The OptoFire Searchlight | BEAMSHOTS on page 3 | record-breaking aspheric LED thrower

Very cool! :+1:

Nice pics! :wink:

Very awesome! And looks like a lovely place where you live. :beer:

Come onā€¦my Uranusfire C8 out throws that!

bhahahahahahaha! :face_with_monocle:

Just kiddinā€™

Really nice!

That last photo looks like you are peeing light into the sky!

Enderman those beamshots are SWEEEEET!

Your canon cuts through the night with near laser precision. :+1: Great project.

Iā€™ve heard Vancouver was beautiful but Iā€™ve never had the opportunity to visit. Those pictures certainly seem to support the rumorsā€¦beautiful. :beer:

Thanks for the compliments guys! :slight_smile:

Believe it or not, this is actually not Vancouver :stuck_out_tongue: Iā€™m on vacation in a part of Spain, also very beautiful.

Ha! You could light up the USS Star Track when Spock comes to visit! :smiley:

Ha ha :slight_smile: You carry that bazooka in Spain :smiley:

Very lovely pics :+1:

Oh I get it. Just in case your light creates a rupture in the space time continuumā€¦ youā€™d better do that far away from home. Smartā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue:

:smiley: thanks!
Iā€™m surprised I havenā€™t been stopped at an airport yet for the bomb-looking flashlights I always take with me xD

:smiling_imp:

Some stuff that I realized during this build that is a good learning experience and will be applied to future builds:



  • a parabolic reflector will be used in the next build, too many down sides to lenses such as chromatic aberration, imperfect aspheres, clear apertures that are smaller than the lens diameter, etcā€¦

- temperature meter needs to be tested outside the flashlight at all LED brightness levels, and it needs to have better electrical insulation from the heatsink
I will also not glue it down next time :smiley:

- some felt or foam needs to be added between the heatsink and the PVC tube to help it slide easily when focusing

- the LUW Q8WP will theoretically have higher intensity than the Oslon Black Flat LED, when it becomes available

- a larger heatsink or liquid cooling will be used next time inn order to achieve even higher current and intensity. TEC/peltier cooling will also be considered

- a custom hemispherical collar might be used in the next build to increase intensity further by using a smaller aperture, and wasting less light that doesnā€™t hit the optic

- non-LED light sources will be tested, potentially achieving close to short-arc lamp performance without any bulbs (very early experimental research)

- next build will hopefully have a larger optic to make a thicker - and more visible - beam while also increasing lux. Hopefully between 6 and 12ā€

- a more powerful fan(s) will be used in the next build, rather than a quiet fan, in order to obtain the best cooling possible regardless of noise

My Braun shaver uses this principle (to cool skin, to avoid irritation); itā€™s a bit of a surreal experience. Pretty cool.

I use various sticky back felt for stuff like that

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flannel-Car-Auto-Black-Wiring-Harness-Anti-Rattle-Self-Adhesive-Felt-Tape-15M-/282489008517?epid=903279783&hash=item41c5a83185:g:v20AAOSwBt5ZIqXg

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Self-Adhesive-Craft-Felt-Rolls-from-1-95-Free-Postage-/172772572619?var=&hash=item283a0c3dcb:m:mxcQGOwhcsczgkCrhgXikdg

Nice build!

And nice how-to as well as beamshots.

Yeah, it used to be pretty popular like a decade ago for PC cooling, but CPUs output too much heat for it to make any difference.
For a sub-30W LED it will probably work great, maybe like sub-0 degrees :smiley:

Thanks :slight_smile:

Thank you!
I always try to document the whole process for other people who want to learn or build the same, since thatā€™s how I learnt to start building flashlights from old BLF/CPF threads.

*WOW!!!* Very impressive. You engineered that build like a professional scientist. Man you did very well. You should be working for a big flashlight or led manufacturers. By the way, if that is your home you took the picture from, you have a lovely home. Where is it that you live? Very nice place. I'm very impressed with everything you did here. As we say in the US Navy submarine service " Bravo Zulu"!! :THUMBS-UP:

Thanks :stuck_out_tongue: I donā€™t think most normal flashlight manufacturers are interested in extreme stuff like this, but maybe for military or search and rescue applications :slight_smile:
Maybe thatā€™s what I might do as a job when I finish university, who knows.

Also, unfortunately that isnā€™t my home, just a place in Spain Iā€™m on vacation at. It is very nice.

I love this build. It is very well engineered and executed. Great job, and thanks for sharing! Iā€™ve also had good luck using hot glue to affix a wavien collar.

Thank you! :slight_smile:
Yeah, hot glue works excellent as long as it doesnā€™t get hot enough to soften.
With that huge heatsink and lots of airflow it is very solid even when on max power :smiley:

I love this build. Excellent job. I zoomed in on the boat pics expecting some guy to be holding up the middle finger at you :smiley: