RGBW independent Ch CC drivers for MELD UI

[Cereal_Killer]

Made a thread on BLF but wanted to put it here too, these are a pair of drivers I've made to run "MELD" by tterev3. His source code is proprietary but he's more than happy to sell programmed MCU's for a VERY reasonable price, the other components needed for them cost only a couple bucks.

These drivers are identical circuits just different sizes (man that 20mm one sure is pretty), since we dont have the ability to set the PWM levels for output control in the code the current is changed via the RSET 1206 resistors on the bottom (small resistors are on the gates). Running a 2502 FET these are capable of 4.2A per channel (other FET's are available to for more power, up to about 5.7A/ch). These will need 4.35V cells for full regulation (I plan on using one with 4s AA NiMH for 5.3V when charged too)
There is NO POLARITY PROTECTION, two reasons for this-1) this style circuit has a pretty high dropout voltage (.6v) so we need to reduce v drop any way we can and 2) the PIC MCU handles voltage monitoring internally and any drop over a diode would throw that off or even make it useless and again we cant change / disable that in the code.

17mm



20mm



Note these absolutely require an e-switch, there is simply to much functionality to be controlled only by power cycle.

[MRsDNF]

Is this the driver in the light in the video on BLF?

[Cereal_Killer]

No, this is the FW on Matt's Medusa tho, Everett should have some videos on his blog. I know he has them in an EX10, a blackshadow rook and an olight s15 with detailed videos. This driver has a full range of white (white LED) modes plus all sort's of color modes, it also has an optional UV channel.

The one in the TK45 is a custom FW of mine (that he wrote for me after I originally saw his MELD), it has many of the features pulled from meld but it omits all white & UV emitter control running a smaller and cheaper PIC chip. That light has a 41mm, 18* 7135 driver specific for the fenix host and it requires the fenix's 2 e-switches.

[Cereal_Killer]

V2.0.3 (the first digit signifies its size, V1.0.x is 20mm, V2.0.x is 17mm so this is really only v0.3)




several changes you can see pretty easy and some clean up you wont notice. Going to bed, probably wont have any time for eagle work tomorrow, got an xbox that needs a who bunch of CAP's replaced on its multi-layer board with its non-lead solder

[WarHawk-AVG]

Awesome...purple board goodness right there!

[Cereal_Killer]

I'm very happy with the 17mm one now, I think it's ready to order.




In other news, thanks to a very generous BLF member I have a nitecore EA41 on the way, since its got 2 e-switches it's getting  RG&B XP-E2's in individual 20mm reflectors and the Puke Light UI (the puke light FW is for a 12F617 so it'll take an all new driver, simply using this one with the white channel omitted wont work but maybe I can make a QFN to SOIC8 adapter board instead of a whole new driver). Hopefully I can mod the tail PCB so it can run 4s NiMH for 5.3v or 2p 14500 if you put them in the right slots, till I get it not sure if that's possible but hopefully. If all goes well I'm thinking I'll watch for an old busted EA4 and use this driver with MELD and an XML-Color and have matching RGB lights.

[JohnnyMac]

Suh wheat!!  Let me know when I can buy one assembled and programmed ready for use.   Awesome job!

[Cereal_Killer]

Well I've been running numbers all evening (man I hate math) and it looks like the max current of the 17mm version will be around 2.2A, it's going to be limited by the power the 1206's can dissipate, I'm upgrading the 20mm version to 2512's and it shouldnt have a problem going to the full 4.2 the 2502 FET's can do.

Kind of a bummer about the 17mm with the smaller 1206's but thats near max current for color XP-E2's and that is max current for an XML color. another option for multi emitter builds is to not run the parts on the white channel if you wanted it more powerful but were happy with the 2.25 to your color XP-E2's and run the white PWM trace to either a 7135 slave board or a MCUless FET driver.

So as it stands the 17mm version is ready to order, the 20 mm version has the resistors replaced in the .sch and therefore on the board but I havent yet got them placed.

Also got some other on topic news, There is a FW out there (non open source but the guy that has it let me see it) for a RGBW driver controlled only by power cycle, no e-switch required that runs the 12f617 (to date the only PIC uC I've actually connected to) All I've got to do is mod it to use RGB instead of white and I can make my S6 triple into a RGB light!

[WarHawk-AVG]

We shall dub the...."The RGB Jedi"

[JohnnyMac]

Well I've been running numbers all evening (man I hate math) and it looks like the max current of the 17mm version will be around 2.2A, it's going to be limited by the power the 1206's can dissipate, I'm upgrading the 20mm version to 2512's and it shouldnt have a problem going to the full 4.2 the 2502 FET's can do.

Kind of a bummer about the 17mm with the smaller 1206's but thats near max current for color XP-E2's and that is max current for an XML color. another option for multi emitter builds is to not run the parts on the white channel if you wanted it more powerful but were happy with the 2.25 to your color XP-E2's and run the white PWM trace to either a 7135 slave board or a MCUless FET driver.

So as it stands the 17mm version is ready to order, the 20 mm version has the resistors replaced in the .sch and therefore on the board but I havent yet got them placed.

Also got some other on topic news, There is a FW out there (non open source but the guy that has it let me see it) for a RGBW driver controlled only by power cycle, no e-switch required that runs the 12f617 (to date the only PIC uC I've actually connected to) All I've got to do is mod it to use RGB instead of white and I can make my S6 triple into a RGB light!

Nice! How awesome would that be!

[Cereal_Killer]

I just bought a 5pk of Supfire A6's for $25 (thanks to TomE) so I'm going to go ahead and start work on the FW for a power cycle controlled RGBW light since a quad fits in those hosts and give up on my idea of having one modded for a side switch.

The plan is to start with the code I've got and end up with something like that (some parts, like the ramping and color mixing will probably take a lot longer than the basic stuff but oh well, I've got PLENTY to keep me busy in the mean time)

-if you just use it regular its a normal light with 4 modes (LL/L/M/H) and you never see the colors (plan on using an XP-L at the 2.25A the driver can do so plenty of light)
-from on white a triple tap to enter color modes (enters at last saved color/level)
-once you enter color modes you have your 3 primary colors you can cycle threw with double tap
-from each primary color a triple tap enters a LUXDRV like ramp (single tap to set), ramp level is saved and will come back next time you enter that color
~5sec off reverts back to white (I want a longer reset so you can manually flash morse code in individual colors)
-from any of the color modes a quad tap enters color spectrum ramp

FWIW this is what the UI does already-
High White -->Moonlight White-->R-->G-->B--> RGBW_low.
 It has memory.
If you use any color for more than 1 second and tap 10 times it begins a color spectrum ramp. Another quick tap at any point sets the color. It pauses on R, G, or B for 1s as it cycles through to make it easy to get back to the primary color.


I've got a set of the 17mm MELD UI driver's ordered, I've also for my SL3/color SST-90's FET driver for DrJones's FW ordered now too. The 17mm one will be simple to mod for the 12F617 so watch for that. If any of you guys are interested in testing any of these let me know, they're not shared yet but I can send you the gerber files to get a set ordered.

[WarHawk-AVG]

What would be the going rate for one pre-made?

[Cereal_Killer]

If I'm able to mod the FW my self to how I want I'm figuring between $60-70, that'll be about $20-30 over cost, more than my usual margins for a typical budget-host clicky build but 2 things, the driver has way more components and will be harder to build, and if I'm able to do the FW at all it'll be a lot of work.

OTOH if I fail to get the FW where I want it I'll have to pay Everett again and if that's the case I'd say atleast  $75 (even for that show me a similar RGBW light for any less) to help recoup some of that cost.

Each single driver is gonna cost about $10 in parts, compare it to a BLF FET driver that's like 250% the price of one of them.

[Cereal_Killer]

Check out this bad boy

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Luminus-Devices/SBM-160-RGBW-H41-RF100/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsuj5tdPuAIdxCoxFK%252bGA8m%252bqXOzAH8yBQ%3d

[JohnnyMac]

Check out this bad boy

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Luminus-Devices/SBM-160-RGBW-H41-RF100/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsuj5tdPuAIdxCoxFK%252bGA8m%252bqXOzAH8yBQ%3d

That's pretty awesome but it sure sucks that they don't all have the same forward voltage.  Things would be so much freaking easier to work with if they did.