I guess if the FET or 7135 is leaking more than ~0.1 mA you should be able to see it on a regular light in total darkness. Not sure about that for the 16x light though.
I need to build up a 2nd TA 30 mm L6 board - I need to do one anyway, then I can compare. Also will build up couple Y3 LDO's. Time just isn't on my side right now...
I would also suspect the 7135’s as a first guess. I have had so many issues with those in 2s+ setups it would not surprise me at all. The rest of the driver appears to be great with no obvious reason for the high drain.
Yea, already blew one 7135 in the 16X light, so could be the 7135's. Just haven't many LDO build/mods so nothing to gauge it with.
TA - have you, or anyone else checked LDO parasitic drain with Narsil or other e-switch firmware? I don't know of or seen it posted, but I'm sure it is somewhere... It's not new on BLF but doesn't seem much used.
I just tested my L6 and it got 42ua after it went into sleep mode.
Wow! ok, that's great! Definitely will try a second board then or replace the 7135. Was think'n I measured it when I did the full mod, but didn't see it in my notes.
TA, you probably do not have time to try the C3, C4 patches? They are supposed to prevent inductive spike damage to the 7135s.
(I do not have any hi-power 2S DD+1 lights.)
To be honest I didn’t really see what this was exactly. I am assuming it goes from the 7135 signal to ground in order to remove the spikes?
I am in the same boat with not many 2S lights. In fact the only 2S lights I have are my L6, and a WF-500. I have an L3 but I have not decided what I want to put in it since I pulled the 144A out. Thinking an xhp50.2 but don’t have any LED’s or drivers for it.
I can give it a shot next time I mess with a 2S light, although I don’t know when that will be.
- C3 goes across Bat+, Bat-. Basically where C1 used to be. 4.7 uF or 10 uF should be good.
- C4 goes across the FET (drain to source). Should be 0.1 uF, bigger will be counter-productive.
Both help to suppress the inductive spike seen at FET (and even 7135) turn-off. They do not seem to be necessary for 1S lights, but both you and Tom had failed 7135s with 2S.
So C3 is in addition to C1 or just a replacement?
C4 is interesting, I will have to try that on my next 2S build.
I think that the 7135’s has gone down lately. As some of the ones I use work fine with no problem and other die instantly. There is no pattern I have been able to detect.
C3 would be in addition to C1. We need C1 for MCU stability. C3 goes before R5, C1 after.
I just got a 7135 order in from Aliex. Tried a new source since reports of Fasttech not consistently shipping the ‘good’ ones. Received 20 ‘saber-tooths’ and 80 ‘crappy sail boats’, in spite of the product photo showing a saber-tooth. Hopefully the saber-tooth supply is not drying up. I have another Aliex dealer lined-up for a try.
Ah, I see whats going on now. Yeah, that sounds very reasonable if it is indeed the spikes that are killing them. Which makes sense.
Personally I would like to see 7135 use come to an end. They are so bulky and far from ideal way to do things. The only advantage they offer is the ability to spread the heat over a wide area.
They do work though, so till a better option is found I am afraid we are stuck with them.
Would you mind showing photos? I have no idea how to see the difference, would be nice to know.
Don’t mind at all, but excellent photos here and the relevant discussion:
Actually I see it is ‘Raptor Claw’, not ‘saber tooth’…at least I got the crappy sailboat part right 
All credit to tterev3 for the naming and investigation.
Thanks! I had missed that thread entirely.
Just ordered a set of your 5.6m's - dunno why it took this long... It's perfect for my 12X SRK that I modded with tint mixed XM-L2's, but still on the stock MCPCB.
12x XM-L2 sharing 5.6 amps? Well, that’s still almost 3000 lumens, so yeah, okay, sure. :+1:
Just got a second set of those in yesterday as well Tom. Using them on 3x, 4x SRKs, for which I think it is a good match. Also using the stock MCPCBs.
Rev01 had the sand-down tabs which I finally found unnecessary. So the second set are rev02, without tabs. Just shared it on OSH if anyone has a use for it (mechanical fit is not tested yet). Only other change is full size pads for the 0603 parts (IPC compliant, since we have the space). There is also a C4 which, like C3, is not really needed on these ‘low’ power boards.
All good! I still have to get back to the 16X light to test the C3 and C4, because there's still some issues. Not look'n forward to it though to open that light up - spaghetti wiring, working from the top down, etc... So many things goin on right now and not much time.
Oh btw, think I've posted bout it, but the HaikeLite models MT03 (triple flooder) and MT07 (single thrower) have a perfect SRK size driver, spring mounted though on the driver for the carrier. So, a FET based LDO 46 mm driver is ideal, but needing a C3 and C4. Last night I ordered HQ's SRK driver to do this.
The MT03 has a copper MCPCB where each LED has it's own pair of wires - perfect for parallel operation, which is how the stock driver is configured. Actually the stock driver has 3 separate output circuits (inductors, etc.).
I already upgraded the MT07 with a XHP70.2 and have 3 more for the MT03, and I got 2 spare HQ drivers, earlier v3.2. The challenge wit the XHP70.2's is taming the amps - insane #'s of 17-18A.
One of those low-power SRK boards above is built and running, good fit in the new-generation SRK clones.
Also finally ordered some board sets for the K2 lights. Got one running and it is also a good mechanical fit. In the end I went with 5+1 7135, as opposed to FET+7135. So only 2.1 A, but good for the purpose (around the house, emergency tail-standing light). It is running Tom’s latest NarsilM, with ramping table adjusted for the 2.1 A range.
Interesting note on the board: First time OSHpark gave me full copper flood right up to the edge.