12A 7135 Based SRK Replacement Driver

Glad to see that you’re giving back to the community like this! Maybe I’ll get some made :slight_smile:

It looks like its time to get me an SRK. Nicely done.

10 count 380mA 7135's

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1007/10001705/1197600

100 count 350mA 7135's

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1007/10001705/1124300

Sacrificial 105C for the ATTiny13A and hardware

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1612/10001683/1122301

And this

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1612/10001683/1186300

I like these becasue it starts low up to high, in case someone who doesn't know grabs it and turns it on wide open and ends up overheating it with it's new found power!

ATTiny13A chips (lot of 10 for $5)

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-SHIPPING-10PCS-LOT-ATMEL-ATTINY13-ATTINY13A-TINY13A-MCU-AVR-1K-FLASH-20MHZ-8SOIC-IC-ATTINY13A/803540727.html

Then load up custom firmware

Wow! This is simple stuff but ingenious none the less - thanx Matt!

This (obviously?) requires the LED's be in parallel, and having an e-switch driver. The MiniMo driver could be used, since Doc Jones' more advanced drivers are only available on his hardware. Is this the project he was prodded to release source code for an e-switch driver?

Ah crud. you are right, going to need a momentary firmware with a off function

This is a really nice concept. I am all for simple UI's, so this would be my favorite SRK-driver (if I had a SRK, that is :-( )

So, now that you are in the routine ;-) , how about a 14/15mm one sided version with room for 3 or 4 chips. It would fit the sk68 and quite a few other small flashlights.

SK68 is 15mm, I measured…I think he has a few other projects in the works…but hopefully that can be on his list :wink:

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you Mattaus! I'm going to risk it and order 3 of this untested board. You rock man!

I'm pretty sure there will soon be a different version using a single direct-drive FET, in case there are others who are a bit tired of the 7135s.

(this one works great, Vishay SUD70N02-03P) :party:

Nice job Matt. I think Texaspyro mentioned that if you have .brd files Oshpark will make a matching Kapton stencil. I don’t know what those are or how one makes tape out of a file but there it is.

To be honest all these 7135/ATtiny drivers are electrically identical. Making a 15mm driver would take no time at all. I'll see what I can whip up tonight after footy training.

As for the firmware - this driver can be used as a normal NANJG driver (no e-switch) provided you have the right firmware. If you want to use an e-switch you will probably need DrJones MiniMo firmware. If you use that firmware you CANNOT solder the bridged marked as number 4.

I just realised I forgot to check with DrJones if he was working on an SRK driver. I know he was working on a larger 4 LED driver that allowed control over each emitter (or cycle through them). If this driver is stepping on his toes (because it sort of relies on his firmware which I did NOT think about) I will pull it from OSHPark.

- Matt

I would recommend mobydrv adapted for flashlights (Instant off) from DrJones.

There are other firmwares out there too (or soon to be - I believe Werner said he was planning to release source code once he has it ready). DrJ also sells bare pre-flashed tiny13s, I think, for his more complex versions.

He put his 7135's too close to the edge, will use ATtiny84 and have a few other high end features. The cheapies will complain his price is too high, but they probably won't buy your driver either. I'd probably build a light with all three. It may be more expensive than I'm willing to try, but I wonder how well your driver with the zener mod using 18350's in 2S4P driving a trio of MT-G2's would work.

Be VERY careful putting holes/leads in that center area of the board. The cells in an SRK are held very loosely and their position can be all over the place. With flat/low top cells it is easy for them to touch things in that center area… kerblewie! Same goes for the outer ring… it needs to be fairly narrow to make sure a cell cannot touch it. Some cells have awfully wide positive contacts…

Also, be very careful depending upon the board solder mask to keep the tab under the AMC7135 chips from shorting to etches underneath the chip. Solder mask should NEVER be used to provide insulation in critical places. Plus, being able to get solder to that tab under the chip provides a much better thermal path.

Finally, I would not recommend paralleling all the AMC chips and the LEDs. At these currents imbalances in the LEDs can lead to run-away current hogging and emitter toastification. My driver breaks up the AMC chips into three groups, one for each LED, 3 amps max to each LED. Yes, you could parallel the banks (like Old Lumens did for hist MTG mod), but I would not recommend it fot things like XML’s.

These issues led to the funky layout of my driver board with 24 AMC chips in three banks.

Thanks texaspyro. I made specific mention of the board being untested for these reasons. The BATT+ contact ring is larger than on the stock SRK driver board so battery wobble should be less of an issue. Nontheless the through hole vias were simply to make soldering wires easier and to reduce the risk of ripping solder pads off. I would obviously encourage people to keep the wires as low as possible.

Points noted on the routing under AMCs etc. I know this is frowned upon, but the point of this board was more to do with big power than anything else. I have identified a way I could potentially improve the design a little bit, but I will wait a while to see if the demand really requires it.

Live and learn :)

The Qlite has routing under the chips, in the dozens (100?) that I’ve used, it’s never been an issue and so far I’ve run em up to 4 high and over 6A. Lucky maybe, don’t know.

Great stuff. I’ll keep on eye on this and see how it all pans out. I already have some SRK drivers on the way so I don’t need them just yet.

Thanks

Every cheap 7135 board I’ve seen has the output trace crossing under the chips. It doesn’t mean it’s good design but does seem to work. Breaking up the output into groups could be done just by cutting the output trace in a few places and soldering an led- wire to one of the chips in each isolated group. For a high voltage Zener mod it would be better maybe to have the entire bottom of the chip available for ground trace soldering but maybe not as important for normal 4.2V usage. The natives have been getting restless waiting for an SRK board and this is a sort of stop gap measure. I like that Mattaus is willing to put things out there knowing that his first effort can be improved on and that Texaspyro takes the time to make suggestions. We all learn from them and gain by their efforts.

Sorry RBD. I failed on most of that last line. :_(