SolarStorm L3 Driver Issues - Now a Mod....

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Short Story:

-light stopped working except flash on voltage indicators when seating body to head
-took it apart
-originally wired in series
-voltage of leads measured ~8.4V on high, ~6.5V on ?25%
wired 2p3s xml emitters and 1 mtg2 in parallel with those works

Any ideas what parts aren’t working (ie no longer boosting voltage)?

I actually wanted to add an mtg2 to this light, to make it floodier

so maybe I shouldn’t care….now that I have it apart I can put back together w/ xml2 3c and mtg2 all on sinkpads and noctigon…but I feel like I should ‘fix’ it

here are the pics of the driver

2

bump

a friend noticed the top right component in first pic has some sort of hole/gouge? in it

anyway, if no one has any ideas, I’ll probably reassemble as 2s3p + mtg2

3

Can you get a closeup shot of the component with the hole/gouge? Does it smell at all burnt?

4

doesn’t smell or look burnt

I’ll get a photo

5

6

That does look a bit suspicious. I’ve seen power transistors and FETs that have gotten seriously overloaded blow a chunk out of the epoxy, and it does seem like we’re seeing the actual die of the component showing there. One way to know for sure is to find the specs on that part and then meter it out to determine if it is blown.

looks like that’s a 40N06 MOSFET *

7

I don’t have a scope, just a multimeter, and don’t know how to test a FET :frowning:

8

Should be possible to test with a multimeter, but without knowing the specifics of that MOSFET I generally like to find another known good one to compare against. Actually looks like there is another of the same on the main board, so you could use that as a comparison. Basically just check resistance between the 3 pins in both forward and reverse polarities and look for shorted or values close to infinite resistance.

http://www.utm.edu/staff/leeb/mostest.htm

9

cool, i’ll try that, thanks

10

OK

original driver is totally dead.

so…I’m ‘driving’ on

right now i have 6 xml2s wired 2s3p. I modified the center reflector and put one mtg2 in the middle. all emitters are on copper pcbs.

this config works direct drive off 2s 1850 - about 2.5A with purposefully thin leads.

Current plan:
DrJones firmware + zener mod to nanjg driving the mtg2 from the small switch
DrJones firmware + zener mod with master/slave boards to drive 2s3p xml2 from the large switch

i have no idea if 2s xml2 will work with zener mod, but if no one tells me it won’t, we’ll find out

haven’t decide on firmware.

Modes I’ll use in order of importance

- 4 to 6 hour run time with all emitters on (searching forest for good camp fire wood)

- mtg2 alone at about 200 lumen with a white bottle on the head (lantern)

- full power mode (WOW, and stun undesireables)

  • full power beacon mode (we’re over here)

QUESTION: What to do with the 4 smds that were formerly battery level indicators (right above the switches)?