My little 10Watt HID MONSTER

[Ra]

So, how long from dream to completion on this bad boy??


Im guessin considerably under a year, right?

In fact its over a year! The design was already taking shape more than a year ago, but the hard part is finding a reflector accurate enough for this project.
The manufacturing of the little beast took about two months.

The reflector was the most difficult to make, its made out of very hard ceramic material. The ballast and lamp I grabbed out of a UK Light Canon 100. The 18650 cells from Ebay.

The best I can come up with to compare it to is a pistol-grip halogen torch I modified a few years ago: a 6volt 30watt projection bulb is overdriven at 7.2 volts. This torch puts out 225,000 beam CP (calibrated measurement.)
I'll make some beamshots if I can find the time today.

Laterrr.

 

[vortechs]

Wow! :goodjob:

 

[Ra]

More Beamshots...

Later tonight I'll come up with beamshots taken in the field, but for now:

And...

Looks like one of the nebulae in space....doesn't it??

And for surface brightness:

Ra.

 

[Delvance]

Ra,

Once again, just art.

(pppsss hehe...hrmmm *wakes up* damn!)

 

[M.TEX]

Ummmmm I Would like to buy one.....

Put me on the list.

M.TEX

 

[Mike Painter]

Beautiful. The size and burn time make me drool. I'd like a rugged version that gave up on precision for strenght that I could carry with me as a volunteer firefighter/EMT.
A snap on for wide angle/closer work would make it perfect.
And while the black is beautiful a bright orange or yellow would make it easier to find if dropped on a job...
(And a $24.98 price tag while I dream...)

 

[tonyd]

Very impressive. You really have a great design talent. I'm sure a limited run of these lights would sell instantly. Great work:goodjob:

 

[monkeyboy]

Nice work once again :goodjob:

I think this is an excellent choice of battery configuration. What sort of runtimes do you get with the 3x 2400mah 18650s? Did you know they make 2600s?

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2763

 

[Ra]

Well Monkeyboy, it runs just over two hours on one charge.

And ...I din't know about the 2600 mAh cells... I'm going to order a few of them! Thanks for the tip.

Regards,

Ra

 

[bombelman]

This might get me into HID's....

What is the host, and was the switch a Mod, or Standard ?

Cheers !!

 

[Ra]

Sorry bombelman..

There is no host, its my own design, with the help of a friend who machined most of the parts.

The switch is a combination of a reed-sensor and two relays. The relays need to cope with high peak currents at startup.

A little magnet embedded in the green ring triggers the reed-sensor from outside through the aluminium: Completely waterproof !!

The relays are not visible on the drawing, but they are located around the reflector.

Groet..

Ra.

 

[windstrings]

The best I can come up with to compare it to is a pistol-grip halogen torch I modified a few years ago: a 6volt 30watt projection bulb is overdriven at 7.2 volts. This torch puts out 225,000 beam CP (calibrated measurement.)
I'll make some beamshots if I can find the time today.

Laterrr.

Looks like a class act.... whats the conversion to lumens of throw?

 

[Ra]

Hi windstrings,

Nice of you to revive an old thread of mine..

I forgot a few beamshots I promised:

And:

I don't know exactly what you mean by "conversion to lumens of throw"..

The lumens output of both torches is almost the same. Only the much higher surface brightness of the HID makes it produce equal throw with a much smaller reflector !!

Happy new year windstrings..

Regards,

Ra.

 

[Ledean]

I love the reed switch . Real neat idea .

 

[DM51]

I have only just seen this thread (thanks for reviving it, windstrings) and I REALLY, REALLY WANT THIS LIGHT. Being rated to 200ft / 60m, it would be a great dive-light.

Any chance, Ra??

 

[Ra]

I have only just seen this thread (thanks for reviving it, windstrings) and I REALLY, REALLY WANT THIS LIGHT. Being rated to 200ft / 60m, it would be a great dive-light.

Any chance, Ra??

Sorry DM.. not at the moment !

With all the effort it takes to make this, it propably would cost close to $1000 !! And I simply don't have the time right now. And some of the ingredients are hard to come by !!

Beleve me, I had to dissapoint a lot of fellow-CPF-ers on this..


Regards.

Ra,

 

[Ra]

Under water,, It looks nice too:

Its not 60 metres ofcource.. For that I would have to take a swim in the sea, brrrrr,, toooo colddddd d d d d.

Edit: If I would ever reach a depth of 60m.....

So you'll have to accept a depth of 10 cm for the time being...


Regards,

Ra.

 

[windstrings]

Very nice.. and tons of throw for only 10W.... a tidy little lightmonger!

 

[Neg2LED]

me likes! i wish i had the knowledge (and cash!) to make something like this....

--neg

 

[JimmyM]

me likes! i wish i had the knowledge (and cash!) to make something like this....

--neg

It's really no big deal. You just need a lathe, possibly a milling machine, a lot of experience, access to an anodizer... See? simple (Raging sarcasm) !
I swear. It's complete, from a billet of aluminum, custom lights like this one that make me green with envy. I love this thread, Ra. Glad it got resurrected.