I have a host that fits a 22mm driver and is single 26650 (convoy m26C). Direct drive is not necessary, but fine by me as a turbo mode if the driver has it. Does anyone know of a high output 22mm driver that works with this combination? I know host’s heat capability (or lack of, compared to watts), single 26650, and monster led aren’t exactly a perfect match. But it’s what I got. I’d like some modes that aren’t always direct drive/PWM. Thinking the Mtn Fet is my best off-the shelf option at the moment, but want to hear some opinions. I assume a texas avenger fet + lots of 7135s would not be an ideal choice in this light because of the low Vf and 7135 modes would heat up the chips alot? or is that wrong? Would love it if LED4power’s linear 10A driver were still available at the moment, but they’re not.
It’s currently direct drive, one mode only straight-off the battery to the led. No driver, just the switch. Which, don’t get me wrong, is really cool. But not allllll that practical. I’d much rather some form of regulation and lower modes instead of hot-rod only. Pics on the way when it gets dark this weekend. Please give me your opinion on driver options available to me. Thanks
Lexel sells good drivers with many options
What regulated current level are you hoping for? Convoy linear drivers can do up to 8ish A, but don’t have a direct drive option. And IMO you need the direct drive option (~20A) with this LED or else you are not taking advantage of it’s strengths; might as well go with a smaller LED.
Lexel has a 22mm FET + 13x7135 for about 5A. That might be a practical option since that would equate to around a 1 hr regulated mode. I bet the 7135s would be ok especially if you beefed up their heat sinking a bit with some thermal putty.
Edit: I was mistaken. It is just 13x7135, no FET.
If you could get a hold of the emisar/noctigon linear+DD driver that might work, with some FW modifications to work with clicky switch.
Loneoceans has the GXF22 linear+DD driver (up to 10A regulated), but I doubt it’s easily available.
How can the convoy linear drivers deliver 8a? Which one is the linear version that can be modded for higher current than the “6a” rating? I know they can be, I just don’t know which model driver and exactly what part of the circuit to mod. I do have resistors and small parts I think that would work,
Ideally, I’d like regulated modes up to around 8-10A if thats possible, then a turbo mode of DD would be icing on top for short burst usage.
I’ve tried PMing Lexel over the last week a couple of times, but it seem he hasn’t been online so I’ll have to be patient. Fet +13 sounds like the best option that’s available. I’ve been drooling over loneoceans drivers, but like you said, I can’t figure out how to buy one since they’re in short supply as of now.
I’m on a deadline of putting in a driver by next weekend, about 9 days from now, since I won’t have much time for modding for a while after that. Even if Lexel or Simon put one in the mail today, that wouldn’t work out for me. I guess I’ll just wait it out unless someone in the US has a spare driver from TA, Lexel, or Led4power sitting around in the parts box they want to sell me. If anyone does, please PM me. Anything close to that is appreciated.
20mm would work too I think, I should be able to make that fit and adequately heat sink the driver. Fet only/dd mode would only be used in short bursts, and I can fashion 7135 heat sinks from paste or copper sheet pieces. I could put a smaller than 22mm driver on the other side of the contact board that’s still in place, that way the battery-side 7135s could still be given some thermal putty or additional copper sheet on the grounding ring without interfering with the battery contact.
If only I could design and build my own drivers and they’d appear out of thin air….
Thanks for all the advice, if anyone have a driver they can ship and would kindly sell me, please PM me.
I was thinking of the configurable mode level “ramping” linear driver from convoy. The stock max current is 7.xA. For all the linear drivers the large sense resistor can be changed for a smaller value to increase the current.
Thank you very much. Do you have a link to Simon’s store for the exact driver you have in mind? I remember a forum discussion saying that some were linear and easily mod-able while others aren’t. Is the 4-mode version the linear one? I don’t know circuits well enough to tell from the pictures which is linear and the aliexpress description isn’t always clear.
Would the Dr. Jones H17fx driver be a terrible choice? Assuming I could heat sink the living crap out of it and put a driver diameter adapter on it? I know it’s 17mm, but seems like the next best thing to me, I know the get supposedly has more resistance than other DD drivers, but I’m ok with that as long as it doesn’t cause a total melt down, only lower output on turbo. Will a 26650 and high-amp drawing SBT-90.2 over work it and fail somehow?
This is the configurable linear driver:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32989372464.html
This is the 6A linear driver with bistro-like UI. It is the same as the 4-mode version but with different FW:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000961148004.html
With the 6A variety there is temperature protection that you can disable by removing a component:
I think all of the convoy linear drivers should be sense resistor moddable. Are you thinking of modding one to 15-20A? I’d be curious about the outcome. The sense resistor on the 8A configurable one is R005 and on the 6A one it’s R010.
I think the newer H17FX has an upgraded FET, but not sure how much better it is. DD probably wouldn’t kill the FET, but I bet it would get pretty hot. Plus it is only 3A regulated.
I read Lexel’s page wrong: there is no FET+13x7135 driver. It’s just 13x7135.
Thanks for the Input, will post build picks when I pick a driver and def beam shots of before there is a driver at all. Using efest 5000mah cells, so they’re not the absolute best 26650 there is for DD, but still pretty high drain in my book according to HKJ testing.
Hello, I am curious how you made out? I am just starting (haven’t started yet, actually) my modding stage of this hobby, and want to do something similar to the mod your talking about here.
I was wondering what driver you chose and if it worked out OK, especially regarding the regulated lower levels and DD option.
Also, I see that maybe you haven’t gotten to it yet since it is only 3 weeks later and you said you might not have time to do your mod for awhile. Just thought Id join the convo. Thanks for all the great info, folks! -Artie
You could even message Hank and buy one off him. He was willing to sell me a D4V2 driver for $15 earlier. Could look into just getting a K1 driver
Thats a great idea. I’ve heard Hank is often willing to sell items he has in stock even if they aren’t listed on his website…
Just saw this. I got Lexel’s 22mm driver to run sbt90.2.
He asked me about my itentions and how hard to be used. Max was my answer and that’s how it works now.
Host is beautifull aluminium TnC UltraLux 26650.
Sunnysunsun wrote:
You could even message Hank and buy one off him. He was willing to sell me a D4V2 driver for $15 earlier. Could look into just getting a K1 driver
This is a good Idea. I plan on doing a project with the SBT90.2, and I just sent him an email asking for the price. I looked around online for a while too, but without avail.