From a hardware standpoint, couldn’t you add a zener to dump the voltage to the mcu and swap the protection diode with a resistor? Like a qlite driver… I might mess with the complicated firmware though?
You could zener mod it, but you'll burn up the 7135 chips, especially the single channel 7135 chip, in a hurry. Not recommended. The duty cycle would have to be greatly reduced on the single 7135 chip, which would require a firmware change.
I depends largely on the total resistance of your circuit, but with a good bypassed tailcap spring and GA I would expect around 5A. You might get 0.5A-1A more from a 30Q.
Yeah, the spring would be bypassed. Hmmm…that doesn’t seem like it would be a huge visible impact. That being said, 30Qs are cheap enough to pick up down the line and see for myself.
So how does the thermal regulation work? It steps down a full level (of the 24 programmable modes)? Or it just dynamically decreases the PWM to maintain their thermal target but can do it in a far more granular fashion than the programmable levels?
Is there any plans to develop the same driver without the FET/DD option?
The PID is the main feature that makes it stand out from most drivers but this is not available in a standard linear driver.
Ultimately, would this driver be safe to use on a single Nichia 219C R9050 in a 1 x 18650 build. I am reading that the Nichia 219C should not be run on DD as it can easily overheat.
I wouldn't use it on a single 219C with a good high drain battery battery, even though it doesn't have as low of resistance as a normal FET driver so you can get away with a bit more. Since the modes are fully programmable, you can turn down the highest mode to whatever you want, or disable the FET entirely (I would still keep it on, but just turn it down one mode level from the top).