7x XM-L T6 Flashlight!

[LumensBandit]

looking for modding/driver installation tips, additional mod tips and cooling tips

G'day from Australia,


I have the Keygos '8500 Lumens' (cough) torch which has been handy for hiking at night but I'm selling it at full price and upgrading. I'm currently engaged in a lumens arms race.


I've got a UniqueFire UF-S7 Cree XM-L U2 7-LED 5-Mode Flashlight coming in the mail soon:
Manafont.com | $78 UniqueFire UF-S7 Cree XM-L U2 7-LED 5-Mode Flashlight - Black Aluminum Alloy Finish (2/3*18650)

I plan to mod it with the 7 LED Series 3-Mode Low Voltage Protection for Two li-ion Battery Circuit Board which I have alreay received:
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020166

I've got some 26650 batteries coming soon:
Manafont.com | $13.33 TrustFire - Protected TF 26650 3.7V 5000mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery (1pc/set)
Manafont.com | $12.47 MarsFire - Protected 26650 3.7V 5000mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery (1pc/set)

So i'm looking for modding/driver installation tips, additional mod tips and cooling tips.

My regular weekly hike/run is 2 hours duration so I'm hoping that using a lower setting on the final modded torch will give me 2 hours lifespan and then I can use the brighter setting to blaze people, show off and generally be a twat. :yh:


Any tips greatly appreciated, I'm keen to set up additional heatsinking and liquid/paste thermal transfer.

My neighbour is an eccentric electronic engineer and one of my good mates is an electronic engineer also so don't hold back on suggestions.

Also, what's the easiest way to disassemble the Keygos?

 

[AutoItKing]

Re: looking for modding/driver installation tips, additional mod tips and cooling tip

G'day from Australia,


I have the Keygos '8500 Lumens' (cough) torch which has been handy for hiking at night but I'm selling it at full price and upgrading. I'm currently engaged in a lumens arms race.


I've got a UniqueFire UF-S7 Cree XM-L U2 7-LED 5-Mode Flashlight coming in the mail soon:
Manafont.com | $78 UniqueFire UF-S7 Cree XM-L U2 7-LED 5-Mode Flashlight - Black Aluminum Alloy Finish (2/3*18650)

I plan to mod it with the 7 LED Series 3-Mode Low Voltage Protection for Two li-ion Battery Circuit Board which I have alreay received:
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020166

I've got some 26650 batteries coming soon:
Manafont.com | $13.33 TrustFire - Protected TF 26650 3.7V 5000mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery (1pc/set)
Manafont.com | $12.47 MarsFire - Protected 26650 3.7V 5000mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery (1pc/set)

So i'm looking for modding/driver installation tips, additional mod tips and cooling tips.

My regular weekly hike/run is 2 hours duration so I'm hoping that using a lower setting on the final modded torch will give me 2 hours lifespan and then I can use the brighter setting to blaze people, show off and generally be a twat. :yh:


Any tips greatly appreciated, I'm keen to set up additional heatsinking and liquid/paste thermal transfer.

My neighbour is an eccentric electronic engineer and one of my good mates is an electronic engineer also so don't hold back on suggestions.

Also, what's the easiest way to disassemble the Keygos?

Oh snap, lots of questions...

The whole flashlight screws apart. Everything is held in with threads. It's so easy to take apart!

I replaced the inductor with a smaller sized one (same uH). It gets kinda hot though. (3A through 22gauge wire)

As for cooling the driver... there's no room in the flashlight. I'm actually working on a boost circuit for this flashlight. The components only take up 3cm square.

 

[AutoItKing]

Okay, some more info about the driver I'm designing.

I'm going for a very minimalist design here. I'm trying to get it as small as possible and TI has a very nice chip that does the job quite well.

I'll be using the TPS40210 chip. It has overcurrent, over voltage, and other neat features. Even a soft start and automatic retry!
http://vinylftw.com/flashlight/tps40211.pdf

And here's the design TI's web bench gave me:
http://vinylftw.com/flashlight/design.pdf

I'm still working on the layout since three of the parts are not in Eagle's library so I have to make my own devices. Fun fun fun... not.

 

[LumensBandit]

Thanks AutoItKing, quite technical but definitely going to show this info to my engineer mate.

I got the Uniquefire flashlight today and unfortunately it is just noticably less bright than the Keygos. But that could be different drivers coming into play.

It's got more appropriately sized o-rings so it should be more waterproof which suits my needs.

I've already got the driver so it's time for me to get cracking on the olde drawing board.

 

[AutoItKing]

Little update:

I've started routing my board. It's not going to be easy because of the limited space. But I think I can manage it. Thank goodness my manufacturer can go really small.

 

[tsteele93]

Good stuff here. How did you get the web bench report like that? Just go on the site for the chip and plug in numbers?

P.S. here's a great tutorial by benmwv on how to add parts to eagle!

HOW TO MAKE PARTS IN EAGLE

 

[AutoItKing]

Top:

Bottom:

Just waiting for OSH Park to send off the board.

The board is 1" across. About the size of a quarter.
These chips are TINY! Like... friggin miniscule! Soldering this one is gonna suck...

 

[barbel1976]

tell you the truth after reading everything posted i'd love to see a beam shot ,,
is that too much too ask

 

[flare09]

Yes I would too for the beamshot...im working on putting something like this as a search light on my truck. Joystick in cab and servos to move it. But im starting from scratch...I have the raw t6 diodes. Not mounted to a star, just an aluminum board about 1cm big. And mypower supply is a 12v car battery :eg:

 

[AutoItKing]

Beam shot? The flashlight has no driver at the moment, so it's physically impossible unless I use my lab power supply... I'll see what I can do

 

[AutoItKing]

Got my driver boards and all the parts to build them today.

Soldering those tiny 0805 resistors is not easy!

 

[AutoItKing]

Driver doesn't work.

I, being an idiot, ordered the wrong feedback resistor (1.6ohm versus 1.6kOhm) and accidentally connected said resistor across V+. So it instantly fried my resistor and the trace. Whoops.

 

[tsteele93]

You may want to invest in a heat gun, they make it much easier.

 

[AutoItKing]

You may want to invest in a heat gun, they make it much easier.

After the first one, I borrowed my room mates "reflow oven" (electric skillet). The second one turned out a lot nicer than the first, but it still didn't work, even after I fixed the rouge trace.

Blargh

 

[tsteele93]

Don't feel bad, I've been having similar problems with a driver I've been working on with a ridiculous IC that I kill over and over and over again. It just takes lots of practice. I hope...

 

[AutoItKing]

I did just get a rework station that should make soldering these boards much easier.
This is only the first revision of the board, hopefully I can figure out what's wrong.