New Linear driver! ST-DRIVE

[kiyoukan]

yes i connected mine after the reverse protection diode and 100ohm resistor, then right after that there is a cap.
And jesus that board is small the round one.
He chose a different package but still very very nice.
He added enough holes with copper to help move the heat but i think at 1.5A you will still have a problem as even the 2A at 1.5a gets warm kinda hot.
Looks like you guys took off some parts.
so what did you have to leave off?

 

[rhd]

Yep, we definitely anticipated problems at 1.5A with heatsinking. That particular design would be for single-cell red driving.

I left off a reverse polarity diode, but I think that's all we cut. Two resistors, two caps, and the IC.

 

[kiyoukan]

look nice but the market like you say would only be for red so might want to make bigger.
You have been putting that on a scope and watching the driver outputs to make sure every thing is nice?

 

[532 with Envy]

Okay to all those who are waiting on items from me some have been shipped friday the rest are going out tuesday.
These items will go out to every one even if you were issued a refund.
You placed your order and i feel obligated to make sure you get them even if its at a cost to my self simply because thats the way it should work.

I cant go into 100% large detail due to the involvement of a minor.
But there was a good reason i decided to stay of LPF till i had everything taken care of.
A friend died in a car crash as for some unknown reason he was sleeping on the highway pulled off to the side of the road and was hit by a car going well over 100mph.
It was found he had foreign chemicals in his blood of unknown origin.
My home was his last location, so my life and home got put under a microscope.
So a investigation went under way about his death then a second into my life and then it went deep into my hobby life. As my hobby's have me with a lot of acids and other chemicals and high voltage and many class 4 lasers.
Once they found the chemicals came from his apartment they decided i was no longer a suspect but i was still getting interviewed about my "Dangerous hobbies" My lawyer told me to not do much of anything till all this was settled so no one else get any problems or has to deal with any fallout.
It took some time for everything to settle and in that time i did post on PL simply because i had no active transactions or risks of putting anyone there in danger.
As i would hate to have brought any customers any problems besides the one i knew what about to happen.

So again Im sry and am going to make sure these get to you as i got alot of pm and emails to go threw.

(some may not know but the emails tied to PL and LPF are different so the one tied to LPF i have not checked, till today.)
I had the luck of talking to some of you on PL and threw the irc
But now i can talk here without any problems.
Kinda a bit of irony i was helping drlava with servicing his customers and answering there questions and was unable to do the same for mine.
Hope you guys can forgive me, but let the packages speak louder than words.
Let me know if the packages have not reached you by friday if you are USA based if you were international it may take longer.

I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for the troubles you ran into and understand now the reasons for you extended departure.

Thanks for coming back to LPF. I filed a claim at one point but closed it right away, so i'll still take the drivers when you get them together and shipping again.

Again my apologies for not being as patient as I usually am.:beer:

 

[rhd]

look nice but the market like you say would only be for red so might want to make bigger.
You have been putting that on a scope and watching the driver outputs to make sure every thing is nice?

There are larger PCBs (made with PowerSO8) that I'll use for blues.

Not yet - I'm still waiting on the final PCB. I did grab a scope though. Not a good one, but at least something (one of those DSO Nano V2s). I'm yet to spend the time figuring out how to use it, it just arrived.

 

[kiyoukan]

that should work just fine
i have a big old tube scope.
you plan on building stcs2a drivers?
Selling or just for personal use?
As the new version is on its way i decided to no longer use hole for wire soldering but pads now after talking with a few people.

 

[rhd]

that should work just fine
i have a big old tube scope.
you plan on building stcs2a drivers?
Selling or just for personal use?
As the new version is on its way i decided to no longer use hole for wire soldering but pads now after talking with a few people.

With the STCS1 I'm probably just going to donate the design to the forum. It drives me crazy that Lava is charging people so much for Flex's that they use on a 635 that can be so adequately driven by a linear - especially considering his absolutely garbage customer service (as per the numerous threads on this forum to that effect - not personal knowledge)

At any rate, I don't really want to sell any myself. But if a seller, committed to keeping the price low, wanted a whole big order of them, I'd whip together a large lot at not much above the part cost.

I have an STCS2 design, but I'll just use that one myself. It's a pretty pointless IC though for our purposes. The added current is ONLY going to be required for 445s, because the STCS1 can already out-current REDs/BluRays. So, you then ask, why use an STCS2 for a 445? Absolutely no benefit above and beyond a 1085. The dropout is lower, but that's irrelevant since the 1085 DDL total circuit dropout is already lower than the margin between the lowest safe discharge of 2x lithium ions and the Vf of a 445. In other words, the ICs will both be dropping the same voltage in practice. The only benefit of an STCS2 would be the PWM stuff - but since I don't need that, it's irrelevant. An STCS2 costs ~$3, whereas an LM1085 costs $0.50 cents.

 

[kiyoukan]

Well also that the stcs2a still has the slope on power up.
So when you turn on the laser it wont get any spike but a nice smooth controlled curve.
And yes the price is more for most people but free for me so its kinda nice, but it would be hard for others but i just love it.

 

[rhd]

ICs free? Why? Sample qtys?

 

[kiyoukan]

yup free.
i have been thinking about using my 100 stcs1a ship and make a board run for them.
for everything below a 445nm there great. but anything that is case negative wont work but other than that they are great.

 

[sassafrass686]

I received my drivers yesterday! I was one of the few who got the refund, so I'll be sending the payment your way again when my paycheck clears this week Kiyo.

 

[mpwn]

Hey kiyoukan could i please get a refund, ive sent u emails but u havent relplied. Thanks!

 

[kiyoukan]

done msg to short....

 

[rhd]

yup free.
i have been thinking about using my 100 stcs1a ship and make a board run for them.
for everything below a 445nm there great. but anything that is case negative wont work but other than that they are great.

It's weird - just got a set of boards from Laen that I could swear were the same forked driver design that I had working before, but nothing - no luck. Zero output.

EDIT: The strange thing is that the same schematic is working great for the STCS2, but giving me no output for the STCS1. This is the schematic I've been working from:

EDIT2: Problem solved. I was using an SO8 part in Eagle that didn't account for the exposed pad underneath the IC. As a result -> shorts. The schematic is fine, but my PCB design was not. On the bright side, our DFN8 boards didn't suffer the same fault.