100 Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

[jayrob]

Version 2 here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/100-watt-led-version-2-a-97805.html




So I saw a Youtube video of a guy that made a flashlight out of one these 100W LED's you can get on Ebay for about 5 or 10 bucks...

These things fit perfectly onto a computer CPU heatsink with fan and it's the perfect cooling for it.

Super flood turns night into day. I think these things are made for parking lots, etc...

The Youtube build I saw was awesome, but there was one thing that I didn't like about his...

He used a round pack of Li-Ion's that definitely blocked the air flow through the tube, which would not be good cooling, and it would also hurt the fan...






So...

Since I already had a CPU heatsink with 12 volt fan, plus various other supplies laying around, I set out to make myself something similar but with a LiPo pack which would lay flat inside and allow plenty of air flow.

Here's a short video demonstration showing air flow through the tube:

Lipo pack:

My build is designed around this battery which I already have a nice balance charger for my other Lipo cells I have for my RC heli's...





All parts can be picked up for very cheap! (except the battery - that's the only real expense. I paid $60 for the battery)

I molded some easy to make battery mounting plates with some of that 2 part marine putty...

Details:

That large boost driver was only 13 bucks. It has Voltage adjustment as well as Amperage. So you can dial your LED in perfectly.

The LED needs 36 Volts and 3 Amps. My Lipo cell draws about 7.8 Amps at full charge in order to boost to 36 Volts at 3 Amps...

The smaller driver is a buck driver for the 12 Volt fan. It only cost about 5 bucks. The fan only draws about 380mA.

I have a voltage monitor on there as well but that only draws about 7mA's.

Battery voltage monitor color code:

Bright blue - Full charge
Cyan - Very good
Green - Good
Yellow/Amber - Low warning
Red - Batteries low






My total current draw for everything is 8.2 Amps at full charge.

Balance charge plug out the back, and charge plug out the front...

Handle mounted perfectly balanced... (total weight - 5.4 lbs.)

Night turns into day!

Got a second lens so I could experiment with sanding the back side...

Wet sanding did not work too well so I put a very light etch with my sand blaster:

The yellow ring is now gone... (Spot on the wall at 4' distance)

Stock lens:

Etched lens:

Click here to see my list of projects and tutorials!

 

[SyKo]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Did you try running the LED at a much lower power near its threshold to check if all of the individual strips of LED's lit up?

I've seen alot where these eBay 100W cells often have a heap of LED's in them that a re duds and people sometimes even get shipped ones that only pull 10W.

Either way i am sure you could mount two of these to a bicycle + a loud horn, creep up behind cars at night then flick them both on and sound the horn to scare the crap out of people :eg:

 

[jayrob]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Did you try running the LED at a much lower power near its threshold to check if all of the individual strips of LED's lit up?

I've seen alot where these eBay 100W cells often have a heap of LED's in them that a re duds and people sometimes even get shipped ones that only pull 10W.

Either way i am sure you could mount two of these to a bicycle + a loud horn, creep up behind cars at night then flick them both on and sound the horn to scare the crap out of people :eg:

Yes I did that and it did not matter much because we're talking just at the threshold of them barely coming on and at minimal mA's they all light up.

There's very slight efficiency difference in all LED's and laser diodes as well...

 

[RedCowboy]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Very nice, I have that same led and lens but have not mounted it in a portable yet, it does make some heat though.

I like your build, my PS wont go to 36v but at 31v it draws 2.5a and makes plenty of light and heat, a lot of heat!

It is a lot brighter than it looks, it's shunting the camera.

These are rated at 100w input, I wonder what the light output is? Maybe 50 watts light and 50 watts of heat?

 

[jayrob]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Very nice, I have that same led and lens but have not mounted it in a portable yet, it does make some heat though.

I like your build, my PS wont go to 36v but at 31v it draws 2.5a and makes plenty of light and heat, a lot of heat!

It is a lot brighter than it looks, it's shunting the camera.

These are rated at 100w input, I wonder what the light output is? Maybe 50 watts light and 50 watts of heat?

Yeah it will get hot fast without the CPU heatsink with fan...

This build will run continuous and not get hot.

 

[Cyparagon]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

The ones I've played with have very poor thermal conductivity to case. The dies run at 150C even though the case is ~35C. Do you have an IR thermometer with which to measure the die face?

at minimal mA's they all light up.

That's good. Since the cheap 100W LEDs are hit-and-miss, would you mind sharing the particular seller you bought from?

 

[Benm]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

These are rated at 100w input, I wonder what the light output is? Maybe 50 watts light and 50 watts of heat?

Probably more like 80 watts of heat and 20 watts of light if they are really good LEDs. 20% efficiency doesnt sound that good, but it's still 10 times better compared to your average tungsgten lightbulb and about 5 times better than a good halogen lamp.

100 lumen/watt is quite efficient if it's actually the true value at full power, but i doubt that is is. At 100% quantum efficiency it could be 250 lm/watt with a blackbody (i.e. continous) spectrum, i'd count on 80 lm/watt in practical application at best though.

 

[Pman]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Very nice as always. I also would like to see the links to the driver and LED. How does the brightness compare to the HID you built? Of course for all I know you have a bunch of those. I think it was a 75 or 80W that you mode in some way.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Really cool build. Looks like you're flooding the target with light, any way to collimate the light beam?

 

[Pman]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Jay can always find a way Nothing wrong with a big flood light though.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Nope, nothing wrong with that at all just thought a giant 20-50W beam of pure collimated white light would look pretty damn cool!

 

[jayrob]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Hey guys thanks for the thoughts and input...

Yes it's probably more like 8500 lumens but the rating on the LED is 10,000 lumens.

Here's the seller:
eBay Feedback Profile for happydeer88

Edit: The latest one I got from here is top notch:
http://stores.ebay.com/tubelight?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

LED driver I used: (it came with a large heatsink that I had to modify in order for it to fit the 4" tube as I stacked it on top of my Lipo cell)
DC DC 600W 10 60V to 12 80V Boost Converter Step Up Module Car Power Supply Oy | eBay

Fan driver:
DC DC 5V 36V to 3 3V 6V 12V 24V 5A Buck Step Down Converter Module Car Voltage | eBay

Collimating? Hmmm... Not sure if it can be done but I'm open to suggestions...

But it's wide output is actually very nice! Not a spot at all. Not at all like an HID which is a really tight spot with long throw.

One thing I'm going to experiment with is getting rid of the yellow ring around the outside of the flood.

I have a nice sand blasting cabinet and I think some blasting on the back side of the glass lens will do the trick.

Just don't know if a little around the edges, or all the way across is needed.

Anybody know?

In any case I did order another lens today just so I can experiment...

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Jay -- you rat ---
I had to order one to play with as if I don't have other stuff !!!!
Thanks -- HMike

 

[vortish]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

jay

a bit of feed back and I am not a expert like you but could you push the led harder if you used teks or pelter coolers to try and get some of that heat down. I know about these leds as they are used in shop lights a lot and they put out enough heat to burn you bad if they are on long enough. Second why not cut angled slots in the case to allow some of that heat out as it works its way down just a thought! Lastly the one that I saw made on youboob is made out of angled aluminium tube and uses a 12 volt or some thing like that battery its a big square thing and computer heat sink. i like your design better. any way those are my thoughts

 

[jayrob]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Jay -- you rat ---
I had to order one to play with as if I don't have other stuff !!!!
Thanks -- HMike

Lol! Fun project...

jay

a bit of feed back and I am not a expert like you but could you push the led harder if you used teks or pelter coolers to try and get some of that heat down. I know about these leds as they are used in shop lights a lot and they put out enough heat to burn you bad if they are on long enough. Second why not cut angled slots in the case to allow some of that heat out as it works its way down just a thought! Lastly the one that I saw made on youboob is made out of angled aluminium tube and uses a 12 volt or some thing like that battery its a big square thing and computer heat sink. i like your design better. any way those are my thoughts

Actually the CPU heatsink and fan keep it just comfortable... (IMO)

About the extra slots you mention. I did think of that and was planning on cutting some extra slots until I got it together for testing and found that it has excellent air flow through the tube...

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Re: 100Watt 10,000 Lumen LED 'DayMaker' Flashlight Build

Based on that picture, and playing with lights a lot more than lasers past couple of years, if you didn't change exposure settings, probably more like 6000 lumens, which is still a lot.

Just don't know if a little around the edges, or all the way across is needed.

Usually the lenses are done all the way across. Can't think of a single light that has just the edges done. Might want to try diffuser film instead, I got a bit a long while back from Vinh... not sure where he gets it from.