My first projected

[YoshiSato]

So, I want to take a leep and build my own flashlight. For my first project(ever) I want to do something "simple". I want a long lasting light that can be used to replace candles during a power outages, yet put off enough light a room so I could read. I will not need sun shine in a can (that might be my next project )


Now I have a Fenix L2D with the rebel 100 emitter, this seem to put off enough light in the low setting. So I want to base this to be similar, however I think I might go for the Rebel 80 LED Emitter I seen them for $5.50 each. I also want to run off of 1 - 2 D batteries with the option of using 6V latern batteries(if possible in the same package).

What all will I need?
I know I need the:
LED emitter
Some type of driver
Some type of swtich
Some type of heatsink
Some type of case.

What am I missing?

 

[Gunner12]

How about a Joule thief? It is supposed to run for a week on a dead battery. But it is quite dim. Something brighter, how about this driver set to a low drive voltage and with the modes removed(post). The driver set at 1w should give at least 5 hours of runtime at full output with an alkaline D cell and lots more with slowly decreasing output. For a 1.5-6v input range, you need a buck/boost circuit and those aren't available for cheap and usually aren't very efficient.

A CPU heatsink would work, case could be a pipe. The switch could be a DX switch.

From my experience, you need about 100 lumen of light to be able to read from a ceiling bounce. But if you point the light at what you are reading, only need about 30 lumen of light(depending on distance).