Mt First Creation: Steroid 4 Dive Light Tested 445ft - Finally Finished
- Thread starter Amonra
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Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
matthew
A smaller resistor will give more max current. Eg 0.025 will give about 5 amps. The real limit is the power dissipation in the Fet, about 6W in free air (insided the torch) more if the the torch body is used as its heat sink.Amonra said:
matthew
andrewwynn
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
i routinely put as much as 10W on the model FETs that are headed to Malta... you will want to have them heat-sinked to the body if there is any appreciable vDrop on the FET but i think that this is a 'direct drive' situation where the vF is lower than vBat anyhow.
oh ps.. i sent a couple tiny FETs that are like 3A max you can play with as a bonus.
-awr
i routinely put as much as 10W on the model FETs that are headed to Malta... you will want to have them heat-sinked to the body if there is any appreciable vDrop on the FET but i think that this is a 'direct drive' situation where the vF is lower than vBat anyhow.
oh ps.. i sent a couple tiny FETs that are like 3A max you can play with as a bonus.
-awr
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
What was I was suggesting was a 'regulated direct drive' where the FET holds back the initial high battery voltage and hence disapates power. This gives you the best of both worlds. A regulated brightness and the long tail of direct drive. No sudden cutoff as the batteries fade which I think would be important for a dive light.
matthew
andrewwynn said:
What was I was suggesting was a 'regulated direct drive' where the FET holds back the initial high battery voltage and hence disapates power. This gives you the best of both worlds. A regulated brightness and the long tail of direct drive. No sudden cutoff as the batteries fade which I think would be important for a dive light.
matthew
andrewwynn
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
that's what i figured.. but he's already got vBat lower than VF. the next version will have a boost driver from what i understand.
-awr
that's what i figured.. but he's already got vBat lower than VF. the next version will have a boost driver from what i understand.
-awr
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
Ok i recieved the FET and fitted it according to instructions but there is a small problem.
The led's do not turn completely off but emit a small amount of light as soon as the batteries are connected. when it is turned on and off again the light does not turn off immidiately but slowly diminishes but still not until completely off. when i touch the tracks of the board near the FET the lights diminish faster but still not completely off and when i take my finger off again it goes back to the level it was before i touched the tracks and continues to slowly diminish from then on.
What is going on ? there must be some leak within the FET ?
Help please. Thanks
Ok i recieved the FET and fitted it according to instructions but there is a small problem.
The led's do not turn completely off but emit a small amount of light as soon as the batteries are connected. when it is turned on and off again the light does not turn off immidiately but slowly diminishes but still not until completely off. when i touch the tracks of the board near the FET the lights diminish faster but still not completely off and when i take my finger off again it goes back to the level it was before i touched the tracks and continues to slowly diminish from then on.
What is going on ? there must be some leak within the FET ?
Help please. Thanks
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
Try putting a resistor (100K) between the gate and the drain of the fet.
I have not seen the circuit but I from what you describe it sounds like the charge stored on the FET's gate is keeping it turned on a little.
Try putting a resistor (100K) between the gate and the drain of the fet.
I have not seen the circuit but I from what you describe it sounds like the charge stored on the FET's gate is keeping it turned on a little.
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
The 100K resistor worked and everything is working fine now.
So it is now finally finished and it's Great!! it's only drawing 2.4A at the moment but as the LED's burn in it should start drawing more and become brighter but as it is it beats my Barbolight U-09 hands down. have a look:
Edited: see first post
The 100K resistor worked and everything is working fine now.
So it is now finally finished and it's Great!! it's only drawing 2.4A at the moment but as the LED's burn in it should start drawing more and become brighter but as it is it beats my Barbolight U-09 hands down. have a look:
Edited: see first post
Last edited:
andrewwynn
Flashlight Enthusiast
Re: Mt First Creation: Steroid 4-A Dive Light-tested to 445ft-Comparison shots added
you can do like henry suggests.. 24 hr burn-in will drop Vf of LEDs.. do you have any drivers or a bench power supply that you can do that with? i'm not sure at 600mA is high enough.. you could however.. disconnect two of the emitters and run 4 bat to 2 emitters to hard-charge those LEDs to burn them in a bit.
Did you hook the 100k resistor from gate to source or gate to drain (to drain should have the effect of keeping the light on always).. unless you short the reed to ground to turn it off.
-awr
you can do like henry suggests.. 24 hr burn-in will drop Vf of LEDs.. do you have any drivers or a bench power supply that you can do that with? i'm not sure at 600mA is high enough.. you could however.. disconnect two of the emitters and run 4 bat to 2 emitters to hard-charge those LEDs to burn them in a bit.
Did you hook the 100k resistor from gate to source or gate to drain (to drain should have the effect of keeping the light on always).. unless you short the reed to ground to turn it off.
-awr
Long John
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hello Amonra
Great light:goodjob:
Congratulations:twothumbs
Best regards
_____
Tom
Great light:goodjob:
Congratulations:twothumbs
Best regards
_____
Tom
Tomorrow is a big day for the Steroid4. The final test will be performed tomorrow.
I will be going diving twice tomorrow.
The first dive will be in the morning in the most beautiful dive site in the Maltese Islands, it is full of caves so that will be the first test for the Steroid4, we will go down to about 45 meters and dive time should be about an hour.
The second dive will be a night dive, this will be the second test most important for the Steroid4. Location is yet unknown but we should be going down to about 15 meters and for about 1.5 hours.
I will take photos of everything including output before and output after the night dive.
Will most probably post everything on Sunday.
I will be going diving twice tomorrow.
The first dive will be in the morning in the most beautiful dive site in the Maltese Islands, it is full of caves so that will be the first test for the Steroid4, we will go down to about 45 meters and dive time should be about an hour.
The second dive will be a night dive, this will be the second test most important for the Steroid4. Location is yet unknown but we should be going down to about 15 meters and for about 1.5 hours.
I will take photos of everything including output before and output after the night dive.
Will most probably post everything on Sunday.
HarryN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Man that thing is bright. Nice work.
AWR - just for fun here - my name is HARRY not Henry. :laughing:
AWR - just for fun here - my name is HARRY not Henry. :laughing:
Timson
Enlightened
UNDERWATER BEAMSHOTS !!
:goodjob:
Tim.
:goodjob:
Tim.
andrewwynn
Flashlight Enthusiast
whoops.. mea culpa .. yeah,. Harry.. not Henry.. must have been pretty late out when i posted that :-D
The test has been done and I have some good and bad news.
First with the bad news: My camera gave out so no underwater beam shots sorry and the bare aluminum became a dull grey and there is a white powder on some parts after a whole day in contact with sea water.
Now for the good news: in the first dive the beam was still visible even in the light of day, probably reflecting from the particles in the water.
the night dive is when the Steroid4 really stands out. underwater it is about double the brightness of the U-09 and as seen fom a by stander standing outside the water ( kind of a sabre shot ) the throw is greater than the U-09 too. the side spill is great and lights up a wide area. after a 1.5 hour dive the output did not diminish at all. The switch worked perfectly with no problems. The light got a bit warm outside of the water but underwater it remained nice and cool. Needless to say that no water entered the light in both dives.
All in all im extremely happy with the performance as it performed better than i expected. the only thing i disliked was the corrosion, but there is no anodizers in Malta, do you guys know of some kind of paint for aluminum ?
First with the bad news: My camera gave out so no underwater beam shots sorry
and the bare aluminum became a dull grey and there is a white powder on some parts after a whole day in contact with sea water.Now for the good news: in the first dive the beam was still visible even in the light of day, probably reflecting from the particles in the water.
the night dive is when the Steroid4 really stands out. underwater it is about double the brightness of the U-09 and as seen fom a by stander standing outside the water ( kind of a sabre shot ) the throw is greater than the U-09 too. the side spill is great and lights up a wide area. after a 1.5 hour dive the output did not diminish at all. The switch worked perfectly with no problems. The light got a bit warm outside of the water but underwater it remained nice and cool. Needless to say that no water entered the light in both dives.
All in all im extremely happy with the performance as it performed better than i expected. the only thing i disliked was the corrosion, but there is no anodizers in Malta, do you guys know of some kind of paint for aluminum ?
andrewwynn
Flashlight Enthusiast
i think you can paint with clear enamel, or maybe lacquer? most of the brass door hardware i've worked with is treated that way and it keeps it nice and shiny w/o maintenance.. it would of course scratch off where it was bumped etc, but it would work ok.
You might want to figure out what corrosion is going on there.. you had steel and aluminum.. dissimilar metals and salt water often make a battery.. so make sure you aren't dissolving your light by having an anode and cathode.
sounds nice, i knew it would perform well.
-awr
You might want to figure out what corrosion is going on there.. you had steel and aluminum.. dissimilar metals and salt water often make a battery.. so make sure you aren't dissolving your light by having an anode and cathode.
sounds nice, i knew it would perform well.
-awr
