Question about LEDs

[Packhorse]

I have some C's rated at 3500mah D's 7000mah but seen 9000,10000 and 12000 although I do find 12000 hard to believe and F size 13000mah. F's are are long D.

One of the biggest issues with batteries is what size/shape can they will fit in.
Its OK if you lathe up your own can but if like me you make one out of PVC tube you are limited in sizes.
eg C's will fit in 65mm tube where Ds and Fs will fit in a 80mm tube.

Using 4 D 7000mah cells I expect 2- 2 1/4 hours burn time. That should be more than enough for a days diving unless I spend the whole dive in a cave/wreck.

 

[350xfire]

What I wanted to do was to use 8AA batteries in a series parallel configuration. This way I can use a D Mag Lite and make it a hand held light. I figure I can make the 2x4 AA battery packs easily separable and charge individually. I should be able to get close to 2 hours burn out of this battery pack. Right now, I am Intro Cave and my dives last about 1 hour, so should be plenty. May be later build a can.

Hey, is there any way to use the piezo switch I mentioned above? Also, is there a tempered glass lens replacement for MagLite or just use any glass lens?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Packhorse]

I used 2x 1.8mm tempered glass lenses and they survived 60m in a pot.

As I said before dont parallel NiMH or NiCDs unless you will be charging them as independant cells.

You may also run into problems storing paralleled cells. Im not sure.

I think for a hand held you would be better using 2 D size 5 ah Li Ions in EDIT PARALLEL. you will get upto 4 hours if you direct drive the P7

 

[Packhorse]

The finished product.

 

[350xfire]

Looks good... What size is your canister? Did you end up putting 4-D cells in there? Where do you get the high mAh cells?

You said to run 2D cells. Ithought I needed 3.7-4V. D cells are 1.2 giving 2.4 total. Will this work?
Thanks

 

[Packhorse]

Its 80 mm diameter and 160mm long. 4 D nimh 7000mah. It could be shorter.

Dsize Li Ions are 3.7v 5000mah
Try Batteryspace.com batteryjunction.com or dealextreme.com

 

[350xfire]

Packhorse, I am not quite sure how your canister lids are help together, please explain. Also, is that just PVC or something else?
Thanks

 

[Packhorse]

Its storm water PVC pipe with end caps glued on. It is totally sealed and the only hole is the one for the cable gland. To charge it I need to remove the end cap from the light head.

My only concern with this set up is if the batteries off gas. If I had only used 1 cable gland I could just loosen it off to allow it to vent but I didnt. If I do suspect a build up of gas I will tap a hole and put a 1st stage port blank in to I can vent it by removing that.

At the moment I use a very slow charger so the chances of venting are minimal.

If I need to access the internals of the can I simply cut off the bottom end cap and then glue on a new one.

My last can was of a similar design.

 

[350xfire]

OK, makes sense, it looked sealed to me.
Thanks

 

[350xfire]

packhorse, I just got my driver boards from Kaidomain. I was wondering, how in the world did you solder onto those? I can barely see where the wires need to go... On the website, they seem pretty big. I have never done such precision soldering and was wondering what to use and how?
Thanks again.