AtMa-BoostDriver

Flaminpyro said:

Because they are so small how about calling them the "ANT" driver.

Ant's are tiny but powerful and this sounds like a lot of power in a small package :thinking:

Not to mention they were invented by ANThony

Later...

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LuxorLasers747 said:

What´s the diference bettween this one and the ben boost? This one can buck?

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Dave934 said:

:gun: I got the perfect name "WILDFIRE":drool:

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rhd said:

Hey,

What inductor did you choose that was able to fit the 6.5mm footprint?

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AnthoT said:

This one is smaller and one thing the Ben boost has over this one is it can supply more current. This one is up to 1000mA.

-Anthony

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LuxorLasers747 said:

Yeah its a bit smaller but has roughly the same output as the other one.
You said it can power 635 and 650 from one li-on cell.. for that it has to buck right?

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rhd said:

Ok, I'm going to jump in here, for everyone's benefit. I didn't really want to toss my hand in, because this is your own thing, and I don't want any confusion between this, and the OPEN Boost. I don't want people to think they are related, or that this is any type of fork or derivative of that project. Again, 100% cool with you using the same IC, but I want to make sure everyone understands that they are unrelated drivers.

BUT, I am going to jump in here, because I think it's really dangerous to be be presenting this driver, as a working driver, with so much that hasn't been fleshed out in testing - and frankly, so much that is wrong/incorrect. For your benefit, and for the benefit of everyone else (particularly those who already are expressing interest in purchasing these), I want to point out some major issues that lead me to believe that you REALLY need to work on the driver itself, and have final products IN-HAND, before doing things like talking price (it's in the thread's title), talking about shipping options, awarding free units, etc.

So again, please don't confuse this with any active involvement in the project - I just want to point out some problems:

1) That inductor is not going to deliver 1A of output current. Crunch the math on it. It's just plainly NOT going to be able to deliver 1A of boosted output current with a saturation current of 1.3A.

2) Your inductor has a massive resistance. You've talked about efficiency, but you're using an inductor with tons of resistance. It's likely going to get very hot.

3) "Nope this boosts only and it'll work fine with those." (speaking about 635s and 650s being run from one Li-Ion cell). How on EARTH does a boost-only driver turn ~4.2V of input into ~2.5V of output? This plainly WILL NOT work the way you've intended it to with 635s and 650s. This is a glaring error, that raises a lot of concern for me as to how reasonable it is to assume that you'll get this right on your first try. No disrespect intended, but the Vf of those diodes is very well documented, as is the voltage of a lithium ion cell. This isn't a "resistor change" issue, it's a fundamental principal of boost vs buck.

My purpose here is not to discourage you from developing and testing this driver. Rather, my purpose here is to encourage you to develop and test this driver, as opposed to presenting it as something that is ready for primetime. And again, I say this largely with your best interests in mind. This is a dangerous/backwards approach to announcing a driver. Don't feel bad - this happens a lot with drivers. There are 5 or 6 similar threads with "announced boost drivers", that months later, are still nowhere to be found. Count on needing 5x as much testing as you think you'll need. Be careful not to put the cart before the horse. Your first step should be to get the driver working to the stage that you can demonstrate an operational prototype.

I hope no offense is taken to the above ^, none of that was said with any malice or ill-intentions. I'm REALLY impressed by initiatives that seek to bring new drivers (ESPECIALLY non-linear drivers) to the forum. So you have my absolute props for that. I'm only trying to suggest that you focus your approach in a way that will more likely lead to positive outcomes (both with the driver, and with the forum's reaction to/impression of the project).

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LuxorLasers747 said:

"Nearly finished", that´s more like it

Dont worry, you will get it done. I´m a ZERO on drivers but you have my support!

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AnthoT said:

I understand electronics pretty well and I've built boost stuff before but I'm completely new to boost drivers for lasers. I'm putting quite some effort into this and It may be a bit before I he a working unit.

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rhd said:

I hear you, and that's awesome!

I also really like your approach of targeting lower powered build scenarios. There are some diodes that really call for this - like the single mode blues, and the single mode greens (once those arrive). In the case of the latter, at least right now, you need 8V+, but only ~200mA of current. That requires boosting if you're running from a single cell. But even at that, it shouldn't require a terribly high amount of input current to the driver (even considering that the voltage needs to be nearly doubled). A CR2 could easily provide the current/voltage to make that run - so it's worthwhile to have some small boost drivers available for tiny builds with relatively small cells.

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