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

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Driver is from Intl-outdoor.com

Official specifications:

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

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HLDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HLLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH

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

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LHDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LHLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20scope

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



Medium

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20medium
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20mediumDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20mediumLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20medium
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20mediumDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20mediumLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20medium%20scope

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



Low

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20low
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20lowDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20lowLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20low
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20lowDriver
13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20LH%20lowLed

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20low%20scope

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


Strobe

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20strobe



SOS

13mm%20AA%205-Mode%20HL%20SOS

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