I’d like to build a small, self contained, test bed for checking driver output. It would be able to seat the driver with pos and neg contacts in a spring loaded clamp with a battery holder(maybe up to 4 cells), a switch, an led(or 3) and test leads for a dmm, all in a small stable case. Has anyone else done this and if so could you post some pics. What I currently use is flimsy, wonky, unstable, and generally unsatisfactory. I will be doing a small run of chip additions and it would be very helpful to have a quick and easy way to plug in the driver for verifying output. Lacking any input, I will post my version(when finished) Sunday evening but am soliciting for better ideas before I start. Thanks
Don’t have a test fixture but this will do the measurement stuff:
Been meaning to do this for a long time now and figured someone else must have done this. Maybe E1320 or DrJones or anyone who adds chips to drivers frequently.
I’m still in the planning process, but I think I have enough parts to get started. Some heat sinks withe XM-L, XP-Gs permanently attached for for basic “checking if the darn thing” works. A 2S1P battery holder for now. I have a bunch of 14AWG silicone wire that I’m going to be attaching banana jacks to, for short leads. I also have a bunch of good copper alligator clips and test probes that can be plugged right into the banana jacks. This way I can hook it all up, including the tailcap if I wish, and just break in between any of the component and plug them into my DMM.
I’m still undecided on a portable mounting platform.
Right now mine is a collection of copper caps, a battery holder, and a switch held together by spaghetti and I still need to solder connections to test anything.
FT has various aluminum heat sinks that you can screw your LEDs down on. I got a bunch of “this and thats” from Here for making my quick connect,disconnect and DMM friendly hook ups.
I have a bunch of emitters attached to a heatsink, and a bench supply that I attach to the driver. This works for me, but my supply tops out at 6A, and I am looking for a 10A+ supply on the cheap. I may just build it, I have most of the parts already but I’ve been pushing it off.
What I’m aiming for is a plug and play for testing drivers without solder/desoldering contacts or wires.
Any ETA on that?
Lately, I’ve been testing some alternate light/color sensors…
Here’s what it looks like so far. Anticlockwise from the bottom left are the led pedestal, the driver mount, the switch, ground post, and battery holder. The holder has two extra wires so I can run 1s, 2s, or 2p. It’s mostly copper and brass with awg20 wires. Also, the battery holder plates and springs have been upgraded to copper plates and heavier springs.
I should have it done soon(I keep saying that) so I can easily test drivers both before and after adding chips.
Looks good Rufusbduck. When do you think it will be ready to ship to me?
Just as soon as I finish modding five or so boards.
Relic,
I was also looking and built this one. I tried it at 4.5A but not 10A yet.
LM2596 10-15A Configurable/Adjustable Bench Power Supply
Hi,
How are you planning to secure the LED to the pedestal?
The two white dots are nylon 4-40 screws. For testing drivers I’ll use a dedicated XML U2 1A. I’ll also make up a similar xp-g2 pcb for testing smaller optics.
RBD, go ahead and make two of them. I need a test bed too, LOL. - not really...
I have been thinking of doing the same thing and I have it all laid out, but I've been waiting till it cools off before I finish it. I think it's a great idea for testing drivers and for testing leds before final assembly of lights. I want to make the heat sink where I can fit any led/star on it and be able to also tune the reflector height before assembly. I have some reflector testing to do this year, with MT-G2 leds and even possibly some "O-L collars".
I'm going to set it up big enough so that I can use different battery sizes and configurations. I hope to put it all on a large board where I can store it off to the side.
I thought about making it more versatile but decided to make it just for 17mm boards and 1 or 2 cells. That covers most of what I use and fits in a small case(Altoids tin).
Well here it is. 
This was the lowest of the good four. 
You can see from where I have the test leads connected(awg 12 stranded cut from a power cord) that I’m measuring tailcap (battery draw) as opposed to emitter current. Using fat test leads, this was easier than measuring emitter current. I tested five IOS boards for a member, the first was DOA with only .62mA and emitter just barely on. I think the mcu must be dead because in the past when I have fried chips on a board the mcu was still able to generate modes albeit dim ones and this looks like 7135 off state leakage current it’s so small. The other four drivers all tested ~ 2.9A-3.0A even with the stock emitter wires. Each functional driver will get two chips and new emitter wires before being retested, labeled, and shipped. This idea worked pretty well and this round of testing went pretty quickly even with snapping pics of each reading. I did solder the board wires to the emitter wires each time but that only took a few moments each time and having the rest all set to go was nice.
Though not particularly difficult, this was still a fair amount of work but so far I looks like it should make pretesting new boards much easier so I’m liking the tradeoff.
What a test rig. I’ll take one if you can make it for $5.00 Aus including postage. Thanks in advance. 