Looking to HIRE Someone to Make Me a Custom Flashlight

Hello all, I am new here. I have zero technical abilities, and I don’t really understand the LED-related lingo. I’m looking for someone skilled in such things to build me a custom flashlight - custom in terms of light wavelength, and brightness.

I am an amateur entomologist and I need a very bright light for attracting insects at night.

Portable, battery powered, rechargeable via USB would be great.

HUGE output, HUGE throw. If I could buy a parking lot light and make that work, I would, but the wavelengths of those lights is all wrong for attracting insects. I’d like the output of this light to be equivalent to at least 20,000 lumens.

A mix of led bulbs evenly distributed with wavelengths between 300 and 650nm.

I do not really care what the light looks like- the shape is unimportant to me, however I would like to be able to set it on the ground or on a bucket and aim the light at a large white sheet.

Waterproof would be good.

I probably would not need to run the thing for more than 3 hours- so if it could only stay at max brightness that long, ok, and I can always put in fresh batteries.

Can anyone make this thing for me? I’ll pay you for your work, and of course buy the components.

20,000 lumens for 3 hours !!!

That’s something very specialty and like expensive if done right.

Good luck with this endeavour :slight_smile:

Well, like I said, I’m a total ignoramus about these things. I really don’t know about lumens and watts and volts and all that stuff. All I know is, I need an extremely high output light in the range that insects are attracted to. :blush:

So, I hope someone can build the thing, even though I know so little. I am used to being told my wish list is unrealistic, so if it is truly unrealistic, I’ll compromise.

I don’t think it is unrealistic but very few people could build such a light.

You never know, someone here might put their hand up. Can only ask, as you did :+1:

It’s definitely realistic, as long as you don’t expect it to be the size of a pop can.
Maybe like a paper towel roll size or something like that.

If I had more free time I would definitely build it for you, unfortunately I have like 5 other projects going on and school until april.
I’m sure someone else on the forum can do it for you.

I would expect the parts and labour to cost ~500-1000, and you would probably need to buy your own batteries because of shipping restrictions and stuff.

It’s definitely worth some money to me, so if someone here is capable of making this light and making it well, please speak up! :slight_smile:

Enderman, thanks!! I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It’s nice to hear that it’s doable.

Paper towel roll size is fine!!

Edit 2: My math was completely wrong. My bad.

Edit: If Enderman says they can build it, then they can build it. That dude can do anything. I’ll want to see any updates on this project.

Hmm, I didn’t realize it’d draw that much power. OK, so maybe not so bright…but then again, maybe?

That guy made a super bright one. Just with different LEDs.

Never mind. I double checked the math and it was completely wrong. 20 18650 cells, or three of those 12V 5Ah lipos would work.

Edit 5 or something: Wait no, three hours. My math was right. 60 18650s.

To accomplish all of this in one light would be very expensive with the current technology at hand.
If you break this down into smaller systems (multiple flashlights), I think it is totally feasible. Would that be a possibility for your application?
One light with 4 led’s at 300nm, the next light with 4 at 350nm or 400nm… all the way up to 650nm. Pick your step based on available emitters and budget.

Not a lot of throw, but multiple Q8 or Sofirn Q8’s may do the trick on a budget. Others may have a better suggestion for a host (flashlight body) that can be used.

If you need brighter for longer, then you need to add multiples of each wavelength with this stock flashlight. Brightness steps down on high power flashlights so things don’t melt.
So 2 on turbo would be say 10,000lm for an example, but only for a 2 minutes. So you could run 4 on medium and it may get you close to 5,000lm until batteries run out.

Lots of bright people on here so I hope you get some better suggestions too. Good luck!

Good to hear!!

EDIT: I meant, it’s good to hear that it’s doable.

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.

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.

For reference a car headlamp is around 1000 lumens. 20000 lumens is a lot.

Given the UV requirement anyone would be crazy to take this project on. The easiest way to generate the spectrum you want is to make a terrifyingly large arc lamp from an array of arc welders. And a couple of gas generators if it needs to be portable.

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.