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

[Fritz_t_Cat]

My little lithium ion cells and charger are from Mountain electronics. Efest IRMs and a mini USB Xtar charger. Great output, if you don’t mind five or ten minute run times.
Hadn’t noticed your thread before. Looks like the same pill solution. That one that resembles the 5039 looks the same as an AA Smiling Shark I have.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

I built a BLF Tiny 12 driver, but it doesn’t work.

Here is a braided switch. It goes easily in spite of the size. Click on the pictures for larger views.

I see no good way to beef up the steel plate and washer.
This is for a 5049 with direct drive and an XM-L, the white led I have with the smallest forward voltage. With two used alkaline cells it is about as bright as a 5039 with a Nanjg driver and draws a quarter of an amp.

The 5039 I used to hybridize with a 5038 has unusual marking on it. It shows that lights marked Smiling Shark and Police do come from the same factory, as suspected.

By filing down the 5039 body, I got it to fit well, except that the tail button takes more force than usual.

This is as small as one can be made with all its outside anodizing and the tail switch in tact.

[WarHawk-AVG]

@Fritz t. Cat

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.

Per Microa

Experimenting with the Joule Thief circuit

Out of boredom I got interested into the Joule Thief circuit. Yesterday I built two of them using a 2N3904 transistor, 1k resistor, 10mm warm white LED and two different handwound coils. One of the coils is a larger toroid with 10 turns on it, the other one is a smaller one with six turns. So far both of them work just fine. The current draw from an eneloop cell is 40 mA with the larger and 44 mA with the smaller coil. I will make a third one tomorrow with an even smaller toroid with only fou…

Yeah that tiny IC is a solid state version of the joule thief

AX5505-VFM synchronous Step-up DC/DC converter

I think that green resistor is actually a linear choke…a coil 100uH

here is a slightly larger but more powerful VFM voltage booster!
up too 200mA (drive a XR-E or XP-G at lower end power)
http://www.ricoh.com/LSI/product_power/dc_up/rp400x/index1.html

[WarHawk-AVG]

@Fritz t. Cat

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.

You’re kidding right

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/m2Rw8HzQ

[Fritz_t_Cat]

Thanks.

@WarHawk-AVG

I think that green resistor is actually a linear choke…a coil 100uH

Interesting. So this is really a boost driver, another Jewel thief. Shorting it out only increased the current because the battery was well charged.

[WarHawk-AVG]

@Fritz t. Cat

Thanks.

@WarHawk-AVG

I think that green resistor is actually a linear choke…a coil 100uH

Interesting. So this is really a boost driver, another Jewel thief. Shorting it out only increased the current because the battery was well charged.

It shouldn’t have lit the emitter if only from a 1.5vdc battery though

Oh, you said you shorted a small Li Ion…then yes…shorting it made it a direct drive contact board more or less

[Fritz_t_Cat]

@WarHawk-AVG

@Fritz t. Cat

Thanks.

@WarHawk-AVG

I think that green resistor is actually a linear choke…a coil 100uH

Interesting. So this is really a boost driver, another Jewel thief. Shorting it out only increased the current because the battery was well charged.

It shouldn’t have lit the emitter if only from a 1.5vdc battery though

Oh, you said you shorted a small Li Ion…then yes…shorting it made it a direct drive contact board more or less

I use the Li ion in the 5039. The 5049 in direct drive with two Eneloops give very low current and output, but with alkalines or “1.5 V” lithium primaries, it works fairly well, with the original led, with a red led or with an XM-L. With a red XP-E it even works with Eneloops. 3 V is above the forward voltage of some leds.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

From general physics, machines of smaller size can work faster without being limited by diffusive processes such as respiration or cooling. So AAA lights that need the best cooling have very short run times.

[WarHawk-AVG]

@Fritz t. Cat

From general physics, machines of smaller size can work faster without being limited by diffusive processes such as respiration or cooling. So AAA lights that need the best cooling have very short run times.

Main reason is there ain’t alot of metal to soak up all that heat when you run Li Ion pretty much direct drive to an emitter…no mass = heat up quickly

[Fritz_t_Cat]

That can be helped by holding it by the head unless the head gets to hot to hold anyway. Your hand has much more heat capacity than the light.
My point is that the distance the heat has to go to get to air or hand is less, so there is less decrease in cooling than there is in battery capacity as a light becomes smaller. At 2 amps. with a 350 mah IMR the light will be way down in output in five minutes. So it is not worth building a solid pill and trying for three or four amps.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

I have destroyed two Philips Luxeon deep red leds while filing down the stars to fit. I put a sort of duct tape on the dome while I filed and cleaned it off with “Odorless” mineral spirits. The second one shows no physical sign of damage and worked when I got it down to 12.3 mm, but not after repeating the tape and filing grooves for wires and scraping off the insulating layer over the leads for contact with the wires.

[ImA4Wheelr]

Very sorry to hear about your emitter losses. Do you have a theory on what caused the emitter failure?

[Fritz_t_Cat]

No, it could be holding it by the dome to file it, it could be the mineral spirits, it could be the tape pulled off something when I took it off. I have not lost any XM-Ls from any cause, but other leds seem to be more fragile. I tried other input points in case a connection had been cut, but it didn’t work touching anywhere I can reach with the dome on.
I think I will try reflowing an other Philips onto the same star.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

I finished a deep red three mode 5049, but, on two Eneloops charged to 1.4 V each, it just flashed once or twice and went dim. It did the same on only one Eneloop. Apparently the “007” driver does not like the low forward voltage. The driver works fine with an led left over from a 5039.
I will try a Nanjg 102.

Added: The Nanjg draws 1.5 A from 1.4 V, and 3.8 A from 2.8 V which would burn out the driver and/or the led.
So my deep red, mounted at trouble and expense on a 12.3 mm. star can be used only with a Nanjg in a 5039 or with a resistor is a 5049, or maybe with some combination of driver and resistor. My stock of resistors is very limited and my pill isn’t the right length for a 5039, so I should proceed with a white led and work on a 1.5 V deep red light later.

Added later: The SS-5049 works normally, with an XP-G and the Dx three mode “Tank007” driver. It draws half an amp. from two Eneloops.

[WarHawk-AVG]

Can you remove the emitter from the star, do all the harsh filing and punishment work to fit the star, then reflow the emitter?

This way you don’t nick or damage/break the emitter doing all that heavy duty modding

Removes the most sensitive part that is easiest and most susceptible to damage from the equation

[Fritz_t_Cat]

Yes, that is the best way for this type led. At this point I just took the dead led off and reflowed one from an unmodified star onto the cut down star.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

The reflector filed to fit and focus the deep red led

This 5039 is only 12.1 or 12.2 mm. internal diameter. A bit under 12.3.

The deep red 5039 with Nanjg 102 is working. It draws 1.9 A from an Eneloop. I had to sand the star smaller to fit and partially dedomed the Luxeon while I sanded and broke a window (lens) when something stuck in the head.

Here are the deep red works (before finding that more sanding was needed)

Beams shot. This camera does not render the deep red well.

[ImA4Wheelr]

The beam looks quite throwy. Sharp hotspot, faint spill. Looks like it belongs to a bigger outdoor type light. How do you intend to use it?

[Fritz_t_Cat]

I must have gotten the focus right and it is a small led, but I suppose the accidental dedome also contributes to the throw. I have night hiking in mind but am concerned about mountain lions and regulations. Right now it is in my shirt pocket, in place of the red button cell light I usually carry. The deep red really looks very nice and is best for preserving night vision and for fog or smoke.
I just got a lime and a PC amber Philips Luxeon, but I expect to use them in larger lights. They are broad wave length range but also colored.

[Fritz_t_Cat]

After using the short twisty 5039/8 for a few minutes constantly, the plastic reflector has a rough surface near the bottom and stuck to the star.

Does anyone know of a metal reflector that is close to 12 mm. diameter? I suppose I will have to cannibalise an other AAA light to get it.

That shortened the works so it didn’t turn on right. I filed another plastic reflector to focus and fit over the wires, and I am filing a new head to fit. The XP-G2 is not the most heat sensitive part of the light. It has a black dent in its dome but still works well.