advice electrical parts for modification dive light

I am trying to upgrade a (dive) light from halogen to LED.
In first I just replaced the 2 halogen (20+35w) bulbs for 2 (2,5w) LED bulbs but the output of light was not satisfactory. The burn time was way beyond expectation.

Talking to various persons about this the outcome was that this kind of modification does not work well. We even talked about just modify just the bulb but with the new high power LED the heat must be taken care of.

To make it work I designed a heatsink that fits in the housing and will be sealed by x-rings (the way it was originally designed).
So now I need to find someone to fabricate this for me.

However, I still have some questions (I am handy but I don’t have the expertise of choosing/combining the right electrical parts).
I am thinking of putting 2x 10w HP leds (high Lumen), which I can (thermo)glue to the heatsink.
Enclose the proper driver or drivers (if needed also (thermo)glued to the heatsink on the other side of the LED. The height can be max. 22 mm
The grayhill rotary switch has 4 connections (OFF, LIGHT 1, LIGHT 1+2, LIGHT 2) but if possible (depending choice of driver) I want to change this in: OFF, LIGHT 1/50, LIGHT 1+2/50, LIGHT 1+2/100%.
The battery pack has 13.2 v 4500mah. (11 cells).
If

Can you help me with which parts to choose? And a wiring diagram, costs, shipping to The Netherlands etc.
I can send the drawing of the heatsink so you can have an idea of what the plan is.

Thank you very much.

Paul

With the drivers available you can control a single led to multiple output levels very easily. Depending on the space available you can also run a higher wattage led such as the MT-G2. LED die size affects beam shape and larger dies have broader beams so there are several factors that go into designing the best one for your needs.

I think a picture of the lamp would help seeing what should be done.

One thing that may not work well is that the reflector (I suppose the lamp works with reflectors?) is designed for an omnidirectional light source (halogen bulb), while a led shines in one direction, part of the reflector is not used. Led reflectors tend to be deeper and with a parabole cut-off in the deepest part.

Hi all,

I hope the links work :-/

photo album

hope it give an idea what i am trying to do.

I want a flood light without hotspot (or big one)

About reflectors:
I found this one
reflector carclo
this reflector is only 10mm high and gives a wide spread of light.

they have also more spot reflectors so i can even put in that one for searching actions in one light hole.

all info is welcome.
someone suggested xm-l2 cree leds, so i went on with that info. not that that is the end.

I want a good light spreading as needed for video but also distance.

O i forgot to say that the battery pack has a dimmer. But i can put this in full before i put on the lights.

Thanks
Paul

MR11 halogen bulbs are 35 mm in diameter. The Ledil Cute-3 optic is also 35 mm and there is a Noctogon direct thermal path copper pcb that works very well with it. The ledil optic is shorter than the mr-11 and leaves additional room for heat sinking and driver space. I’ve done a number of similar mods based on the old Vistalite housings. That optic is available in narrow, medium, and wide angle beams as well and all of them produce smooth, artifact free illumination.

Hate to be the first one to say this, but those Niterider lights are really a poor choice for upgrading to LED because the casing is plastic and therefore offers no way to dissipate the heat generated. You mention designing a heat sink that would fit inside the housing but the problem is that doesn’t really help because as soon as the heat sink gets up to temperature there is nowhere for that heat to go so you would only be delaying the inevitable cooking of the LED (s).

Being a dive light mod waterproofing will be more of an issue than heat sinking.

Hallo Guys,

No fighting please :blush:

The thing is that I don’t want to add a heatsink in the housing itself. I am convinced that this will not work as everybody told me LEDS needs to get rid of their heat.
The housing is, yes, out some kind of plastic but as I remember well they sold it as “bulletproof” pack or case (don’t remember).

The plan is to fabricate a all heatsink to extend the case so it is in contact with air or water. In this way the heat escapes like the normal modern Led.

And, Scott, yes you are right saying waterproofing is more important.
Did you take a look at the design?

I don’t know it is worth will as i need to find someone here who can fabricate the heatsink and that on itself can be a shot in the dark here where we live in Brasil.

Thanks for the info.

paul

ok
I did some reading and beside i got more confused I also learned something.

To run a led in a good way you need a driver (a Buck or boost buck).
And a good heatsink of course.

As i don’t want to change to much on the housing, I think i can make a heatsink and extent the heatsink connecting the LED and driver there.

Basics:
Battery pack is 11 cells 13,2V 4500mah, I can modify this but that means I need a new charger
Battery pack has no room for buck or other electrical components (with 11 cells)
case, with the designed heatsink I have room for 2 drivers max diameter 30mm by height 20 mm
the case has a grayhill rotary switch and “no” i don’t want to change that. I want to use this for turning on/off and when possible for high low beam/ 1 or 2 lights. There are 4 stands original: OFF / LIGHT 1 / Light 1+2 / Light 2
LEDS: as there is 13.2V powering 2x XM-L2 is no problem. i even think i can power 2 x MT-G2 which have a good CRI rating!

I am lost on what to choose, is possible and what combines yes or know.

What is a good combination and give the best results?
There are so may buck drivers. I don’t know which to choose
Some come with 5 modes (low strobe mid high etc) and i tried to understand how it works but i can not find how to switch between the levels…… Yes a button but how is it connected?
Will I loose a lot of power/Run time from the battery using the xm-l2?

Thanks for the help
Paul

Mode changes occur with a brief power interruption. A reverse clicky does this. From on a half press breaks circuit. The Vistalite lamps used this kind of switch made by Judco. It’s not a multi position switch, merely on-off. A buck regulator takes higher voltage and converts it to lower led voltage not like a transformer but similar in effect. A boost driver takes a low battery voltage and boosts it to a higher led voltage. A linear driver does neither, it takes a slightly higher battery voltage and burns off the excess as heat to match the led voltage. I think your plan can work but it will take you some time to get up to speed on all of this so if you take your time and allow it to soak in you’ll be fine.

Thanks for the information. I am getting the hang of it.

As you all suggested the case is this.
I need to get the LED voltage as close to the total voltage input. In my case 13.2V.
I have 2 battery packs and 2x 2 light cases so we are flexible.

So let me get it straight…
the choice of running just one LED 3V in a case with a battery pack 13.2V means I have to burn about 9V to heat. That looks no good! :confused:
running 2 LEDS 3V (total 6V) i have to burn about 6V to heat.
I can run 2 LEDS on one driver right? do I loose potential or whatever?
Running 2 lightcases 2x 3V LEDS (total12V) on a pack 13.2V. I am going to running it short? ?( ……this option would be great for me! :rolleyes:
see 3 but with dimmer; see parts list
can I combine LEDS XM-L2 and a MT-G2? Don’t think it is wise but??

I said i don’t want to change much on the housing but I could put in a “drehpoti” in the place of the grayhill switch and a PWM board. Will this help me? point 4

parts of choice so far: (I can only find some driver 3A till 12.6 V and they don’t serve)
driver
dimmer
rotary

with the dimmers it will be a bit more costly but at least i can control the light they way I want.

If you would be so kind to give your opinion, I will thank you with all my 1.83m :whistling:

paul