I have this which is rated at 8.4v input.
Can I use it with 12v, just changing the toroid with one from a 12v driver?
Is there a chance this driver can handle 12+ volts from a motorcycle?
The vin is actually limited by the absolute max ratings of the buch controller iC it’s self so no, just changing the inductor won’t change anything.
Have a look at the HX-1175b, it can handle 3, possibley even 4 cells. Also my now running BU_CK can easily handle 4s in but it took SO MUCH work and money even tho it will eventually be open source Im keeping it propritory for right now.
Hey Dan… I hear that- really dunno how you finance all this stuff unless you just got it like that, or don’t mind your account going backwards… I think figured a way to make the yezl buck programmable here so I’m good 
Zere you could always put the jumper cables to it and see if it smokes lol The only way to find out… Your gonna have to get a new driver if that doesn’t work anyway.
If you can change out an inductor, you already have enough skills to deal with this one directly!
The pair of XM-L2s will almost take your motorcycle battery in DD, and the wires you use will probably limit current enough to protect them.
It’s likely a 2x18650 driver already has enough headroom to handle 50% more input V, especially if you, on your motorcycle, decide to use a pair of these 2S (meaning 4 total lights), where you’d wire the + of one set to the - of the other & hook the pair thus connected across the 12v — giving each 6v to work with. That would underpower your driver by 25%, which would probably put it into DD anyway, only limiting Iled… Perhaps not as bright as you’d like since it’s not likely to have a true Buck-Boost driver…
But at the end of the day, without knowing what driver the manufacturer used, any advice any of us could possibly give would only be a guess.
OTOH, you could try it, document your findings and give us all a report… Thereby contributing to the Awesome Power of BLF…
Definitely dont “have it like that”, we live paycheck to paycheck (my wife’s paycheck that it, THIS is my job so I dont have a paycheck at all). I can afford what I can by staying SUPER busy modding lights, I also pick up a lot of side work doing car repairs in my driveway (I’ve taken on about 4-5 head / head gasket job’s in the last 3 months) and also welding on the side of my side work lol (welding in its self is an expensive thing to do).
In short, I dont have toys or other hobbies, ALL my money goes into this, it would be one thing if I was just modding lights with existing parts and BLF drivers and STAR FW, that might actually be somewhat profitable at this point with the shear number of lights I turn out, thing is I'm NEVER satisfied. I've always got a new, very expensive project in the works.
If anyone's shopping for a light, please- consider buying it from me from guys! The more I sell the more new project's I'm able to finance. You're not putting money in my pocket when you do, you're enabling me to continue development on new stuff (also feel free to donate, even just a few bucks or spare change, send it to my paypal, I dont spend funds from PP on ANYTHING else and never transfer it out, all fund's received via paypal will go directly to R&D on new light's / driver's). I'm serious, for donations send anything at all to sales@killerlumens.com, much appreciated!
Nothing is guaranteed not to work, but an automotive electrical system is not a good environment for electronics.
From what I’m told, Fritz t. Cat is correct. It’s not really 12v you’re looking at from the motorcycle, but at least 13.8v or so with engine running and alternator/whatever doing it’s thing. I’m told that you’ll also see nasty spikes from various things that happen with an engine. Different sources make different claims, but I think the lowest numbers you’ll see thrown around for spike voltage are maybe 18v-20v.
That said, ImA4Wheelr hooked his [clone] up to a 3s li-ion pack over here: Mod - SolarStorm X2 Clone - Pic Heavy
I think you can probably get away with it with no mods at all. The inductor is not going to be what limits your voltage. In this case neither is the buck controller, the QX9920 can handle very high voltages. If I was going to worry about something it would be the SMD capacitors, the FET (s), and maybe the zener/resistor pair that power the QX9920 (an easy mod if necessary, just increase resistance).
Note that the clones and the real version do not share the same driver, but both are based on the QX9920. The “real” driver has an op-amp installed, I do not know exactly how the op-amp is powered or what it’s maximum voltage ratings are. It’s probably fine…
Those DC converters on ebay are less than a dollar apiece - cheap enough to use as filter so you don’t worry about frying your more expensive electronics. They’re pretty good at maintaining output voltage so you can just set output to 8.4V and not worry about anything else.
I’ve got one in my car set on constant 5V, with both I/O have voltmeter (so I can see car voltage and my USB output) - it’s much much more stable than any regular car USB charger that I have. The number just doesn’t move - load or no load, input 11.8V - 14V, it keeps output steady 5.0V.
Limit is about 2A (3A with heatsink) so I think that’s the limitation. If you’re going within this range I think this is your best bet.
Sample of what I’m talking about:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-DC-DC-Buck-Converter-Step-Down-Module-LM2596-Power-Supply-Output-1-23V-30V-/181409861491?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item2a3cdecf73
Sounds like a good suggestion. If you only need one mode you could increase efficiency and reduce size with an eBay CC/CV converter such as this one for example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/7V-35V-step-down-to-1-25V-30V-buck-power-supply-converter-CC-CV-module-CG-/161397788795
With one of those you’d replace the entire driver assembly.
Based on what others have reported about the that light from Lightmalls, it will be like this one that Garrybunk got from Amazon. It has the buck controller that wight referenced. That controller can take 4S (16.8 volts). Not sure about the rest of the driver, but I would expect that it would work fine. Do so at your own risk though. That driver has been reported to have very low output. If it can deliver higher current, you will need to beef up the heat sinking (See pics in above link),
I have the very same driver ImA4Wheelr has posted above. Do you really believe it can handle 12v+?
I also have a 12v driver for 2/3 xmls, but I really want to keep the headlight as it is because it will fill onto aa off-road bike.
Another solution is to use 2 7$ headlamps I bought when it was on sale and use the 2/3 xmls driver.
Ah your a welder… That figures… Yeah I’ll send you a couple bucks. I don’t have it like that either but were not quite living paycheck to paycheck… yet If we don’t get some rain were in for another rough year, just glad all the key liberals are out after the election, they don’t have supermajority.
I’ve used quite a few of those and they can have some problems driving electronics. They seem to have some power-up/changing load issues. For instance, hot-plugging a GPS module onto a RS-232 connector that supplies power to the GPS a lot of times the GPS won’t work. Or corrupting the EEPROM or flash memory contents of an ATMEL processor on power-up (or maybe when powered down). Replacing those cheap converters with something (a lot) more expensive solved the problems.
I have some of those mini converter modules coming in. They use a more modern high-frequency switcher and are supposedly 95+ % efficient. Hopefully they will work better.
The “key liberals” are the ones who want to fix the dry weather.
You have some of which units coming in? TIA