I bought a 17mm 2-mode driver ($1,81) when i ordered from fasttech a month ago
earlier this fall i ordered a cheap c8 from ebay (seller easebon, price $6,39) that i didn’t like because of the horrible 5-next-mode-memory driver that also was underdriven.
earlier tonight i finally changed the driver!
the original driver pulled 0,95 A at high measured at the tailcap, and this new driver pulls ~1,9 A with TFF 3000 @4,10 V. in low mode the new driver pulls about 0,55 A.
the new driver also changes mode everytime you press the tailcap, but with two modes it’s no big deal pushing an extra time if you want the other mode.
i had to use some alu-foil to make contact between the body and the outer ring of the driver (couldn’t solder, wouldn’t stick to the head).
i didn’t think of measuring the current to the led before soldering the leads to the driver board unfortunately. but i hope it’s not too much current for the led.
so now i’m very satisfied with this flashlight! might have to order a 20mm driver to mod my sipik sk98 clone as well…
i’m too lazy with pictures, if none requests them. feel free to ask if you wonder anything!
Normally Thicker wires would just result in lower current, but due to that this should be a linear driver a lower voltage(voltagedrop over dmm because of leadresistance) would increase current but not so much…? Confusing
How does it pull 1.9A? FastTech tested it to 800mA (per my request). I just received one of these drivers myself. If it pulls 2A than that's much better! Do you feel confident of your measurements? Using thick gauge leads?
i haven’t changed the test leads, but if they were too thin, it wouldn’t make sense if i got higher currents, would it?
one lead to the battery, one to the threads on the flashlight, closing the circuit.
same battery (TFF 3000 @4,10 v), same dmm, i get 2A tailcap measurement on my jacobs a60 as well. can’t remember what others have reported though.
Hmm. You're right. Measurements would be too low. Perhaps FastTech got bad measurements. Perhaps you should post a review on the product page. 2A on the A60 sounds right.
does it matter what led you have connected to the driver? mine should be a xr-e q5 ez900. and also the current rises for a while from 1,7 A to ~1,9-2 A when testing tailcap currents.
it’s a bit annoying that my testings shows a different result than what fasttech says they have tested the driver to :~
would be nice to know the efficiency of the driver. since it’s very cheap it could be worth modding even quite cheap lights with this one to get rid of the blinking modes.
I get between 1.2-2 A now when testing with a couple of ultrafires and tff.
So if i use too good batteries, i will burn or shorten the life of my led?
I also wonder what’s the efficiency of the Jacobs a60 driver since i measured ~2A there as well…
I’m not sure whether to worry about shortened led-life, since it’s probably replaced by then anyway.
LOL
No problem when proper heatsinked. An xre on some amps is more like a laser…
And if it burns, hey they are cheap and replaceable with a XML
Think of all the sk68…most of them use xres at more than 1 A and they are damn reliable.
Talking about lifetime you should think of what we use it for, how long do you use your flashlight?if we think of 1 hour a day, Then we have after 9 years 3000hours.
These energy ratings guarantee 90% luminous flux after 6000 hours of use in the specification(which are only few hundred mA).
So if it is only half that when overdriven it lasts 9 years, and nobody will use a xre in 9 years we will have 5W 1500lm LEDs….just dreamin.
That’s more interesting for ceiling lamps and so on, if you light a bureau 10hours a day than you have fast about 2500 hours a year
5a or so, depending on host, with direct drive, the current limit is the poor connections in the host, so stick to thin led leads, thin springs and do not polish/clean body threads to death, if anything, grease them to ease the pain.
Low should work as a percentage of high (by PWM), so low output will vary with high output depending on battery's ability. According to the O.P.'s measurements, low is at 30% level.
Ah OK, I understand. So if high was too much as a direct drive I could use it on low without a problem? And if it was 30% it would still be around 1500mah if high was 4.5/5a Just learning about drivers as you can see.
Yep. You will only see 4.5A to 5A with the best of batteries and with lights with little resistance in the elec. path (i.e. switches, emitter wires, etc. . .).
