I am delighted that my Convoy S3 host has arrived. I have set a XM-L2 noctigon in the pill and also a 8*7135 driver from Intl-outdoors (should have got the Qlite but I made a mistake when I ordered) anyhow the brass looking ring that holds the driver in won’t fit the 7135 chips seem to get in the way. I have attached it with 3 solder points instead. Is this normal or have I missed something?
Those brass rings work best in the spare parts box.
Excellent glad to hear it’s not just me! First build and all. Any one got any advice as to good drivers for this host? The 2.8 amp setup heats up fast. I am thinking of dropping it to 2.1 amps Max instead.
comfy has done a lot more with EDC's that I have, but you can go as low as 1.4A, then pretty safe with heat, or I went as high as 3.5A in a S3, with some extra copper added for heat sinking. But yes - I have a S3 at 2.8A and made the mistake of lending it to someone at work, and I was thinking they would hold it in their hand, but, he sat it down on high for quite a few mins and the thing was practically red hot - couldn't touch it, but even though there was a burning smell (not sure if it was skin or what), it all survived fine! No probs at all. At higher amps, you have to just be careful - crank it down to med or lo if using it for extended periods of time, hold it when using so you are aware of the heat, etc...
It's almost as if someone needs to come up with a driver for these little lights that has a turbo timer that steps down from 100% to 33% after 2 minutes... :party:
Thanks for the advice. I have admired comfys work with edc triples, really makes me want a drill press now and a dremel and some skills/money/time. Is 2.1A much better for heat or am I looking at 1.4A to be comfortable?( e.g. not hot enough to cook with )
Is comfy hinting at some super new driver he is developing (to sell at reasonable prices with shipping that doesn’t take a month?!). I keep seeing reference to Dr Jones drivers but have never seen any details of cost or ordering.
Last I heard from DrJ this is what we came up with:
Default modes: moon-low-mid-high-battery monitor/beacon
Star2 (or DIP switch 1) open/disable, closed/enable 2-minute turbo timer, step-down to 33%/mid
Star3 (SW2) open: moon-low-mid-high-battmon, closed: high-mid-low-moon-battmon
Star4 (SW3) open/enable, closed/disable memory
I don't have an ETA yet, though. I heard he's been super busy.
Sounds good, is this being designed from scratch or are you re-flashing existing drivers? I am still toying with the idea of adding a DIP switch to the VDD line in order to switch between 1.4A and 2.8A outputs. In and ideal world I think I would like an ATTiny MCU switching the 7135s on individually, like quick click to change pwm and long click to add one (or two) 7135. Possibly even just a 2 group setup one for long life and one for high power. If I get any free time over Christmas I might investigate this further.
It's just code for the common Nanjg 105C.
My lights that do 4.2A on high, when run on medium mode (~1.4A) for a half hour or more make basically no heat whatsoever. You can tell it's warmer than ambient but feels about the same as the heat a switched-off light picks up from your hand if you've been holding it for 5 minutes.
That light is seriously overdriven, more then 700mA is more then the body can handle continuously
For short periods more power is fine, i have the 2.8A but only use it if holding it to prevent hand burning or battery overheating
I have a convoy m1 that i find 1A continuously is the upper limit
Interesting observations I actually have an M1 on order from Simon so will be interested to see how it performs.
So talking efficiency, is there a significant distance between 1.4A via PWM and 1.4A by reducing the 7135’s? I have read on here that the low modes using PWM aren’t very efficient, can anyone quantify this?
Just having a quick look at the ATtiny13 chipset it looks like if I get the right cable I can flash it in situ using my arduino. Or if I am feeling brave replace it with a ATtiny85 for a bit more headroom. So I guess it is time to start looking at a few code examples :nerd_face: . So can anyone point me to a summary of the inputs and outputs e.g. how this measures voltage and sets PWM?
i’m pretty sure it makes no difference, its a linear driver so 1.4A is 1.4A, the driver does nothing to the current throughput
Ok thanks, looks like a need to build a soic clip tonight and try experimenting H)
That's the funniest thing I have read in at least the past 12 hours. Are you serious? You can't be serious, my snark meter must be on the fritz.
Is any temperature rise at all acceptable? If you were to attempt to measure your 'acceptable' temp, what kind of resolution would the lab equipment have to have? Does your skin blister and fall off if you take a lukewarm shower?
Do you have this light?
I consider hand burning hot to be too much, if i turn it on, set it on the table and come back an hour later and it burns my hand then thats too hot
I assume slightly below hand burning hot to be the lower limit of overdriven
Do I have a Convoy S3? Yes, two of them. One has a 16x 7135 driver & triple Nichia 219s, the other is a single XML2 4C, 10* TIR, & underdriven at only 10x 7135s.
so put a fully charged sanyo battery in it, leave it on a table aimed at the ceiling indoors, not in physical contact with anything but the table at room temperature and come back 15-20 mins later, and tell me how your hand feels when you pick up the light
i’m not saying overdriving will kill the light, i am saying it will burn you
in other threads i have said you can drop it in boiling water (sans battery) without harm, but your hand would also be seriously burned that way (just trust me on this one, don’t try it)
edit: also keep in mind that outdoors with air movement and your hand to conduct away heat and possibly much lower then room temperature the light will shed heat far better, i’ve used this light outside till battery exhaustion at night
Not wishing to break up a good “debate” here but I get the impression that a lot of this is very much down to personal taste “one mans meat is another mans poison”. I also would assume locality has a factor, for example frozen Siberia vs Dubai are going to be very different for thermal management.
I must be doing something wrong then, if 700mA is the max and mine at 1.4A only warm up to barely over room temp.
I think the thing is, not to leave it on high/turbo for 15-20min. (A stepdown, as previously mentioned, would be awesome here)
If you’re running 700mA in an 18650 edc. You might as well carry a smaller, well driven AA/14500 light and get about the same output.