I have my first project going and I could use a little advice from the experts…Please…
A couple of rechargeable quartz spot-lamps bit the dust recently so I decided to modify them into LEDs. They are well made cases and are for use around the house.
I ordered a couple of P7 and some drivers, also ordered some 18650 batteries and holders. I plan on using the existing switch, reflectors, lens and charging circuit. I want to seal the batteries in the case so what type of charger will I need and am I missing any other components
any advice or comments will be appreciated.
What drivers? Are the batteries series or parallel? Single P7 for each light? We need more to go on and pics will be a big help.
You need some adhesive heatsink plaster / thermal adhesive glue to fix the led star on the heatsink.
thanks for the replys......still trying to figure out how to do attachments, but here is what I ordered plus the batt holders, planning a 2 batt in series set up... I am honestly shooting in the dark here...no pun intended
If you run the batteries in series you should probably get a 2-cell protection pcb with balancing if they are going to be embedded and charged in place. A P7 will get hot and will need to be lapped and attached either with thermal adhesive or thermal compound and screws to a piece of aluminum(preferably an mcu heatsink or something with fins) that can breath.
I understand and planned on some sort the heatsink, what is a two cell protection pcb, The case had a 6v lead sealed batt in it so there should be plenty of room.
A protection pcb keeps the battery cells from being overcharged or over discharged. Laptops have them, power tool packs(lithium) have them. Without one you could ruin the batteries the first time you ran the lights. They are made for 1 cell, 2cell, 3 cell, etc. EBay has battery holders with a pcb built in. Balancing is a separate circuitry that monitors each cell and ensures that one cell does not get depleted (or charged)ahead of the other(s). Even though you have already purchased a driver it might be a good idea to rethink running the cells in parallel with a different driver and installing a switch and jacks so that you could verify the voltage of the cells with a meter. Then you could rig up an ordinary 18650 charger to plug into the jack to recharge the cells. Drivers like the one you linked are made for flashlights where the cells are removed and charged individually. I strongly urge you to read up on lithium cells and the advantages and dangers of them before you go any further. Each cell carries much more energy than other types and though if handled properly the risks are low, it is very important to know what proper handling is and how to safely use them.
thanks for the lesson, I don’t want to blow myself up……
would this set-up work as well it would eliminate the holders and comes with a charger and is made for internal mounting
7.2V 2600 mah Li-Ion Battery Pack + Smart Charger
Capacity: 2600 mAh
Chemistry: Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)
Type: LG (Korean Cells)
Working Voltage: 7.2V
Peak Voltage: 8.4V
Cut off voltage: 5.5 V
Max Charging Current: 1 Amp( recommended ) - 2 Amp max.
Max Discharging Current: 2 Amp limited by polyswitch
Included Qty: 1
Sounds better but still recommend you do some reading. Suggest you look at this
Think of this as drivers ed except there won’t be any test other than real life. The idea is that if you know what you are doing you won’t do the stupid thing that burns down the house.
We don’t want to do that, thanks for the info and the link - good reading