Heavy duty work light.

This idea started with a scooter battery (12v 5Ah) I’m not settled on anything yet so open for thoughts.
The project is not for personal use, but a friend who does grunt work like cleaning out houses without power hooked up.
He’s not the type that handles things gently. He dumps everything in his truck’s toolbox.

A 12v 5Ah battery is 60Wh.
That would equal about 5x 18650.
Is the energy density of 18650 really that much higher as that of a ‘regular’ battery as the cells take up much less space.


History has proven my friend never gonna mess with charging cells. So if I use them they should be charged when in the device.
He seems to be in love with car battery chargers so I think the setup should be 12 volts.

Another thing is that I want that 60Wh charged from 0% to 100% in an hour. Which I can with those small 5A car battery chargers.
18650 chargers seem under specced by default.

I’m considering building in a 12v/5A charger.


The other thing that disappoints me is that ‘regular’ flashlight leds overheat.
I had a BLF Q8 with a diffuser. It did thermal throttling.
But 240 120v lights never do.
I also found E27 12v lights. They have no heat sinking and they just go full blast all the time.
I can’t find all specs for all lights but a LED replacement for a 100W halogen light should run 5 hours on a the mentioned battery. Which would be good.
Likely a 50W is all that’s needed.


So….
I’m thinking about a box with a old fashion looking bulb that shines 360.
But that will break in one day.
So the second option is recessed spot light. Good because sometimes that’s what’s best. But a 360 light is a big bonus.
So I’ve been thinking about COB panels at 5 sites of my box. But I doubt they are strong enough to put in a toolbox and then throw a sledgehammer on it. :slight_smile:


Right now I’m looking for idea’s of the lights that best suit this project.
And of course pointing out where my logic is totally wrong.

Have him look into Milwaukee tools lighting products. Jobsite Flood, Tower and Handheld Lighting | Milwaukee Tool

The overheating is caused by feeding the LED a higher current (which causes heat) then the light can dissipate.
A typical C8 can dissipate the heat of 2,8A very well.

So you can build yourself a fine light, but have to live with a lower output if you don’t want that heat.

The problem I’ve had with sealed lead-acid batteries is that they’re easy to kill, either by neglect or over-discharging. I’d want to include some kind of voltmeter or low-battery warning device. A good thing about lithium cells is they can be picked up for free from battery recycling bins. You do need some kind of smart charger to help sort the good cells from the worn-out ones (iMax B6 for example). And then you should add a PCM/BMS to keep the cells balanced and protected from shorts and overcharging, and an appropriate charger… So, there’s something to be said for adopting some ready-made battery system like cordless tool packs, or a car booster.

As for the light: a COB mounted on a heat sink could be protected with a piece of clear acrylic; here’s some surplus ones: Heatsinks - Large, Two Surface
Or mounting it on a metal case (like an ammo box) might provide enough heat dissipation.

Or (probably by far the easiest solution) you could get a no-name LED 4x6” headlight replacement, pry the cover off, and remove the reflector. If the example I picked up at the Salvation Army is typical, those have a finned metal case for heat dissipation, and some kind of regulated driver circuit that maintains constant brightness over a range of voltage. And you get a choice of high and low beam (2.5 amps or 1 amp at 12.0 volts). (I suspect my real 30 watt lamp is the same as the ones on eBay claiming 150 watts.) I’d consider attaching the headlight to a cord so it could be hung up high to cover a larger area and have it out of my line of sight.

Mmmm, that’s indeed a problem. The battery will be drained until fully empty at times.

If you already have the 5Ah battery, might as well try it. Or maybe your friend has access to some good junked batteries. Otherwise, I’d go with the biggest SLA that’s practical; longer run time, and shallower depth of discharge should mean it’ll live longer, but I’d want some kind of insistent low-battery warning, and ideally an LED driver that will automatically reduce the brightness rather than either run the battery flat or suddenly shut the light off. If lithium ion is the choice, I’d probably go with a 3.6V (nominal) pack and 4 or more cells in parallel, since I happen to have a couple of 4 cell holders already.

My perfect work light would have adjustable power; there are PWM dimmer boards on eBay for $1.50. Or there’s Dale Wheat’s 12V dimmer kit which has both continuous adjustment and push-button preset levels, for $15. https://www.dalewheat.com/product/12-volt-dimmer-kit/ (Or possibly, the speed controller from a worn-out variable-speed cordless drill.) At 3.6V there’s various flashlight drivers to choose from.

As for the LEDs; multiple small LEDs should produce less glare than single high-power LEDs. There’s plenty of COB and SMD panels for 12 volts, and they’d be compatible with a PWM dimmer. LED light strips could be stuck to a flat panel, or wrapped around something to make 360 degree light. Panels that work at 3.6V are a bit harder to find; maybe harvest the panel from a dollar store worklight or switch light.

I have an ammo box work light half built. 5s12p with cheap lithium batteries 6 XHP50.2 with a cheap ebay boost converter. The batteries fit nicely in the ammo box with room for a PSU for charging. I originally planned to use it to run a battery power saw. The light was an after thought.

Ultrafire ammo can bomb

How long does it take to charge those cells?
Do you have a charging circuit for those cells?

Thanks for the link to the Dimmer Kit.

No firm statements on anything, but my preference is 12v.
There’s so much that runs on 12v (panels, light bulbs of all sorts, strips, etc)
I’m not an electronic wiz like many on this forum. So I’m not saying other solutions are bad, just that they may be to complex.
The mentioned 12v battery can be charged with this 5A charger
Speed of charging is an ‘issue’ too.
With examples linked below it’s easy to build a light with few components. Needless to say it won’t be heavy duty :slight_smile:

Anyway, don’t misunderstand me that I absolutely demand to use a lead-acid battery.
I noticed that 18650’s pack more energy in the same space as lead-acid.
That surely is a thing I keep in mind.
I’ve been thinking about a setup like the ammo box shown above. But instead of everything in parallel, I was thinking about 3 cells in series and then 3 of those sets (9 in total) parallel.
Then charge that with the above mentioned car battery charger.
That would charge the cells with 5/3=1.7A
The charger steps down as it goes and trickly charges at the end. But yeah, it’s designed for lead-acid.
So… BOOM :slight_smile:

E27 style

With clips

Yep.this

Certainly that would solve things. But no DIY fun :slight_smile:

I have not fully discharged it yet only top it up using 48v psu and a buck converter. The BMS has balance charge features built in. I had 5s6p to begin with but the internal battery protection couldnt handle the current the saw pulled so i just doubled the amount in the bank. I brought about 200 of those crappy batteries by mistake before i knew much about them. So might aswell try a few out before i buy enough to run a house. They are labelled 6800mah but more likely about 1500mah. I have a few banks of different capacity around the house as backup power for door locks, sensors and security cameras. Now i need is a spot welder.
Anyway thats not a real battery. This is a a real one 110v 3300Ah 1250A discharge current.

I could use a few for my dump trailer project :slight_smile: Need 400 amps for the winch :slight_smile:
Hospital?

Power station, it is just a big genset, these power the control system and other redundant systems if the unit trips. The rotor in the generator weights 100tonne and no lube can cause lots of damage.
The 50v bank is for the sensors 80000 inputs for 1 unit.

First for safety you should buy good brands like
LG
Sony
Sanyo
Samsung

Brands like Ultrafire in combination with high charging current can easily lead to a fire

a 3S or 4S/2P battery with 3000mAh high drain batteries can easily replace a 12V battery
High drain cells can be charged with up to 4-5A with proper cooling, usually power tool chargers have a fan blowing into the battery to get rid of the heat
so what you need is then an 8-10A fast charger for 12.6-16.8V battery voltage and a construction that the fan blows air through the battery

The simplest approach would be simply using a 14.4V Makita(16.8V fully charged 4S) battery and a proper fast charging station
This would mean about 600g weight for the battery and connector

Then simply recycle a battery bracket from a Makita USB station for your scooter
Then you got fast charging, charging/discharging safety
and that for around 100$

battery with build in protection

Fast charger

battery bracket for recycling
makita USB

I have had a car battery explode in my face, i was lucky there was a big drum of water close by and came away without injury.
I will never buy ultrafire batteries again they are rubbish.
Makita is the only brand of power tool i buy. They have a good 18v work light.

For a customer I built a 7000lm work light on Makita battery pack

If you want parts list I could give you it but it needs some skills to assemble all

Was that using a usb skin?

Yes