Prices:

5€ Single color board
+0.25€ voltage stabilization
+0.5€ LVP chip
custom color combination
2 colors +0.5€
3-4 colors +0.75€
4-6 colors +1€
>6 colors +1.25€

Orders with more than 3 identical or single color boards get 10% discount
Orders with just one board adds 1.5€ handling fee

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Shipping:

I will add some plastic card and structured paper to protect the boards

1.5€ standard bubble envelope 0.5cm <20g
2€ thick bubble envelope 1cm <50g
tracking adds 4€

Tracking Info
https://www.deutschepost.de/sendung/simpleQuery.html?locale=en_GB

How to order

send me a PM if you want to order boards

tell me
- which color(s) you want,
- the color pattern you can make a simple picture from the preview picture like this example

- I need to know which version
- brightness or current consumption you want

UPDATE 09-11-2019

v2.1 now here, should fit also 2. batch of FW3A MCPCB better, still the negative lead cant be opened that far without loosing one LED, so scratching the paint off in the Aux board slot, there is plenty of area
fits as well Noctigon Triple

Some more things like one 0603 resistor after the LDO to also lower the build brightness if desired
2 or 3 wire operation to implement also LVP+High/low
battery+ → +
MCU → L
GND → —

3 pad connection High/Low +LVP or when you want LVP at 2.93V instead 2.93V plus driver diode drop (3.2V)

Modding guide

First remove the retaining ring, lens and optics

Unsolder the MCPCB wires and pull the driver

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Now we got 2 options
- use the MCU with Aux support firmware flashed, to control the Aux board (ON/OFF/blink/LOW)
- use battery voltage to drive the board without MCU control
in the second case simply ignore the optical nerve connection and do a bridge from MCPCB+ to aux board +

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Remove the optical nerve resistor and tin the right pad

Prepare a thin wire for the aux board + connection and solder it to the tinned pad

(AWG28 silicone wire used, it’s cut a bit too long)

Scrape off some solder stop mask and tin the area for ground and solder the 2. wire to it

Modify Anduril for Aux support and flash MCU with programming adapter
It’s not stock Anduril there are some changes
http://www.metronixlaser.de/bilder/flashlight/FW3A/Anduril_aux.zip, its a bit old by now, there are newer projects in my how to flash topic here

Align the driver with the flat side to the head so it rests flat on the whole surface and screw down retaining ring, solder MCPCB

Pad soldering

Hardware
- 295°C Weller WSD81
- Felder 0.5mm Sn62Pb36Ag2 with 3.5% flux (one with relative much rosin core flux, general use not SMD which has less flux %)

Preparations
- clean PCB with Alcohol and cotton swab
- twisting the wires end (helps to prevent splicing while soldering)
- cleaning tip in sponge

1.
- pre tinning pad and wire
- heating up pad and stick the wire end into it

2.
- same as 1. just adding extra flux (for example if you use a SMD solder wire with only 1% flux)

3.
- directly solder wire to the pad (not recommended but works fine with a solder wire with 2.5% or more flux)

in the video I look without any magnification to the soldering, just the camera records

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Aux board is build and tested, put it on the MCPCB

solder the Aux pads + and -, add optic to the light then screw down bezel with lens

(The picture shows v1.5 with green/pink build for 1mA max current and a 0 Ohm resistor, higher value like 1-5k can make the board significant dimmer)

bmengineer wrote:

How are these wired up?

see post 4

TrueRMS wrote:

Is LVP one stage or two?

What I mean by “one or two stages” is this: are these like your other aux boards where they have regular colors above x volts, red between X and Y voltage and then all off below Z volts? Or are they simple on if above X volts and off below that point?

LVP means
with aux board directly connected to the battery voltage
- above 2.93V all LEDs on
- below 2.93V all LEDs off

If the MCU is used add 0.35V from the reverse polarity protection diode

contactcr wrote:

I feel like this board needs a flow chart to even understand the options, lol. Is this accurate?

I have shown the full modding guide with flashing that should be easily be done if the right equipment is available

not quite right
if with or without LDO color mixing is always possible
each LED has an individual resistor, the LDO can be replaced with a 0603 resistor, the LVP chip bridged with pads below it

- version with LDO → High/low not possible
- version with LVP → High/low not possible
→ flash #define INDICATOR_LED_SKIP_LOW setting as well

LDO → constant brightness and color mix over full battery voltage
LVP → shuts down when battery low (2.93V without MCU, 3.3V with MCU used)

I plan a version that allows LVP and high/low, but this means a 3. wire for the aux board
this will be then v2.0

contactcr wrote:

If it’s controlled by MCU does it also have OFF? Also, with it wired this way can I also re-flash the firmware while aux board is connected?

If I want 1 or 2 color + MCU (low/high/off) it’s only 1 possible option right?

MCU has always ON/OFF/Beacon
the simple solution is connected to battery voltage and always ON

Gen1.0 also supports LOW similar to Emisar aux board with one 0603 resistor to adjust brightness,
but in addition each LED has a balance resistor to mix colors

LVP or LDO are not compatible with LOW setting

I am not sure if the input cap of the LDO lets you flash the MCU when there is no LVP or if the LVP chip is there
but to flash the driver you have to disassemble it anyway so the question does not make practical sense

trakcon wrote:

This is fantastic! I have questions, though. Forgive me if they seem elementary.

1:
If I wanted the same colors in the prototype (yellow, ice blue, and pink??), with matched brightness, and LVP, would I choose 1.7?

2:
Then, I can choose to either have the MCU control them or battery voltage. Since LVP doesn’t support high/low, is the difference:
- MCU: aux board turns off when main LEDs are on?
- battery voltage: aux is always on?

3:
To use battery voltage control, it says to bridge MCPCB+ to the aux+. Do I just connect a very small wire from the MCPCB to the aux board? In that case, it seems nothing gets soldered to the driver and the driver doesn’t really need to be removed. Is that correct?

Edit: I just realized this would result in the aux board ONLY being on when the main emitters were on, so I guess the bridge needs to be from driver+ to aux+? Where on the driver should this bridge wire attach?

4:
If I wanted the aux LED brightness to be the same as a D4S with cyan aux on the low setting, how would I specify that?

Thanks so much!
Mike

1. Prototype uses warm white not yellow, as its way more efficient
you can use v1.7 for LVP and constant brightness independent of battery voltage,
but also without the LDO the colors get matched pretty good by the balance resistors,
but a slight shift can be seen over the battery voltage, most important is without LDO the LEDs get dimmer with drained cell voltage

2. Yes Aux board has to be flashed OFF when main LEDs are on, as it doesn’t support the aux ramping (only v1.0 works with low and ramp, but it makes no sense)
On battery aux LEDs are always on, not a big problem with low brightness, if you run them with 1mA or so it will be relative bright compared to moonlight

3. you always need to get ground to the board to run it, you can use + from the MCPCB,
but ground needs to be pulled from driver or the flashlight body
You can solder + to red MCPCB wire and ground to the plane I scraped off the paint next to the AMC, or solder directly on the AMC fin

trakcon wrote:

Thanks for the reply, Lexel. I think I want high/low capability, which means Gen 1. I keep my batteries charged so not having LDO and LVP is ok.

With Gen 1, can I get low and high brightness similar to low and high on a cyan D4S?

I am able to flash Anduril, but I’m not set up for compiling. Would someone be able to post both the regular and 219B hex files with the changes already made for the aux board?

D4S uses a fairly high brightness, I would reach about the same with “2mA” setting

trakcon wrote:

Actually, I’d be ok with the high being a little dimmer than the D4S high.

I’d like the low to be about the same as the D4S low, though. I use it on my nightstand facing the bed. Is that possible?

I realize I’ve been occupying your sales thread. We can move to PM if you like.

low is always based mainly on the internal pull up resistor in the MCU, nothing you can change there

selection guide added

I also compiled hex files for the FW3A, but they are untested yet
It’s not stock Anduril there are some changes
http://www.metronixlaser.de/bilder/flashlight/FW3A/Anduril_aux.zip

updated
a few shippings today

dragunbayne wrote:

This looks awesome. It may be enough to convince me to learn to flash my board.

flashing is just the top end mod, you can simply put it on the battery as always ON

dragunbayne wrote:

If I do it that way will it affect the tint of my light?

you won’t see it at distances above 20cm even on Moonlight

contactcr wrote:

Can you post the changes you made to the HWDEF file in addition to the rest? I am able to compile my own so I just want to edit what is necessary without using the hex files.

Example (I will edit/delete this when you reply)

cfg-fw3a.h ADD

Quote:

// the button lights up
#define USE_INDICATOR_LED
// the aux LEDs are behind the main LEDs
#ifdef USE_INDICATOR_LED_WHILE_RAMPING
#undef USE_INDICATOR_LED_WHILE_RAMPING
#endif
// enable blinking indicator LED while off
#define TICK_DURING_STANDBY
#define STANDBY_TICK_SPEED 3 // every 0.128 s
#define USE_FANCIER_BLINKING_INDICATOR
#define INDICATOR_LED_DEFAULT_MODE ((3<

hwdef-FW3A.h ADD/REMOVE

Quote:

???

same as any other Aux HWdef, but you need to disable the optic nerve

//#ifndef VISION_PIN
//#define VISION_PIN PB2 // pin 7, optic nerve
//#define ADC_CHANNEL 0×01 // MUX 01 corresponds with PB2
//#define ADC_DIDR ADC1D // Digital input disable bit corresponding with PB2
#define ADC_PRSCL 0×06 // clk/64

// has a lighted button
#ifndef AUXLED_PIN
#define AUXLED_PIN PB2 // pin 7
#endif