[SALE] FW3A lighted TIR board multicolored with LVP, stabilized or High/low

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

how it began can be read here

Boards can be build as Gen 1 to 1.7 now

Generation 1 High/low capability but then LEDs dim to about 50% between full and empty battery
Generation 1.2 LEDs are voltage stabilized High/low does not work, no LVP
Generation 1.5 unregulated LED voltage + LVP
Generation 1.7 stabilized with LDO + LVP

- version with LDO → High/low not possible

  • version with LVP → High/low not possible
    → flash #define INDICATOR_LED_SKIP_LOW setting as well

LDO → constant brightness and color mix over full battery voltage
LVP → shuts down when battery low (2.93V without MCU, 3.3V with MCU used)

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LVP chip shuts down at 2.93V voltage,
if the MCU is used for Aux control also the reverse polarity protection diode counts in with about 0.35V

  • above 3.3V all LEDs on and below 3.3V all LEDs off

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fits FW3A and Noctigon Triple

Sample with warm white, ice blue and pink

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Production board and stencil ready

any color combinations are possible each LED could have a different color

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LEDs as you wish colors and patterns
450nm blue, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, ice blue, WW, CW (the yellowish green is too inefficient)
new LED batch cooperator boards for 3 brightness levels made

[LED colors] (top are most efficient, bottom inefficient)

LED color and each single LED current based on my “medium 0.5mA” brightness level

green 19.1uA
blue 21.2uA
ice blue 25.2uA
pink 30.7uA
CW 38.7uA
WW 40.2uA
red 50.9uA
orange 124uA
yellow 206uA

my LED brightness scale is based on my Rainbow+WW boards total current while LEDs seem same brightness

basically I have 5 levels “1mA”, “0.75mA”, “0.5mA”, “0.3mA” and “0.15mA”
this does only reflect on rainbow boards with WW the total current drawn

on the boards the total current depends on used colors and brightness level (“0.15-1mA”)

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I can also build a board with a current consumption you want
for example, you can order a “0.3mA” pink/green all 12 LEDs equipped

2

Prices:

5€ Single color board
+0.25€ voltage stabilization
+0.5€ LVP chip
custom color combination
2 colors +0.5€
3-4 colors +0.75€
4-6 colors +1€
>6 colors +1.25€

Orders with more than 3 identical or single color boards get 10% discount
Orders with just one board adds 1.5€ handling fee

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Shipping:

I will add some plastic card and structured paper to protect the boards

1.5€ standard bubble envelope 0.5cm <20g
2€ thick bubble envelope 1cm <50g
tracking adds 4€

Tracking Info
https://www.deutschepost.de/sendung/simpleQuery.html?locale=en_GB

3

How to order

send me a PM if you want to order boards

tell me

- which color(s) you want,

- the color pattern you can make a simple picture from the preview picture like this example

- I need to know which version

  • brightness or current consumption you want

UPDATE 09-11-2019

v2.1 now here, should fit also 2. batch of FW3A MCPCB better, still the negative lead cant be opened that far without loosing one LED, so scratching the paint off in the Aux board slot, there is plenty of area
fits as well Noctigon Triple

Some more things like one 0603 resistor after the LDO to also lower the build brightness if desired
2 or 3 wire operation to implement also LVP+High/low
battery+ → +
MCU → L
GND → —

3 pad connection High/Low +LVP or when you want LVP at 2.93V instead 2.93V plus driver diode drop (3.2V)

4

Modding guide

First remove the retaining ring, lens and optics

Unsolder the MCPCB wires and pull the driver

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Now we got 2 options

- use the MCU with Aux support firmware flashed, to control the Aux board (ON/OFF/blink/LOW)

  • use battery voltage to drive the board without MCU control
    in the second case simply ignore the optical nerve connection and do a bridge from MCPCB+ to aux board +

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Remove the optical nerve resistor and tin the right pad

Prepare a thin wire for the aux board + connection and solder it to the tinned pad

(AWG28 silicone wire used, it’s cut a bit too long)

Scrape off some solder stop mask and tin the area for ground and solder the 2. wire to it

Modify Anduril for Aux support and flash MCU with programming adapter
It’s not stock Anduril there are some changes
http://www.metronixlaser.de/bilder/flashlight/FW3A/Anduril_aux.zip, its a bit old by now, there are newer projects in my how to flash topic here

Align the driver with the flat side to the head so it rests flat on the whole surface and screw down retaining ring, solder MCPCB

Pad soldering

Hardware

- 295°C Weller WSD81

  • Felder 0.5mm Sn62Pb36Ag2 with 3.5% flux (one with relative much rosin core flux, general use not SMD which has less flux %)

Preparations

- clean PCB with Alcohol and cotton swab

- twisting the wires end (helps to prevent splicing while soldering)

  • cleaning tip in sponge

1.

- pre tinning pad and wire

  • heating up pad and stick the wire end into it
  • same as 1. just adding extra flux (for example if you use a SMD solder wire with only 1% flux)
  • directly solder wire to the pad (not recommended but works fine with a solder wire with 2.5% or more flux)

in the video I look without any magnification to the soldering, just the camera records

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Aux board is build and tested, put it on the MCPCB

solder the Aux pads + and -, add optic to the light then screw down bezel with lens

(The picture shows v1.5 with green/pink build for 1mA max current and a 0 Ohm resistor, higher value like 1-5k can make the board significant dimmer)

5

How are these wired up?

6

Is LVP one stage or two?

What i mean by “one or two stages” is this: are these like your other aux boards where they have regular colors above x volts, red between X and Y voltage and then all off below Z volts? Or are they simple on if above X volts and off below that point?

7

see post 4

LVP means
with aux board directly connected to the battery voltage

- above 2.93V all LEDs on

  • below 2.93V all LEDs off

If the MCU is used add 0.35V from the reverse polarity protection diode

8

Incoming PM….for 2 please…thanks!

9

I have shown the full modding guide with flashing that should be easily be done if the right equipment is available

not quite right
if with or without LDO color mixing is always possible
each LED has an individual resistor, the LDO can be replaced with a 0603 resistor, the LVP chip bridged with pads below it

- version with LDO → High/low not possible

  • version with LVP → High/low not possible
    → flash #define INDICATOR_LED_SKIP_LOW setting as well

LDO → constant brightness and color mix over full battery voltage
LVP → shuts down when battery low (2.93V without MCU, 3.3V with MCU used)

I plan a version that allows LVP and high/low, but this means a 3. wire for the aux board
this will be then v2.0

10

If it’s controlled by MCU does it also have OFF? Also, with it wired this way can I also re-flash the firmware while aux board is connected?

If I want 1 or 2 color + MCU (low/high/off) it’s only 1 possible option right?

11

This is fantastic! I have questions, though. Forgive me if they seem elementary.

1:
If I wanted the same colors in the prototype (yellow, ice blue, and pink??), with matched brightness, and LVP, would I choose 1.7?

2:
Then, I can choose to either have the MCU control them or battery voltage. Since LVP doesn’t support high/low, is the difference:

- MCU: aux board turns off when main LEDs are on?

  • battery voltage: aux is always on?

3:
To use battery voltage control, it says to bridge MCPCB+ to the aux+. Do I just connect a very small wire from the MCPCB to the aux board? In that case, it seems nothing gets soldered to the driver and the driver doesn’t really need to be removed. Is that correct?

Edit: I just realized this would result in the aux board ONLY being on when the main emitters were on, so I guess the bridge needs to be from driver+ to aux+? Where on the driver should this bridge wire attach?

4:
If I wanted the aux LED brightness to be the same as a D4S with cyan aux on the low setting, how would I specify that?

Thanks so much!
Mike

12

MCU has always ON/OFF/Beacon
the simple solution is connected to battery voltage and always ON

Gen1.0 also supports LOW similar to Emisar aux board with one 0603 resistor to adjust brightness,
but in addition each LED has a balance resistor to mix colors

LVP or LDO are not compatible with LOW setting

I am not sure if the input cap of the LDO lets you flash the MCU when there is no LVP or if the LVP chip is there
but to flash the driver you have to disassemble it anyway so the question does not make practical sense

1. Prototype uses warm white not yellow, as its way more efficient
you can use v1.7 for LVP and constant brightness independent of battery voltage,
but also without the LDO the colors get matched pretty good by the balance resistors,
but a slight shift can be seen over the battery voltage,
most important is without LDO the LEDs get dimmer with drained cell voltage

2. Yes Aux board has to be flashed OFF when main LEDs are on, as it doesn’t support the aux ramping (only v1.0 works with low and ramp, but it makes no sense)
On battery aux LEDs are always on, not a big problem with low brightness, if you run them with 1mA or so it will be relative bright compared to moonlight

3. you always need to get ground to the board to run it, you can use + from the MCPCB,
but ground needs to be pulled from driver or the flashlight body
You can solder + to red MCPCB wire and ground to the plane I scraped off the paint next to the AMC, or solder directly on the AMC fin

13

Thanks for the reply, Lexel. I think I want high/low capability, which means Gen 1. I keep my batteries charged so not having LDO and LVP is ok.

With Gen 1, can I get low and high brightness similar to low and high on a cyan D4S?

I am able to flash Anduril, but I’m not set up for compiling. Would someone be able to post both the regular and 219B hex files with the changes already made for the aux board?

14

D4S uses a fairly high brightness, I would reach about the same with “2mA” setting

15

Actually, I’d be ok with the high being a little dimmer than the D4S high.

I’d like the low to be about the same as the D4S low, though. I use it on my nightstand facing the bed. Is that possible?

I realize I’ve been occupying your sales thread. We can move to PM if you like.

16

low is always based mainly on the internal pull up resistor in the MCU, nothing you can change there

selection guide added

I also compiled hex files for the FW3A, but they are untested yet
It’s not stock Anduril there are some changes
http://www.metronixlaser.de/bilder/flashlight/FW3A/Anduril_aux.zip

17

Payment sent for two v1.7 boards. Thank you Lexel!

18

Lexel, the link to the zipped hex file you mentioned previously says “File Not Found”.

19

updated
a few shippings today

20

Thank you Lexel! I’m excited to install them when they arrive.