"Build a Portable Flood Light Station...Help!"

redburn_38

Newly Enlightened
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Jan 16, 2007
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If anyone has their 2cents for me on the most cost efficient LED light to use in multiples attached to a board on a tripod for a home made portable flood light station I would appreciate it.

I will need the light for more SPILL rather than THROW as I am planning on making a portable tripod light stand for night time geology specimen collecting in remote areas and need to see the ground lit up infront of me for about 20-40 feet (THROW) and 15-20 feet wide (SPILL), really clear bright white and true! The described dimensions of my light desired are a total of what all the lights on the board will be capable of producing.

Hopefully I will be able to get some more direction on how I want to do this. I am planning on having my set up done for this spring and will need to use it for 1-3 hours at a time. This will probably determine how I build it as to whether or not to use flashlights in multiple attached to a board with their own batteries or multiple custom Cree Q Bin's in sealed housings with one large battery power supply.

Since I am a newbie when it comes to modding lights, I am not above paying an honest and experienced modder to construct such a device for me.... or ....if anyone interested in this lives within a few hours of my home in mid-Michigan I would be willing to order needed parts after correspondence and I could drive to your home or shop and assist with construction.

**OBJECTIVE FOR MY PROJECT**

1) "SPILL" the most amount of the cleanest, most white LED light possible. The lights must be rugged enough to withstand some possible bumping around and drizzle or light rain just enough time to take it down and put it away if it starts to rain. Therefore I would need light housings sealed with caulking or something if making a custom board of multiple light housing ends.

2) Be cost effective with battery power for periods of time between 1-3 hours of use. Would prefer to power by 18650, AA Lithium or best suggested power supply. Basically want something that I can change out to another battery or supply if I need to work a little longer.

3) Most importantly it must be portable to the point that I can backpack it to my desired location and set up in minutes. I already have an idea for the stand using a camera tripod that folds down nicely.

4) I would like to keep the cost under $200.00. Of course the cheaper the better but I do want something A+1 quality that will last for years to come.

P.S.

I have thought of using 6 of the 238 LED flashlights powered by 3 "D cell" alkalines that sell on Ebay for about $24 each on a board or "3" of the "Romisen RC-T5 4-Cree 3-Mode LED Flashlights with the Q bin LED's." I think the 238 LED flashlights would last a little longer in constant power and might end up cheaper for use in long run but even though I am looking for mostly "SPILL" I think they would not give me the "THROW" I am looking for. Lastly these 238 LED flashlights probably have a pretty poor quality of light so again I am torn as to what to do!

Any thoughts are appreciated and thanks in advance.​
 
Any of the DX 3Cree lights should be able to do that. Maybe with a little PressNSeal wrap over the lens as a diffuser.
 
This might be better in the modding section.

Flood might be a more appropriate word then spill.

You can use a few bare LEDs and save on optic cost. Do you already have the batteries?

An easy way might be to take a(or two) prebuilt lights, add a diffuser and wire it to a battery pack. Something similar to this.

If you want to build this yourself, what would you put everything into? A body you built yourself or would you use a host?

If you want it to last, pot the electronics and make everything accessible. Potting the electronics would make them really tough, accessible will ensure that if anything does fail, you will be able to fix it.
 
Yes I guess it would be an alternative. A cheaper one!!

I am sure this thing would do exactly what I want but unfortunately I do not have the luxury of being the fire chief of some department with an endless budget. Pelican is quality but it is also an instant payment for the name. Also if I were willing to spend this kind of cash on the light station I desire I would just buy a "FOX FURY MF1000" with the 9 Cree LED's. Wow is that thing a BEAST!!!!

LOL

$695.00

again I LOL

Thanks for the info. on this thing though as I didn't even know it existed.
 
6 DX Cree stars mounted to a nice, large piece of aluminum or brass with a diffusing cover over them (for cheapness maybe an old tupperware or something).

Or several of these with the reflectors and rear springs removed run in parallel by two Radioshack 4D holders running in parallel.
 
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GUNNER12......

I just put the post in the modding section and thanks for the quick reply. As for your questions, I probably would prefer it to be boxed in with an access panel for repair/maintenance but this would only be if I were going with the more custom route using LED diodes, boards, diffusers and custom power supply.

If I end up going with just multiple flashlights already built and attaching them to a stand in multiples then this won't be a concern but I can't help thinking that this won't give me the light I am wanting but I may be wrong.

Biggest problem is I am a total newbie and would not know where to begin if I were constructing a boxed housing with multiple head units or whatever so still I ponder what to do.

Thanks
 
Marduke.....

Wow that 50w White LED flat lamp mod. looks nice. Might be possibility if I can come up with a reflector to FLOOD the light like I want to. Also need to figure out how to build it starting with that since I don't know Sh*% about this modding stuff.

As for the headlamp, yes they are great and I will also have one of them on my head. I have found the best one to date for the price on an Ebay store a few months back and it is a 3w Luxeon LED with 5 small LEDs below it. It is quite bright and at about $20 shipped to my door it is a lot more cost effective than the Brunton 5w. Plus it takes AA batteries (runs nicely on Lithium AA's) instead of a 6v 4.5mAH battery pack that must be recharged.

You guys are great and I love this site! Nothing like near instant answers to my burning questions on a Thursday night.

Thanks
 
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LukeA......

The Cree stars are kind of what I have in mind if I go custom box for the build or have someone build it. I was wondering if you think the Q bin Cree's are better if I go this set up.

Also, the Ultrafire Cree, Regulator, Reflector 1x18650 2xCR123A Lamp Assembly in your second thought.....One of the reviews said it threw a purplish tint to one side on one of his purchased ones. Have you bought and used these and if so have you had this problem as well.

Thanks
 
You don't need a reflector, with bare emitters you just need something over to them to protect them.

The other solution would be maybe three or four 4D Maglights with SSC dropins attached to a tripod, and remove the heads during your use. Mount them all to one beam with clamps of some sort, and tap the center bottom of the beam for the tripod mount.
 
Marduke....

what are the SSC dropins for the maglite. Are they easy to mod-fit since I don't know much about that. Do you have a link to the DX site for them or something so I can read about them.

Thanks

P.S. I moddified my original reply to you since I forgot to answer you about "headlamp."
 
Marduke.....

Ref. those Fenix-Store "4sevens 30 LED LightBars"

They look pretty cool and I could definitely mod them onto a board and then my own camera tripod.

I know this might sound stupid but bear with me on my ignorance to all this.....is the 12V DC power supply portable and cost effective. How would I build the power supply for it if I were to make a board with 3 of these attached?

Thanks
 
Thanks for the input from all and I hope more ideas come in. I gotta hit the hay work tomorrow and got to be up at 4:15AM .......... OUCH!!

Later
 
Sealed Lead Acid backpacking might be heavy, but cost effective:cool:
wire one of these in a radioshack enclosure, run the wires to the battery and the fenix light bars [on high they draw at most 530ma, be conservative and round up to 600ma] the 4 amp load rate should adequately run 6 if not 7 bars

since the lightbars come with triangular mounting brackets, I suppose you could mount 3 bars to one board and three on the other, where each bar has around 60 degrees, you could point them at whatever you desire, and since the bars can be hooked up in series externally means you could take it apart and set up when you get there, wires and all
 
i just made something today....pretty useful...
DSC00184.jpg


DSC00188.jpg


http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p238/crenshawyeo/DSC00187.jpg

First Picture is the thing itself, basically, its D battery holder, switch, circuit board and p4 on a "star connection board".

All soldered and taped and hotglued together...The led itself has no lens, nothing its just there. i put part of an old pill onto the circuitboard to protect it, and hotglued the led to the top of the pill..

the second beamshot is it just on in my dark room, its pretty much pitch dark in there, its actually underexxposed becauseim using my phones camera

the link is the same shot, but a rough panorama...

most of the stuff can be bought at DX. Sure its not waterproof or anything, but hopefully it sets you of in the right direction?

a few of these will make a good area light, and according to my calculations, its running 700mah because of the circuit, so roughly 160bulb lumens? and i have no idea what kind of runtime, although it should last fairly long...
Crenshaw
 
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LukeA......

The Cree stars are kind of what I have in mind if I go custom box for the build or have someone build it. I was wondering if you think the Q bin Cree's are better if I go this set up.

Also, the Ultrafire Cree, Regulator, Reflector 1x18650 2xCR123A Lamp Assembly in your second thought.....One of the reviews said it threw a purplish tint to one side on one of his purchased ones. Have you bought and used these and if so have you had this problem as well.

Thanks

I have nine of them. None has had that problem.
 
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