how to build your own (cheap) light canister...

[Hallmac]

it's the glass lens from the mag light rechargable-- available at your local police supply shop

Hallmac

 

[whalerkyle]

Thank you! What chargers do you all use?

Kyle

 

[mwilding]

Here is my last effort.

Dave

That is a sweet looking canister!

 

[DiveGolfSki]

HID lights a more desierable then Halogen for several reasons.

1. The light "Color Temperature" is greater and results in a more natural looking light.

2. The light output, rated in Lumens, is far greater then for an equivalent wattage Halogen bulb.

3. The HID light requires less energy to burn, once started, then a halogen light so burn times can be up to 4 times longer with the same size battery pack.

50W HID....3200 Lumens and 5800 deg K color temp
24W HID....1850 Lumens and 5460 deg K color temp
18W HID....1150 Lumens and 6250 deg K color temp

50W Halogen....1000 Lumens and 3050 deg K color temp
35 W Halogen....700 Lumens and 3050 deg K color temp
25 W Halogen....500 Lumens and 3050 deg K color Temp

The new "Solex" Halogen bulbs have color temps of 3500K to 4700K

Some typical color temperatures are:

1500 k Candlelight

2680 k 40 W incandescent lamp

3000 k 200 W incandescent lamp

3200 k Sunrise/sunset

3400 k Tungsten lamp

3400 k 1 hour from dusk/dawn

5000-4500 k Xenon lamp/light arc

5500 k Sunny daylight around noon

5500-5600 k Electronic photo flash

6500-7500 k Overcast sky

9000-12000 k Blue sky

Scott

Have you heard about the Chromolux line of bulbs? They claim to be full spectrum bulbs and there is a MR16 50W available.

 

[darylm74]

Has anyone used high output LEDs for a cannister light? I was looking around it appears that the highpower LED configurations can outdo the Halogens but obviously not the HID's. I was just wondering if the LED configurations might be as cheap as the Halogen ones and still provide more light than a Halogen.

 

[Camerone]

Has anyone used high output LEDs for a cannister light?

I've been looking at using three Luxeon V stars to do a light. There are two sets of pre-made optics, both of which would fit in an MR16 sized housing nicely.

Fraen makes a fixed set of narrow optics, which take three Lambertian stars and would theoretically give a 12 degree beam spread.

Carclo, from the UK, appears to have a superior set of optics and holder for three Luxeon emitters. The optics are roughly interchangable, and their 6 degree narrow lens appears to be just the ticket for what we'd want. Carclo doesn't seem to have any US resellers, though, at the moment, for these parts.

Both setups are around $20 - $25 for the optics for the emitters. Luxeon V stars or emitters are in the $30 - $40 range each, so figure on $120-ish for a set of lights/lenses to pack into the head.

The flux is 120 lumens per Luxeon V, so three ought to outperform a halogen by a long shot (and the commercial Tektite, using three Luxeon III emitters, does indeed make halogen lights look very shabby.)

The two issues to deal with then become mounting - the Luxeons need good heat sinking, which, in this case, would mean a nice, low thermal resistance path to the aluminum body of a maglite head. I haven't figured out how to solve that one, yet, with something that I'd consider acceptable.

The other issue is getting a power source to drive them nicely. It'd take 2.1 amps from a constant current source to drive all three in parallel. Obviously, a resistor is a dumb choice, as it'd waste a lot of heat and battery life, as well as not really solve the problem properly. There are no good commercial pucks for this purpose, so you'd have to put together your own switching power supply. It's not rocket science, but I've had more pressing projects on my agenda that need work, so I've put it off.

I suppose you drive each emitter from a separate commercially available boost puck (or whatever they're called), paralleling the _inputs_ for the pucks, but they're about $40 each, and much larger than a properly designed single unit would be. I'd mount the power supply in the handle and just feed the standard 12V to the head.

So, yeah, I've looked at it, but it's kind of low on the project list at the moment for me, especially since the light output is inferior to HID systems, with much engineering required on my part for a satisfactory experience.

On the plus side, bulb (emitter) life is outstanding, although the Luxeon V modules are shorter lived than their lower watt cousins. Color is excellent, in the same temp range as HID lights, and you absolutely cannot beat an LED system for ruggedness.

Reliability is probably up there with HID, as both of them really require a simple switching power supply to operate. Given the absence of high voltage in an LED supply, I might actually rate it somewhat higher than HID reliability (not including the fact that the LED "bulbs" are a heck of a lot more rugged.

 

[Fishlips_1]

Hello all,
After reading this whole thread, it seems no one has boiled water in a thin plastic cup in a fire. (7th grade science) you can also boil water in a paper cup. So, unless your bulb is hotter than fire, or you evaporate the whole body of water you are diving in. I can't see any problem with distortion. Maybe implosion if it is not thick enough.\
Just a thought,
Joe
P.S.
I'm really looking forward to building this DIY project!

 

[dwright]

Just a note on Luxeon V...I have been tinkering with different configurations for a while. I suppose making HID lights just wasn't exciting enough The Lux V only has a 1000 hr life expectancy where the lux 3 (80 lumens) has a 10,000 hr life expectancy. Now I know that 1000 hrs is a fair bit, but considering that 3 lux 3's put out 240 lumens at 10 times the life, I think the 3 watt is a better choice plus they only cost around $10 per unit. I'll have pics of the lates light head using the lux 3 soon.

 

[darylm74]

Just a note on Luxeon V...I have been tinkering with different configurations for a while. I suppose making HID lights just wasn't exciting enough The Lux V only has a 1000 hr life expectancy where the lux 3 (80 lumens) has a 10,000 hr life expectancy. Now I know that 1000 hrs is a fair bit, but considering that 3 lux 3's put out 240 lumens at 10 times the life, I think the 3 watt is a better choice plus they only cost around $10 per unit. I'll have pics of the lates light head using the lux 3 soon.

I can't wait to see the pictures of the HO LED light. I have slowly been gathering parts and so forth to start working on one. But then again I'll actually have to have the time to put it together.

 

[Scubacastor]

Hi guys,

with some work, you can switch from a regular UK C4 light to a 3xLuxeon III bulb. I've made this kind of work and found after (ie with regulation board and round heatsink) that I had enough space to put an additionnal laser diode

http://eocean.free.fr/voyager/c05/castorled.jpg

I will probably put some plans in a near future.