The "LarryK12" 12,000 torch lumens (now 14!)

andrewwynn

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My buddy LarryK came up with a really neat idea.. put a par64, 600W landing light into a $7.99 harbor freight spotlight.. piecsa crap that had a 'pie pan' for a reflector.. it'd be funny if it wasn't sad.

Anyhow.. with utter astonishment we discovered that the lamp fits inside the bezel exactly if it was made for it..

Image-B263081AB70911DA.jpg-thumb_269_202.jpg

here is a direct link to the host larry used.

He came up with a LiPO pack that can take the punishment that fits completely inside.. and we have measured over 550W under load.. we are estimating roughly 12,000 torch lumen.. it's quite stunning.

Only have indoor beams so far, but we will get the outdoor shots next time we do some head-to-head with the likes of the maxabeam etc..

for now..

Image-B24E3B4DB70911DA.jpg

The LarryK12 aka 'LK12'.. on top.. the 'soft flood' trying to be a spot below it.. is a Mag625.. 2500+L from 10'.. the LK12 is about 15' away.

Image-B260C9EEB70911DA.jpg

Here is the LK12 on top of an X990 set to spot.. this time about the same distance.. 15' away.

HOLY COW.. what fun!

The light weighs 4.44 pounds with the battery pack internal!

-awr
 
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jtice

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Re: The "LarryK12"

:faint:

Thats really stomping the X990.
Cant wait to see some outdoor shots,

what kinda runtime do you expect?

~John
 

That_Guy

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Re: The "LarryK12"

A fully self-contained "The Sleeper", pretty impressive! I was thinking of making a light using a par64 landing light, but the $800 cost of a custom machined handle put me off. :( Now you've come up with a host for the lamp for only $8! The fact that it's self contained is a bonus!

What lamp did you use? Is it the Q4559X used in The Sleeper? What battery did you use? I know it's li-po, but how many cells is it, what capacity is it, how much did it cost, where did you get it from and how long does it run for?
 

missionaryman

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Re: The "LarryK12"

it makes the mag625 look like a minimag and the x990 look like a 3w luxeon

I just can't believe how much light that thing is putting out - wont it mel in the plastic host?
 

larryk

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Re: The "LarryK12"

Hi, I'll chime in here. First off I can not take full credit for this, someone else made a similar light some time back but as far as I remember it was not self contained. I used a GE 4559 28 volt lamp with 8 2150 mah Tanic Li-po batteries. The batteries are running at just about spec. 10-12 C discharge rate that will yield about 5 minutes runtime. But it was not about runtime to begin with, just seeing if it was doable. I want to use a higher capacity battery in the future but boy are they expensive. For a 6000 mah 28.8 volt pack your looking at around $ 300.00 or more. As far as heat goes AWR and myself were quite surprised that the majority of the heat goes out the front. In fact the beam shots were taken with me holding the bulb only, and AWR's brother JR manning the switch. I am putting the light together today with a low voltage warning device installed so I don't ruin $ 150.00 worth of batteries. Will do some outdoor beam shots as soon as AWR and myself get together again. It is quite impressive seeing that much light comming out of a 4.4 pound package.
 
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larryk

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Re: The "LarryK12"

The bulb is a one piece sealed beam and all glass, similar to an automotive lamp.
 
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andrewwynn

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Re: The "LarryK12"

holy smoke that's the most i've ever seen LK type.. he's not a typer.

after running a minute or two (hand holding from the back).. the outer edge that touches the plastic wasn't even 100F.. with a 4-5 minute runtime.. there is virtually no concern of heat issues, it's kinda neat that way.

The reflector is built into the glass envelope of the bulb.. and apparently .. thick enough and reflective enough that very very little heat gets out the back, it's quite amazing.

LK did hit on the fact the batts aren't cheap.. and it's not really recommended to use the cells stacked to 8 like that.. i'm looking into an alternative for mine.. using sub-c NiMH.. so i can add another cell to compete with voltage sag.. I'll maybe try to use the PIR to run it for some regulated output to boot.. i'll have to find a bigger FET perhaps than the hotdriver models, although actually that FET should work if it turns on fast enough.

I have a bit of a mock-up with my v28 battery and flashlight.. but there seems to be an incompatibility with the v28 battery.. it ticks off for a microsecond every second or so.. it puts about a .4V kick through the lamp that actually makes an audible tick.. but the real problem is that the battery is limiting output for God only knows what reason.. I have pulled over 40A at 26.5V from a v28 battery.. it's outsmarting me some how and a real bummer at this point... as it stands i can only get about 520W out of the v28 battery and the stutters are an issue.. I will look into some other options.. LK already picked up another host for me to use for mine, and i'll probably stuff it with a bunch of NiMH to get a few more mAH than the LiPOs.

-awr
 

Meduza

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Re: The "LarryK12"

That is a crazy light... :D

What runtime do you expect with Sub-C ?
 

bfg9000

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Re: The "LarryK12"

awr, if it's being underdriven due to the v28 sagging anyway, it may be worth trying an off-the-shelf 36v Dewalt Li-ion pack and a regulator. Not much overdrive headroom to play with though since that lamp is only rated 25 hours at 28v.
 

andrewwynn

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Re: The "LarryK12"

aiming for 8-9 minutes.. you'd be surprised how long 9 minutes is in 10 second bursts ;) It was really sad to see how pummeled a 2700 Lumen light like the Mag625 was!

-awr
 

BVH

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Re: The "LarryK12"

I'm still trying to figure out the Q4559x and the 4557 lamps.

Q4559x - 600 watts and 670,000 centerbean candlepower
4557 - 1000 watts and 540,000 centerbeam candlepower

Does this mean that the 4559x is more of a spot and the 4557 is more of a flood? I can't find any lumen ratings for these. Anyone else have any luck finding the numbers?
 

BVH

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Re: The "LarryK12"

Andrew, when you get the NMH batterypack figured out (with regulator?), will you consider making some additional packs to sell us? Or maybe give us the spec so we can have one made by CBP or someone else that does this? I've been wanting to do something with the Q4559 or 4557 for a long time but didn't want to get into making a host. I've got a couple of Costco HIDs and would like to mod one with this. Also hoping someone can respond to my question in the post above.

Opps, just realized its not the Costco/HF light, its the cheapee HF spotlight. Guess I'll have to pick one more up. Looks like the 8825 - 1vga for 19.99?
 
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andrewwynn

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Re: The "LarryK12"

i don't remember the model.. they had two.. one has a 12V SLA cell for $30 list (20 on sale) the other is 'plug in 12V' for $16 list'.. on sale on the web for $7.99.

the orange $20 one looks nicer.. if i had a use for a $13 SLA 4AH gel cell i'd have gotten the orange one.. i wanted mine to be a different color than Larry's anyhow so opted for the gray even if it doesn't look at nice... the orange does look a bit cheezy.

I'm qute sure i'll be posting my solution for the bat-pack.. most likely it will involve some plates of copper pcb, some 10ga wire or 1/8th inch copper rods and a bunch of 3mm or 2.5mm nuts.. will be pretty easy for somebody to copy-cat... but i might have CBP weld them for me into a pack as well.

I don't think regulation will be required.. 24 bats will get just about 28V (rated value) to the lamp and when we've been testing the lamp it's been run about 24 to 26V anyhow already is stunnnning.

it's more of a flood than a spot, but with a spot that is just mind-blowing bright in spite of the monster flood.. well what can you say when you pump on the order of 12,000 L out of the front of an 8" hole... it's flabbergasting to see it in operation.. good clean fun!

-awr
 

Sway

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Re: The "LarryK12"

Just a hint for making beam shots with the 4559, shoot it a little higher off the ground than you normally would. I found a big difference with "my camera" shooting in what I call helicopter style holding the light over your head vs. from waist level.

Nice work guys it looks like a self contained $7.99 spot till BAM! :grin2:

Later
Kelly
 

BVH

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Re: The "LarryK12"

OK, took the plunge and bought 2 HF Orange spots, 2 ea. GE Q4559x and 1 GE 4557 lamps. I searched on HF for Spotlights and the return showed this spotlight about 3 or 4 down on pg 1. It showed a price of 19.99 but when I clicked on the spotlight itself, the price on the next page was 14.99. Be sure to buy it from the second pg or it rings up at 19.99.

Found the Q4559x (600 watt Halogen) for 33.44 each and the 4557 (1000 watt) for 40.94.

Now just waiting for some technical info from Andrew once he get the battery pack figured out. This will be fun!
 
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