Lava Micro FlexDrive Driver (lavadrive2) fits pens

[drlava]

Hi Jimmy the FlexDrive V2 is a toally different animal from the V4 available now. it sounds like something is damaged to make it jump like that. pm sent.

 

[stevodotorg]

Should I just order up a new Flexdrive then? I hate to spend the money if I don't need to, but at least I know then.

Thanks

 

[drlava]

nope, I have sent you a PM concerning repair/replacement.

 

[brtaman]

Ok, I desoldered the pot and replaced it with a 100-ohm resistor, and now it goes to 181mA as usual, but then it jumps up to 1.3Amps again! This is really making me mad.

Jimmy, as weird as this may seem the exact same thing started happening with the Flexdrive that you were kind enough to sell me, while we were waiting for the v3.

I don't know exactly what happened. I was measuring current through the 0.1ohm resistor upon which my cat jumped onto the table and attacked my DMM leads... Long story short, the driver shorted, and all it was outputting was way above 1 amp, could have been 1.3 (I think it was exactly 1.3).

I assumed the driver was dead. However, a week or so later, I unsoldered everything, cleaned all the contacts and magically it worked. After extensive testing I deemed it to be fit for service.

I am not sure if it was a short that cause or whether some alu-dust from my table (yeah not exactly a lab environement :yh, shorted something on the flexdrive.

While I have no idea how my flex came back from the dead, I would suggest that you check all contacts on the flex, desolder everything, hook it up to dummy load and see what happens. But really check the entire PCB, with a microscope or some sort of magnification optics, could be very simple or it could be a wrecked driver. It is worth a shot though based on my xp with the driver you sent me. (still works great though, thanks!)

 

[millirad]

Thanks Andrew, received my flexdrive today! Thanks Spyder for the info I needed. Can someone direct me to the link for increasing current flow on the flexdrive?

 

[drlava]

The updated manual is here

 

[millirad]

Thanks man, I will do the tweak.

 

[RA_pierce]

I received my drivers yesterday. Man these things are tiny!
I got both running. One driving an LOC at around 400mA pushing 260mW after Aixiz glass.

I almost scraped off the tiny output capacitor... I had to remove it and re-solder it back in place... all is well, though- and the driver works! Once I give the body a paint job this build will be complete!

Awesome work, Dr. Lava!

 

[Elektrotechniker]

I just wanted to say I got my driver today Thanks Andrew, shipping was also really fast
This thing is really small! I 'll wait for my other components to arrive so I can complete my build!

 

[Jimmymcjimthejim]

Jimmy, as weird as this may seem the exact same thing started happening with the Flexdrive that you were kind enough to sell me, while we were waiting for the v3.

I don't know exactly what happened. I was measuring current through the 0.1ohm resistor upon which my cat jumped onto the table and attacked my DMM leads... Long story short, the driver shorted, and all it was outputting was way above 1 amp, could have been 1.3 (I think it was exactly 1.3).

I assumed the driver was dead. However, a week or so later, I unsoldered everything, cleaned all the contacts and magically it worked. After extensive testing I deemed it to be fit for service.

I am not sure if it was a short that cause or whether some alu-dust from my table (yeah not exactly a lab environement :yh, shorted something on the flexdrive.

While I have no idea how my flex came back from the dead, I would suggest that you check all contacts on the flex, desolder everything, hook it up to dummy load and see what happens. But really check the entire PCB, with a microscope or some sort of magnification optics, could be very simple or it could be a wrecked driver. It is worth a shot though based on my xp with the driver you sent me. (still works great though, thanks!)

:wtf:
That is really weird!
Maybe it was a bad batch of flexdrives or something.. Anyways I already sent it to drlava to get it repaired, I'd rather not make it any worse (I'm not too good at SMD soldering.)

 

[drlava]

Hi, every flexdrive is tested before being shipped, so there is no 'bad batch'.
What can happen is static damage, or a bead of loose solder or strand of cut wire that is very small can short part of the circuit if you're not careful. For a cat, getting on the wires, I would suspect static. Sometimes after heating, a nanoperforation due to static discharge can 'heal'. So for this case I would suspect one of these issues

 

[stevodotorg]

I received my drivers yesterday. Man these things are tiny!
I got both running. One driving an LOC at around 400mA pushing 260mW after Aixiz glass.

I almost scraped off the tiny output capacitor... I had to remove it and re-solder it back in place... all is well, though- and the driver works! Once I give the body a paint job this build will be complete!

Awesome work, Dr. Lava!

This accidentally happened to me on one of the three pointers I was building, no luck on soldering it back on though..


DrLava, just sent you a PM about this, no worries though, I might end up just ordering another one, either way, I'm sending that driver back out Monday, thanks again for the awesome support!

Stevo

 

[Jimmymcjimthejim]

Hi, every flexdrive is tested before being shipped, so there is no 'bad batch'.
What can happen is static damage, or a bead of loose solder or strand of cut wire that is very small can short part of the circuit if you're not careful. For a cat, getting on the wires, I would suspect static. Sometimes after heating, a nanoperforation due to static discharge can 'heal'. So for this case I would suspect one of these issues

Thanks for the explanation. It's good to know that every flexdrive is tested :yh:

 

[Deleted member 8382]

you aren't shipping out of USA?

 

[Gata]

Alright, so I was desoldering some leads I had coming from my diode to the driver, and on the driver there is that little component between the thru holes. (it is the one in the picture below except for on the opposite side). Anyway I accidentally desoldered it along with my leads. Theres no way I could put it back on. So am I totally screwed or is there anything I can do to salvage the driver. Thanks man.

 

[drlava]

Yes, I ship internationally hallu.

the resistor on the bottom of the driver between the output pins is not necessary if you are running blu-ray, so use the driver for that (if you aren't already) if you can't solder it back on.