These Drivers are Driving me Crazy

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Of course, I don't have to go far to be driven crazy...

I am thinking about some future mods for small lights using:

1 AA NiMH (1.2vdc)

2AA NiMH (2.4vdc)

Most likely I will want to use one of the more powerful Cree emitters, so let's say an emitter range of 1.5A to 3A

All the "Boost Boards" I find are either "Not Available" or they produce under 1A.

What's out there that is:

1- Readily Available

2- Can boost from 1.2 OR 2.4 vdc

3- Produces over 1A

4- Reasonably priced

The more I search and the more I read, the more fuzzy things get. My head hurts...Frown

I figured I would step away and let the masters here give me guidance.

Thanks,

2

Not sure about 2AA.

But for 1AA the most powerful boost driver around would be this one at DX http://www.dealextreme.com/p/3w-5w-20-mode-regulated-circuit-board-for-flashlights-7880 note the dia is 17mm

There's a very similar product at SB here http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-176/3-dsh-Mode-Regulated-Circuit-Board/Detail note the dia is 14mm

As far as I can tell, these are based on the RV7 design that was sold a long time ago in small numbers by a member on CPF who claimed his mate had designed the driver.

But take note, to gain those high outputs from 1AA you have a high current draw when on high setting.

Could be fun to make a 1D maglite running 3 XPGs with one boost driver per LED?

3

Thanks for the Links,

I haven't found much of anything for 1AA or even 2AA unless the mA is low. I know it is limiting on purpose, because at full draw the battery would be dead in short order. I guess that I will, in the long run, give up all of these notions and just keep doing 3AA direct drive. I have never liked having to use a driver, just more to go wrong, more heat, more draw off the batteries.

I was just thinking of doing something different (small) but really it's not what I like. I just like bright lights myself. Just trying to think of something different.

D cells in a MagLite would be great, but at $15-20 bucks a pop for good D cells (plus a charger), I won't ever be doing one. I would love to do a Mag with 3 F cells and 3,4,5 or 6 emitters, but I could never afford the F cells or all the parts, so I keep doing the cheap stuff, till someone leaves me in their will..... Time's running out! Ha...

4

I'm sorry...

All I can think of is: "These pretzels are making me THIRSTY!"

5

I just wanted to say that I'm with you. I wanted a driver to build a nice XML dropin for a Solarforce L2R (2 x AA) but there just no such animal except ones already installed in higher priced lights. The L2R body just sits on the shelf and I've almost thrown it away a few times.

6

Thanks for the offer, Bob. I’ve got a SF low voltage R5 I can use with it, but like you said… its low power. I think I’m just going to put that dropin back in it and a couple lithium primaries and throw it in the wife’s car for an emergency light.

I would love a driver that would draw 2A on high from either 1 or 2 NiMH.

7

Its really to bad the driver from the Trustfire R5A3 isn't available it pulls over 2 amps on one Duraloop AA and delivers over 4 volts and 1.8 amps to an XML an high plus 3 modes with no flashies.

8

I have also been looking for a nice single AA (only) LED driver, so far with no luck other then the DX one above. Looking how the circuit is made up though... I would think it should not be too hard to make (or modify) an existing board to give a higher current (and possibly better modes) then this board. The soldering would be fiddly but there looks to only be around 5 types of components in the circuit. I have a step father who is an electronics engineer, so next time I see him I will ask about it.

9

Must be quite a lot more then 2A surely? A single Duraloop even full charged isn't going to be much more then 1.5V particularly at 2A and probably a fair amount less. So if you're delivering 1.8A at 4V you must be drawing at least 4.8A and I would expect closer to if not above 6A (see http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?258999-NiMh-AA-Powered-LED-light-Current-Draw for example).