LED dive light

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**DONOTDELETE**

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I'm a diver, looking to build a White LED light for diving and u/w video. Out put needs to be equivalent to a 50 watt halogen lamp. I'm considering using the large 5W LED in a 6 cluster array( 1 at center, 5 around it). I have a 6 volt 10 AH lead acid source, and paln to builda switching power supply, to supply constant voltage.
Advise, suggestions and comments are welcome

Mike D
 

McGizmo

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Mike,
I have a couple of Light & Motion video lights that I don't use any more (no video equipment) They are all aluminum and use the Makita 7.2 volt nicad batteries (haven't tried the new 7.2 NiMH) I have been thinking about putting the new 5w LS in the head. If you're interested, I can post photo and I could be talked out of one for a reasonable price.
Regardless, if you use the light for strictly UW, are you planning on water flow for heat dissipation? It would be cool, literally, if you could hermetically seal the electronics in the head and vent it for water ingress and egress.

- Don
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**DONOTDELETE**

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It is intended for strictly underwater use.
The lamp housing will be aluminum: easy to machine and a good thermal conductor.

There is a picture of my cannister light on the DIY scuba web sight: http://insel.heim.at/malediven/350052/miked1_e.htm

Thankyou for the offer on the L&M lights, but I'm looking to build one.

Mike
 

McGizmo

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Nice looking rig! How do you plan to disperse the light from the LS5's? The L&M is a toy in comparison.
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**DONOTDELETE**

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Nice looking rig! How do you plan to disperse the light from the LS5's?
I'm not sure just yet still in concept stage.
I'm considering a machined aluminum reflector, polished then clear coated or vacuum metalized.
Not sure though....
The halogen is a good dive light, 6 lbs negative underwater, 2 hrs burn time on a charge. I just drop 6 lb off my weight belt. But the light is too yellow for video.

Mike D
 

Graham

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Have you considered a HID lamp assembly? That would be much whiter than halogen, although more expensive.

Graham
 

Jonathan

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A 50W halogen lamp, properly driven, should put out something on the order of 1000-1500 lumen, depending upon things like lamp gas fill, operating temperature, etc. The new 5W lamps are expected to put out about 120 lumen each, so the actual efficiency of the LEDs will be about the same as the efficiency of the halogen.

You would get a whiter light, which would be easily and efficiently dimmed (you can dim halogen, but you lose big time on both color and efficiency.) Lamp life would also be much longer...of course you are talking quite a few $$ in order to get the illuminating power of a single $10 halogen.

If you want to get the best bang for your battery power, I'd look at the HID dive lamps. The 10W HID systems won't provide sufficient light, but the 20W lamps put out about as much light as a 50W halogen. You pay quite a bit for the bulb, and the bulb life is nothing like that of the LEDs, but over time the batteries are much more expensive than the bulb (even with rechargeable batteries; they wear out just like anything else.)

If you decide to go the LED route, I'd strongly suggest looking into current regulating switching power supplies rather than voltage regulating supplies. This lets you set LED current without having to worry that the LED forward voltage will change with time or temperature (or pressure, for that matter). Alas I cannot help you with boost converter circuits at these power levels.

Good luck!

-Jon
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

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Thanks for the suggestions,
Unfortuneatly HID lights are still being made out of gold, or at least they are priced like they are, and the light is towards the blue end of the spectrum, not good for video.

My objective is to build a good white light source, that has even dispersal with no hot spot. The flood lamp version of the mr16 is good but is too yellow.

Mike
 

Graham

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Be aware that white LEDs also vary in tint, with some tending towards the blue. In addition, by the time you put together enough LEDs (luxeon stars or otherwise) to get the power you want, you may be paying almost as much as a HID anyway..

Graham
 
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**DONOTDELETE**

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Thanks Graham,
My initial look around at prices agrees, with your advise, this may not be a cost effective approach.

Mike
 

Graham

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I really think you should take a good hard look at HID. There are some competitively priced ones out there, I'm sure. I know that many of the HID dive lights available are very highly priced, but if you are building your own, I'm sure you could get a decent HID lamp and ballast for a good price.

Failing that, have you seen the Solux halogen MR16 lamps? These are made to produce a light temperature closer to daylight, around 4700k. They are not quite as bright as a true 50w MR16, but still very bright, and the light is a very good colour - I have one at home and it is a very natural light, not yellow at all.

Graham
 
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