Custom Led torch build

I’m in the process of building this light using a Cree cmu2287 led and a Cyclops Thor torch as a case. I’ve got 2 power meters that’ll control 2 solid state relays for overcurrent, undervoltage and overvoltage protection (Not yet setup). Then i’ve got a 1500w cc driver to drive the Cree led at 800ma minimum and 5.5a maximum (Hoping to get lower current with a 2 pole pot in parallel). The led runs at a maximum of 300w (250w rated) and also has a 50mm fan attached to the back to cool the reflector and mounts (not yet installed). Hopefully all this will fit into the Cyclops Thor torch that is arriving in the mail next week, as well as a lipo battery inside for convenience.
If anyone is interested in how this goes I’ll update once i make some more progress.
!https://photos.app.goo.gl/arEXtmWKEmfi5dNHA!
!https://photos.app.goo.gl/X2t3xcPsgrPsG8Kr8!
!https://photos.app.goo.gl/3yHJmkBYfyMadDUM9!
!https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZrNmqX8TVoYTt6tXA!

Very nice build “Yoted” :smiley:
Great to see a water cooled light build. :+1:
See you have bench a test set up and running. Getting it all inside will be a challenge :open_mouth: but that is the fun in scratch building, doing the hard stuff. :wink: Have you decided on a power supply yet ? Also do you have a pic of your Cyclops ?

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“Robin Dobbie” Nice to see more interest in water cooled lights. Have fun building. :smiley:
My first water cooled light needed many changes during the build, working on building another one now.
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I didn’t know there was a contest and if this lights eligible I’ll enter for sure. The water cooling is quite a pain but it should work out quite well. The power supply for portable use will be a 6s lipo pack or if off mains a 400w 24v power supply. I believe I can run down to 10v so I could also hook it up to a car battery.

The cyclops showed up today and I’m probs gonna have to downsize my radiator to get it to fit.

I’ve been pretty busy recently, but I’ve got the whole torch together and suprisingly the 100mm radiator and fan is enough cooling even when running the led at 300w. The issue I’ve had now is that the solid state relay I was using for control requires a heatsink that I forgot about and it melted. So now I gotta get a relay and a new 12v buck boost driver and I believe it’ll be good to go. I’ll try grab some more photos as I re assemble it as well.

The mounting for the lens inside the reflector has changed too, due to the plastic holder staring to struggle under the power of the sun. So now the lens is sandwiched between 2 metal brackets and spaced off the led and is somewhat loose to allow for expansion and the like.


How did I miss this?? Looking forward to pics :sunglasses:

So i’ve had a lot going on recently, but i have more time to work on the torch and document it now. it’s working well aside from not being bled properly and getting air in the water pump when the torch is aimed down, which i will solve on the next revision coming up. The led is slowly cooking itself due to some dust i must’ve gotten on it and therefore i may as well upgrade it while i’m replacing it. The upgrade will be to the luminous dev cvm-45 which is a 600w led putting out 65000Lms, which will be fun. I’m running it off 25v lipos atm but to use 600w i have to up the input voltage to 12s Lipo to keep the input current within the specs of the driver. it’s by far not the neatest job internally with the mounting of all the gear and stuff, it’s all just kinda shoved in there. The throw this light has is insane. It dosn’t seem like it shines very far, but due to the exsessive amount of light it just lights up everything. I’m going to get some more photos of the internals when i pull the torch apart to swap the led and add a tube to bleed the water system properly.

The impressive thing and the reason for the upgrade is that the cooler reaches only 20 degrees above ambient air temp after half an hour of 300w power, Which is a crazy amount of cooling for a home built torch of sillyness.

If anyone has a suggestion of an led chip that can do more than 600w i would very much like to know because as we all know, bigger is better.

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Not many lights that can compete with that :person_with_crown: Great modding :beer:

This is a wild mod and it’s good to see it! I bought a used Thor Colossus to mod just a couple of weeks ago. They make good “superlight” hosts for cheap and I’m surprised not to see them modded more often. Used on ebay with no battery they go for ~$40 usd shipped.

The focal point of the stock reflector is probably a good inch (25mm) into the reflector. It’s hard to tell if you’ve got the LED that far forward.

Looks like this project could benefit from a 3d printer, but short of that, wood is a cheap and workable medium for making mounts and stuff. It’s convenient to glue blocks of wood or dense foam into these housings and then zip tie stuff to those blocks. Hot glue is a good option for adhesing the blocks because it is only semi-permanent, you can pry things off with enough force.

A watercooling setup like this could be done with no reservoir, I would think. There are also “all in one” or AIO pump + heatsink combos, which would save even more space. Maybe you could put the rear cap back on the light and mount the radiator to the cap with risers, and embed your displays/devices into the side of the housing.

As for “bigger is better,” you’ll get more lumens as the COB gets bigger, but you won’t get a better beam. The alternative is to use an array of smaller reflectors with smaller emitters. Convoy C8 reflectors are among the cheapest and you can fit 19 of them within the diameter. XHP50 emitters are good for 4k lumens, multiplied by 19 that’s 76,000 lumens. The cost of the reflectors + LEDs would be about $150 usd. Of course there’s a good amount of work that needs to go into getting that put together, especially if you want to use watercooling.