A shame about the, uh, basically entire tail-end of that one. Makes a full mod impossible without losing stuff. Thinking of swapping the pack’s cells?
It is a bit of a shame, but the YD5050 in there worked out well. Was thinking of cell swapping - probably could do 25S's and bump the amps. VTC5D's are the best but hard to find, and if you find them, pricey.
Wouldn’t a 2 celled light (7.2 - 8.4 V) with an appropriate 3 V nominal (3.0 - 4.2) buck driver better suit this LED?
And who would have such in the 6 to 8 Amp capacity?
2S and buck is always ideal from an electrical perspective.
Sofirn has one in their 2*21700 boost hx model. (Cant recall the model#)
What is keeping convoy’s 8A buck driver from working with 2s input?
Not sure. I could check if it can actually handle it but dont feel like burning a 10 dollar bill
6V Vin max for the buck IC used in the Convoy 8A driver unfortunately.
The other day I traced this that could potentially work for high Vf LEDs with single cell input :
Initially I made it for high power LEP. It’s a boost converter with fixed output and a linear driver after that.
The output of the converter is set slightly above the max Vf of the laser/LED, then the linear regulator provides constant current regulation and dimming.
When Vin> BSTVout , the converter is in passthrough mode (not boosting, it’s just a wire with a bit of resistance)
When Vin< BSTVout , the converter boosts the Voltage to BSTVout.
Hence there is always a Voltage high enough to get the desired current.
Simpler than buck-boost, especially at this power level (10A/4Vout for the full input range), but less efficient. For a light that is mostly used at max output it shouldn’t be terrible though.
But I still haven’t tested it (too much other stuff going on).
Convoy L7 has a very high power buck driver. Needs it for the SBT90.2 
Indeed, and it looks to has synchronous rectification, so it should have good efficiency.
I would like to try a few of these but which one do I order?
I want the one with less green which I think is the gold one.
Is the gold one natural or cold?
Nice! Looks like it would work for not only this LED, but the Boost HX, SST-40, SFT-40, etc....
As long as the max output amps can be tweaked by something hardwired like a resistor, it would perfect for many of these 5-9 amp LED's out there now. I'm assuming this is similar to one of Hank's drivers, like the one he uses in the K1 for the W1 or W2's.
Max current would be tweaked in firmware, simpler.
The only hardware tweak would be the changing R3 to set the output of the boost converter depending on the Vf of the LED, it needs to be just high enough to compensate for voltage drop in led wires, sense resistor, linear FET, If set too high then power will be wasted. So for this LED it could be set at 4V, for an SFT-40 at 3.7V, etc… boost HX have a fairly low Vf so a simple linear driver stays in regulation for longer.
Yes the constant current driver part is a classic linear FET driver.
I would probably pay $50 for an anduril version. Like at this point I’m not even joking.
The L6/L7 driver would have been fine for this LED. Alas, I’d have to find an appropriate host for 30mm and e-switch. Thought I could have found something for the MantaRay C8.2 w/ extension tube – rear clicky. Ordered for an SFT70 but that project died.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed and maybe see the light with a Freeman driver. I’m patient…
Mine was the ‘gold’ one. I can’t say if it’s cold white as I don’t have the other model.
However, TUIG101 has a link to some comparative beam shot. My previous post (#60 – link) I have some green, but it’s taken with a phone camera and auto-balance. I did tweak the picture to get it more at my eyes rendering.
Edit (2022.02.01):
Just so received my 2nd “batch” of YinDings 5050 - 2mm Φ LEDs (was supposed to be 4 but only got 2). Mounted in a MantaRay C8.2 and tested with Opple Lightmeter – 6100ºK. So it’s as TUIG101 had described; cool white and no green. Mind you I’m testing at mid output ~1200 lumens.
I’ve stumbled upon this driver:
(Link in pic)
Could it be modded for a higher current?
Thinking of the higher Vf of this Led a 2S setup would sustain the higher output.
It seems that some changes were made on the ‘cold white’, that is actually the 5000K natural white, aka egg yolk. The tint now is actually very nice, no green at all above 3A, only slightly green at lower currents, and they changed the bond wires position, so now there’s two long and two short bond wires, while in the older sample i get all four bond wires are like the long on the new sample.
All images were captured in RAW and edited with the same saturation and tint values, beamshots were shot at ISO100, 1/2500.
New sample:
Old sample:
Well I’m thoroughly confused about which to order to get the expected version. I recently recieved two of each. The “gold” is cooler and not green. The other one is hideous (but maybe they’ve changed that now per the post above).
I was able to get the gold one to focus very nicely in an S2+ with smooth reflector, as in a clearly defined hotspot albeit with some rings. I didn’t have luck with a 5 degree TIR. Focusing requires you sand the base of the TIR since the LED is too large for the TIR opening to encase it. Getting it to sit perfectly glad on the LED’s glass lens was difficult and I eventually sanded too far. This S2+ has a fet from mtn and is quite the pocket thrower.
I put one in a C8 and it’s a work in progress. The gasket needs thinning but I’m worried about shorting out on the inside of the reflector if I go much thinner. I’ll reposition the driver wires out further and coat the back of the reflector in liquid electrical tape for insurance. It’s a bit out of focus now but still has impressive throw.
I’m happy with these gold ones. I don’t have any W2 for comparison but I imagine they are pretty similar in practice.
I have the new version of the Amutorch XT45 in for review for 1lumen, which I’m 99% sure uses this LED.
Full review coming in a few days.
