ZebraLight AA, Nimh 550 Lumen Boost Driver?

ZebraLights SC5w Mkll can do 550 lumens from a xp-l2 using a AA, Nimh cell. According to TA's test here with the xp-l2 that should be about 1.25 amps to the led which should be slightly above double that on the input side of the driver. I have searched many times for a boost IC from a single AA, Nimh cell but I have never found anything that even gets close to the output of 1.25 amps. Does anyone know of a IC that can do this or maybe even seen the circuit of the driver? Any info would be helpful!

We discussed this topic a bit at the other forum when the mk II AA-powered lights were new. A member received an answer from Zebralight explaining that the boost circuit of the SC5 II uses 4 inductors to share the work of boosting the voltage and provide relatively high amperage.

I doubt any manufacturer other than Zebralight has put the electrical engineering effort into getting that much output from a single NiMH cell.

Bob_McBob also documented that the H53 and SC53 each only have a single inductor, consistent with Zebralight’s distinction between those drivers and that of the SC5, and with their lower maximum output.

I don’t think he’s modded an SC5 II so far.

Also, I don’t think anyone has so far measured output numbers quite in line with Zebralight’s claims, so it might not really be 550 lumens.

That pretty much answers my question, I was going to try to couple together a couple of PAM2803’s to see if it would actually work.
That’s how they are doing it, I just dont know the IC used or if there’s alot more going on I don’t know about.
I’ll test to see what coupling two together does excatly.
Anyone had a SC5 apart that might know the IC’s used or if they sanded the markings off?

There are a few ways to do this; here is one (not really cost optimized) example: https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/3425f.pdf.

That maybe the IC they use. Apparently they’re using 4 inductors and that IC rquires 4 inductors to run in 4 phase boost.
From the example layout of a pcb in the datasheet it looks like getting this down to a 17mm or smaller 2 sided board might be possible.
I looked and looked for something similar to this and you just pop in and lay it in my lap. :+1:
.
If you think you might consider another driver project, I vote for this one. :+1: :smiley:
It be awesome to have some of these small AA lights pushing 2 amps or more from a single Nimh cell with a driver swap.
I would be one of the first to build one.

My cousin just asked me two days ago about a single-AA-sized light. Might be worth looking into.

+1!

I finally got around to tying 2 PAM2803 boost drivers together to see what happens.


Something very strange happens. Instead of getting double the current at the led which one would expect you get 3 times the current.
At about 1.0v in with one board I get about 300ma to the led (xm-l) with both boards paralleled I get about 900ma to the led. At 1.2v in I get about 1100ma to the led with both boards.
A fully charged eneloop using a xp-l2 and two PAM2803 circuits paralleled should get around the 500 lumen mark.
I think getting 2 circuits on one 17mm board with one mode is very possible with maybe needing fewer components.
Making enough room for a mcu for modes might be a little challenging and I havent tested yet to see if 2 boards could be master slaved using only one mcu.
Interesting that the current triples instead of doubles, I haven’t a clue as to why. I’m no EE so I learn by trial and error (magic smoke), so now I know two PAM2803 boost circuits can be paralleled for more lumens from a single cell. :smiley:

The reasons you're likely seeing triple the current:

  • Two inductors doubles the magnetic field available to store energy when the FET switches are closed
  • Two inductors splits the power path, making it less likely that either inductor will saturate
  • You've tied the outputs together, doubling the capacitance
  • The PAM2803's are likely switching at very slightly different frequencies (due to manufacturing tolerances) decreasing the off-time when the LED is fed solely from the output caps
  • You've tied the outputs together, putting the sense resistors in parallel and halving their resistance (1/x), which decreased the feedback voltage at the switch IC and increases output.

I don’t know what any of this means but am looking forward to the day an efficient/regulated, high power AA boost driver is (finally) available with customisable modes. Very good and carry on :beer: