head lamp 2000+ lumen's the brighter the better - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: upsidedownorangejuice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 03:34:24 am
content: 2000+ lumen's the brighter the betterbeen trying to figure out how some one would build a 2000+lumen head lamp off a battery supply i do know that it will cost a lot to build im just not sure where to get started i've come across 3.5 volt leds that suit the job and the 5000 lumen ones that require 45 volt (wt?) and around 50 wattsso yea no clue even some one pointing me in the right direction would be awesomethe battery can be mounted on a waist harness but head mounted would be best and it will be used in tough environment (caves) and i know how im going to water proof it all ready and i will get a heat sink made for it custom through friends

author: ddavidebor
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 05:15:01 am
content: You're going to cook your head

author: upsidedownorangejuice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 05:22:56 am
content: no not reallyfound a head lamp with 1200 lumens + helmet 1500$ seriously out of my price rangei would kill to own it though.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 06:19:12 am
content: I had a play with a better grade version of this module last week, that has a 5Km range (I can't show it ) -smalite.en.alibaba.com/product/486721316-213396946/30W_high_power_LED_Array_compositive_integrate_LEDS.htmlDoing more testing Friday. This one seems to have your perfect Voltage range, there's probably a few variants out there.

author: upsidedownorangejuice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 08:19:37 am
content: thanks this look about right how hard would it be to make that a led driver with pwm for diming

author: M. András
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 08:35:11 am
content: http://www.ti.com/product/lm3423i just leave this hereyour problem would be getting suitable lithium cells which will last long enough and wont weight 10kg for the runtime at max output

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 08:51:19 am
content: 2000 lumens though? Go on, you want morehttp://dx.com/p/prime-100w-8000lm-led-emitter-metal-plate-pure-white-42806Actually, many thousands of lumens maybe an issue for moving through caves. You don't want to accidentally induce temporary blindness in others around you.Go with one of those 1-3A 20-35V led arrays, couple it with a CPU heatsink/fan and run it from a multi-cell lithium battery pack. (perhaps two RC lipos in series)Using 20-35V led arrays gets around the problem of switching/supplying large currentsCharging multi-cell lipo can be an issue for more than 8 cell packs.Maybe you could use two 6S packs in series for operation and parallel for charging.These 6S are smallish and would workhttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__20962__Turnigy_1300mAh_6S_25C_Lipo_Pack_450_helicopter_HK_Trex_Rave_E4_etc_.html

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 09:03:48 am
content: Yes, you want Lithiums for weight. Easiest is to go higher voltage and pick up say a MPPT controller from ebay.These usually have pretty high efficiency, ones we use are 98%+ (Too expensive and large for what you need).Or lower Voltage and one of those CC Led drivers, as suggested.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 09:08:35 am
content: Quote from: Psi on April 17, 2013, 08:51:19 amI just built pretty much the exact thing you just described, a big old flashlight as an "enclosure" some pipe fittings to mount a lens on (screw/unscrew to focus), a CPU heatsink, a 12v boost converter/driver, a pair of 17-45v input 12v output dc-dc converters, a wide variety of RC lipos, a high current lipo LVCO and a 100W LED. Weighs a ton, but if you focus it close and put stuff in front of it it ignites. I assume the DC-DC converter is reasonably efficient as the airflow from the 80mm fan on the CPU cooler is sufficient to keep them cool.Oh, also, psi, i went through HK and found the best Wh/$ are thesehttp://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15521__Turnigy_5000mAh_4S1P_14_8v_20C_hardcase_pack.html74Wh, $22.60 = 3.2Wh/$The ones you linked are 28.86Wh, $20.20, making them 1.45 Wh/$Sure they're smaller and higher voltage, but the voltage doesn't matter since you're going to have to boost it and CC it to power anything more than a 15W LED, and smaller is only a slight advantage because the rest of the flashlight is freaking huge so the battery doesn't matter much by comparison.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 09:13:35 am
content: Yeah, CPU coolers are able to get rid of a lots of heat.Most CPUs are in the 60-90W range so stock heatsinks can handle that no trouble.Overclocking heatsinks can handle 150W+

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 09:24:06 am
content: Quote from: Psi on April 17, 2013, 09:13:35 amYeah, i bought a bulk lot of old AMD cpu heatsinks, $3 each including fan, free shipping, sure, they may only be designed to cool a 60-90w cpu, but since these are in open air, and the thermal restrictions on a LED are a little less than a CPU it's not too bad.

author: upsidedownorangejuice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 11:23:49 am
content: shl clarify this is side mounted to a lower power led as my normal led tis is the big boy for lighting up massive pitches and high riftsi reall agree with going crazywith the lumens

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 08:45:33 pm
content: I can't imagine it would make sense to build this yourself. I bought some bicycle lights on DealExtreme, eBay and Amazon. The work is all already done for you... just plug it in and go. And they are cheap. Really cheap.http://www.ebay.com/itm/SolarStorm-5000-Lm-2-x-CREE-XM-L-U2-LED-Bicycle-bike-HeadLight-Lamp-Flashlight-/400444055601?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3c536031http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Light-and-Headlight-Cree-XM-L-T6-3-x-LED-4200-Lumens-4-Mode-6400-mah-/140955730381?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d19dc1cdhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/4000Lm-3x-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Bicycle-Bike-HeadLight-Headlamp-Light-/310651519990?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48544603f6http://www.amazon.com/Headlight-Bicycle-HeadLamp-Charger-Included/dp/B007IOWQQC/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1366231272&sr=8-27&keywords=bicycle+headlightThey claim 4000-5000 lumens for $30-60 - including battery and head strap. I have the older generation (3 of them) on my bike, and one on my head and it is at least 2-3 times brighter than car headlights.The battery life is maybe a couple of hours... so depending on how long you need, you could buy extra batteries and build them into a belt system.These lights get pretty warm - not to where you'd burn yourself, but any LED setup cranking out ~2,000+ lumens is going to generate substantial head.

author: upsidedownorangejuice
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 17, 2013, 10:04:35 pm
content: heat is not to much of a biggie as it would be mounted on a helmet nice and