Building "My Ultimate" dive light (lots of pics)

Candle Power Flashlight Forum

Help Support CPF:

SUBjohan

SUBjohan

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
155
Location
Barchem, The Netherlands
As the title says "part 2" due to the fact that part 1 got removed and not put back up by the moderators :mecry🙁yet I hope)

Ok, what I have got so far:

Batterypack:
4S3P 14,8V 12Ah LiMn pack

Leds:
5x XR-E R2 with Ahorton asphericals
1x SST-90-W57S-GN201

Driver:
This thing has my attention, I want it to be 4 mode controled by reed contacts.
Mode 1 - only 5x XR-E @ 400mA
Mode 2 - only 5x XR-E @ 1500mA
Mode 3 - 5x XR-E @ 1500mA and 1x SST-90 @ 9,0A
Mode 4 - 5x XR-E and 1x SST-90 @ full power, 3 seconds strobe followed by SOS in repeat.
This is something I will have to design myself or someone must help me with that. ALL HELP IS VERRY WELCOME!!!!

The light is going to be tested to 15 bar or 150M.

Here are the drawings:
Light head on top
Light from the side
Batterypack on top
Batterypack from the side

I know the light head is going to be big, but for me I dont think to big because it will not be heavy under water.

All hints, tips and comments are more than welcome.

Greetz Johan
 
Last edited:
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Thanks for sharing. I love to see these projects unfold!

I'm sure others can be more helpful than I can be.

If it were my project I think I would forget the 4th mode (strobe/SOS) and would use 3 XR-E (or XP-G) depending on which works better with aspherics and I'd use 1 SST-50.

The large head may not weigh much underwater but it will still be large!

You're going to generate a lot of heat with your setup. Regarding your battery supply I understand how you get your numbers except for the 12Ah. Is each battery really 4000mA or did you mean 4S4P?

I like the reed switches.

OK, I'm sure Packhorse will be along for some real help and advice!
 
Last edited:
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

gcbryan said:
You're going to generate a lot of heat with your setup. Regarding your battery supply I understand how you get your numbers except for the 12Ah. Is each battery really 4000mA or did you mean 4S4P?
Click to expand...

Yup each cel is 3,7V 4Ah I have 12 of them, protected by this PCB.
So 4S is 4x 3,7V = 14,8V and 3P is 3x 4Ah = 12Ah 😀
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Once you finish you certainly will have a very bright and versatile light.

But it seems to me to be over complicated and over sized.

The size of it is huge! It will still have some weight underwater but also the mass of it will make it cumbersome to swing around as well as the extra drag from it.

1500ma from the XR-E's is doable. I run mine at 1400 with no issues.
But do you intend to run them all in series?
Given the battery voltage you will need a boost driver for them while a buck driver for the SST-90. So 2 different drivers off one switch system.

Having 4 modes will make for a complicated switching system.
If you really want the strobe/SOS why not just have it on the SST or the XR-E's instead of both? It would make the electronics easier.

I like to keep things simple. It makes for easier production and use.

If I was to build something like this light I would probably go down a slightly different path. Set the batteries up in parallel.
Run the SST-90 direct drive or find/ build a AMC 7135 driver that does SOS.
Same with the XR-Es but on a separate circuit but forget the SOS.

Personally I would go with a smaller set up. Perhaps 3 XR-Es and 1 SST-90.
Or perhaps a SST-50 instead then drive the SST50 at 4.5 amp and the XR-Es at a combined 4.5 amps. Do this by wiring the SST in series with the paralleled XR-E's. This would not allow you to turn off any LED/S individually though. It would allow you to use a 7.4v battery pack though.

Anyway good luck with your project. And I hope my comments dont come across to negative,
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Just from a logical point of view I would have one mode with all the XR-E at full power, one with just the SST at full power, and one mode with both.

That is assuming that the SST is providing something (flood or whatever) that the other's aren't. If it isn't providing anything special then I would ask either why have it or why not just have several SST's and no XR-E's.

I'm just trying to figure out the actual logic of the light.
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Packhorse said:
Anyway good luck with your project. And I hope my comments dont come across to negative,
Click to expand...

Thanx for the input!! They don't sound negative to me and I am not that easily hurt 😀

gcbryan said:
That is assuming that the SST is providing something (flood or whatever) that the other's aren't. If it isn't providing anything special then I would ask either why have it or why not just have several SST's and no XR-E's.

I'm just trying to figure out the actual logic of the light.
Click to expand...

Ok, some back ground info on my light.
My current light is also big, but it is also heavy the new one will be big but not heavy. So I can live with this.

Because most of my diving is in verry low viz situations I need a verry compact beam, therefore are mode 1 and 2.
But if I have a bit more clear water I like a bit of flood as well here comes in mode 3 with the sst90.
I hope I never have to use mode 4, I can imagine that if you or someone else has a problem and you are in open water or a couple of 100 meters a way from the coast, that you want to draw attention and send SOS. So here is the strobe/SOS function.

For the driver I was thinking that each mode got a "dumb" single mode driver. This driver has to be power by a PIC or something like this, although I dont have any experiance with this I will give it a try.
SO IF SOMEONE CAN HELP ME OUT ON THIS ONE!!

Hope I made things a bit more clear
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

What about two smaller heads, one flood and one compact beam, attached to the same battery?

This would be easier to handle.
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Here is an update for my light.
I decided to make the light a bit smaller, 2x xr-e and 2x SSR90.

The switching options are:
Pos 1 - off
Pos 2 - 2x Cree XR-E with apheric lenses @ 500mA
Pos 3 - 2x Cree XR-E with apheric lenses @ 1,5A
Pos 4 - 2x Cree XR-E with apheric lenses @ 1,5A and 2x Luminous SSR-90 @ 3A
Pos 5 - 2x Cree XR-E with apheric lenses @ 1,5A and 2x Luminous SSR-90 @ 9A


And here are some pictures:


Here it all should hapen
001.jpg


A bit of aluminium
002.jpg


boring the head
003.jpg


topside is starting to look like it
004.jpg



this should be the heatsink
005.jpg




Heatsink
006.jpg


Lens to be 😉
007.jpg


Lens to be 😉
008.jpg


the edges of the lens
009.jpg


the rest of the head
010.jpg


Almost done with the alu part
011.jpg


To be continued ......

Greetz Johan
 
Last edited:
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Very good.
Is that lens just clamped between 2 pieces of plastic on the lathe?
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Packhorse said:
Very good.
Is that lens just clamped between 2 pieces of plastic on the lathe?
Click to expand...

Thanx, hoho not so fast these are not just any 2 pieces of plastic, these are specialy made custom designed pieces of POM (delrin) and a bit of double sided tape 😉 😀

So to cut it short, yes 2 pieces of plastic and some double sided tape.😀
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Lighthead alu done
012.jpg


Lighthead alu done
013.jpg


I have to buy me a automatic saw one day
014.jpg


End cap to be
015.jpg


End cap to be
016.jpg


End cap to be
017.jpg


End cap
018.jpg


It fits 😉
019.jpg


Just making the ring and the lighthead is coming together.

To be continued ......

Greetz Johan
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Why the end cap? I would say this makes a week point for a possible leak, could you not have machined the back of the head to take a gland assuming this is a canister light?
But other than that it looks brilliant..
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

@SUBjohan

Side O-rings on the lens and tail cap are little tricky :caution:

Which weight should your lamphead have ?

Nice overall!
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Looks great, what about the head?
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

@SUBjohan

Nice, learned a lot. - Thank you.

Waiting for beamshots :twothumbs
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

Goldigger said:
Why the end cap? I would say this makes a week point for a possible leak, could you not have machined the back of the head to take a gland assuming this is a canister light?
But other than that it looks brilliant..
Click to expand...

You are right about a extra possible point of failure, but with 2 O-rings on a non movable point I wont think this will be a problem.
Furthermore I thought that this was the best solution for the switching ring.

lucca brassi said:
@SUBjohan

Side O-rings on the lens and tail cap are little tricky :caution:

Which weight should your lamphead have ?

Nice overall!
Click to expand...

Why are side O-rings a little tricky? :thinking: I have used them a lot with good results. (so do a lot of divelight manufacturers)

I will weigh the light and calculate the weight under water tomorow.

Thanks for all the compliments :huh:

Greetz Johan
 
Re: Building "My Ultimate" dive light (part2)

John - out of topic

I like to ask you how you are pleased with your switching power supply.
I have intention to buy the same (900W : 60V/15A, 30V/30A, 15V/60A ) or version with 600W ) It is stable ? Any brum-noise ? I think it is nearly impossible to get it in short circuit ) 😀

I have at moment two more precise but lower current(3A,5A supplies made by myself)

Regards
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top