Review/Test of 13mm AA 5-Mode Circuit board




Driver is from Intl-outdoor.com

Official specifications:

• Suitable for 1 AA battery (Alkaline & NiMH)
• Input voltage: 0.9-1.5V
• Output current: 500mA +/-10 - 150mA - 20mA
• Modes: High - Medium - Low - Strobe - SOS
• High efficiency
• No flickering, driver works at 100KHz
• PCB diameter: 13mm
• PCB thickness: 1.5mm
• Cathode brass pill height: 3mm
• Components height on the side with the inductor: 5mm
• Copper leads included

Measurements

Tested with: Cree XP-G2
Diameter: 12.9mm
Maximum height: 6.6mm
The driver has high, medium, low, strobe and sos.
No memory, when off for a few second it will reset to high.
Strobe 8Hz at 1.2 volt



High







At about 1.3 volt the led turns off, but the driver continues with drawing current, not very good.






Led voltage has some high frequency noise in it, there is no problem in that.



Medium











The regulation makes the led flash at about 3kHz at 1.2 volt supply.



Low











The regulation makes the led flash at about 1.4kHz at 1.2 volt supply.


Strobe





SOS



The spacing in the morse code is not correct



Conclusion

The driver is only designed for 1.5 volt batteries, preferable alkaline. It will start at around 0.9 volt, on high it has trouble at above 1.3 volt.
The regulation is not pwm, but a regulated boost regulator, the actual frequency will depend on mode and battery voltage.
I do not like this driver, due to its low input voltage range.



Notes

How do I test a led driver
List of all tested drivers