3.5-4.5 amp "single-board" driver?

I was really psyched to see that fasttech had the famed East driver (that’s in the 2010 and keygos ke5), and equally bummed when they turned out to be low-powered junk.

I really need some dependable 17mm 3.5 - 4.5 amp ONE-BOARD drivers. Four amp would be best, but anything above the standard 2.8 nanjig would be super. Even 5 amps might work.

I have tried the FT V10s (right name?) and they work fine for me, but they have two driver boards, so they’re no good in tight spaces, which many lights have. Plus, the 5 amp drivers have an annoying useless candle-light low mode and the 4-ampers have that god-awful mode program.

Yes, I know I can stack chips on the nanjigs, but sometimes with the stacked chips those won’t even fit, and quite frankly, I really don’t like soldering those mosquito-sized chips onto a driver board. My eyes start tearing and my hands shake at the mere thought.

Any 4-amp drivers out there?

You are looking for the holy grail.

I’ve got one that I could work on over this weekend. It is a two board solution, but it fits a P60 pill, due to it’s unique stacking and assembly technique. Sometimes I need a push to finish things up on the software side :slight_smile: . One other member has a copy of the 4A slave board.

I can stack 7135s on a 105C and fit the driver in a Convoy S2 or similar. Without a boost converter I don’t see how any other driver would do what stacked 7135’s can do.

That’s you my friend! And stacking 7135s can be relatively easy for many here in BLF. :wink:

But there are also lesser mortals here like us who don’t have the skills to do so. :slight_smile:

haha……well I think a little superglue to position the chip makes it easy. Heck I even use a fat solder tip. Practice I guess

We should start a club. :wink:

Yeah, call it, “Those who are too lazy to practice” :stuck_out_tongue:

:stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

Weird - I find it sooo easy to solder 7135's. I cheat, but wtf, it works. Hold the 7135 in place with tweezers, bent pins of course, flux on the pins, pre-solder the tip (use a small wedge tip), then slow strokes upwards from the bottom pin, up to the piggyback pin. Actually I first may hold the tip on the bottom a couple of secs, then strokes upward. Seems to work every time, rare that I screw it up, but when double stacked, gets a little hairy.

If you try to approach it with the tip and the solder separately, much harder -- always pre-tin the tip and use that solder. I get pretty clean solder joints from that - of course not recommended this way, but always works.

LOL! :smiley:

Yes practice is needed. I can solder, and I have successfully turned my 2 Convoy C8s into 10*7135s - but after destroying 5 7135 chips. :stuck_out_tongue:

My soldering skills is just great that I think its the main reason why I messed up my K40 while trying to do the resistor mod. :~

Some people just need a little more practice than others to get the skill. :wink:

Flux makes the impossible easy.

Any of you skilled folks up for making a tutorial? I think many would welcome such. :bigsmile:

If your are looking for stacking 7135s, see How-To: Add 7135 chips to a Driver Board (Stacking)

:beer:
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I can do the 7135 stacking soldering job, but it takes me a long time to have done one chip, because sometimes I did mess up. Also I think my tip is not sharp/tiny enough to get the work done effectively. I can do, but not an easy job for me though.

>>>>>but it takes me a long time to have done one chip, because sometimes I did mess up.

Yeah ditto for me. I can do it. I just don’t LIKE to do it. I can also paint cars and houses, but I hate doing it, so I don’t.

In my business, I solder probably 4 straight hours a day, so the last thing I need is practice. But the chips … It takes a long time. I screw up drivers and chips maybe 30% of the time doing it. Sometimes the chips themselves seem to be bad. Sometimes the stacking just doesn’t seem to work for some reason. Misalignment of the planets or who knows what?

Even in the best situation, stack ’em on top and one battery pressed down a little too hard can knock ’em all out of the way and short ’em. I would just rather buy a dependable 4-amp driver already done.

But from what I am hearing here, there just tain’t nothing comparable, so I’ll go back to stacking. Ugh.

But thanks to everyone for their tips and suggestions. Good to know that I’m not the only one who can’t find a good 4a driver. DARN! I wish those FT East drivers worked right. I just put an L2 emitter in my 2010 and the thing bounced up to 48k lux (at 15 feet) from 26k. I know some people have probs with the East chips, but they seem to work great for me (with a GOOD fully charged unprotected battery) in the keygos and 2010.

You know, you could just go direct drive. Just a contact board to the emitter. Depending on your battery, you’d get your 4 amps plus. I think the ‘good’ EAST-092 was direct drive on high mode, so this would be the same, albeit without modes.

Thanks for the link. :slight_smile: