Thanks, unfortunately I do not own a clamp meter.
To make things worse, I am using this DMM:
The leads are the thinnest strings of wire I have ever seen. I want my 0 $US back! 
Will try to find two thick copper strips this weekend and measure again, and this time with a better/charged battery (30Q or 25R).
With a nichia triple it could be over 10A so maybe you can kill the fuse in that 
Ok, that makes sense. With that meter you will see readings much much lower then it actually has due to the extra resistance.
In regards to the 15mm boards, is there a special version of bistro with internal voltage monitoring enabled for use on clicky lights? Can the t25 even support lvp based on the internal reference?
The T25 can do this but I am not sure if Bistro can be setup like this. Seems like I have seen a light use this but do not recall an option in the firmware for it. I could be wrong though, it has been a year or more since I last messed with bistro. I just could not take the OTC issues. Sad since I have several clicky lights I want to work on but no firmware for them.
+1 with TA, unfortunately. I'm certain the 25 can do LVP on the internal ref though.
Ohh, TA: do you know about the FT03 thread by freeme here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/54922?
Might want to check in there - maybe you can answer some of the Q's - lot of mystery, typical though with these Astrolux's.
I have not been getting emails about the MT03, although not a lot I can say about it, I only did the driver for it and it is the same setup as basically all my other Narsil drivers recently.
The charging circuit and the rest of the design I was not involved in, banggood is not good about keeping me updated / in the loop. I never even got a sample.
Oh, ok. They got 300+ on pre-order and sounds like a nice size thrower - bigger than a GT mini, can take a 26650 or 21700, so it fits in a nice niche.
For that price of under $30, they'll be selling a ton sight unseen, specs uncertain... 
I am having an issue with the 17mm TA drivers. I put them into a Convoy S2+ and a C8+ but they just won’t perform. I recharged a VTC6 battery and with a Luxeon V it barely gives an estimated 500 Lumen. 
I checked the components twice and even reflowed them again with hot air but the problem remains in both lights. Can anyone tell me what could be wrong there?
What battery are you using? springs bypassed?
Is the fet working?
Yep. Seems like you are staying in the 7135 modes rather than switching to FET mode.
bingo:
you are in a mode group what only has hidden turbo reverse from lowest mode. Try long press from lowest mode or switch another group where turbo is in the mode cycle.
Do you think using the MTNelectronics Bistro or Crescendo is a problem? Maybe I should reflash with the TA Bistro.
I didn’t mention this when I recently finished my driver - I don’t know which code or how it is decided how the driver “starts” after flashing the MCU - but I also didn’t have turbo /FET when I used the light for the very first time. Needed to figure out how to change mode groups.
edit:
I flashed “bistro-texas-avenger.hex” on a clicky driver.
Go into programming modes and select another group or go reverse from minimum.
Default mode group is 12 with hidden turbo, so 500 lumens is OK
I have got the Mtn Bistro on the S2+ and Crescendo on the C8+. Bistro shows a very strange behavior. The lowest mode is with the LED completely off, then there are two different mid bright modes and all the high modes have got the same brightness. With Crescendo the light ramps very slow and the peak brightness is about the same on both flashlights. I soldered both drivers together so there must be a mistake on both drivers.
Lowest mode off comes from too slow AMCs
If high levels are the same the FET wont work maybe R3 and 4 mixed?
R3 100k
Maybe flashed 3 channel on 2 channel driver
You’re talking about a MtnE Fet+1 driver or the MtnE version of bistro [code]?
MtnE’s driver is a 2 channel FET+1, if you’re using a MtnE driver it’s correct for it but since this is the TA thread I assume you’re talking about a TA based 3 channel driver in which case you have to run TA 3 channel firmware…
On your no light on the first mode issue, TA has different precompiled .hex’s for different minimum PWM levels, start at 1 and move up from there if you still have the problem.
R3 and R4 seem to be correct (but thank you, I have done this on another driver). So I will try to use the TA Bistro. Yes, I use TA drivers from Oshpark. I thought if I don’t use the 7135 bank it would work with 2 channel firmware. Thank you all for your help, I will tell you about the results later.