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Cāest si bon
Wow, freemanā¦wow! Excellent work!
Super nice. This looks like the bleeding edge of flashlight tech.
Thatās one thing I really disliked about the Lume1 driver. I found with my Lume1 FW3A I could only stay at turbo for 2 seconds. Then there would be a giant step down in output as the thermal regulation stepped down causing the FET to turn off.
With that sort of behavior why bother even including a FET on the driver board? It just feels like false advertising when you find the 2800 lumen light you thought you bought can only do that for 2 seconds then steps down to 1000 lumens.
Since I prefer pocket rockets, I found I much preferred the stock FW3A driver as it actually had a usable turbo. If I have to choose between having turbo versus having greater efficiency at lower outputs, I would take the turbo.
The other thing I didnāt like about the Lume1 was its lack of reverse polarity protection which led to me accidentally frying the driver. Oops!
Wait, the Lume1 doesnāt have reverse polarity protection? Oh boy I didnāt even notice.
The original Lume1 driver has no reverse polarity protection. Stick an 18650 in the wrong way for even half a second and the driverās toast.
However, I believe there is an updated version, the Lume X1 (or something like that), which does have reverse polarity protection.
Aside from the thermal regulation tweak mentionned, dynamic PWM should now allow to PWM the FET silently and get intermediate levels between 100% FET and regulated DC/DC.
The problem is at what PWM level do we switch from FET to DC/DC ? FET being unregulated whe donāt know what PWM level corresponds to e.g. the 3A of the BB converter of the Lume1 FW3A. I donāt known if there is a good solution for that.
Simple soliution : timed stepdown. Example in Toykeepers FSM language from my UI :
// 2 clicks: go to/from highest level
else if (event == EV_2clicks) {
if ((actual_level > 1) && (actual_level < 130)) {
memorized_level = actual_level;
set_level(130);}
else{
set_level(memorized_level);}
return EVENT_HANDLED; }
// Timed stepdown 1min
else if (actual_level >= 130) {
if (arg > TICKS_PER_SECOND*57){
set_level(memorized_level);}
return EVENT_HANDLED;
}
I appreciate the suggestion Quad, but Iād really prefer to keep the PID regulation, I really donāt like timed steps down.
Iām not a code guru, but isnāt it possible to modify the code in a way that mcu temp and flashlight body temp donāt even try to be the same? Of course you would need to measure hosts temperature when driver starts to step down. Then you know the temperature difference between host and the setpoint of the driver and could ad relation of those two numbers as a multiplier to the code? Just donāt ask me how that is done. 
Do you really want do potting like original driver? 
I know, timed stepdown sounds less āadvancedā, but in real life use i see only pros.
Yes Iāll probably pot it, but I need to find a suitable potting compound, I have this , but being one part I doubt it will cure under the PCB (needs atmospheric humidity to cure). I guess I need a two part silicone (suitable for electronics), but they all seem to be very expensive.
Termopasty seems like Polish company with all kinds chemical products.
Thanks for the link, I found it at TME , shipping will probably be lower.
How soft is it once cured ? Hopefully pretty soft so that it can be removed easily.
Edit : they have different shore hardness from 26 to 67, looking at some videos 26 looks pretty soft.
If I remember correctly it feels like sealing compound meant for bathrooms. Maybe bit harder.
Thanks!
I did a quick throw measurement :
- SC64c LE : 3875 cd, 124m
- SC64w HI : 8302 cd, 182m
- SC64AE DD sm453 : 9155 cd, 191m
It did look pretty throwy but I didnāt think it would out throw the HI. I measured the drive current at 1.064A in the HI , considering itās a 12V emitter, itās equivalent to the 4.25A used in the SC64AE.
Hi, is thefreeman going to offer mods to this SC64AE to the public?
1 Thank
Wow!
Really awesome 
Terrific mod. This is beyond my imagination.