Review/Test of 1A 2.7-5.5V Buck-Boost Circuit board

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Review/Test of 1A 2.7-5.5V Buck-Boost Circuit board





Driver is from Intl-outdoor.com

Official specifications:

  • Input voltage: 2.7-5.5V
  • Buck-Boost driver
  • Constant current output, 1A (To the LED)
  • This driver does not use PWM
  • High mode efficiency from 84% to 90% depending on the input voltage.
  • Medium mode efficiency 94-95%
  • Memory function
  • Low voltage protection
  • Reverse polarity protection
  • First PCB Diameter: 15mm
  • Second PCB Diameter: 16.6mm
  • Total height: 6.5mm
  • Gold plated contacts
  • Tinned copper leads



Low voltage protection system:
*If the battery voltage is lower than 3V:
when the light is on (constant light), the output will be changed to 10mA.
when the light is flashing , the output will be changed to 50mA and keep flashing.
*If the battery voltage is lower than 2.7V, the output will be cut off but still there will be an input of about 0.3mA
(There will be no current consumption switching the flashlight off )



Measurements

Tested with: Cree XP-G2
Max. height: 6.5mm
Diameter: 16.5 mm and 15mm.
Strobe: 10Hz at 3.7 volt.
The driver has high, medium, low, strobe and sos.
The driver has memory, the actual mode is stored when the light is off for a short time.
A very short off/on will select next mode.
The driver is mainly buck, but can boost a little bit.



High



The drop in led current between 3.25 volt and 3.50 volt is probably the change from buck to boost.






Very good regulation, without any noise.



Medium



Due to inherited looses in the circuit, the boost need to be activate while the input voltage is above the Vf of the led.






Low



At low the boost is not needed and due to the low current there is some noise in the measurements.






Strobe





SOS



The spacing in the morse code is not correct.



Conclusion

This driver will provide full output from 3.0 volt to 5.5 volt with good efficiency.
I like this driver.



Notes

How do I test a led driver
List of all tested drivers

2

Thanks for the nice test!

This is a very nice driver indeed. Because it works up to 5.5V, it would be nice to use it in a 4xAA NiMh configuration, the light will have a moderate but efficient output with good runtime and because of the good regulation it has a very good AA-alkaline compatibility.

3

4xNiMH will get you an input voltage just above maximum voltage and four alkaline will be about 6 volt, it might work or it might blow the driver.

My guess is that the 5.5 volt is because some of the chips has this as maximum voltage.

4

I think I will try this out sometime in a future mod, see what happens. Thanks again for testing how nice this driver is :-)

5

Very nice review, thanks a lot!

Can you spot a sense resistor that could change the output current?

6

My guess would be the R100 resistor behind the white wire:

7

Interesting, thanks for the info.

I would like to use this as a laser driver, but a laser diode has a higher Vf then an LED. (about 5.5V)

I wonder if that would work out… :slight_smile:

8

I cannot tell you, I do not have a laser diode to test with.

9

Seems like a great driver for a 3xNiMH Mag mod. I love the efficiency. Thanks for the testing and review, HKJ.

10

I wonder how it works with 2x cr123

11

+1
Seems like a missed opportunity (IMO) that it’s not ‘officially’ spec’d to handle them.

12

Well…… looking at the 5.5v spot, it pulls .5 amps. Looking at his review of panasonic primary 123, it has a voltage of 2.75 at that current. Looks like it would work.

13

You cannot guarantee that it will always run in high mode.

14

I am actually only interested in a single mode. Is the memory on this the kind that will revert to high if I short one of the caps?

15

I doubt it, it is stored in a EEPROM inside the microcontroller.

16

doh. Almost the perfect driver. I am looking for a driver for a rifle light that is high only and can do 18650 and 2x CR123.

Maybe we can get Hank to sell these as 1 or 3 mode.

17

Thanks HKJ for these driver reviews, very informative.

I look forward to the smoke reports for those adventurous enough to over amp and/or over volt these tiny buck/boost driver chips.

18

Just as a follow up, it looks like a TI TPS63000 driver chip for this driver. The data sheet. The max output is 800ma for the LED in the Boost mode. You can see from HKJs Hi mode chart, how the internal fet switches start doing double duty in the boost mode.

19

Thanks for the review HKJ. Now if only someone could create a similar spec driver that would boost 3A to the LED.

20

I’ve been using this little driver for a while in a small Crelant clicky. It’s been wonderful, and I’ve had no problems. It drives a Nichia 219 with one 14500.