Review. LD30 one or two AA driver, 3 mode.

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

This is just a quick review on the LD30 driver purchased from Banggood on the 30.5.15. This driver looking at pictures from different sources does appear to be slightly different from each other.

The driver would not operate correctly above 2.8 volts so all testing was carried out below this voltage.

Low voltage protection appeared to kick in just below .8 volts with the driver switching off. To get the driver to operate again the voltage had to be raised to around one volt.

There was no mode memory with the driver always starting on low mode regardless of which mode the light was switched off on (makes sense to me).

The led wires for the led were attached to the driver and were large enough being 24AWG for the current output of the driver on high. No contact for the positive on the battery to contact the driver is present so a small spring or button will have to be soldered to the positive pad for the battery to contact. I have noticed and have purchased this driver elsewhere where it has a small pad attached already for the positive on the battery to contact. The driver itself measures 17mm in diameter.

Edit. All testing was carried out on my bench power supply and an XML-2 led on copper MPCB on a suitable heatsink used for the load on the driver. A fan was used to cool the driver and led during testing

LD30 3 Mode Driver Low

Input Voltage

Input current

Led Voltage

Led Current

2.8

.04

2.62

.35

2.6

.04

2.55

.01

2.4

.04

2.55

.01

2.2

.05

2.55

.01

2

.05

2.55

.01

1.8

.05

2.55

.01

1.6

.05

2.55

.01

1.4

.05

2.55

.01

1.2

.05

2.55

.01

1

.06

2.55

.01

.8

.07

2.55

.01

LD30 3 Mode Driver Med

Input Voltage

Input current

Led Voltage

Led Current

2.8

.14

2.7

.1

2.6

.15

2.7

.1

2.4

.17

2.7

.1

2.2

.18

2.7

.1

2

.19

2.7

.1

1.8

.2

2.7

.1

1.6

.22

2.7

.1

1.4

.25

2.7

.1

1.2

.29

2.7

.1

1

.35

2.7

.1

.8

.43

2.7

.1

LD30 3 Mode Driver High

Input Voltage

Input current

Led Voltage

Led Current

2.8

.7

2.97

.46

2.6

.74

2.97

.46

2.4

.76

2.97

.46

2.2

.85

2.97

.46

2

.93

2.97

.46

1.8

1.02

2.97

.46

1.6

1.15

2.97

.46

1.4

1.33

2.97

.46

1.2

1.58

2.97

.46

1

1.95

2.96

.45

.8

1.85

2.93

.4

2

Looks like it needs a B+ from one of those 5-15V 19mm drivers.

3

Hm. Found some at AliExpress and took a chance on a few. They did come with springs on.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/LD30-flashlight-driver-circuit-board-CR123-version/32255534881.html

Fortunately the ones I got were better made than the ones they picture. Look at the soldering on the connecting wires pictured at the web sales page.

4

Isn’t the 12F683 a pic mcu?

5

Yeah it is. You can see the Microchip logo.

6

um, educate me about that? Pls?

7

I guess it stands for the master control unit. What modes did yours have Hank?

8

Pending assembly.

And, oops, my mistake, the ones I bought came from BG: http://www.banggood.com/LED-Flashlight-LD30-Boost-12-AA-Cell-Circuit-Board-1PCS-p-911361.html
SKU 110754 (they sell a package of three)

But the picture on the page at BG isn’t much like the three drivers they sent me with that SKU label.

The ones pictured at Ali Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com
DO look exactly like what BG sent me. But the description is rather different.

Won’t know what I have til I put it together I guess.

9

Mine also came from BG. I'd be interested to know if they have changed modes or power output at all.

10

Can you compare the “LD30” pictures at BG and Ali and say which one looks like what you got from BG?
I hadn’t noticed til today that the BG pictures don’t match what came in the envelope from them (the envelope SDK is as advertised)

11

My driver pictures are in the opening post. I believe they will be similar to yours. I do like the driver though it is expensive. Something I should of mentioned was that I cannot detect PWM on any mode.

12

OK, you got “1R5” on the big coil, so did I, same what Ali shows —- and yet BG shows “3R5” on that part — and other differences (mine came with springs, appears yours did not, etc.) So it seems it’s just their pictures that are wrong. More to come as time and soldering allows.

EDIT:
installed one. With an amber XPE, It won’t light up at all with 2 NiMH cells, and does light up — no choices, just one fairly bright level — with a single NiMH cell.
This is one of the three I got from BG — IR5 on the big coil, came with a spring attached.

Installed another. With a blue-white whatchamacallit cree-clone emitter, one very dim level with one NiMH; three levels with two NiMH.
So maybe I screwed up the first one. They’re supposed to be constant-current … eventually I’ll swap emitters and see what’s the difference.

13

A few members here can know enough about pic mcu’s to program certain ones. CK and tterev at least. Maybe Tido as well.

14

I screwed up the first one. Tried a 3v LiFePO4 in it and the smoke leaked out, but something was wrong with it before that as described above.

Had 2 more.
Put both of them into 2-cell Solarforce “L2 Series” lights — that’s the “D18” long tube they sell.
One with an amber XP-E from FT, the other with a Nichia 219B from DX
Using 4/3AF NiMH cells (the “18650-size” NiMH).

Both behave about the same way, with three modes:
— a very low “moonlight”
— a bright, and
— another bright very slightly brighter

The higher brightness levels aren’t much use because within less time than it takes to walk the dog, they suddenly go very dim, presumably the battery voltage sucked down too low. The low brightness isn’t much use except in total darkness.

The amber at low is a nice nightlight, good enough for walking around indoors, dim enough to leave on all the time, and stays lit for days on end.

I’ll try it with a more efficient XP-E2 amber from MT next.

The Nichia B at low is decent moonlight and fine at the higher brightness as long as it lasts.

I’ll try it with a Nichia C from MT next

I don’t dare try using a 3V LiFePO4, though I really wish I could. But having smoked the first driver, I have my doubts.
And at least as these are now they’re usable.

I do kind of like the size of these Solarforce 2-cell tubes.

My goal was something I can give away to people I wouldn’t afflict with Li-ion cells because I don’t want them to blow themselves up on my advice.

Still haven’t found a driver I can put into 1-cell lights to give away my older 18650-sized hardware.

15

Hank, I got two from aliexpress (Simon) and they DO NOT behave anything like the originals and different from what MRsDNF posted. Will post info from the other thread here and update both when I get more info.
.
“NEW VERSION:
Hey all. I got a couple LD-30s from Simon on aliexpress. They do not have ‘LD-30’ written on them but are similar in design to the original driver from above.
.
I HATE THEM!!
1)With one freshly charged, C size, NiMH cell, I get a low that’s almost sub lumen, medium is 310 mA and high 570mA (LED current). The difference between high and med are hardly noticeable. There is also a horrible flash when going from high to low. Before I freshly charged the cell, it was charged less than a month ago and unused… The driver would go from moonlight to medium then flash and go to monlight. It did not go to high, it did not give any low voltage warning.
.
2) Before testing with the NiMH, I initially put the driver in a 2D maglite. It would come on in moonlight, go to moonlight 2, (a minuscule amount brighter) then go to medium. I thought the cells were too depleted so bought two energizers and got the SAME RESULTS. This maglite initially had a 400mA nexgen from the sandwichshoppe which performed without a hitch with the same old cells.
.
3) With any of the D cells, new or old, the driver does its moon, med, flash thing again.
4) with a depleted primary lithium, AA, (1.63 unloaded V,) it also does the moon, med, flash…

.
The whole reason for buying this driver was to upgrade the 2D mag so it will have three modes and now, even with two D cells in series, it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do.

EDIT; I have one of those 2596 buck drivers/chargers. I’ll connect a voltage display and connect it up to the driver asap.”

16

I think that when the input voltage gets close to the led voltage that the driver I tested played up so at 3 volts the driver played up like yours. I had no flashing or any other issues.

17

I found one LD30 from http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/LD30-flashlight-driver-circuit-board-CR123-version/330416_32255534881.html to be unusable, because low voltage protect kept switching to lower modes. I complained, and Simon sent one that appears so far to be good for disposable cells. It seems to hunt for the best current for the cell, but I don’t think it has any sort of low voltage protect. I don’t have a light to try it in or a good test setup, so that is all I can say at this time. So I recommend getting them there and reminding him that you don’t want LVP.

18

Were you using one or two cells? All these reviews are out of date on these drivers as the ones I have received recently (I dont have in front of me where they came from) are different in all aspects of operation to others I’ve used in the past. Each seller seems to have their own preferences.

19

I tried with 1xAAA and 1xCR123A with longer and shorter leads. I think now I do have a RoMiSen RC-A8 that I can spare to put it in, so I may know more soon.

20

I have it in a RoMiSen RC-A8 now. It woks. Three modes starting on low. No LVP. High on an old CR123A is 0.8 A, and it is almost as bright as one that draws about twice the current.