This driver was originally used in the UF-T90 and the Lustfire 3U2. There are some posts about it here and there. I will attempt to link to them later today. I modded one in this build.
O.D.: 32mm
Diameter of white line around parameter of components: 28mm
Stock Current in Highest Mode: 7 amps
Modes: 5 (L,M,H,Strobe,SOS)
Memory: Last Mode
Most of the pictures below are the HX-1175b1. I purchased them from here. I contacted the vendor ahead of time telling him that I only wanted the HX-1175b, not the "C". He sent me HX-1175b1's. They look even better than the "b" in that they have bigger sense resistors. It appears to be virtually the same as the "b" model except for the large sense resistor bay. It has 24 gauge silicone insulated wires. The same vendor sells the in lots of 2 here directly from there web site.
Here are some macros to help anyone that wants to follow the traces. The toroidal inductor, FET and large diode have been removed to aid in seeing the traces.
Here's one with out the MCU and buck controller.
The two pictures on the right below are of the HX-1175b that is in this Relic thread. My T90 driver had 2 R068's which also equals .034 ohms. Layout and components appear to be the same except for the larger Source Bank resistors. The larger resistors is a great change because that is where most of the heat was generated. There appears to be a small capacitor ( where I have a resistor labeled 303) next to a larger capacitor, but the circuit in the PCB appears to be the same.
Here is a image from RaceR86 of the HX-1175b (link to post in picture).
I like this thread ImA4Wheelr.
I like these drivers. I have about seven of them. Could you show some pics with the resisters swapped in.
What was the output like wth the R100 resisters, but the stock FET?
What I would really like, is a picture with the FET swap. Does it need programming?
My main problem, is finding hosts that this driver fits in.
I put one in a 2 x 18650 FandyFire STL-V2 triple. It was too big to fit into factory driver placement area in the pill, but it fit inside the head like it was designed to go there. I just had to remove some anodizing where the outer ground ring on the driver sits.
Great high output driver. I hope you or someone finds a recipe on how to customize the UI.
Been waiting 3 weeks since I ordered more of these from this Ebay seller. Still no info on the tracking number... Hopefully they get here, and hopefully they are "B" version. Ill report back.
The time before that I ordered from this aliexpress seller. Got some "C" drivers with bad performance. Avoid!
I noticed that the color of your driver in OP are blue. The one I got from my Lustefire 3xU2 were black. It also came with different resistors. 2xR062 (not 2xR068 like yours in OP). It might be smart to measure output on these instead of assuming something. Could be differences even on the "B" drivers.
I used HX-1175B in the ZY-T08 featured in this beamshot comparison. Driver needed a good amount of trimming on the edge to fit in the stock pill. I also lowered lowered output from what I believe was around 7,5A to 6,4A in order to be a bit more "gentle" to my precious de-domed emitter ( best de-domed tint I have seen used in that light). Cant remember resistor values.
Good room for this driver in Fenix TK61. Although its obviously not plug and play.
None of the pictures allow me to see clearly how the ON Semiconductor FET is connected. Can someone take a picture with the FET removed or describe accurately what what the 3 connections are (2 pins and body)?
Does anyone have a driver where the small 6-leg IC is not sanded? I would like to know the markings.
Ouchyfoot:
No pictures, but I will be repeating the procedure and will take pictures. The FET swap didn’t increase current. I did it because Relic reported that the FET’s get hot and he even attached heat sinks to his. Makes sense as these FET have more resistance. Comfychair’s FET’s don’t get hot. So less heat to deal with and less wasted electricity. Here is a pic of Relic’s heat sinking mod from “this thread”.
EDIT: I don’t remember what current went up to with one R10. I will check to see if I have any notes on that. Probably half way from 7 amps (stock) and 11 amps with 2 R10’s.
RaceR86:
Your cautions about assuming are good. I say I haven’t tested in the OP, but I appreciate the reinforement of the message. Thank you friend.
The blue version above is a HX-1175b1. Seems identical circuit wise base on memory.
It would be very easy to cut in a PWM feed from another MCU. I will do a picture with a mark to show were and test it out tonight, maybe.
Wight:
I will see what I can do tonight about helping on that. It is very hard to tell even with the driver under magnification. I plan on swapping out the FET’s, so I will take pictures then.
I would love if you built a DIY version of this driver. Would love to have custom MCU on something like this.
Thanks ImA4Wheelr. We’ll see about DIY versions. The specs look pretty similar to the new-version DRY driver. From what I can tell they are using different buck driver ICs though. This thing is interesting to me from two perspectives; either it’s another implementation of the
Oh. I just realized that the ON Semiconductor 35CLG (big TO252 package) is not an FET. It’s just a big 10A schottky diode. duh. Therefore this circuit is definitely not a synchronous buck circuit. That explains why the connections looked weird, but it also makes this driver way less interesting - it’s probably no more capable than the QX5241 based ones. This is just scaled up with a big inductor and big Schottkey diode.
What I’m really looking for is an inexpensive high-power synchronous buck driver IC that’s suitable for drivers like this. That type of buck requires two FETs, but some non-synchronous drivers use two FETs as well. A synchronous buck setup can improve efficiency.
Out of curiosity, what would be your goals with a replacement PCB for this driver?
A more efficient driver sounds better as long as it can handle high current well. This guy (The “b”, not the “b1”) is driving a MT-G2 at at least 11.3 amps and not complaining. I don’t know the limit yet on it. I haven’t tested the “b1” version yet, but it looks promising.
I want a custom PCB because this driver may have already been discontinued and because I’d would like a MCU that I can program and flash. I’m going to learn how to program PIC’s, but most folks here like the Attiny13a. I will be piggy backing a Attiny13a on to my drivers in the mean time.
That’s interesting. I didn’t notice that was a diode either. When I swapped out the FET’s on my “b”, I think that one had the label ground off. If I remember correctly, I thought it was odd that they ground off one, but not the other. I replaced both units with 07N02 FET’s. It works great that way.
I believe I still have the old components. I will check them out to night and report back on that.
EDIT: I also have 4 more of these “b1”’s, I will check to see if they also have diodes in that spot.
Does that 35CLG diode make sense? It’s supposed to let current flow from either Small Leg to the Big Tab. It appears that both Small Legs are connected to Bat+ and the Toroidal Inductor that flows Bat+ to the L+ Pad. The Big Tab to the Drain for the 06N03 FET. The Drain for the 06N03 FET would be flowing Negative.
So wouldn’t it basically short positive to negative?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I have no formal electronics training.
At a glance it looks fine to me. I think you have gotten confused though. The small legs are connected to LED-. The big tab is connected to BAT+ and the torroid. So when you apply power and leave the FET switched “off”, no electricity will flow across the diode.
My grasp of this stuff is not good enough for me to explain the role of the diode in this circuit, but it is properly connected. I believe this diode is sometimes called a freewheeling diode and it allows the inductor to discharge it’s energy while the FET is switched off. When you look at the sawtooth graph of a buck converter, the period where the inductor discharges and the diode comes into play is the downward part of the sawtooth. Here is what I consider a very explicit diagram of a nonsynchronous buck converter. See Figure 1. I have not read the article.
I’m afraid that your replacement of the diode with an FET is doing something bad. I can’t quite figure out how the circuit is working without failure right now, but I suspect that it’s hard on one of these 3 things:
the FET that replaced the diode
the real FET (if the energy from the toroid isn’t being allowed to flow through the normal path then the FET is probably being stressed)
the LED (the MT-G2 can take some real punishment as I understand it. Maybe it’s taking a beating from the modded driver and continuing to operate)
I’d definitely put that diode back where I got it. Maybe another member can chime in on why the circuit works at all after the mod.
Thank you wight. You’re right. I switched the big tab and the small legs in my head. I will check out the circuits on my original “b” and the new “b1” drivers and report back. Sounds like you may have identified a problem I didn’t realize I had or the circuit on the original “b” driver is different (or this circuit is not totally known to us yet and the diode is supposed to be a FET).
So unless there is a surprise under the diode, it looks like we have a flashlight driver that can handle high currents (a rare and good thing), but not as efficient a design as what you are seeking.
Hhmm - give me a few more applications I can use this driver. Though I hate the classic Chinese 5 mode, the power seems awesome!
It will work for a single MT-G2, single XM-L2 I assume, from 1 to 6 cells, 2 min, for an MT-G2 I suppose? What other lights? I'll have to check my multi-cell, rear switch throwers to see if this driver will fit.
Tom E - I think the problem is being able to purchase it! It seems that people are often sent something other than this driver when they attempt to order.
Hhmm - I thought this link in the OP: ebay.com/itm/5pcs-5-modes-Led-Driver-Input-3V-18V-7A for qty 5 were for the b1's -- yes, ImA4Wheelr did confirm with the seller first, but those b1's look good so far. Right? $50 is a fairly big risk of course, but of course I've lost that much on a gamble before with drivers... If I were to order 5, I'd like to use like 2-3 off the bat, or give/sell at cost, etc., and check with the seller first like he did.
It looks good to me Tom, but I'm just a hack. I think he sells individual drivers too.
Here is what I did tonight. Removed the large diode and FET and compared the traces between the "b1's" and the "b". Every trace I can see looks identical. I tried to take photos of the "b", but the black pcb reveals very little in photos. I did get some good photos of the "b1" which I put in the beginning of the OP at full size. The toroidal inductors look identical too. Only difference I see is the FET's Source Pin resistor bay allows for much larger sized resistors, but underlying trace for both looks the same. I did not compare components though. I will try to do that tomorrow as it's late. As pointed out in the OP, I do see at resistor where there is a small capacitor on the "b".
Here are the 2 components I thought were FET's that I pulled off the "b". I can't tell if the one with the label ground off is a diode, but I think it is based on wight's analysis above.
Went ahead and swapped the FET to a 07N02 (Comfychair) FET and added 2 R10 resistors. Go 11.5amps in high mode and 5.x amps in Medium mode. There was no Low or SOS mode. Ran for a about 1 minute on high. Driver got pretty warm, but is was in free air and isn't pressed into a large brass ring like the T90 driver.
I'm sure I missed something, but I have to call it a night.
This driver with an attiny13a piggybacked would be pretty cool.
Wight, I've been searching for a long time for a good PWM dimmable synchronous buck IC...haven't found one yet that fits the bill. I have had a few ideas about converting some other board designs but as always time is an issue.
I'm thinking the large diode is going to be the weak link for very high currents. Last night after reinstalling it, heat was generated in that part of the driver (Running at 11.5 amps with 3S King Kongs). It will probably be fine if heat sinked, but it is only rated for 10 amps. I may piggy back another low voltage drop out diode on top of it for the time being. Anyone have a high current diode recommendations?
