Total newbie. Been looking for a month for a RED light with good throw for night hunting. Needs to be able to clearly spot out to 100 yards and last for several hours. Size and weight are not important(up to a point(mabye d-cells?)). DX had a couple but not sure they are powerful enough, and other name brands are well out of my price range. After ALOT of research, I thought about possibly using the pt-54 emitter with the 6-15v,7a driver from kaidomain http://kaidomain.com/product/Details.S020146. I'm sure there are many reasons as to why this won't work, so let me know what ya'll think. I've got to start somewhere! Thanks!!
yes budgetteer , pretty much anything is an option as long as it is fairly cheap and long lasting. I saw those emitters from manafront but couldn't find any specs on them. Dx has a complete red led light ultrafire that says 180 lumens for i thinks 26$. If its as bright or throws like the only led light I have now(a white, 180 lumen, ray-o-vac 3-c cell cree) I will be more than happy. The reviews however state that is only good for 40-50 yards and only last for an hour. By the way thanks!!!
Ops I forgot that you need to buy 18650 litio batteries and charger... you can get both for less of 20$
...what about a sipik sk68 where you change the led with the manafont red cree? Would be cheap, small, with 1h or more of autonomy with AA but you can carry many, and a very easy mod(anyway dunno if red led want less voltage or how will be the focus at end never seen such mod)
the PCB is not electrically isolated and is positive
in other words, if you put this is a flashlight that uses the body as a connection to the negative side of the battery (like most do) then you'll have to electrically isolate the emitter when you mount it
or - put you batteries in backwards
mine is set up as a flood light. I fried the driver and have another on the way - but at 5.5A I would say it is about equivalent, (maybe superior) to the red 90W outdoor incan floodlight bulbs I have.
when I build a rifle light from one I will use a 2D maglite, aspheric and direct drive
for a carbine, I've been thinking this http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/trustfire-usa168-q5-3mode-memory-led-flashlight-118650-p-5494
every red led I've seen has a much lower Vf than white emitters.
be careful to measure the current if you swap one into a light - some circuits will go to direct drive w/ fully charged li-ion battery and low Vf
that can toast the emitter quickly.
You could use lifepo4 cells (lower voltage) to prevent that, but still be sure to check current w/ fully charged cell before normal use
not much of a problem w/ the pt-54 because it is spec'd at 9A (although, then the weak - and dangerous - link becomes the battery - use protected or IMR cells)
Those are some good ideas. It seems there would be more off-the shelf options with a good price since I can remember when red was the only led. I guess what i'm really looking for is an alternative to the 2 million candlepower q-beam, homemade red diffuser(beef ramon noodle wrapper works good!), and marine battery setup i currently have. (Gets kinda of tiring carrying a 50lb battery and gun for hundreds of yards through the woods). New light wouldn't have to be as bright, but would need some distance and longevity though.(on/off is as sophisticated as I need). As a matter of fact, it dosen't even have to be in a regular flashligh sized or shaped host(homemade battery pack mabey?). As far as I can tell the phatlight is the only thing close. Might even could use the large heatsink it comes with to build a "q-beam" like tethered light. Just now getting the addiction so I could definitly use some pointers.
Actually I just checked and sure enough I have an old sunspot spotlight. Wasn't very good as an incandescent light but it has a very large 8" diamX6"deep aluminum reflector and LOTS of empty space behind that. Could this be a good way to go or am I not seeing something?
Runtime over anything? Take any Q5-R2 led flashlight that can host dual 18650 and some red cellophane or buy red lenses. Ridicoulously cheap but should work. Runtimes with decent batteries would be around the 5h mark easily.
I suspect you either "paint" your led output or buy red leds and mod the existing pill. Either way lumens will go down considerably. How red needs to be? Reaching 200 lumens (i think is still a plausible output with coloured lenses) on a Q5, R2 OTF can still be useful for over 100m i think.
5hrs would be plenty of runtime. However doing some reaserch it appears that white leds produce little red light so that after you filter it, very little makes it through. I tested this on my 20$ xre Cree flashlight by putting a red diffuser on it. It was pretty dim. I would think that a dual 18650 would work if I could find something bright enough to put in front of it. Needs to be red for the purpose of animals not spooking. I know thats been debated but I've seen proof over and over that it makes a difference. Went back and looked and its this light that I had looked at. http://www.dealextreme.com/p/brinyte-br01-ha-iii-cree-xp-e-n4-2-mode-180lm-red-led-flashlight-with-strap-1-18650-2-16340-42665 . If its as bright as my other 180 lumen light it will be fine but I don't know. If it is I guess I could just buy several batteries and keep changing them out or mod for more battery life. mabye one of those battery extension tubes? I know i'm all over the place with this, but like I said i'm very new to this.
Modding an old school incan light w/ a (very) high power led is something i've wanted to do for awhile.
if there's lots of room then you can add an aluminum heatsink. If you go that route and you want one, I've got a box of them and I'll send you one for cost of shipping.
When I think of a hunting light, I think weapon mounted with pressure switch, just for shooting.
willie uses an area light on his feeder, in conjunction with a weapon light for spotting/shooting.
If you want long run time, you'll sacrifice brightness, and probably won't want the pt-54.
for example, i'm using the dealextreme sst-90 driver w/ mine - at 5.5A on high (plus driver losses), w/ a 7AH sla, I'll get at best 20 minutes (I don't drain my lead acid batteries past 50%, and actually shoot for 80%)
not sure on that math, i've been drinking belgian ale
wow 20 minutes! your right that is probably not what i'm looking for right now although I'm still kinda exicted about modding this spotlight in the future. There is plenty of room for a heat sink .(probably 4 square inches)(Thanks alot for the offer too!!) Heck the reflector is large enough to be part of the heat sink!(big as a large coffe can) ..We don't have much in the way of weapon mounted lights(unless you count my buddy who once duct taped a maglite to the bottom of his .22 barrel). Other than the pt-54 there seems to be little options for bright, red leds. dthrckt what do you use for your weapon light?(the pt-54 mag?) It looks like I'll have to give the brinyte a go and hope for the best. If I go with it can I add more batteries in series to get more runtime (2.8~18vmax) or will the extra juice simply be dissapated in heat?
well - 20 minutes on high - you don't have to run her at max :)
i think you'll find most red emitters disappointing if comparing to almost any half way decent white one...they are much less efficient
the offers stands, they didn't cost me anything, so if you try it out and report your results, my following attempt will be that much better.
I don't have any weapon mounted hunting lights (just white close quarters). Here, in NY, there aren't many opportunities to require that set up - but I'll build one because it sounds like enough fun to make few trips elsewhere...
more batteries in serial will likely fry the circuit. the circuit has a voltage min/max and the max is usually what the light is spec'd for...
you could change the driver w/ some basic soldering skills though...
if runtime is really important, buy good cells and carry extras...
welcome to the hobby - you might as well start skipping lunch now - to pay for all the lights you will buy in the next year
killcritters read this https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/6127 Mixo is correct in the DX 501B comes with cree in both green and red AFAIK. Best conventional red flashlight emitter is the red SST90. The most for the least is the EBAY PT54 red. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Phatlight-PT-54-12W-Red-LED-Heatsink-Optics-/180799176028?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a18787d5c This led will out power the red SST90 for half the price. Biggest down fall is ”positive ground” and no primary optic (dedomed). On the plus side it is copper mounted and built strong. There are methods to work around both down sides. The easiest way to drive this emitter is with ”Direct Drive” NiMH batteries. I recommend 2 D cell 10,000ma Tenergy batteries as my 2D Maglite pulls 8A. Mr. dthrckt and I have used AAs 2s, 2p2s and 4p2s. My newest venture is using 4200ma NiMH 4/3AF cells as these are the same size as 18650 li-ion. A good host is MF tr1200 http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/trustfire-tr1200-led-flashlight-tube-no-led-emitter-p-5522 . I suggest for personal use build a 2 D maglite PT54 then work on a weapon mounted light for critters. I do have a 9A single mode driver on order from KD but have not received.
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020079
I know that li-ions are all the rage but D nimh do have the advantage of long runtime and no expensive driver required. A well known builder Lambda Light uses this methodology cuz it works.
Having machine tool access is a big plus. Someone sell heatsinks on CPF (H22a?). HTH
just out of interest, are you looking for a red LED because of retaining your own night vision (i.e. faster accomodation as opposed to white light), or to not disturb whatever critter you're taking aim on?
Just curious. I found that most game will act quite indifferently. Deer will make an escape, but return after a while. Birds and fox will escape, but return quickly. Feral hogs are indifferent, as long as the light isn't followed by a loud BANG and one of their sounder gets hit. My hunting experience is quite limited, though.
I always liked the thought of optical sights with a residual light amplifier and supporting IR lighting.
I haven't gotten into the colored lights at all but if you need some oomph behind a red lens then why not try an XM-L C8 with a red lens or filter? Should have more than enough throw and brightness without being too heavy on your gun.
I luv my XMLs but typically proper red spectrum filters reduce light output severely on white leds. Even red filtered incans do better than white leds. The red XPE out throws an XML with proper red spectrum filter. Better off BIY a C8 with a red XPE overdriven @ 1000ma.
Other than the pt-54 there seems to be little options for bright, red leds. 