I decide to make my new project , a strong led flashlight , using a 100 watt LED SMD and no cree led only for cost reasons
The cost of these led is near 10 $ on Eday , for the same amount of light with normal led would be much bigger (at least 10 led)
But you have to remember that it gives a totally flood light , you can see everything in frond of you for 20 to 30 meters , more for 100W one , for almost 160 degrees so its perfect for diving
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The only problem that I had to solve was to find a step-up boost driver to take a normal 12V input to 30-36V needed for this led.
For 50 Watt I found this driver (Input 12V - 4.5A and Output 36V - 1.5A (one mode)
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And for 100Watt this one
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Both have aluminum heat-sink so they must “connect” with main aluminum body with thermal glue for heat reasons
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After some search I found this driver for 9 t6 in series that they say can give 30V output with 2.8 to 3A and I was very happy because of the size and 3 modes
When it came to me I found out that it gives only 30V and 1.5 to 1.6A - like always - but it was good enough for the 50W one
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With an aluminum enclosure and some lathe-bearing working for led head I made this one for the 50W flashlight
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The same idea is for the 100W one , with bigger aluminum enclosure to fit the 100W driver
I also made a 100W flashlight , not for diving , but for cooling reasons its much bigger and I put the LED on a PC heat sink with a fan with bigger PD battery (9A-12V) running for 1 hour
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For more details , some photos and how my magnet switch patent works you can see the video that I upload
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I hope you like the project and give you some ideas for yours
Thanks
For switch I am using a simple 16 ampere snap switch with a magnet on the lever arm and with the outside magnet I pull the switch , I believe that on video its clear enough
For the charger I just glue a female plug inside the waterproof tube , I just have to unscrew the waterproof cap and plug the male charger plug that I bought for Li-on batteries (12.6V-1A)
What circuit ? I don’t use any other circuit except led driver
Maybe this photo will help you for the switch
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I like your 100W version. If you mount a remote battery canister to your tank, you could have a much longer run time @100% output while lightening the head and moving some weight closer to your CG. Then you wont have to carry as much lead… I assume you SCUBA. There are dozens of DIY threads online for remote canister packs. Thanks for the great vid. Your switching solution is simple and very effective. Be aware that you’re probably pulling considerably more amps through the KK ICR cells than they were designed for, which could potentially be very dangerous. There is a safer INR version of the KK available.
I’m curious - and I ask because I am not a flashlight DIYer - what’s the benefit to using a 100W LED panel, as opposed to, say 10 XML emitters (you could even run them in series, and use the same driver setup) ?
Yes they might be but as I said I use 100W led only for cost reasons
You have to pay for each t6 from 5 to 10$ and you will need more space for them (the Cree XML XM-L T6 100W emitter cost about 50:money_mouth_face: and for one 100W led I paid 10$, I really don’t know which one is the best but I know which one is the cheaper
You are right for batteries canister solution and you can see in my video that when I was testing my 50W one into sea water the batteries were in my arm with a DIY canister but I decide that I prefer to hold everything in one “box” especially for the 50W because as you can see is very small and inside water weights about 150 grams
For batteries I decide to use the KING KONG ones from a review that saws they can give 10A for almost half hour with no problems at all , but because the enclosure is big enough for the 100W driver I also use some times a LIPO 3 cell 5000 mah 20S, of course for 50W one there is no problem
Thanks again
Awesome project and great video for demonstration! Really impressive flood. It looks like someone just turned on a few porch lights behind you. Amazing!
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I like this photo , it shows the amount of light that 100W one can give - after all they use this kind of lights for lighting gardens and buildings
Yes, sorry, this thread is about your custom lights, and I forgot to say they are excellent, would like to see a video of the beam during actual diving, if you ever record one
Believe me after the tests with my 50W last summer I am very curious to see the 100W one this summer
I already have my DYI underwater case (cost ! euro ) for my 808#16 spy camera
You can check my other 6 youtube videos I believe you will find a lot of interest ideas and patents there and one underwater video (day time)
Nice! You could unsolder the FET's on the board, run some heavy gauge wire to the aluminum body and thermal glue them to the side (just make sure they stay electrically insulated and the wires too)
Can't wait for the underwater video's! :D
You might get better space and aH per volume if you used some of those LiPo square cells vs the big honkering round ones, still...wow...just wow!
Out of stock, but 36V NiMH battery pack (if it would fit)
