Review on ⚡ SMAKN DC Buck Converter 7-40V to 1.25-35V LED Driver Charger Module 8A - Constant Current/Voltage by Craig Pham

Summary: At $13 this thing is a pretty good deal despite the problems. I just expected it to work and not to the advertised specs. So far it does a pretty good job of powering the XHP70 LED which is why I bought it. Below I have listed all the problems you may encounter. It's not the best design for an LED driver, although to be honest it probably wasn't designed with that in mind. CC mode seems rather secondary, don't expect exact CC mode. Issues encountered out of the box: * This buck converter is NOT designed to provide 8A, although the device allows you to set this high value. Be careful, it can explode! The XL4015 does not appear to be made by a major brand and is rated for up to 5A.[.]* The CC LED on this unit is not working properly (turning red too early). I have yet to measure how "good" the transition from CV mode to CC mode is, but initial testing with a multimeter seems to indicate that the LED circuit is poorly implemented. The output also has a BIG capacitance (2000uF!), so without modification don't expect this block to have good fast CC regulation, that is, even if the CC limit is set very low (especially if the match voltage is set high). ), charge stored on these capacitors can source MANY amps for a few milliseconds and potentially kill sensitive loads (like LEDs)! To power the LEDs in CC mode, replace the capacitors with smaller ones.* Oddly enough, the input and output are on the same side, and the negative input/output is side by side. This is a bad design decision as the device uses a 0.01 ohm current shunt resistor on the bottom to properly stabilize CC. If the input and output ground are short-circuited, the device can damage the connected LEDs because the effective current limit exceeds the maximum value. * Finally, manufacturing tolerances and overall quality are okay for the price, pretty cheap and crappy. The inductor will be weakened and over time it can become detached from the vibration. There was quite a bit of solder spatter on the board, luckily none of it was so bad that my device failed. My device has the heatsink soldered crookedly, which annoys me, although to be honest it's not a serious problem. * Most of these issues are fairly minor and if you are smart you can probably fix most of them. I might one day completely redesign the board and upgrade the switch controller IC and diode to something better to improve performance.