Smiling Shark SS-5039 1 x AAA size flashlight, modification notes, Now 3 x 7135 with modes, on a BLF Tiny 10 board.

Checking my history with them, Banggood sometimes sends an email confirming an order and sometimes one notifying one of a shipment, or sometimes both or none. The orders history at the web site appears to be complete.

Thanks Fritz. Gonna get me one from BG.

The SS-5039 is listed with a picture on http://en.cnsmilingshark.com so it appears to be legitimate, except that the size listed is impossible with an AAA cell.

Of 5 Nanjg 102s I received from Fasttech, 3 have the top flange of the inductor’s coil broken. These ferrite devices increase the field induced by the coil. The field goes through the center of the coil and wraps around to close the magnetic field lines. This core does not have ferrite around the full circle, but these flanges at the top and bottom spread the field out where it has to go through the air, which reduced the maximum field that passes through air and therefore reduced the field energy, which allows a stronger field, which induces more current.

Broken off pieces of ferrite can also be seen. They came in a soft envelope, which is probably the problem. I am hoping they will replace them and send them in ridged boxes in the future. I have 5 more on order that may arrive in similar condition.

I finished the slim hybrid with one of the two good drivers, an XP-G2 R5 1A, a thin aluminum star and a slotted copper pill. It draws 1.8 A at the tail, with a Ni M-H charged to 1.3 V. This may hopefully correspond to the 0.55 A at the led that 102s are rated at, or a bit more.
I also finished a 5039 with the other good driver, similar star and led and a long enough pill that it needs only one spring. (I should see what I can do about the tail springs.)
I tried two (of the damaged) drivers in parallel. I read 2.8 V with one driver and 2.9 V with two, into an XP-G2. I suppose that the duty factor is less than unity and that those are some sort of averages. That is better than the two jewel thieves did, but, glancing at the electrical characteristics, it may not be worth the trouble of fitting two drivers into a 5039.

Sounds great. You take any pics of that mod on the slim one?

I got some of those FT drivers, but I never inspected them. Too late for me to check them out now though. Thanks for the heads up.

If you prefer Ni-MH like me, you may want to check out this driver in Post 10 that DenBarrettSAR endorsed. I got some, but haven't tried them out yet. Probably will try on my SS's when they arrive.

I think it is unlikely that I could get a 17 mm. driver to work cut down to 12.3 mm. When I worked with electronics before, the parts either had BNC connectors or wire leads.
I’ll try to take pictures again of the next mods. I have three still in their boxes. I am thinking of giving most of them away with Energizer (Eveready) lithium cells. I think one of my brothers can use a direct drive one.

I use a spot of duct tape to protect the led when it is already mounted when I file down the star. I clean it off with mineral spirits.

> this driver in Post 10

Wait — it says 3 to 5 watts, out of a single AA cell — how?

Fritz t. Cat wrote:

I think it is unlikely that I could get a 17 mm. driver to work cut down to 12.3 mm.

I wasn't thinking. Forgot these are AAA lights. Sorry for the confusion.

The old 10 mm. star.

An original driver without either of its components.
The hand vise belonged to the same grandfather who taught me to solder.

The reflector and wires crowd each other.
The reflector is filed to fit.

Compared to a stock C8 on high.

The Noctigon star seems harder and yellower than the SinkPAD star.
I lost two XP-G2s in the process. They don’t seem as rugged as XM-L2s.
I ended up with an R5 1A, I think. I measured 1.8 A. There is less droop, so either the new star helps or else the conduction paths increase resistance with heat less. It has the same spring but the fit is different.

Sweet pill and reflector set up. Is the beam on the left the C8 beam?

It must be a special feeling to use tools that you know were used by your grandfather.

My Deal Alert 5049s arrived. They are very similar to the 5039 and 5038 in shape and finish. The threads match.

The driver is different. No boost, but it appears to regulate the otherwise direct drive current I read the resistor as 51 ohms, yellow brown black gold. (Bad boys rape our young girls, but Violet gives willingly.) That is too high to be in line, so it must control the other thing which looks like a transistor.
I read 0.2 A with half charged Eneloops. Again, the board is cut down from a surplus or large production larger and more complicated one.

Yes, if you look below, the lights are in the picture.

Apparently the three terminal thing is a PNP NPN (p channel?) junction field effect transistor or an old fashioned junction transistor. The resistor is connected from + in to the gate or base. The emitter or whatever is also connected to + in. The collector or whatever (plate) goes to + out. - goes straight through to -. To first approximation, the output current is proportional to the current in the resistor, so it should act electrically like a resistor. I get from battery charge state and tail cap current:
2.66 V 0.22 A 12.0 Ohms
3.14 V 0.28 A 11.2 Ohms
3.21 V 0.31 A 11.5 Ohms
So it starts regulating somewhere around 3 V. The apparent slight increase in effective resistance between the last two might be explained by the drop in voltage of Advanced Lithiums under load.
The obvious mod seems to be a lower value resistor and Lithium primary cells, if the transistor can take it. Or if one wants long run time, it is good as is.
0.22 A at 2.66 V is close to the chart for an XM-L2, so the led has a nice low forward voltage.

Fritz t. Cat wrote:

Yes, if you look below, the lights are in the picture.

OK, so is the light on the left the C8?

jk. Sorry, didn't see them down there. Ever since Ouchyfoot posted that one beam shot, it's an effort to look down.

I hate to say this, but Post 60 went straight over my head. Sounds like something someone with electronic knowledge would understand.

Hooking up one of the Nanjg 102s with broken flange on the core to an SS-5039 led, I get 0.22 A to the led ( at 3.7 V)(?). With two half charged Eneloops I read 0.43 A at the led tail (?), compared to 0.22 at the tail of the 5049 with these cells. So, at least with low cell voltages, the boost driver gives a substantial increase in current, assuming the 5039 led does not have lower forward voltage than the 5049 led and that the meter averages the fluctuating current in a reasonable way. On the other hand the reduced duty factor must decrease the led’s efficiency and clearly uses the stored charge less efficiently.

Added: I am not even sure what this means myself now. I will have to repeat the measurement before deciding to use a boot driver.

I don’t have extensive knowledge of circuits, but yes of course most people won’t understand post 60. On the other hand some people on here can correct me if I am wrong.
It is a current limiting driver, like 7135 drivers. But instead of limiting the current to n x 350 ma., it limits it to the input voltage divided by 11 Ohms. (I suppose that is the best one can do with two simple components.) Like 7135 drivers, it falls out of regulation at low input voltage, in this case about 3 volts.
The 11 Ohms, if I am correct, comes from the 51 Ohms of the resister divided by the current gain of the transistor.

It would be nice to find a way to put 7135s on a 12 mm. board.

Would this 12mm linear driver pcb by Mattaus work for you? From this thread.

Yes, that looks like an improvement, because of constant current, because we know 7135s can take more voltage drop than that without overheating and because there is mode control. I may try building one, but I have not yet built a surface mount circuit. I guess I can get most of the parts by cannibalising a Nanjg 105c. Swapping resistors with wire leads is easier, more familiar and cheaper for me. I ordered a set of three from Osh Park. I also bought resistors this morning.

If you don't already have some, do yourself a favor and get some solder paste and a hot air gun. Makes reflowing smd's a breeze.

You can get a cheap hot air gun. Mine is as cheap as they come and I have been using it for years on all kinds of stuff. Even autobody mods. I think I'm using this solder paste at the moment. Seems to work good, even for reflowing emitters.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10003546/1261003-chips-repair-tool-soldering-paste-grease