Opinions on a 22mm driver for F13

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I successfully changed to a Noctigon star with XML U2 in two of my F13’s. I’ve been satisfied with the results. I’m curious as to the possibility of changing drivers as well in one of them to see what, if any changes happen. First, for those that have modded the UF F13, what is your opinion of the stock driver? Is it ‘fine as is’ and don’t mess with it? Secondly, doing a search I’ve found these alternatives I’d like opinions on:

8.25W 3V~12V 2500mA 5-Mode LED Driver Board

4-Mode 0.8~1.5A LED Driver Circuit Board for XM-L Bicycle Headlamp / Flashlight - Black (3.0~8V)

2.6A 5-Mode LED Driver Circuit Board for Flashlight - Red + Black (3~8V)

FET Driver - 22mm

Any of these strike you as ‘better’ than the stock driver or just different? If better, which one and why?

I haven’t found any 22mm to 20mm (or 17mm) copper rings like I’ve found 20mm to 17mm copper rings but it would be nice to find some.

Other options welcomed as well. Thank you. :slight_smile:

2

The first three Chinese lottery drivers you listed are regulated, but they have those annoying blinky modes. The Mtn one will give you exactly what you want, mode-wise, but understand you’re gonna be running direct drive on high—which isn’t a bad thing. You may have to do some further mods to withstand those amps.

I prefer regulation, choosing my total amps and modes and ensuring there is low voltage protection. I just received 6 of Wight’s 22mm 16 X 7135 empty boards from OSH. I’ll probably set up the F13 (still in the mail) for ~4 amps and flash whatever firmware suits my fancy. I’m also going to try out the hard-to-find warm white 3000K 90 CRI XM-L2 on it. Hoping everything arrives next week so I can put it all together.

3

+1 on the Mtn. FET Driver – 22mm I like them a LOT! :heart_eyes: Choose your Turbo Timer carefully!

4

Alternately, strip all the components off the stock 22mm board (except the spring) and stick a normal driver (such as http://www.fasttech.com/products/1612/10001683/1186301 ) between that and the led. Wrap the new driver in kapton tape so it doesn’t short out. And if you’re ordering overseas, throw in some of these: http://www.fasttech.com/products/1616/10001923/1182004-insulation-gaskets-for-cree-xm-l-t6-led-emitters-1 and http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001027/1205303-glow-in-the-dark-water-tight-o-ring-seal-37mm-5-pa — the stock gasket on the f13 is too thick (and the o-ring goes between the glass and the reflector to tighten it up). Mtnelectronics will certainly have something like the driver; not sure about the gasket/o-ring.

5

When you say stick the new driver on the old (stripped) driver are you talking about soldering the new drivers spring to the old driver? And if so, would you need to run a + and - wire from the old driver to the new or would the spring be enough?

6

Probably easier to take the spring off the new driver and just run thick (+) / (-) wires from the stripped driver to the new driver.

And Richard at MTN has the insulation gaskets I was talking about, but not 37mm o-rings.

7

Strip the old driver of its components leaving the spring on(contact plate) and wiring the new driver +/- (spring off) to it (piggy backing) then wire the LED to the new driver.

8

Just go with the Mtn. 22MMFETDD=EASY!

9

If you go with this driver and choose “guppydrv” as your firmware, you can set the turbo timer yourself, based on how your particular flashlight/battery combo performs. The instructions for doing this are on Mtn’s site.

Also, be sure you have your LED on a direct thermal path copper board and that it is properly affixed (Artic Silver, etc) to the pill.

I just fried the LED on a HD2010 and all I did was mod both springs with 2mm solder wick. The extra amps fried the LED in ~5 seconds on high. Not that I cared, really, because the light is getting everything replaced with good stuff.

10

You could try these . They are 22mm to 17mm.

11

Very excellent, thank you. I ordered just now so we’ll see how they do when they are delivered. :slight_smile:

12

Also These listed in the Oshpark Projects op.