rhd
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The "Ginormous Bug Eye" - 100W LED Build
This is a (silly) build that would surely make any CPFer cry. Not because they'd be impressed, but because laugh so hard they'd fall off their chair. This may not be the most practical thing I've ever built, but for a 30-minute project, it was one of the most fun
For a long time I've had one of those 100W LED emitter plates kicking around. I never really had an application for it.
With such a giant emitting surface, it's not an ideal candidate for a flashlight. Nor is its ~32 to 35V @ 3A power requirement the most practical for a portable. So after tossing around a bunch of creative driving ideas, I finally came to the conclusion that using this 100W emitter really wasn't something I wanted to pour a weekend of build time into. Instead, I decided to get creative with it!
I had a neat 4xAA host that fit the emitter and a glass lens (72mm in diameter) just perfectly. Hitting the 32V input requirement was a bit of a challenge. I tossed around the idea of using a bunch of tiny LiPo packs, until eventually it hit me - 8x 14250 cells! No modification of the battery carrier was required. Granted, these 14250s in series can't provide 3A, but they can push a little under 2A. In my experience, cheap chinese LED emitters produce about 90% of their full output, when they're at about 50% of their full current (that last 10% bump that you get from doubling their current is often just a gimmick to get the plates the highest possible power rating). So I went direct-drive from 8x 14250 cells, and thus was born this little tiny monster.
To put the brightness in perspective, it appeared about half as bright as my Quad-SST-90 (which I recently sold).
I will probably never use this flashlight for anything practical. For one, it's so g**d**m top heavy, and it really likes to roll. That is one giant piece of glass on the top. But more crucially, it really sucks to recharge 8x 14250 cells, especially when you have to use a single-channel Nano lithium ion charger.
Side-note: One of the neat bi-products of this project, was the realization that I needed a better charging solution for multiple-lithium-ions at once. That prompted me to spend some time designing this, a 24 channel current selectable (via dip-switch, probably 500mA and 100m) lithium ion charger. PCBs are en-route It requires an external 5V 12A power supply, but luckily those are fairly readily available.
This is a (silly) build that would surely make any CPFer cry. Not because they'd be impressed, but because laugh so hard they'd fall off their chair. This may not be the most practical thing I've ever built, but for a 30-minute project, it was one of the most fun
For a long time I've had one of those 100W LED emitter plates kicking around. I never really had an application for it. With such a giant emitting surface, it's not an ideal candidate for a flashlight. Nor is its ~32 to 35V @ 3A power requirement the most practical for a portable. So after tossing around a bunch of creative driving ideas, I finally came to the conclusion that using this 100W emitter really wasn't something I wanted to pour a weekend of build time into. Instead, I decided to get creative with it!
I had a neat 4xAA host that fit the emitter and a glass lens (72mm in diameter) just perfectly. Hitting the 32V input requirement was a bit of a challenge. I tossed around the idea of using a bunch of tiny LiPo packs, until eventually it hit me - 8x 14250 cells! No modification of the battery carrier was required. Granted, these 14250s in series can't provide 3A, but they can push a little under 2A. In my experience, cheap chinese LED emitters produce about 90% of their full output, when they're at about 50% of their full current (that last 10% bump that you get from doubling their current is often just a gimmick to get the plates the highest possible power rating). So I went direct-drive from 8x 14250 cells, and thus was born this little tiny monster.
To put the brightness in perspective, it appeared about half as bright as my Quad-SST-90 (which I recently sold).
I will probably never use this flashlight for anything practical. For one, it's so g**d**m top heavy, and it really likes to roll. That is one giant piece of glass on the top. But more crucially, it really sucks to recharge 8x 14250 cells, especially when you have to use a single-channel Nano lithium ion charger.
Side-note: One of the neat bi-products of this project, was the realization that I needed a better charging solution for multiple-lithium-ions at once. That prompted me to spend some time designing this, a 24 channel current selectable (via dip-switch, probably 500mA and 100m) lithium ion charger. PCBs are en-route
It requires an external 5V 12A power supply, but luckily those are fairly readily available.
