Project Log: DIY Canister light

[ucfdiver]

Um, my 3W led blows away my 8W halogen light. Its brighter, has whiter light, same beam, runs cooler, will last forever, and doesn't eat batteries. How are they behind Halogen?

Agreed. I've spent a good 20-30 hours of research on this, and LED seems the best way to go, with HID a close second (and making a good argument for first depending on your goals).

 

[Plumb bob]

Um, my 3W led blows away my 8W halogen light. Its brighter, has whiter light, same beam, runs cooler, will last forever, and doesn't eat batteries. How are they behind Halogen?

Are you driving it with 12V or 14.4 or more? Just saying it blows it away without reference to power input etc.. says nothing.

Yes Halo is old tech, but it works, it's simple, it'll throw a lot of light and it's easy to find replacement bulbs.

Sheesh I feel like a luddite.. but for the record I will definitely go with LED when it's just that bit better than it is now..

I'm currently working on an HID can light that'll take LED MR11s eventually..

 

[ucfdiver]

Are you driving it with 12V or 14.4 or more? Just saying it blows it away without reference to power input etc.. says nothing.

Yes Halo is old tech, but it works, it's simple, it'll throw a lot of light and it's easy to find replacement bulbs.

Sheesh I feel like a luddite.. but for the record I will definitely go with LED when it's just that bit better than it is now..

I'm currently working on an HID can light that'll take LED MR11s eventually..

Those LEDs reach peak brightness at around 6v to my understanding.

 

[Plumb bob]

I was referring to what was driving his 8w halo, as the voltage that is driving it makes a huge difference to the output. comparing a 12v 8w halo to a 3w LED isn't what I was talking about and is irrelevant to this discussion as I was talking about 35w at 14.4 volts. I'll say it again if you want alot of light and your not worried about all the other things that LED has to offer, at this stage an overdriven halo will leave an LED in the dark, so to speak.

But yes the reliability and power consumption side of things leaves halos for dead and hopefully in the near future there will be a well focussed equivalent to use instead of HID or halo.

 

[marchand]

Are you driving it with 12V or 14.4 or more? Just saying it blows it away without reference to power input etc.. says nothing.

Yes Halo is old tech, but it works, it's simple, it'll throw a lot of light and it's easy to find replacement bulbs.

Sheesh I feel like a luddite.. but for the record I will definitely go with LED when it's just that bit better than it is now..

I'm currently working on an HID can light that'll take LED MR11s eventually..

I did reference power input. Watts = power. I can take one of my LED's and hook it up to 12V of 6V and it will still use the same # of watts because the driver steps down the voltage and ups the amperage. The brightness also doesn't change.

Both the LED and the Halogen light were running on 9V.

Sure, halogen can throw a lot of light, but you have to have big batteries if you want to throw that light for any substantial amount of time.

LED's are simple also, the ones I have are literally plug and play.

 

[Plumb bob]

Trouble is your not making fair comparisons, an LED running at 6v or similiar is running at it's optimal voltage, a halo running at 9v is way below it's optimal input.

You try running the halo at a higher voltage and you will see what I mean.

 

[marchand]

So, your saying that my UK SL6 bulb's optimal voltage is not what it was designed to be? If I tried running it at a higher voltage all I would see is a bright flash as the filament melts; trust me, I've tried it.

So yes, I am making a fair comparison. Both of the halogen lights I used were running at optimal voltage and the LED was running at a voltage within the optimal range. (The LED modules were designed as a replacement for SureFire® flashlights, and make the light output much greater than the original halogen lamp.)

 

[Plumb bob]

Please look at my original post I am not talking about tiny little xenon/tungsten bulbs I am talking about well made mr 16 globes in the 35-50w range.

 

[divinginn]

I have been playing with a halogen light,37 watt ir bulb overdriven to 18 volts,it puts out more light than I would ever need at that voltage it should be putting out over 50 watts of very white light,the big problem I have been having is burn time,with 4 amp sla batterys I only get 30 minutes of burn. I dropped down to a 20 watt bulb@18 volt the results are better at about 90 minutes with a very bright light,less power than the 37 watt bulb but still plenty bright. I am trying to stay away from high dollar batt. packs and led-hid light systems until I have faith in my cannister and light head to not develop leaks and flood. I think I am going to try some high powered leds for power consumption factor, 9 watts verses about 30 watts for the halogen but I doubt the leds will out shine or out throw the overdriven halogen but it will take a 18 volt 10 amp battery pack on the halogen to get the burntime I am after.

 

[marchand]

Have you looked at the new Salvo Rebel LED lights?

I can get 1800lm with 6º divergence out of 21W's and my bulbs will last forever. It takes you 35W to get the same output with an 8º divergence and you have to periodically replace your bulbs. And unlike your halogens, my LED's aren't going to dim as the battery gets used. In my mind there is no comparison, LED's are more efficient and cost less in the long run.