Nitecore TINI overhaul - MELD UI + ultraviolet

DavidEF · 2018-07-19T22:31:02.000Z

tterev3:

Emarkd:

My understanding, and my personal experience, is that polycarbonate blocks 100% UV and most of the optics out there are polycarbonate. Am I wrong? Or is Nitecore using something besides polycarb for its optics? Or did you do something different that I’m missing? In other words how does the UV get out of your build?

I think you’re right, I’ve encountered that too. This emitter isn’t extremely short wavelength though (405) so it seems to work. I’ve tried similar things before and had the optic fluoresce and ruin it, but this one didn’t

tterev3,

Awesome build as usual! I’m always amazed at your tiny work in totally reconfiguring these stock drivers! And MELD is over-the-top cool as well. :sunglasses:

As for the polycarbonate and UV light, a quick search found this.

DavidEF · 2018-07-19T22:34:56.000Z

BTW, do you still have any drivers for sale?

djozz · 2018-07-19T22:38:21.000Z

I checked several sources of polycarbonate and PMMA for transmission of 365nm, 385nm and 400nm, and there appears some variation in what the cut-off wavelength is, so the curves in some online transmission graphs are at least not for all sources of that material.

But they all are transparant for 405 nm.

tterev3 · 2018-07-19T22:39:40.000Z

DavidEF:

BTW, do you still have any drivers for sale?

Yes I think I have a few of them left

emarkd · 2018-07-19T22:44:35.000Z

tterev3:

Emarkd:

My understanding, and my personal experience, is that polycarbonate blocks 100% UV and most of the optics out there are polycarbonate. Am I wrong? Or is Nitecore using something besides polycarb for its optics? Or did you do something different that I’m missing? In other words how does the UV get out of your build?

I think you’re right, I’ve encountered that too. This emitter isn’t extremely short wavelength though (405) so it seems to work. I’ve tried similar things before and had the optic fluoresce and ruin it, but this one didn’t

Yeah that explains it then. 405nm vs the 365nm I’m trying to put through a polycarb optic, and it just doesn’t work for me. Full block. Oh well, thanks for the info.

DavidEF · 2018-07-19T22:50:23.000Z

tterev3:

DavidEF:

BTW, do you still have any drivers for sale?

Yes I think I have a few of them left

Is MELD-X still the latest or is there a newer version? Are the changes you made for this build integrated into the main firmware, or just on this one?

I’d like to get a couple of the full driver boards if I can.

tterev3 · 2018-07-20T00:25:21.000Z

DavidEF:

Is MELD-X still the latest or is there a newer version? Are the changes you made for this build integrated into the main firmware, or just on this one?

I’d like to get a couple of the full driver boards if I can.

This one is one of (very) many customized versions of the firmware for one-off mods - none of the additions are pulled into the firmware that goes out on the MELD-x boards. I’m always happy to send out chips if anyone wants to reproduce these though.

Agro · 2018-07-20T17:39:48.000Z

Incredible mod.

ADDED:
tterev3, I have a question.

I don’t understand your driver diagrams or description. My soldering skills are far too small to attempt to build wire octopuses.
Would it be possible to do a resistor mod or something else to moderately increase current?

DavidEF · 2018-07-20T18:30:33.000Z

Agro:

Incredible mod.

ADDED:
tterev3, I have a question.

I don’t understand your driver diagrams or description. My soldering skills are far too small to attempt to build wire octopuses.
Would it be possible to do a resistor mod or something else to moderately increase current?

Agro, have you seen his old (now defunct) sales thread for his drivers? They don’t need all that work. These mods he does himself almost always include re-using the original driver, adding his own PIC chip, with all those tiny wires, to get the MELD firmware. If you look at his own MELD-X drivers, they use 7135’s on each channel, and are fairly simple to wire up.

Schoki · 2018-07-20T19:01:59.000Z

Agro:

Incredible mod.

ADDED:
tterev3, I have a question.

I don’t understand your driver diagrams or description. My soldering skills are far too small to attempt to build wire octopuses.
Would it be possible to do a resistor mod or something else to moderately increase current?

If you have a TINI and want to increase the current, you can do that by lowering the shunt resistor value (in the schematic, below the XP-G LED)

Agro · 2018-07-20T19:05:15.000Z

I meant…would it be possible to resistor mod or otherwise increase current of the stock TINI driver? I see it reverse-engineered, but that’s far beyond my level of electronics.

Agro · 2018-07-20T19:12:16.000Z

Schoki:

Agro:

Incredible mod.

ADDED:
tterev3, I have a question.

I don’t understand your driver diagrams or description. My soldering skills are far too small to attempt to build wire octopuses.
Would it be possible to do a resistor mod or something else to moderately increase current?

If you have a TINI and want to increase the current, you can do that by lowering the shunt resistor value (in the schematic, below the XP-G LED)

We wrote simultaneously.
Thanks.

And which one would it be on the board?….
In this kind of driver, current is linear with inverse of resistance, just like with sense resistors?

tterev3 · 2018-07-20T19:23:33.000Z

Yes the sense resistor could be lowered to increase current, but there are two potential issues in this case:
The battery is already being pushed very hard at ~1000mA draw on max, I wouldn’t push it further. Second, the sense resistor is buried way down in the folded-up flex PCB in what is already a ridiculously dense and difficult to assemble light, so it would be very tough to swap out.

Agro · 2018-07-20T20:22:09.000Z

OK, thanks for the answer.

RotorHead64 · 2018-07-20T20:35:36.000Z

I have a couple questions...

What size wire did you use on the MCU chip and what tools did you use to solder it with?

BTW, this is some cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

tterev3 · 2018-07-21T00:18:24.000Z

RotorHead64:

I have a couple questions…

What size wire did you use on the MCU chip and what tools did you use to solder it with?

BTW, this is some cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

I use 34AWG magnet wire for this - it is enamel insulated, so you can strip the ends by burning off the enamel with solder instead of mechanically stripping it. For soldering my favorite is a Metcal SMD rework iron with a fine conical tip, although I’ve done work like this with a lot of different irons. The Metcal is fairly expensive but something cheaper like the TS100 would be capable of doing it. The most important tool is a stereo microscope. This scale of work is just possible without magnification, but it is enormously easier under a microscope, and stereo vision is a necessity. The other thing that’s very helpful is flux - when I’m doing a solder joint to one of the pads on the microcontroller, it’s tough to add solder without adding too much, so I usually tin everything, then put a tiny amount of flux on the wire, then just reflow it without additional solder.

RotorHead64 · 2018-07-21T22:47:13.000Z

:+1: Nice!

Jerommel · 2018-08-22T22:55:06.000Z

Crazy modding…

I have a question though:
Is an emitter swap doable?
3500K 219C 92CRI would be nice.

tterev3 · 2018-08-22T23:33:58.000Z

Jerommel:

Is an emitter swap doable?

Yes it could be done, the led is mounted on flex PCB but it would withstand a reflow. Hot air would be best

ImA4Wheelr · 2018-08-23T02:44:47.000Z

Superior workmanship, design, and creativity as always. It seems, I learn something every time I read (and reread one of your threads). Congrats on the new light and thank you for sharing ttrev3.