Hi,
I’ve been testing several different drivers and types of drivers in preparation for building a new triple.
I also happen to have a number of the “original” EAST-092 drivers, I think from HD-2010s, that I bought from another BLF member awhile ago, so I was testing (actually, re-testing) one of those as part of this “exercise”. I had tried these awhile ago, and one of the things that I wanted to re-check was that I recalled that on high mode, even with good batteries, emitter current was only in the 3.6+ amp range.
Now, the EAST-092 is supposed to be a DD type driver, so it seemed like it should be able to provide higher current, since it should be, I think, similar to the BLF17DD and the “NANJG-092”?
So, I hooked it up, and tested both with several different 18650s, including a couple of 20Rs that I had, and also with my bench supply. These were hooked up to a triple XP-G2 on Noctigon, and sure enough, emitter current never went higher than about 3.6 3.7 amps…
Puzzled, I dug out my old scope, and hooked it up to the gate and source pins on the FET (a 70N03), and compared the signal in low, medium, and high mode.
What I found was that in medium and low modes, the signal would toggle between “0” and 3V, whereas in high mode, the signal was steady, but only about 2.5V.
So, it seems like, at least on these EAST-092s that I have, the firmware doesn’t raise the gate signal to 100% in high mode, and that is probably why I am not seeing much higher emitter currents, even with what should be pretty good, high discharge batteries.
I don’t have any of them yet, but, on the other hand, probably the firmware in the BLF17DD and NANJG-092 drivers does raise the gate signal to 100% in high mode?
Does this make sense?
Thanks,
Jim
EDIT: If this is true, then it’s probably time for me to try making some NANJG-092s :)!!