1st MTG2 Build

Men lose the ability to hear high pitch whining noises is a survival mechanism. The older you get, the more survival mechanism you develop. Don't develop it and you may end up going insane and hurting yourself or others.

Another tip for soldering to pills. Before installing the driver, solder a couple blobs to the edge of the pill. Then when you place the driver, just solder the driver to the blobs. Focus the heat on the pill's blobs first. Once liquid, let the tip touch the driver and add solder as needed to bridge. The idea is to subject your driver to as little heat as possible.

Great tip, thanks! I’ll definitely try to remember that next time. Can’t solder the big pills for squat.

I'm pretty sure the Qlite is using the 19kHz fast-PWM, I've never heard one make noise. But take that same Qlite and flash it with the old version of luxdrv (9.4kHz phase-correct) and it'll whine in the upper-middle modes. Flash it again with Nlite (19kHz fast-PWM) and it goes back to being quiet again.

If you have one of these attiny13/FET hybrids and it changes modes like it should, then you know it's using one of the 9.4kHz firmwares (clicky or momentary doesn't make any difference).

The only trick I found to make a 9.4kHz driver quiet isn't going to be practical in the smaller lights...

That's a 220uF/16v, and there's still a little bit of noise, I finally settled on 470uF and that makes it totally silent.

Great tip about soldering blobs to the pill first. I learn so much on this forum!

Thanks all for the very helpful tips and education. I am learning as I go along and I enjoy the learning, at least I enjoy learning from others and what I read I just dislike learning by my mistakes. Worse and most disappointing is that I knew I was rushing and taking chances and not using the correct setup but I proceeded ahead anyways. I will be more deliberate when my replacement parts come in. I will also be getting some equipment that will work better and I’ll be using one of those magnifying glasses with the alligator clamp arms. I figure it’s not unlike like bicycling; I fell a lot at first and was frustrated at times but with perseverance and the help of others it became second nature to ride a bike.

It’s kinda funny. I see a lot of people in the ER that knew there was a good potential for trouble if they did the thing that caused them injury, but they did it anyway and always say, “I knew better than to do that!” I think the part that bothers me about this set-back is that I really did know better. I often learn a lot from my patients. Now if I could just remember those lessons.

You’re onto something there Scotty, learning is one thing, remembering it is something else altogether!

Sometimes you HAVE to learn from your own mistakes because the expense/pain/frustration is what makes it memorable. Just reading about it is easy enough to forget.

Thanks Comfy, that looks impressive! And yeah, I can see where it’d knock out application in a small light. Is that replacing the small ceramic cap? That’s just a much larger capacitor? How do you figure this kind of stuff out? Trial and error experience like Scotty is talking about or research?

Looks like an electrolytic cap and a shielded inductor in the middle of the board.

The electrolytic cap is between B+ and GND, while the 105C's ceramic cap is located after the little protection diode. I dunno which way is 'correct', but if it works... :shrug:

The inductors have been a serious pain... remember what I said about things vibrating? The inductors like the one shown are shielded, but inside is just a normal wire-wound coil, and all those little turns of wire can wiggle around. The shielding doesn't do anything for sound waves, only electromagnetic emissions. I have some others that are using flat wire and are molded (like potting a driver), but unshielded - they're less prone to making noise. They cost about 3 times as much, though...

Is there a downside to using a smoothing capacitor on the output, such as reduced efficiency or power?

3 times the cost, how much is that?

Panasonic 1.2uH 14.2A Power Inductor ETQP6F1R2HFA. Qty. 5pcs | eBay - around $1 each there, but retail at Digikey they’re $3.27 ea

Coilcraft 1.2uH 12.3A Power Inductor MLC1260-122MLC, RoHS, Qty.10pcs | eBay - $0.70 ea, but only $1.42 ea direct from Coilcraft

Since the boards are going to be available for anybody to build I'm trying to find a part that works well, and is easy for everybody to get, and also doesn't cost $5. An ebay seller may only have a finite supply and so they probably won't be available forever at those prices.

I did experiment with the cap across the L+/L- pads, and from L+ to GND (was pretty sure beforehand that's not a good place to put it), but both those did affect the LED while not doing much to reduce the noise. Where it ended up it's just a damper on the power supply to the attiny and doesn't affect operation other than making it quieter.

That’s really cool Comfychair. I think I have misophonia, to say I hate a whining driver is a huge understatement. Certain sounds really get me. I have ground keys down so that I can make a key pocket knife (not a knife but opens up like one) our dog in my avatar, her dog license, tags etc are all riveted to her collar so no rattle. So I like the quiet driver very mucho. :wink:

Are you sure you’re not related to my wife? We’ve already discussed the name thing, and now the sounds…she’s very sensitive to sounds, smells, and foul old men. Oh OH, might be onto something there…

I’m a true Heinz 57 American. (Ketchup advertised as being made from 57 varieties for those unfamiliar with the gringo phrase) Every where I go in every country and state I have been to people always are saying, “Look honey, isn’t he the spitting image of Some Guy ”. I would not be surprised if there was a Haggard in your family wood pile. :wink: I also like to joke that I come from a long line of people that have trouble saying no.

At work in the ER we often joke about having some degree of CDO. (That’s OCD but alphabetized so that it’s more organized and logical :wink: ) People with similar traits are drawn to similar work. From what you have said before, Dale, misophonia included I have to say your Mamacita sounds like a keeper. Just don’t scrape your silverware on the plate.

So I think for the build I will be changing it to fit in a Solarforce host. I like the Dorpmuller, Itinifni/ Vinz look of a P-60 in copper. Where to score 3/4 slugs of copper or a 3/4” rod cut down to 5mm slugs? I could get discs on Etsy and solder them together but that costs about as much as a 12” rod of 3/4” copper at onlinemetals web site.

I recently ordered some aluminum rod from Exact Metals on eBay. When the product arrived it came with a flier that said to contact them by phone or email for cut to size stuff. I don’t see copper in their eBay listing, but the flier did say all types of metal in full lengths ready to cut.

7/8” copper fit’s loose in a Solarforce head, I used a piece 1” long to put the triple Noctigon on. Wanted it to be closer to a press fit, but didn’t want to pay for the 1” and then turn 3/32” of it into dust.

onlinemetals.com is supposed to be offering USPS shipping to save on that shipping cost, but I haven’t noticed em doing it yet. UPS from them is just ridiculous! Check em out, if they don’t have it yet as an option throw a fit, maybe we’ll get it affordable to get small pieces yet!

(A small flat rate box is only $5.05 shipped anywhere in the US in 2 days, if it fits, it ships. They have a pound limit on that {forget what it is}but to get a 3” long bar of 1” copper would be sweet at $5 shipping)

I have never really found a good cheap source for copper. I usually just stroll around ebay until I find something reasonable.
If your looking for aluminum, the best place I have found is http://www.stockcarsteel.com/aluminum-round-bar/6061-aluminum-round-bar
I have ordered several times from them, the shipping charges and the per a foot price are a lot less than others I have found. If you make the phone call they should also ship the items usps for a reduced cost, if you ask.
They do send out 10% off coupons about every month it seems to my email box. Might try searching for one for a even sweeter deal.

Pre 1982 cents are brass, not copper. Brass has a conductivity of around 100. Aluminum is twice as good. Real copper is 4 times as good.