# Help wiring DX driver sku 15880



## Codswallop (Jan 24, 2010)

Hello all, as per the title, I ordered a this driver from DX; 
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15880 

and received this;
 http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/408/picturebl1011.jpg Chip at top left is marked J1HL.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8752/picture012yd.jpg. 

Have searched the forum and I believe they are two different versions of the same. Probem is I don't have a Scooby Doo where to make the led and battery/switch connections. Ideally I would like to connect with a common ground as per my earlier thread https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/254412, but if that is not possible I should be able to work around with a different switch. Any enlightenment would be most welcome. Cheers.


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## Fichtenelch (Jan 24, 2010)

+ on the r/h top corner and - is at the bottom l/h corner, both are marked (refering to your first picture, since your second picture shows the battery side of the driver).
if you don't connect the led to ground on the pcb, then the modes won't work in most cases.


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## T0RN4D0 (Jan 24, 2010)

You have both marked lol :] 

Interesting tho that the driver looks completely different than the one on dx... :]


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## Codswallop (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the replies, but what I meant is where _exactly_ do the wires go?. There is no solder pad by the + just the leg of a chip, also the - has only a blob of solder above it and a hole below. In addition which of the stars and pads on the back do the battery wires connect to?.


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## gunga (Jan 24, 2010)

I got the same circuit, I thought -ve was bottom left and +ve was the centre?

I have not hooked mine up yet.


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## Black Rose (Jan 24, 2010)

T0RN4D0 said:


> Interesting tho that the driver looks completely different than the one on dx... :]


That happens all the time with DX & KD drivers.

The drivers change but the photos on the sites do not.

I have some sku 3256 coming. The listing says they are based on a C310 chip, but the latest ones shipping are now based on the AX2002 chip.


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## The Dane (Jan 24, 2010)

Here you go:












Sorry for the crappy drawings but im no Paint Shop shark:shrug:


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## Codswallop (Jan 24, 2010)

The Dane said:


> Here you go:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are an absolute star TD, thank you very much and to all who replied.


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## Paul Baldwin (Jan 24, 2010)

I havent received one of those drivers yet but it looks the same on the backside to this one. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10243

1- 2-mode: Low(10%)/High(100%) 
2- 3-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%) 
3- 3-mode: Low(5%)/High(100%)/Slow Strobe(2Hz, 2 times per second) 
4- 5-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%)/Fast Strobe/SOS 
Note: 
1- Face to the front, connect to the five stars clockwise one after one, then you will get 2 modes - 3 modes - 3 modes- 5 modes

If that's the case it loks like a really good idea 

Paul.


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## Codswallop (Jan 24, 2010)

Paul Baldwin said:


> I havent received one of those drivers yet but it looks the same on the backside to this one. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10243
> 
> 1- 2-mode: Low(10%)/High(100%)
> 2- 3-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%)
> ...



Sounds interesting Paul, they certainly seem the same but I'm not sure exactly what you mean regarding the stars. Can you give some more details?


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## Paul Baldwin (Jan 24, 2010)

It looks like each individual star is an individual output. You pick which mode you want and solder your led - to the corresponding star. That's how I'd try it out anyway.


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## Codswallop (Jan 24, 2010)

Aha! I see what you mean. Scope for experiment then!. Cheers.


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## Paul Baldwin (Jan 24, 2010)

Maybe someone else can confirm this I'm no expert lol


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## Justin Case (Jan 24, 2010)

Looks like those stars connect to various I/O port pins on the ATMEL mode controller IC. Put your DMM on a star and then on the various ATMEL IC pins to trace it out.


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## T0RN4D0 (Jan 24, 2010)

Judging by the pics tho, 2 of the stars are directly underneath the big chip. So maybe its just a thing of connecting the stars together, to activate certain modes. Modes seem useful.


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## Justin Case (Jan 24, 2010)

Pin 5 of the "big chip" (the ATMEL Tiny13A controller) looks like a trace goes to it, presumably connected to one of those stars under the controller IC. ICs often have traces that run under them.


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## Paul Baldwin (Jan 24, 2010)

T0RN4D0 said:


> Judging by the pics tho, 2 of the stars are directly underneath the big chip. So maybe its just a thing of connecting the stars together, to activate certain modes. Modes seem useful.



Looking at it again that does make more sense. Using a jumper wire in the holes provided and a blob of solder between no2 and no3 stars.
Maybe it should read 1- Face to the front, connect the five stars clockwise one after another, then you will get 2 modes - 3 modes - 3 modes- 5 modes?
Guess I'm better with proper english than pigeon english lol


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## carbine15 (Jan 24, 2010)

Grounding the far right star to the batt neg- ring will give you two modes.. Low 10% and high 100%. This is what I was looking for so I stopped experimenting. I hope this helps.


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## Black Rose (Jan 24, 2010)

I need to take another look at that 3-mode driver I got from KD.

I didn't ground it to any of the stars, so maybe that's why it's only operating as a single mode instead of a 3-mode :shrug:


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## Justin Case (Jan 24, 2010)

The star on the far left (closest to the first "N" in NANJG) is already connected to ground. I would think being a Chinese driver, this star is #4 (the Chinese read right to left, instead of the Western left to right). Thus, the default configuration should be a 5-mode driver.

Not sure why Black Rose gets single mode in this configuration. Did you solder LED+ and LED- to the right spots on the component side of the driver?

To get 2-mode, connect the right-most star (closest to the "A" in "112A"), call it star #1, to ground. To get 3-mode, connect the two right-most stars (#1 and #2) to ground. To get 4-mode, connect the three right-most stars (#1, #2, and #3) to ground.


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## Black Rose (Jan 24, 2010)

Justin Case said:


> Not sure why Black Rose gets single mode in this configuration. Did you solder LED+ and LED- to the right spots on the component side of the driver?


The one I have is KD Prod ID 1694 

The LED+ & LED- are soldered in the correct locations. 

It worked fine as a 3-mode driver when I did my bench testing when I first got it. 
When I went to install it in a P60 pill it was only working as a single mode.
The one thing I am not sure of when I first got it and tested it, was where I connected the negative battery lead.


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## Justin Case (Jan 24, 2010)

Oh, a totally different board. So there is no reason to expect the default configuration to be 5-mode. There is also no reason to expect that the ATMEL controller has its other Port B pins programmed to do anything, so connecting the various stars to ground may not give you anything different in terms of available modes.


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## Navin_R_Johnson (Jan 25, 2010)

I too ordered 15880 and got what is in the pictures on this thread. Despite the .9v-4.5V input in the description, mine does not seem to work properly off of 2 eneloops. I only get strobe and SOS when using 2 eneloops. 3 Eneloops or 2 NiZn seem to let me use all 5. Switching modes seems erratic too no mater what battery configuration I'm using. Sometimes a short power interruption will progress to the next mode and sometimes it won't.

Anyone else trying to use this with 1 or 2 NiHM? I might try grounding one of the stars to see if I get a different set of modes.


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## Winx (Jan 25, 2010)

I bought two of KD's Prod ID 10243 drivers. Yep, those are 5-mode drivers at default. I made them 2-mode by making a connection between a star close "112A" and an outer negative ring.

I'm not too confident about these. Measurements from the tail:

1.05A ... 3.7v
1.56A ... 4.15v

Emitter is a R5 with a 14mm board from KD.

I'm getting an opposite values with Shiningbeam's 1.2A buck boost driver. About 1.5A with a depleted cell and about 1A with a 4.1v cell. :laughing:


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## gunga (Jan 25, 2010)

Hmmm, the DX sku is 15880 advertised to work with 1 - 2 nimh and Li-on.

So, if we are shipped the "other" driver, is it only useful for Li-on batteries?

Good thing a I order a backup driver (different type) in case this one didn't work.


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## old4570 (Jan 26, 2010)

They look to be the same driver :

Modes = connect star to neg 
FROM KD 
diopter reply:
Connect then stars to GND (the negative ring). 
No star connected (except the 4th): 5-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%)/Fast Strobe/SOS 
First star (clockwise earliest) : 2-mode: Low(10%)/High(100%) 
First AND second star : 3-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%) 
All stars connected to GND : 3-mode: Low(5%)/High(100%)/Slow Strobe(2Hz, 2 times per second) ### not tested

I ordered 2 to play with , look interesting ..


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## Winx (Jan 26, 2010)

old4570 said:


> They look to be the same driver :
> 
> Modes = connect star to neg
> FROM KD
> ...



Yes it does but reality seems different. :laughing:

I have other driver in my stainless L2M. I'll measure current from it also.

Another KD 10243 driver:

1.0A ... 3.7V
1.45A ... 4.1V

No sign of boost. Too bad I ordered 5-pack more.


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## Codswallop (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks for your help everyone.:thumbsup:


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## Hrvoje (Feb 2, 2010)

Just received mine from DX. Looks like it doesn't work with 2x NiMH. There is only SOS and some kind of low voltage alarm (low mode, and flash every second). Description at KD said: 

" In low mode, it turns to alarm when the voltage is about 2.75V. At this time, please stop working, in case it is damaged because of over discharge."

When I tried 1x NiMH and 1x li-ion, everything work fine. Too bad, I ordered many of older version, and they work flawless.

Hrvoje


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## Winx (Feb 4, 2010)

Hrvoje said:


> Just received mine from DX. Looks like it doesn't work with 2x NiMH. There is only SOS and some kind of low voltage alarm (low mode, and flash every second). Description at KD said:
> 
> " In low mode, it turns to alarm when the voltage is about 2.75V. At this time, please stop working, in case it is damaged because of over discharge."
> 
> ...



Same with CR123A. For some reason brightest mode worked but 10% mode was just flickering (Edit: actually not flickering but warning about low voltage).


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## gunga (Feb 4, 2010)

So it looks like this driver is good for 1 AA and 14500 applications.

Hmmm, maybe I need another Romisen to mod...

:naughty:


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## brted (Mar 20, 2010)

I got the driver from KD and put it in my Ultrafire 504B (formerly) 5-mode XR-E R2. It went pretty well, but the low and middle modes looked just about the same. I did the 3-mode mod, but after seeing the two low modes were so close, re-modded to the 2-mode to the first star. I tried to do a solder bridge first, but couldn't get solder across the green part so instead I just soldered a piece of wire from the big neg pad to the first star. It didn't fit in any holes, so it is just lying there. It looks really ugly with all the soldering and unsoldering I did plus the solder I put between the board and the pill. That was my first driver swap. 

On High, it draws 1.07A which is about the same as the old driver while Low draws 0.30A off a fresh protected gray Trustfire 2500mAh 18650. Using a single Eneloop AA, it draws 1.6A on High and 1.2A on Low, so it is definitely boosting and pretty bright on that AA battery.

The mode switching and memory seem to be based on whether it is left on for more than a few seconds. If not, it will switch modes with a half-press. It doesn't seem to matter how long it is off. This means if the light has been on for a few seconds and you want to switch modes, you will have to do it twice, because the first time you try you will end up in the same mode.

More extensive review here: http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/232


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## McAllan (Mar 21, 2010)

brted said:


> The mode switching and memory seem to be based on whether it is left on for more than a few seconds. If not, it will switch modes with a half-press. It doesn't seem to matter how long it is off. This means if the light has been on for a few seconds and you want to switch modes, you will have to do it twice, because the first time you try you will end up in the same mode.



 Ohh that behavior sounds like a LiIon driver I ordered to put in a direct drive 3 cell LED Lenser copy to obtain modes although I still used it with the 3 AAA.
Not a very smart or intelligent design unless one want to sell drivers because it needs to write to EEPROM or Flash (whatever that µC has/programmer made it to use) not only when changing modes but also just when powering it on  :shakehead
If used in a light which gets a lot of use - and especially many short bursts then expect the driver to fail long before the LED. But hey since you've put it in there yourself you should have no trouble replacing with another driver :nana:


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## kosPap (Mar 25, 2010)

also tried with 3 AAA (both NiMh and Alkaline).....flickers too...

edit: output measurewments to the LED here


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## LobsterX (Apr 6, 2010)

possible to post pictures on how to connect them to get the 4 different groups?

pls.... I got this from DX too~





Paul Baldwin said:


> I havent received one of those drivers yet but it looks the same on the backside to this one. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10243
> 
> 1- 2-mode: Low(10%)/High(100%)
> 2- 3-mode: Low(5%)/Mid(30%)/High(100%)
> ...


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## brted (Apr 6, 2010)

LobsterX said:


> possible to post pictures on how to connect them to get the 4 different groups?
> 
> pls.... I got this from DX too~


 
I've got a picture of what I did in the review posted above. I don't want to post it here, because it is the world's ugliest soldering. Basically I just surface mounted a wire from the outer pad to the star to get to 2-modes. To get to 3 modes just use a longer wire and solder it at each star. You never have to solder to the 4th star because that is the same as not soldering anything (haven't tested that, but that's what the directions say). Keep to the outside because you really don't want the postive end of the battery or the spring hitting that wire. I also wonder what would happen if you solder the stars couter-clockwise. Different mode groups? Poof?


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## TorchBoy (Apr 6, 2010)

brted said:


> I also wonder what would happen if you solder the stars couter-clockwise. Different mode groups? Poof?


Are you implying soldering all the connections starting from one end, not just the one you want?


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## brted (Apr 6, 2010)

TorchBoy said:


> Are you implying soldering all the connections starting from one end, not just the one you want?


 
The instructions at KD say wire from the ground to the first star going clockwise. But you could start on the other side and solder from the ground to the last star, then continue to the second to the last star and so on. I don't know what the result of that would be. Or for that matter what would happen if you just went from ground to the second star without soldering the first star. Maybe it wouldn't do anything.

KosPap soldered counter-clockwise, but that was with an AK-47 driver.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3325063&postcount=227


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## TorchBoy (Apr 6, 2010)

I had thought (and actually still think) that clockwise/counter-clockwise just refers to the order the mode groups are being described in. They're not being listed in random order.


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## RedForest UK (Apr 7, 2010)

I used this driver in an RC-G2 host, but having soldered and resoldered it to different mode settings and groups various times I now have a problem. The light seems to keep dropping to a 'low voltage' warning mode where it flashes on low output. It does this after between 1 and 7 minutes of a new fully charged cell being put in the light, does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?


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## Winx (Apr 8, 2010)

RedForest UK said:


> I used this driver in an RC-G2 host, but having soldered and resoldered it to different mode settings and groups various times I now have a problem. The light seems to keep dropping to a 'low voltage' warning mode where it flashes on low output. It does this after between 1 and 7 minutes of a new fully charged cell being put in the light, does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?



The switch causes that. My stainless L2M had the same low voltage problem and I replaced the clicky from my L2P and problem disappeared. This problem is called bouncing, well known problem with C-cell Maglites.

I have similar bouncing problem with my Surefire Z58 tailcap and 1.2A 3-mode driver from Shiningbeam. Very often the mode jumps from high to low when I release the switch . This doesn't happen with Dereelight 3SD drop-in so I believe they've filtered the switch "error".

Edit: Well, maybe this isn't your problem. I thought it occurs by pressing the switch.


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## stinky (Apr 13, 2010)

I wonder if the low battery "alarm" (BODlevel) can be disabled on this driver the same way it is done in this post for another ATTiny13V driver:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2776071&postcount=25

Then it would be just fine for a two battery config.


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