East-092 driver and current measurement in medium and low

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I was pretty surprised when I found out my Fluke 117 DMM couldn’t measure the tailcap current of my HD2010 when I switched to medium and low modes.

High was perfectly fine, reading 3.5-4.0A depending on the pressure I put onto the leads. However, I couldn’t get a value for medium and low modes because the light went out after a couple miliseconds and the DMM was reading zero.

I got a small strobing effect in low mode inconsistently but I was able to measure the the current again in the strobe and SOS modes.

This happens when the cell is charged over 4.10V, and I can successfully get readings when the cell is not fully charged, ie) <4.0V.

This also happens with my other East-092 driver, so I don’t think my driver is bad.

I’ll also point out that the lights are perfectly functional with their switches, just not my DMM.

One theory I have is that the DMM has some inductance or capacitance that’s affecting the driver….

Any thoughts? Thanks.

2

There was more than one person here that could not measure anything but high including me. I think there was a lot of mention of it in Foys review.

3

I haven’t read what MRsDNF mentioned, but I had the same problem and assumed it was because the med and low modes are PWM

I can also tell you that if you have a slightly bad solder joint your eyes will have the same problem as the DMM - High works fine but med-low flicker. :frowning:

4

My guess is the resistance in the tailcap keeps the voltage down to a safe level, and the DMM doesn't have enough resistance. But I'm probably wrong, when you use a wire to complete the circuit will it turn on in low or med?