【convoy】

skinny_tie · 2020-05-21T13:45:31.000Z

Barkuti:

Right now messing with a couple ∅17mm SST40 biscotti clone drivers, for temperature protection removal and spring conductance enhacement, and I see these feature some sort of improved, wide top spring with flattened spiral ending:

They look to be gold :question: plated. What metal alloy are these made of? Some phosphor bronze? What IACS conductivity?

I am wondering if I should care to replace them. The driver spring backside pad diameter has a weird size, neither small nor big springs from BlueSwordM fit very right.

Is there a pad under the driver for a spring bypass? In that photo it looks a bit like the hole on TA drivers, but the other photos show components on the top side.

Barkuti · 2020-05-21T14:36:04.000Z

Small pad in the center skinny_tie, it can be clearly seen in the photo. The coil gap at the bottom of the spring has usually been my most successful place to stick an upwards coiled wire as bypass, I must say.

zeremefico · 2020-05-21T15:44:25.000Z

I bought a couple and I face a strange problem, I measure 1600 lumens and with the ramping driver I measure 2000.

Barkuti · 2020-05-21T16:18:57.000Z

I don't see a problem zeremefico, the ∅17/22mm weird firmware ramping driver features somewhat better hardware and outputs close to 8A of current to the emitter(s) using just below 40mV sense voltage. What you observe is to be expected.

zeremefico · 2020-05-21T17:50:02.000Z

Thanks Barkuti

Barkuti · 2020-05-21T20:41:35.000Z

A few minutes ago I finished modding my ∅17mm SST40 biscotti clone drivers, one of them will (hopefully) go in an old, modified Thrunite T20T and for this reason I removed the stock spring (there's barely place for a copper top cell driver contact inside that tiny flashlight).

So I grabbed a couple BlueSwordM's springs, 3rd and 2nd gen big springs, and proceeded to make a crude voltage drop over the spring test against the new springs Simon is using in the biscotti clone drivers. I used my precision power supply tuned at 5A, with alligator clamps attached to the ends of the springs as best as I could. Connecting at the base of the springs was easy, the top gave me some difficulties, and I placed my multimeter's probes as best as I was able (near the base beside the clamp and as close to the top as I could make a decent contact):

Newer wide top spring from Simon: in a first run I was getting 60 - 65mV. Tried two more times, got values jumping up and down up to 70 and below 60mV. On average, I give it a rough score of 62 - 63mV of drop.
BlueSwordM's 3rd gen big spring: could see some figure above 60mV, but all around 57 - 58mV give or take rough drop score.
BlueSwordM's 2nd gen big spring: this was fast, could clearly see figures settling around 45 - 46mV rough drop score. Bear in mind the 2nd gen spring has one coil less than the 3rd gen, and it somewhat deforms once compressed.

Now, despite the limitations of the test and the possible percentage of error, all I can say is the stock springs coming with the newer drivers are awesome! Let's wait to see what Simon has to say, but they must be made of C17530 or something with similar IACS conductivity to perform this good. It's either this or I did some blunder with my procedure, although I don't (yet) see how.

Thu, 05/21/2020 - 21:46

hodor · 2020-05-21T20:18:35.000Z

Thanks for the tests! I’m really not keen on spring bypasses so it’s good to hear Simon is now using some nice high current springs on his drivers. Hopefully he’s done the same with the tail springs.

Simon_Mao · 2020-05-22T00:33:36.000Z

Barkuti:

Right now messing with a couple ∅17mm SST40 biscotti clone drivers, for temperature protection removal and spring conductance enhacement, and I see these feature some sort of improved, wide top spring with flattened spiral ending:

They look to be gold :question: plated. What metal alloy are these made of? Some phosphor bronze? What IACS conductivity?

I am wondering if I should care to replace them. The driver spring backside pad diameter has a weird size, neither small nor big springs from BlueSwordM fit very right.

yes,phosphor bronze.

Its internal resistance is very small, no need to add bypass.

Simon_Mao · 2020-05-22T00:35:17.000Z

zeremefico:

I bought a couple and I face a strange problem, I measure 1600 lumens and with the ramping driver I measure 2000.

the ramping driver is not linear ,the max output current can reach 8A

Barkuti · 2020-05-22T00:54:44.000Z

Phosphor bronze? I wonder, though, why it does so good conductivity wise. Or at least it did very very good in my quick test.

Simon Mao:

…

the ramping driver is not linear ,the max output current can reach 8A

Excuse me Simon but the ramping driver is linear, employs the onboard MOSFET as a variable resistor by tuning the gate voltage using the voltage drop at the sense resistor to regulate. Exactly like in the other SST-40 sequential mode selection drivers.

d_t_a · 2020-05-22T02:42:51.000Z

Regarding the springs used on Convoy flashlights… I noticed something recently.

I have an older Convoy S2+ SST40 (6500k) and a newer Convoy S2+ SST40 (5000k), both are the 4-mode driver version.

I notice that the older version has a thinner spring, but with spring-bypass wire. Whereas the new S2+ SST40 spring look like the ones posted above.

left: new S2+ SST40 (thicker spring, without spring-bypass)
right: older S2+ SST40 (thinner spring, but with spring-bypass)

Any idea which one is better: performance & durability? (I think they seem to perform similarly in terms of tail current measurement…)

oweban · 2020-05-22T02:44:11.000Z

CHONK

How many amps are you throwing through it? It’ll probably only make a difference at >7A or more.

Simon_Mao · 2020-05-23T01:59:54.000Z

Barkuti:

Phosphor bronze? I wonder, though, why it does so good conductivity wise. Or at least it did very very good in my quick test.

Simon Mao:

…

the ramping driver is not linear ,the max output current can reach 8A

Excuse me Simon but the ramping driver is linear, employs the onboard MOSFET as a variable resistor by tuning the gate voltage using the voltage drop at the sense resistor to regulate. Exactly like in the other SST-40 sequential mode selection drivers.

It should be because the spring is thicker and has fewer turns.

I’m not sure if we are talking about the same driver.

Barkuti · 2020-05-23T03:16:27.000Z

Simon Mao:

…

I’m not sure if we are talking about the same driver.

Yes, we do. R005 sense resistor onboard. A sense resistor is pointless in an unregulated MOSFET driver.

oweban · 2020-05-23T03:42:35.000Z

Whack an R005 on it, 7.5A in an S2+ SST40

oweban · 2020-05-23T06:14:08.000Z

Simon, can I PM you my order number to extend the Buyer Protection? I thought I sent a request through AE but don’t know if it got there; apparently my order will “close” in 2 days.

oweban · 2020-05-23T09:21:06.000Z

Okay, so in that driver, an R010 gives 5A. The R010 is 0.01 Ohms, so using the table here:

rapidtables.com

Ohms Law Calculator

Ohm's law calculator with solution: calculates voltage / current / resistance / power.

Punch in 5A and 0.01 Ohms gives us a sense ~~resistance~~ voltage of 0.05V.

Hit reset, put in 0.05V again, then change the resistance - given these kinds of resistors only come in so many varieties (eg. R020, R008, R005 etc).

Calculate 4 digit SMD resistor: R005 (as an example - click to get the one you want to check)

So 0.05V with say, R020 (0.02 Ohms), shows as 2.5A. If you solder an R020 resistor in parallel onto the R010, it’ll give an output of 7.5A (or around it). R025 would give a total of 7A, etc etc.

The issue is getting the exact size of resistor or at least close to it, and a pack with different resistances!

oweban · 2020-05-23T06:52:44.000Z

It kinda pushes them pretty hard. My guess is that Simon goes for reliability over maximum power; same way that car manufacturers detune engines so they’re reliable. Makes sense; I’m just glad there’s a way we can do that if we want.

oweban · 2020-05-23T07:16:33.000Z

Different sense voltage on the 6A drivers (0.06v instead of 0.05v).

I’m not sure what size is on that driver though; I’ve got some coming but they’re not here yet. Someone else may be able to enlighten.

Simon_Mao · 2020-05-23T07:57:02.000Z

oweban:

Simon, can I PM you my order number to extend the Buyer Protection? I thought I sent a request through AE but don’t know if it got there; apparently my order will “close” in 2 days.

pls tell me the order number in PM ,my friend