After viewing threads from the likes of tterev3, CK and Djozz I am hooked on building my own RGB flashlight
Currently I am looking at building an XML colour with this zoomie and this driver . If I don’t end up using this zoomie I would like to use nothing bigger than an 18650 sized light.
My question pretty much boils down to, is this a good option? And even if it is, are there any better options with more advanced driver/led/host combos that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Let me stress the fact that this build is in no way a necessity Moreso a means to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. And as such I would like to keep costs at least below $60. This is BLF after all
i have a 502B with a RGBW XM-L emitter. 30 plus shipping with reflector, 35 with Solarforce L2-CL1 convex lens, or 40 with both. convex lens is good for lighting up things under 40 to 50 feet, reflector throws a decent distance. has the color and dynamic white driver. saves you from building one if you are interested
Get ahold of C_K, he is very good at multi-color builds…there are a few others here that are above the standard of multiple color LED builds and drivers
well with the reflector it throws pretty good and is pretty bright, but it has a kind of ugly hot spot because of how only 1 of the 4 dies is lit up at once and they arent centered because of it being a 4 die led. with the convex lens it is wayyyyy better but it isnt adjustable like a zoomie, so you cant adjust it for throw, you just have a light good for 30 to 40 feet, maybe a little bit more with the lens. i actually have a small zoomie here i was thinking about putting the driver and led in to see how it works
Only issue with a puke light from CK is it will be WAY over the $60 budget you have. When he redesigned it, he dropped the price over $100 according to his site. If you can drop prices by $100 then that means it isnt going to cheap
Yup, CerealKiller- that’s yer guy. I think he has a web site that he is working on to sell the lights. Wight is also a guru with the color LED’s and DrJones has some nice drivers. Don’t forget about TIRs for XMLs and there are also some color mixing TIRs as well.
All of these are awesome options Although I am looking to build my own.
Currently the parts that I’m considering only add up to 25 bucks, so there’s plenty of headroom to improve in the host/driver department. I guess I’m also looking for a better 18650 zoomie alternative, although there are hardly any quality options around.
well my light i have has the same driver and led you had mentioned, so those are a good choice, however dr jones and ck have drivers with many many more modes
If they are indeed AMC chips and that its possible to add extra, what would be the recommended max drive current. I saw in one post that Djozz said 1.5A per led is about the max but that would be a whopping 6A total! Is that correct?
Yes, Djozz was also using a lot of heat sinking. If I remember from that thread correctly, 2 amps was what he would use on copper,1.5 amps on aluminum.
I sell several different RGBW FLASHLIGHTS for way under what I sell pukelight for. I sell 3 different UI lights (2 button controlled lights [one Dr jones based and one MELD based] plus RGBW_Clicky) for around $60-80 (depending on options).
Pukelight is NOT marketed as a flashlight. It’s a tool for law enforcement, currently my biggest customer is a local to my area private security service but I do sell them to private individuals (police officers and civies alike). Yes it’s more expensive but you gotta understand how selling stuff to the govt works. If I priced it at $60-80 and a competing product is priced at >$150-300 the buying agents of the agencies / companies I market to wouldn’t even look twice at my product because they would feel it was inferior based on the cheaper price alone. I have to price it competitive to the market segment it’s in.
Again I sell several (with all the host options I’ve used in the past somewhere around 2 dozen different) RGB / RGBW FLASHLIGHTS, pukelight is not meant to be a flashlight. Infact just in the last update (to v3) did it even get a white emitter.
OP, I sell just drivers, clicky controlled and they do up to 2A per channel (on turbo that’s 8A if your battery can deliver that). I’ve just got my PIC programmer back up and running (it bricked it’s self for a bit but I was able to save it finally) so I have them for sale again.
Moreso a means to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. And as such I would like to keep costs at least below $60. This is BLF after all 