Makita LXT with Dual Tri-Rebel head

[CameronReddy]

I've got some stuff in my cart at the SS but I'm not sure of what I need. I've tried to study the threads but get overwhelmed... Read my signature. :thinking:

I want a ceiling fixture that will flood my workbench with light... and I'd like to get a portable system.

Ultimately, once I get the hang of things, I would like to put LEDs in fixtures all over the house.

So, any help on a parts lists and directions for the electrically challenged would be a BIG selling point!

Cameron Reddy

 

[dat2zip]

Guys,

What has been shown to date has been protos. Not everything is on the shoppe yet. The new driver board and the box are not ready.

In a week or so I will have more parts and will try to put together a parts list or guidance guide to help answer some of your questions.

The two main components are the Makita Dock and secondarily the box. The Makita Dock is online. The box is still in the works.

Without the electronics possibilities are limited and the electronics takes a long time to develop.

Here's a CAD rendering of the top of the box. The top of the box will have holes for two locline stalks. You don't have to use them if you don't want. A plug can be inserted and new holes can be made elsewhere.

Wayne

 

[dat2zip]

A basic list of components would be:

Makita Dock

Irakongi box

Irakongi converter board

locline components

two PRCans

4 #6 X 3/16" sheet metal screws.

4 $6 X 5/8" machine screw

4 #6 washers

4 #6 nuts

LEDs

custom heat sink(s)

patience

Wayne


PS. This list represents the basics. There are other options, methods and configurations which would alter the basic list.

 

[Weylan]

Would you have the Irakongi box without holes so we can size use it as a base?

I am looking to have a base for a portable room light and I need to make my own holes. I only need 3 in the top part. 1 for the switch, 1 for the pass through for the wires and 1 for a status LED. The hole for the status LED I have not decided if I want to use yet though.

 

[dat2zip]

Would you have the Irakongi box without holes so we can size use it as a base?

I am looking to have a base for a portable room light and I need to make my own holes. I only need 3 in the top part. 1 for the switch, 1 for the pass through for the wires and 1 for a status LED. The hole for the status LED I have not decided if I want to use yet though.

I got my box at polycase.com and the box I'm using is the LP41F. There are other boxes that are smaller that will still fit on top of the Makita Dock if the LP41F series is too big. There are good price and I initially ordered a couple of these and couple of those etc to get a feel for the different boxes and styles.

The other box in the first post I got at Mouser.com.


There are metal boxes as well that you can take a look into.

Wayne

 

[dat2zip]

To make the holes in the bottom of the box mate with the Makita Dock you can clamp the bottom of the case to the Makita Dock and then drill through the Makita Dock to make the holes in the case.

You can measure, mill, drill and I'm sure there are many other ways to do it. Just offering some insite that Don shared with me.

The main Power hole in the Makita Dock can be tapped so the Locline screws into the Makita Dock. From there you can mount a box with your switch and other stuff and have another Locline or lamp attached from there.

Wayne

 

[Nebula]

Wayne - can your design be made to work with the 18V Lithium battery packs used in the new Ryobi tools? I ask because I really want one of your work lights, but don't want to invest in the Makita battery/charger combo.

Thanks,

Kirk

 

[McGizmo]

That is a cool looking rig there! :thumbsup:

I think the only limitations to the Makita dock are those imposed by one's imagination.

I have one idea brewing where I plan to use a portion of a Cree bar as host to driver as well as a heat sink for driver and LED. A short section of the CreeBar will mate easily to the Makita Dock and then an aluminum plate on top will finish off the piece.

 

[dat2zip]

Wayne - can your design be made to work with the 18V Lithium battery packs used in the new Ryobi tools? I ask because I really want one of your work lights, but don't want to invest in the Makita battery/charger combo.

Thanks,

Kirk

From what I can tell every battery is different and would require a mating dock interface.

Wayne

 

[dat2zip]

There are many ideas in approach of mounting various components.

One dilemma is the physical head to mount the LEDs. A simple low cost solution would be to mount an aluminum U channel to the end of the locline. Since U channel could be formed from sheet metal stock or purchased pre-formed at the local hardware store it could be a real simple solution.

I would put a hole in the middle back to mount the locline and potentially mount two LEDs (one on either side of the mount hole) inside the U channel and then mount finned heat sinks on the backside of the U channel to provide the thermal relief for the LEDs.

Wayne

 

[maxspeeds]

This is an awesome soldering station light!:twothumbs

 

[donn_]

It's a fascinating exercise, although I wonder why you'd use battery power and a hot light source for microscopy. Presumably the scope is indoors and AC is available. Same with soldering stations. While they are pretty spendy, there are quite a few existing options using fiber-optic cool light, like these: http://www.tedpella.com/lights_html/Motic-MLC-150C.htm I'd like to see a twist on this design which uses an 18" gooseneck and an LED head, with a magnetic base and a ~5' pigtail ending in alligator clips, for use in automotive and marine engine compartments.

 

[trout]

Hi I stumbled on this post from a post on the taskled forum with the help of weylan, thanks mate , and the makita adaptor is the answer to my problem.

I have just bought a makita drill with the li ion batteries and was looking into using them also for my bike lights but have been pondering how to make a connector for the battery and this is just what I need .

so much so I have ordered 6 , as I want 2 for bike lights , 1 for a work light , 1 for a super power torch and 1 for a camping lantern plus a spare for any think that crops up in the future..

now I need some advise .
Is there enough space or potential to house a Taskled Nflex some where inside the adaptor also I would like to put 2 sockets there as well to plug in the remote light heads .
that is all for now more questions will follow later im sure
thanks Trout

 

[McGizmo]

trout,
Although I haven't gone through with it, I determined that there was sufficient "dead" space to host both a converter and clickie switch in the dock itself. I don't know about your application as I am not familiar with the converter or its physical requirements.

 

[Alan B]

Great battery adapter!

New question for this old thread. Just got some of these batteries and am considering some projects with this battery adapter. Do these batteries have an internal cutoff low voltage disconnect? Or must that be part of the project?

Would not want to over discharge a $75 battery!

 

[dat2zip]

I am not aware of any internal cutoff. You will need to monitor this and prevent over discharging. The uP board I made for the box monitors the battery voltage to drive a bi-color LED providing GRN, Yellow and Red for battery status indication.

What are you planning on making?

Shoot me an email.

Wayne

 

[Alan B]

OK. Thanks.

Will post something when it is further along.

 

[Alan B]

I am not aware of any internal cutoff. You will need to monitor this and prevent over discharging. The uP board I made for the box monitors the battery voltage to drive a bi-color LED providing GRN, Yellow and Red for battery status indication.
...
Wayne

I've been doing further research on these Makita LXT packs. As Wayne indicated they apparently don't have low voltage disconnect built in. They do appear to have a 7 amp thermal self-resetting circuit breaker that also interrupts current at high battery temperature. They also have a memory that communicates with the charger but it seems to only relate to the charger. The tools have individual low voltage cutoffs. One source mentioned this was adjustable inside the tool.

Several sources mentioned that the Makita charger does not do balancing and that these cells don't require it. If anyone has a dead Makita battery I'd like to take one apart to verify this and see what else can be learned. Perhaps a separate thread should exist for documenting this interesting power source.

So at 18 volts you can get up to 126 watts with 7 amps of current draw from this battery pack, and an external low voltage disconnect is required. The low voltage should be 15 volts or more, 3.0 volts per cell (these are reportedly 5S2P Sony Konion LiMN cells).

More than enough for most projects...