Hybrid Blaster - Latest Project

[Chris M.]

Wow

What a great idea and blinding LED output too! How did you mount the LEDs? Through the clear lens, or are they fixed to/through the reflector somehow?

Nice one!

 

[Cyclops942]

Oh, wow!

I gotta ask... how much would you charge for one of these babies?

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

Thanks Chris.

I had fun drilling all those holes (20) in the reflector by hand.

There's a black plastic ring that came with the flashlight to support the reflector. I just drilled out holes in it for the leads. Used CAD program to model the thing so I'd have a pattern for drilling all the LED holes.

I added more pictures to the Yahoo album (link in first post).

They show the small switch I added to the back end. It allows you to use either LEDs or incandescant bulb.

I modified the battery holder to be 4.5v and swapped the original incan. bulb for a 4.5v PR base.

The main switch still controls ON and OFF. Tail switch decides which "bulb" lights up. The original bulb throws a pretty tight beam at 20 ft. The LED array lights up my half basement (15' x 20') very well.

Initially, I wasn't going to use any resistor. But after checking, the LED array draws 900 ma, or 45 ma each. It creeps up over time indicating warm LEDs. So, I added a 0.3 ohm resistor. Now the draw is a steady 710 ma (36ma each). Better.

 

[mikep]

Looks cool! What do you mean by "battery holder modification?" Does it still run just off of 4 D's?

 

[Ant]

why did you take 1 of the d cells out , could you not just use the ressistor to change the voltage/amps , or is it me just being stupid again


ant

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

WOW! Very nice. Great Conversion!

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cyclops942:
Oh, wow!

I gotta ask... how much would you charge for one of these babies?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LOL! I was afraid somebody would ask this!

Let's see...

$4 for the light (I got such a deal!)
$3 for the mini switch SPDT
$36 for the LEDS (www.whiteleds.net)

Considering how long it takes to make the reflector holes, I'd have to see about using a drill press and a turntable to "produce" a decent reflector. I did mine by hand and it shows.

Still, took about an hour to make just the reflector. You have to work up from tiny drill bit to 1/4 inch in several steps or the reflector breaks.
Almost another hour to drill the 40 LED lead holes, solder, wiring, and assembly.

So I'd have to tack on $15 for labor (haven't worked for $7 an hour in years

).

That's $58 so far, still interested?

Round up to $60, plus shipping, to include the Big 'Ol resistor and wire, and I might think about it.

Maybe a kit would be a better deal? Flashlight, parts list, CAD printout for drilling holes, and detailed instructions.
Could do that for $6 plus $4 shipping in U.S. ...

Let me know if anyone's interested. It was not my intention to sell these things.

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mikep:
Looks cool! What do you mean by "battery holder modification?" Does it still run just off of 4 D's?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

One pic shows the wire jumping across one battery position. Just 3 D cells for 4.5v.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ant:
why did you take 1 of the d cells out , could you not just use the ressistor to change the voltage/amps , or is it me just being stupid again
ant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No, not stupid.

That's a perfectly good way of doing it. I just don't like wasting power on resistors. The resistance to drop from 6v would use 1.2 watts (1.7v * 0.7A).
The drop for 4.5v is only 0.2v @0.7A, or 0.14 watts. Less power wasted by heat.
And it was only 75 cents for a new 4.5v bulb to replace the 6v bulb.

 

[Badbeams3]

Gaget, you are an endless source of creativity...my hat is off to you...well done.

 

[Ant]

so on my solitaire what has a 23a (12v) and the a resistor to drop it to 3.6 30ma ,
(8.4 *.03=0.28watts (is this right?)) ,is this alot of wasted power , what could i fit into a space of 15 mm long by 10mm dia that will work better

Ant

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

KenB, Thanks for the praise.
It means a lot coming from the group here. You, Brad, Chris, and all the other "core" members have provided so much info and praise that this is a genuinely fun board to be a part of.
I'm glad I'm here.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ant:
so on my solitaire what has a 23a (12v) and the a resistor to drop it to 3.6 30ma ,
(8.4 *.03=0.28watts (is this right?)) ,is this alot of wasted power , what could i fit into a space of 15 mm long by 10mm dia that will work better
Ant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, that's the right power for that voltage drop.

1/4 watt, that's not too bad. There's really not a lot of options for a Solitaire, AAA batteries are so small. Only way that'd be cooler is if you could fit a step-up circuit in there and run it from a single AAA.

 

[Ant]

i won't hold my breath for a conversion using AAA batery ,,,,but very cool if some one did do it.

very good photos of you flashlight ,,,, what digitial camera did you use


ant

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

Ant,

A little battery math here...
(Somebody please correct me if I goof this up)

An Energizer A23 has a 40mAh capacity.
An Energizer AAA has a 1150mAh Capacity. http://data.energizer.com/

If you run a 12v A23 at 30 ma, you get 1.3 hours.

If you can boost a 1.5v AAA to 4.5v at 30 mAh (and you get 80% efficiency from your boost cicuit), you should have a battery load of 3*.030/0.80 = 112.5ma. Should get 10.2 hours from this. Even at 60% efficiency, you should get 7.7 hours of bright.

My point?
Resistors = Bad, Boost Circuitry = Good.

Any comments?

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ant:
i won't hold my breath for a conversion using AAA batery ,,,,but very cool if some one did do it.

very good photos of you flashlight ,,,, what digitial camera did you use
ant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The circuit from Satcure might fit if you modify the tail cap a bit to hold the coil, resistor, and transistor.

Most of my pics are from a Kodak DC280 2 megapixel camera (on low-res setting).

The 3 beam-on-grid shots are from a Quickcam webcam at 640x480.

 

[Badbeams3]

Here`s an idea I posted some time back but no one seemed to care then and probably won`t care now but I`ll throw it out again anyhow. A light similar to yours but with a clear lens area cap that would allow the LED`s to be seen from the side as well. Insert a combination of white blue and red LED`s around the perimiter, as you did, and keep the center bulb and reflector intact. Now add some random flashing curcits to mimic police lights and sell them to the police. Then, after you make your first million (yes... your right...I`m trying to get attention) sell world wide. Of course you will need a big yacht to entertain clients. Did I mention I know how to drive boats? Well, I once rowed a boat across the Hillsborough river with no loss of life anyway (more than 50ft)...Captain Ken...yeah...thats it.

 

[vcal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ant:
i won't hold my breath for a conversion using AAA battery ,,,,but very cool if some one did do it.

ant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
-For informational purposes....
not 1 AAA, but 3>1/3AAA straight swap,-IF you didn't mind sending to the U.S. for them, are those little Sanyos that go right in the Solitaire perfectly (see "another led conversion"-3/30)
My Solitaire w/those 50ma Nicads
runs brightly for almost 2 hours
-it draws 20ma avg., and even when the batteries are almost dead, it still easily outshines my Infinity........

*of course, I'm anticipating the Arc-White later this month

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

LOL KenB!

Tell ya what, if that ever happens, I'll be calling you about a yacht captain's job.

 

[JoeyL]

Howdy!

I think that's a great project. I made one too but it just had one led so I could use it for a night light and find it in the dark...It doesn't look nearly as good as yours!

I used old Motorola cell phone batteries, and a pair of old NiMH packs power the main lamp for at least 3 hours and the led for over a week.

Great job!

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

Joey, thanks. That's pretty neat too. Flashlight with a built in "find me" light.

I'm thinking I'll build another one with NiMh's or NiCd's and build in a charge jack.

I'll never get any real "work" done again because of this damn LED obsession!

Anybody got a CNC milling machine? I could really knock these babies out quick.

 

[Go Go Gadget Flashlight]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ant:
i won't hold my breath for a conversion using AAA batery ,,,,but very cool if some one did do it.

ant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Looks like someone did!

Check out this topic.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000018