DIY LED light using Terralux TLE-300M

[SoCalSwami]

The Terralux bulb upgrade offers nice bright white light with narrow focused beam. 7.2V battery pack with 5.2Ahr has 221 minute run time.
Body and end cap are machined 6061 alum. Switch is water-tight piezo.
Total weight 620g with buoyancy of 510cc.

Circuit for piezo switch.

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[EAN]

How is the light working out for you? I'm interested in some updated information.

 

[SoCalSwami]

How is the light working out for you? I'm interested in some updated information.

This has been the best light I've ever owned.
More than bright enough for local SoCal diving and durable like a Sherman tank.

Only change would be to put courser thread on the end cap, which currently takes too many turns to remove/install. Otherwise I am happy with everything else.

Only problem I've had is batteries; I've had two cells corrode to the point of failure and I'm not sure why. Perhaps salt water got into the pack, or maybe the heat from the cell control circuit board is too much and overheats the cell. Either way, it's not that big of a problem.


If you are considering building one, there have been some updates to the components you might consider.

Bulbs:
The Terralux people have come out with a new bulb (TLE-300M-EX) with 3 brightness levels and a higher lumen output. At around $80, the high price gets you higher quality that should last forever. I wish my light had 3 brightness levels to extend run time on 3 tank boat trips.

Conversely, you can go with a cheap Chinese Cree 5 led drop-in module from dealextreme.com for $30. The quality and the brightness will likely be less than expected, but when it breaks down, you have cause to go buy a newer brighter bulb.

Switches:
I love my piezo switch. In a word, bulletproof.
Turns on/off in a snap, however, the trouble with the pieze is the circuit required to actuate the switch. My current circuit drains the batteries even when off due to to heat dissipation. I recently learned of a potential replacement switch circuit that would have help resolved the energy loss problem made a robotics company Pololu
[FONT=&quot]Pololu - Pololu Pushbutton Power Switch SV[/FONT]
Unfortunately, the switch requires a seperate Off contact lead which is used in robotics, but not flashlights, so we can't use it.

Batteries:
I still think Li-Ion are the best way to go.

Others upgrades:
Battery life indicator is nice if you have room in battery case:
[FONT=&quot]DealExtreme: $3.28 Digital Multi-cell Lithium Battery Voltage LED Display for R/C Models[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Another site worth looking at for torch parts is www.kaidomain.com[/FONT]

Probably more than you were looking for but I'm a geek for diy talk

Mike

 

[EAN]

I like the details. I'm new to this, so what all did you have to do to the Mag lite to mod it? I assume that is a 2 D model light.

Edit, I just noticed that you or someone else machined this. I'm not a CNC guy, so this is probably beyond me.

 

[Surface Tension]

Nice work on the light. I'm doing something similar but I'm using a canister instead. I think I like you setup better but this was easier and I already have the canister so no turning back now.

Question. It looks like you made the setup watertight with just o-rings. You used more than just the stock mag light O-rings right? I ordered an acrylic lens and was going to j b weld the whole thing tight, but o-rings would be preferrable, but I was concerned they wouldn't hold at 150 max depth.

I'm pretty stoked to get mine done. I've been doing a lot more night diving and that Terralux is going to be a real thrower.

Dave

 

[SoCalSwami]

Hi SurfaceTension, I have been super happy with the Terralux bulb. It's almost too much light at times when I'm working macro photography, but I'll survive

The setup I have uses all replacement orings. Don't use any of the orings that come with the mag light. I have a buddy in Aussy land (Klemheist) who used a product call
... (google-ing)...
Hey I found!
Dive light - Mac's Blenny Blinder
Mac has some of the coolest ideas, you should scrub this site over for nuggets of good stuff.
Dive light
Unfortunately the moderator has given up, but at least the pics and data are still there as good resource.


You should check this thread out on user focusable (with orings)
Aspheric mag. - CandlePowerForums


The hardest oring to acquire was the 50mmx2.5mm which I got lucky finding at a local hydraulics supplier house for $3.

These orings are quite hardy, and would expect them to hold at least 150fsw.

I am guessing you've been to the hiddivelight yahoo group

 

[Surface Tension]

Those are great sites. I really like the idea of using neoprene to hold the light up on the arm. That's why I never throw out old wet suits! I catch lobster here in Florida too and having it up the arm keeps it away from the ledges and rocks but also keep your target illuminated.

So that 50X2.5mm oring is in the stock mag light head and makes a water tight seal at the rim? That is really the only place I need to be able to get back in the light in case something ever happens to the terralux, I don't have to scrap the whole head. There are a couple hydraulic shops here I can check. Every other seal I plan on j b welding together. I figure with the way LED technology is moving I'll be changing out light head after a couple years anyway.

Thanks!

Dave

 

[paulpololu]

Switches:
I love my piezo switch. In a word, bulletproof.
Turns on/off in a snap, however, the trouble with the pieze is the circuit required to actuate the switch. My current circuit drains the batteries even when off due to to heat dissipation. I recently learned of a potential replacement switch circuit that would have help resolved the energy loss problem made a robotics company Pololu
Pololu - Pololu Pushbutton Power Switch SV
Unfortunately, the switch requires a seperate Off contact lead which is used in robotics, but not flashlights, so we can't use it.

Hello SoCalSwami,

This is Paul from Pololu. I was interested to see that you considered our switch for this application - flashlights are definitely one of the applications we have in mind for this switch, though I am not aware of anyone using them for that purpose at this time.

I am sorry that this was not clear to you, but the OFF input is entirely optional; you would use it for, say, a timed auto-shutoff feature. Our switch only needs to be connected to your battery and button to function as an on-off power control with zero power consumption in the off state.

If you have additional questions, feel free to contact me at paul at my company name dot com. I will also follow this thread for a while in case you want to discuss it here.

-Paul