Custom High power LED light bar

You have a driver lined up?

I was thinking THESE, 2 drivers to run 4 xhp-50s, and one for each 70.

Or a couple of Taskled drivers, but the Taskled doesn’t have direct switch activated modes, only click modes, which you don’t want on an automotive light.

Too bad that this manufacturer does not have a nice boost circuit (or at least the eBay seller doesn’t seem to carry one). OTOH I’m pretty sure that I don’t need modes in that application anyway, so TaskLED would be fine.

Would the Taskled handle the so called voltage spikes from the charge system on a car?
What area are you from zpinch.

It’s worth looking at DIWdiver’s linear automotive drivers. They can be customized a bit. 1, 2, 3.

Sweeeeet! your design looks better than mine for sure. $350 would be a steal for that unit. Would that heatsink be able to handle that much XHP? what kind of wattage are you planning?

Wight, what do you need a boost circuit for, do you think that maybe the 12v system wouldn’t have enough voltage when the alternator isn’t turning? For 100% power that is.

MRsDNF, I don’t know if it could handle the voltage spikes, but I don’t know much about the TaskLED drivers, nor do I about the other drivers that I posted above… I have a 3 amp and a 2.4 amp unit from them coming in the mail, however. To test. I am from Saskatoon, SK, Canada. eh

Hoop. I checked out those drivers, they look pretty good, I might snatch one up to test.

foolio, thanks, glad you guys like it. $350 would be a nice price point, I would like to keep it under $300 though ideally. I am almost certain the heatsink can handle 140watts of heat, it’s pretty hefty (1.6 kg/3.5 lbs), and is rating at 0.28C/W, that is 40 degree rise at full power. I am not sure if that is rated for a small amount of airflow across the fins, or merely natural convection, but either way, that is pretty good.

The front lense will be an AR polycarbonate 0.25 Inch sheet. That is abrasion resistant, not anti-reflective, if you are wondering.

Interesting, I’d be keen but I’ve seen these type bars come and go on here, none very successful so far…

$350 is out of my price range… I have really wanted to build one like this too, but dont have the resources for the housing. If it was closer to 200-250 I would be in for sure.

$350 is at the top of my price range… I would like to make it for 200 really, if I take out a couple LEDs, use a smaller elliptical optic and thus a shorter housing will help.

I really find using XHP 50s and 70s are the way to go, for a DIYer, you can’t beat the price/watt, when you factor optic costs into the equation.

Interesting project… I used taskled drivers before in maglite mods so I think this could be useful:

For the 4 XHP50s in the middle I would say the Taskled HBFlex would be optimal for the application, its a boost driver with 7-24V input and drives up to 48V at 3A. With proper heat sinking it can run for as long as you wish.

For the two outer XHP70s… H6Flex comes to mind (buck driver < 25V in > 7V out at 6.6A) but the output might be limited due to the small input-output voltage difference when the Vf raises. A DC-DC step up converter can be used here to supply 24V to the driver, also decreasing the required current draw required to supply full power to both leds.

http://www.taskled.com/h6flex.shtml

You could also use 2x H6Flex to power the middle and outer LEDs separately, each with it’s own DC-DC 12v-24v boost circuit which are pretty cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC12V-Step-Up-to-24V-240W-10A-Car-Power-Converter-Regulator-Adaptor-/201503964400?hash=item2eea927cf0:g:Sl4AAOSwLN5Wk17p

But this is a very expensive setup, that’s almost $100 in drivers alone.

Are voltage spikes still an issue in modern vehicles? I was under the impression that providing you use good quality accessories and don’t do anything like disconnect the battery with the engine running they were quite uncommon unless you have a major component failure, in which case one would worry more about the various ECUs than a lightbar.

I dont know but it comes up often when this topic arises.

Wait, were you talking about normal voltage fluctuations of ~15v or +100v spikes?

You know, the more I think about the TaskLED drivers, the more I don’t want to use them, at least for now. The price for just the drivers is ridiculous, more than the LEDs themselves. I am gonna go with the Russian sourced units, I like how they set them up for modes, good price too. Sure, it would be very nice to have thermal shutdown safety built into the driver, but I can live without it for now. Everything will be interchangeable, so I can see in the future I will upgrade that part.

Voltage spikes shouldn’t be an issue, no. If you are worried, there are ways to stabilize the power, for both the electrical noise and voltage fluctuations.

Here are the optics that have come, the smaller elliptical TIR is a Carlco 30mm. The large lense is the 67mm Gaggione LLC56N, the one next to it is the 45mm LLC49E. The headlamp is an Armytek Wizard Pro V2, for size reference. Can’t wait to light those babies up with some xhp monsters.

I have purchased 2 of those drivers from Russia 2 days ago, one 3 amp model with 4 switch modes, and a 2.4 amp model with 4 modes as well. It might be a few weeks before I get them so hang in there. LEDs I was expecting this week, nothing yet.

What’s this mean? I might be interested.

Well, the more people who would buy at the same time, the cheaper the light bar will be, down to a point of diminishing savings… I think after about 5 or 6 light bars made the savings difference would be negligible. The CNC machining of the housing/case is the part that will make it cheaper with volume, this is what I am referring to. Also, I suppose the shipping costs for all the others part to be ordered will be reduced with volume as well.

Here is another pic, I made the elliptical lense, well, elliptical (horizontal lines on the lense face)… only it is 90 degrees the wrong tilt, I tried turning it in CAD, it allowed me to do it, but it just didn’t visually change. Not sure about that?

Might be interested, are the parts being machined in Canada?