program space, temp monitor, etc. Dunno - how compatible it is though to the 13A.

To clean the driver just put it on a hot plate like reflowing LEDs just backwards. if hot remove the parts…
We need to think more ecological, recycling is fun :bigsmile:
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I dont See the Need for tempmonitoring…? I have a tempsensor Build in my hand :wink:
I also see no need for more program space, what do you want to add?
My eswitch firmware is 700bytes and luxdrv is also around this size, so I don’t see need for more space.
I don’t need user configurable garbage that confuses me, I just want some defined modes. The only thing what I always miss is off time checking, and I guess it will be only few bytes needed for it.
Tiny85 is pincompatibel, just the Registers for PWM and ADC need to be adjusted. But this is a budget driver no super all in one 20$ thing with lots of features nobody needs.
If you had tried my eswitch firmware you would have seen that less is sometimes more…

Oh boy, yes I tried it and like the UI very much. Just that it's locked into levels only applicable to a M6, like you said.

So, do you end up needing the capacitor with the K4212? I see that you still have it on your boards. What size/specs is it?

It seems that my Firmware Needs a capacitor for the tiny to work optimal, I used a 10uF SmD capacitor on top of the standard nanjg smd cap, after finding out that a bigger one worked. Comfy used a random one from electronic junk…
Does anyone know which cap the standard nanjgs have on board?

Oh modes are not locked, I have made it easy changeable like in luxdrv….I send you the latest version with standard mode spacing in a moment…

Werner, is your firmware "open source" or something you would like to play a little closer to the vest?

The capacitor I'm talking about is the relatively large on soldered to the C1 pads on the JB1 driver.

Nanjg cap here? https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/16805#comment-409143. It's post #62, from texaspyro

Interesting but maybe it’s to small on 4V if it’s a 6v type, I used a 10V type and added it on the nanjg. On my15mm driver I solved the problems after replacing a 100nF with one of my10uF ones too…
Yes the bulky cap is just one comfy had on hand, probably with huge capacitance.

I have the plan on releasing it, if you want I can send you the compiled testversion. Once it’s finally done I will probably release the source too…
I also will share the PCB file(which is fairly easy on oshpark) if it works.

I want to clean the initializing of PWM and ADC as long with some other things which are currently hard coded. I have read a lot tutorials and documentations how things should be made and so I will try to do this too as good as I can.

I think TP said that the Tiny85 was pin compatible but that the footprint was slightly wider so longer pads are needed.

So all we need is a small additional capacitor added somewhere on either one of the boards?

Werner: A compiled test version would be awesome! I just finished building my "Securitying" (what a funny name!) light last night and now it needs some lower mode levels!!!

OK, clarification: I hate the idea of stripping down a functioning driver just to get a blank contact board. I like to re-use leftover stuff when possible.

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The capacitor can be smaller if it's placed closer to the attiny, that's what I did on the latest version of the red 'JB' driver. It can go anywhere that's electrically the same as stock, between MCU pin8 and GND (the red Vcc trace).

It can go on the reverse side in parallel with the original, off the bottom of the diode to GND, off the bottom of R1 to GND (I relocated the original cap to this spot, so I can coat the backside with JB Weld and not have any components inaccessible), or straight onto the Vcc pin on the attiny (though, this can block access for the programming clip).

The attiny will drive the 2SK4212 FET directly with no resistors added anywhere - other FETs give different results. The red 'JB' driver works as-is.

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I've used the 095b version of the FW on several lights, and even on a 105C still using the original 7135s (in a little UF-T50; tested, but not assembled yet), and the mode spacing has been good on all of them. The big single FET drivers still look 'right' when used with a single cell & single LED, so it should be good for a East092-style driver as well.

Comparative, not absolute (it's not dark, ambient light not subtracted), ceiling bounce lux numbers for some different lights...

6x XML2, direct drive JB driver, Werner's 095b FW
7.8
17.9
32.3
61.2
101.2

3x XML2, direct drive JB driver, Werner's 095b FW
8.6
18.9
33.0
59.2
94.4

3x XML2, direct drive JB driver, stock 3-level FW
22.3
54.6
84.2

3x XML, stock 3-toroid SRK driver, stock hi-low FW
10.9
53.5

Wow! Looks like you picked up some more juice just by swapping in the 105C. The stock MCU must not be giving 100%.

Another question: If it isn't needed, why do you still have the huge capacitor on the "JB" board?

It's big compared to the stock ceramic thing, but it's smaller than the others. It could be probably much MUCH smaller and still work, but I use what I have...

The total output numbers don't mean anything - all the lights are using different cells (20Rs, 28As, NCR 2900s, etc.), some were charged yesterday and not been used since, others have been used for a few days. It's just to give an idea of the mode spacing. Also the 6x is cool white, the 3x'ers are 3Bs in one and 4Cs in another, all kinds of variables not accounted for.

This is what ended up in the 6x light, with the cap on the 105C instead of the big lower board.