I’m looking to build some pcb’s for a few different emitters and would like to know where I might obtain the schematics and driver boards? I did message Richard from mntmountain and he has told me that he does carry the parts to build them, I just need a little guidance from someone who has experience building these drivers. Any advice or help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advanced!
OK, I have signed up for an account/member there at Oshpark. Now I can view much more information. I see that there are tons of pcb’s and I’m not sure which design I should use for my specific needs. I am also considering the batteries I will be using in series to power the driver for a specific emitter. So for an example, I will be using a Cree XHP70/6V emitter. Please correct me if I am wrong, but If I were to use (2)–26650 protected cells in series, and each battery has a capacity of 5200mAh, then shouldn’t I want a driver that will accept the 8.2V from the batteries and be able to output no more then 6V @ 5.2 amps when that is the maximum rated amperage these batteries will deliver?
Not sure which drivers you would like to build, I started here:
Example threads:
Will you reflow with a station, oven or a skillet?
A kit would be great, Richard has an amazing selection in his shop. Alternative would be sourcing your own parts via shops/AE/ebay, …
Generally speaking, you would need time, patience, a well-lit working space, magnifier, ideally helping hands for soldering, a good soldering iron and the right soldering paste/solder/flux.
Hello MILSPEC, Thanks for your reply! I will read through the links you posted.
I imagine I would use a heatgun/skillet for parts I can’t solder with a solder iron. I have all mentioned and most of the other items you’ve mentioned. Perhaps some really strong eye glasses will come in handy as well…lol…I know those tiny parts can get tricky to properly mount and solder on a circuit board!
Just looking for a little more guidance and someone that has done this for some time…lol
Thanks for chiming in! BTW, have you built any drivers for your flashlights?
I have built 6 drivers to date and modified about 4 (nanjg).
The process is fairly simple:
order boards from Oshpark, put some solder paste on board (less is better, only a small amount is needed IMO), put parts on (I found it easier to place them from the center towards the outside), reflow, let it cool and test it!
It is easier to test a driver outside of a light first, if you have the opportunity.
Make sure to check for dead shorts, other undesired connections, etc before and after you connect the driver in a light.
you should be good to go. My FET drivers were the quickest to build, the first one about 2 hours (plus a few minutes looking for parts I dropped or lost somewhere).
single-sided drivers should be less complex for beginners, but my latest drivers were on both pcb sides and that was fine as well.
my heat gun didn’t work, it wasn’t hot enough to reflow solder. skillet was fine. took about 2 minutes.
edit: PS: I don’t know whether your MCUs are flashed or not - if not you should also flash them, of course.
edit 2 : you also need to solder the wires to the MCPCB, solder the spring on, …
Hi friend. The capacity of the battery is not of concern when choosing a driver. It simply indicates how much energy is in the cell or in other words how long it will last against a certain discharge rate before beedibg recharge. You need to decide how much current you want your led to see. If you have a 6v xhp70 and you want to feed it 3, 4, 5, 6… amps, then you need a driver capeable of 6v and that will limit the current to your desired amperage.
It seems like the boards from oshpark are a little on the high side. Perhaps I will look around more on Richard’s site. My main purpose here is to seek more information as how to get what parts and schematics to assembling the parts on the driver boards. so for an example, say I wanted to drive an XHP70 at 6 volts at 7 amps that would allow me to also set the dimming modes and built-in thermal protection. How would I go about doing this without having some schematics and guidance? I’m not an electrical engineer! lol…Also, I am not familiar with this MCU flashing.
Thanks for your tips and info! I really do appreciate your help!
Hello LightRider! Thanks for your reply! I understand what you are saying and I just want to be able to build a driver that would accept say around 4-12V input and have 6V-CV with lets just say 7A cutoff and also have a dimmer/PWM of some type with thermal protection.
