Driver Info: HX-1175b & HX-1175B1 (Pic Heavy)

How does this driver behaves on different voltages?
It’s listed as 3-18V but I guess it is buck only like always…

I think I’m starting to see. You say “Full power is going to the bottom left Pin in the below pic.” I read that as “the bottom left pin” - a pin which does not have anything hooked up to it. That’s why I assumed you meant the bottom right. Now I see you meant the pin above the bottom left pin. When you said “full power” I was also confused since I wasn’t sure what you meant by that. Looking back at post #29 I’m sure you meant ~4-5v, not battery voltage. (remember, as far as I know this is a mystery MCU. So I don’t rule out putting battery voltage on it). Anyway I think I’m clear now, thanks.

There are 5 pins hooked up though, so I’m still curious what that final connection is on the bottom right. Looks like it’s not hooked up to anything but a bunch of unpopulated stuff. I still wonder what it was for…

Werner:

I have only been using the driver with MT-G2 using 2S and 3S cells. Based on the way it behaves, I think it will have no problem with 4S cells. I will try soon to find out. I will also try 1S cell with an XML.

wight:

You're absolutely right on all counts. So sorry for the confusion. The second Pin/Pad from the bottom on the left is receiving a little over 3 volts. I'm not sure why the there is a difference between what I measure now at that Pad (without the MCU in place) and what I measured then with the MCU in place.

I will be modding another driver soon. I will take voltage readings again both with the MCU on and off the board and report back more clearly.

WOW
Nice job!!!

I wish I had time trying to replace the MCU on LD-29 :frowning:

I think Werner is wishing it was a Boost/Buck driver (or maybe it is? - unlikely :frowning: ).

It’s partly just the way I read things. One possible reason for the different voltages you observed would be “potential”. If you did not use the same ground point with your DMM you could get different readings. I look forward to your measurements with the next one. That should be telling!

Maybe I’ll at least probe one very soon.

Finally got my two HX-1175B today.

One with 2 x R068. About 6,8A on high

One with 2x R062. About 7,8A on high.

Modded one that had 2xR068 stock. With similar (combined) values as my other one, output was a bit different. So, maybe its wise for people do test these things on their own drivers.

ImA4wheelr, the way you connected it in post 52. Does it whine in any of the modes that way too? What PWM frequency are you using?

Anyone who is able to incorporate low voltage warning and cut off for 2 cells in series?

Glad to hear you got the right driver finely. Did you get the "B1" version?

I'm assuming you are meaning using a 105C driver board as opposed to just an unmounted Attiny chip. The PWM feed should only be wired one way as the first way I did it basically takes you into direct drive. I didn't notice any whining, but I have to tell you that I'm pretty deaf to high frequencies.

I think the whining was amplified by having the driver hanging in the air and not having the heavy brass ring on the driver (like I did with the Post 52 pictures). I think just mounting the MCU properly and also mounting the driver in a light would eliminate most of the whining. I bet my potting recipe would absorb the rest of whining as it is a clay like substance.

I want to solve the whining issue too. Hope to get back to the driver this week. I need it for a couple lights. I'll ask my wife to listen and report back.

EDIT: Opps, forgot about your frequency question. 9kHz. Here are the lines from DrJones' MiniMo FW:

#define F_CPU 4800000                    //use fuses  low:0x75  high:0xff
 TCCR0A=0b00100001; TCCR0B=0b00000001;  //PWM setup, 9kHz

Hooked PWM to the 30,000 ohm resistor on the MCU side of the resistor, got ground from the ground ring and power in to the ATiny13A from the pad at the lower right side of the board.

Once I figured out the wiring to the e-switches in the TK61 (&@#~!!) it pulls 7.15A to the de-domed XM-L2.

Have the 10-pin and 6-pin chips been definitively ID'd? The 10-pin one looks awfully similar to the Linear Tech buck or boost controllers.

That would be cool if someone knew the answer to CC's question.

DBCstm wrote:

Hooked PWM to the 30,000 ohm resistor on the MCU side of the resistor, . . .

For some reason, I couldn't get the driver to work when I tied in down stream from the point I tied into in Post 52. I was tying VCC in at a different point though when I did that. I will have to try that again. Do you know if there is any benefit to feeding the PWM through the resistor? Where I tied, PWM of 1 works. How low can you go tying in through the resistor?

Tried the recipe in post 52 with a regular Qlite just to test.

Nothing. Cant post picture to photobucket right now due to maintenance or something.

Any reason why a regular Qlite should not work?

Are you tying in where the "B" is in the picture or where the wire is soldered. The wire is wrong.

DBCstm tied in on the MCU side of the 30K resistor. That might work.

EDIT: A picture might help if the above doesn't fix you up.

Not sure exactly what you mean.

I tried on the MCU side of the 30K resistor too.

Here is how I wired it first.

From the Qlite, the wires were connected here: (picture from my other HX1175B, looks extra dirty due to light)

Found my error when looking over this post. You can see it in the first picture. Two of the legs where the HX-1175B MCU stood were connected. Problem solved.

There is some high frequent whine on "medium" with the qlite too. Mode spacing with regular Qlite firmware is really strange.

Low - 0,4A

Medium - 0,87A

High - 7,9A

Im glad it works. Thanks a lot ImA4Wheelr! :)

When I learn to program and flash these drivers I should be able to get nice mode spacing.. Please let me know if someone is able to find a solution for the whining.

Here is a close up picture if you need it.

Edit after a little tweak:

0,05A

0,99A

8,12

Well regulated down to about 5,6V. High sinks down towards 8A.

AFAIK they have definitely not been ID’d. The 10-pin is almost certainly an MCU of some type though…

RaceR86’s “other” board shows an “A” on the 6-pin chip. The 10-pin MCU is really well ground, looks like they built a machine to do that.

Racer86’s 10-pin chip does show an important marking though. There’s the dimple for pin-1 but there’s also a little dot beside that. It seems that the dot must be part of the manufacturer’s marking or logo, it almost certainly does not indicate a pin or anything. I don’t know who. Maybe someone wants to pour over sites like this one.

Where is the whining coming from, can you tell? Consider potting the driver, as suggested by ImA4Wheelr. I assume that epoxy potting will be much better at quieting it down than his clay-like recipe, but also way less reversible ;-).

Cant tell where the whine comes from.

I can tell you that my analog meter on my power supply says about 7,8V and 5,6A input. Or 43,68W

Emitter current at about 8,1A (XM-L2) then voltage should be about 4,2 according to graphs. 34,02W at the emitter

None of those numbers are precise. But that gives me a bit below 80% efficiency and more than 9W of heat in the driver with the combo above.

Long before this thread was started I had some numbers that said about 85% efficiency, but those numbers were not super accurate either, and emitter amps were lower.

Either way. 9W is a lot of heat for a driver circuit, so better make sure its able to get rid of that heat.

I hooked the PWM in at the resistor labeled 303, right there next to the PWM. Used the pad for the resistor closest to the MCU.

If I understand it right, the whine comes through ground. Make sure your ground connections are all solid.

Hooked the PWM up the the 303 resistor like you did since that was the last place I had it when I found the error.

PWM whine does not come from ground.

Glad to hear you got it going. I guess I need take some pictures of a proper connection. I tried to explain in Post 52 that the pictures that the wire was not connected to the correct pin, but the "B" marking was where to connect.

Wight,

I have to disagree with you about epoxy being superior to clay in deadening sound. I use to build speakers and clay is an excellent material for helping preventing reflections that cause standing waves and such within a speaker enclosure. It absorbs sound waves (higher frequencies) and vibrations very well. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but epoxy is much harder and more likely to transmit vibration.

You could be right. I recommended epoxy based on it’s lower viscosity. My logic was that a lower viscosity would allow the epoxy to better conform to everything. Epoxy is normally used for potting electronics of all types. I assumed that if we could limit the movement of the stuff that whines then there wouldn’t be any noise to deaden in the way that you describe.

I’m quite sure about the lower viscosity being an asset for thermal potting, but I’m definitely not sure about the noise part.

And I should also say that you could be right. My recipe will press into almost all the small crevices with ease, but it probably won't get under a component (where as epoxy may get pulled under by capillary action). Your really need to play with the stuff to appreciate it. I should note that it is very difficult to remove it from those small crevices.