Looking to HIRE Someone to Make Me a Custom Flashlight

You can contact Texas_Ace here. He’s modded many lights for me and is one of the very well known experts on the forum. He aids several flashlight brands with their designs and he’s a very nice guy to talk to. I’m sure he can build it but this is a highly custom light so price will not be cheap.

[quote=Parametrek]
Everything from 395nm to 300 nm is UV so it doesn’t contribute at all to the total lumens. 650 nm is orange-red. Sounds like you want high CRI white (with a bad R9) and then a bunch of 395/365/330/300 nm UV emitters. Maybe some violet emitters to fill the in gap between the white and the UV.
Sounds good!

330 nm and 300 nm are going to be the expensive part. It might only be practical to do that with a fluorescent tube. 300 nm is getting very close to the high-energy UVC that is used for sterilization. (Those LEDs can cost $10 per milliwatt! This is the expensive part.) A high powered 300 nm lamp will likely be a significant health hazard to be around.
I guess this part can be sacrificed.

For reference a car headlamp is around 1000 lumens. 10000 lumens is a lot.
I know, but it’s not bright enough.

Given the UV requirement anyone would be crazy to take this project on.
Are there any crazy geniuses here??

Thanks, Parametrek. :slight_smile:

Thanks!

I do not think it’s wise to have an enormous output from a single source. Your estimate on power is extraordinary and a custom light putting out that much would likely roast any insects that come near it!

But if certain specific wavelength ranges are required, it sounds like you’ll need to have a custom light constructed. You may want to consider multiple lights that utilize remote control (corded is easier than cordless). This makes it much easier to control them.

Do the insects need to be drawn to only one source? Or are multiple sources OK?

I guess my ignorance is showing…LOL.

You see, I started out considering getting a shoebox style LED parking lot light, since a lot of the time in the summer I go to places in town where certain buildings are brightly lit with cooler tinted lights. I want to be able to take that bright kind of light with me to remote areas to attract different kinds of insects.

But then I realized that parking lot lights don’t produce the right color of light for attracting insects. Then I thought, why not find someone who can swap out the LEDs in one of those lights for LEDs of the correct wavelengths / colors? So I contacted a couple of companies, and that led nowhere since of course their products are all mass produced in China.

Then I found that there are super-smart folks like you all here who are reeeeally into flashlights, and since what I need is a portable light, here I am.

So, maybe I need to rephrase my request…am I making any sense?

I don’t think 18650’s would be viable for a light like this. A lipo brick(s) of some sort.

If you look at the link she provided the light source of that thing is from 10 cob leds. Also I highly doubt he is getting 90,000 lumens from that thing.

Repurposing a street light is not such a bad idea but it’ll need some head scratching to find the right product to modify.

Repurposing a street light is not such a bad idea but it’ll need some head scratching to find the right product to modify.

Sorry, I don’t know how to do the Quote thing.

I will gladly scratch your head for you. :slight_smile: Is portability still going to be troublesome, in terms of wheelbarrows full of batteries?

As far as getting the massive output of lumens, Dale (DB Custom) could do it. He often builds insanely bright lights. There are others as well, such as Texas_Ace, who was already named. Also, right now there are already “stock” flashlights that reach well over 20,000 lumens. So reaching the desired output is not a problem at all really from a technical standpoint.

Run time would be a matter of having enough battery power. I don’t think “normal” cylindrical Li-Ion cells are going to be practical. A couple of Deep cycle lead-acid batteries might do it. Or the Tesla Power Wall. Or even a gasoline-powered generator, if you don’t mind the noise. You need around 150 watts per hour (or more, depending on the actual emitters used).

As for producing the desired spectrum of light wavelengths, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure that out either, but an engineer would be able to figure it out more quickly than most of us. There are some really smart guys around BLF and even some Engineers.

Someone like BLF member maukka could test the finished light to confirm that it covers the desired spectrum evenly. He could also test that it produces the lumens output desired. He has some very nice testing equipment.

I hope you get it done. I’d like to see the result! :smiley:

If you are an Entomologist, then perhaps you already have used some such kit.

Huge output will probably not get you any better results, and you will still have to lure them into your funnels somehow, rather than blinding them.

Set up more, more modest ones, and spread them around.

Some UK links to consider, perhaps not applicable to your environment, I don’t know it, but bigger is not always better.

http://www.mothscount.org/text/86/equipment_and_where_to_get_it.html

No, LEDS don’t compare to these powerful bulbs. If any do, I’d know about it. And we try to catch, study and release, rather than just lure them into a killing jar.

Then I could talk to you about bat detectors, DIY best. Fascinating, even if we never touch them (not allowed without a licence), just lovely to know that they are out there, and they do seem to know where they are still safe. Often just turn it on at bedtime and go to sleep listening.

Enjoy.

Oh yeah, I meant to add: Welcome to BLF! I hope after you get this project built, you find some reason(s) to stick around. :smiley:

Are there lights that can sustain 20k lumens without thermal issues?

Probably not any that are on the market in stock form. But I really don’t know. Acebeam has the X70-GT that is fan cooled and has a top output of 90,000 lumens (for a little while). It could possibly do fairly well with 20,000 lumens. It would run out of power long before three hours, though. Modern LED streetlights produce tens of thousands of lumens for all night long, so the heat issue has to be solvable, even without active cooling.

Edit: Just now read the thread about the Acebeam X70-GT saying it is fake. Sorry. :person_facepalming:

Not really. This box contains 25 of the mentioned 18650 size batteries. You’ll get slightly better power density (power to weight ratio) with lipo’s.

So a X70-GT with an external battery pack is plausible…

Sorry, the Acebeam X70-GT turns out to be a fake. But, it is still definitely possible to do something like 20,000 lumens for three hours if heat is managed properly and power supply is large enough.

You guys have all been so nice to me. Thanks for the warm welcome!

How about a series of grow lights with different wavelength emitters to get the proposed spectrum? They could be modified to run off an external battery. Size might become an issue though if like 6 of them were needed.

Thinking about it now, Tom Tom could be right. Another type of bulb could be better since there would be less need for thermal considerations. I really don’t know much about the light spectrum though.

They say that light puts out “LED Wavelength: 300-830nm” which would fit my needs very well. However, there’s the brightness issue.

How remote is the location where you will use this light? Reason I ask is if it is remote, 20,000 lumens seems excessive.
I pulled in at a remote fuel stop in Outback Australia. That place was crawling with flying insects and it wasn’t that brightly lit but as it was the only light source, insects were attracted there