HarryN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hi - Time for an update.
The original proof of concept version that I built was sort of hacked together and looked pretty ugly, so I didn't show it to too many people. What it did show is that it will work, fit, and give a reasonable :naughty: amount of light.
One of the big challenges was finding an LED driver that could keep up with the power demands from this relatively low voltage pack. The power draw is not that high, but most powerful drivers just don't go that low.
I hand built some versions that would work, but not down to the (-40 C) goal I have in mind. This does not mean the battery pack can will operate at (-40C), as this still needs to be tested, but the electronics and LED package will.
I hired a local, semi retired electrical engineer to help design a custom, robust, constant current driver for this project. The first small batch of PCBs is on the way to me, and then it needs the components soldered on, etc. It will take me about 3 weeks to obtain all of these parts, get them soldered on, and do some testing. Hopefully, it all will work. If not, adjustments to the design will be needed, and another round of proto testing. This is about a 6 week cycle.
The original proof of concept version that I built was sort of hacked together and looked pretty ugly, so I didn't show it to too many people. What it did show is that it will work, fit, and give a reasonable :naughty: amount of light.
One of the big challenges was finding an LED driver that could keep up with the power demands from this relatively low voltage pack. The power draw is not that high, but most powerful drivers just don't go that low.
I hand built some versions that would work, but not down to the (-40 C) goal I have in mind. This does not mean the battery pack can will operate at (-40C), as this still needs to be tested, but the electronics and LED package will.
I hired a local, semi retired electrical engineer to help design a custom, robust, constant current driver for this project. The first small batch of PCBs is on the way to me, and then it needs the components soldered on, etc. It will take me about 3 weeks to obtain all of these parts, get them soldered on, and do some testing. Hopefully, it all will work. If not, adjustments to the design will be needed, and another round of proto testing. This is about a 6 week cycle.
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