Bear with me as this is my first post here:
http://marokero.com/Riegel/
I've decided to name it after the star in the Orion constellation, Riegel
I'm a photographer by trade, and not thrilled by the prices and output of current commercially available lights, I decided to build my own. It took a few months to finalize the design, gather up the parts, have some aluminum pieces machined, make a stop at the ER to get my middle finger stitched (a stupid mistake while drilling one of the aluminum pieces), refining the design, and then assembling everything. I wanted it to be a flood light, but eventually I will figure out a way to attach a reflector to concentrate the light a bit. I used six EndorStar 7007s, six Luxdrive 3021 BuckPucks, a motherboard northbridge heatsink and fan combo, and a 261Wh LiFePO battery (12.8V & 20.4Ah). I needed the battery pack to be rugged enough to be put down on wet ground, hence the Pelican cases. The output is very bright, one full stop brighter than Litepanels MicroPRO that a lot of videographers and some photographers are using nowadays. I didn't know how to use a single dimmer/potentiometer to adjust output, so I just put two secondary switches to cut power from 100% to 50%. But a problem arised when instead of three LEDs being on at 50%, there are four. I checked the connections and soldering points, and I don't see any problems... weird. It's helped me through a wedding already, and during the reception, even at 50% (more like ~70%) output it eclipsed the video lights from all videographers! I did use it to help light the scene for my videographer friend, so he loved it
One of the cool features, at least for me, is that I can screw in any 77mm filter to change the color of the light, or just to protect the LEDs inside. A dark red filter really sets the mood if you know what I mean :naughty: I plucked the foam in the Pelican 1200 case to make room for at least one filter box, containing a neutral density filter to help cut down power to 25%. Also, it affords me some redundancy - if I break a filter on any of my lenses I can swap in the filter from my light, or vice-versa.
The light can get really hot after running at full power for around 30-40 minutes, so until I can get a proper thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of the front disc, I am weary of leaving the light on for prolonged periods. The specs say to run the LEDs below 100 C to maintain long life. At 50% (or 70%) the internal heatsink and fan can completely cope with the heat, and the light stays just lukewarm to the touch until the battery runs out. At full power the battery lasted about 4 hours and 17 minutes. Not continuosly, but with 5 minute breaks in between each run so the internal fan could cool down the light. I was hoping for a runtime a bit closer to 5 hours, but that's fine too. The way I shoot I don't need the light on for more than 3-5 minutes at a time. And it's great for lighting up backgrounds, specially now that the sun sets so early, and couples still want to brave the cold for some outdoor shots. Shooting through an umbrella (photo #40) cuts down power by 1-2/3 stops, or close to 4x, but the resulting light is velvet soft for close up portraits and macros.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable build, and I hope to get some photos to show the kind of results I'm getting.
http://marokero.com/Riegel/
I've decided to name it after the star in the Orion constellation, Riegel
I'm a photographer by trade, and not thrilled by the prices and output of current commercially available lights, I decided to build my own. It took a few months to finalize the design, gather up the parts, have some aluminum pieces machined, make a stop at the ER to get my middle finger stitched (a stupid mistake while drilling one of the aluminum pieces), refining the design, and then assembling everything. I wanted it to be a flood light, but eventually I will figure out a way to attach a reflector to concentrate the light a bit. I used six EndorStar 7007s, six Luxdrive 3021 BuckPucks, a motherboard northbridge heatsink and fan combo, and a 261Wh LiFePO battery (12.8V & 20.4Ah). I needed the battery pack to be rugged enough to be put down on wet ground, hence the Pelican cases. The output is very bright, one full stop brighter than Litepanels MicroPRO that a lot of videographers and some photographers are using nowadays. I didn't know how to use a single dimmer/potentiometer to adjust output, so I just put two secondary switches to cut power from 100% to 50%. But a problem arised when instead of three LEDs being on at 50%, there are four. I checked the connections and soldering points, and I don't see any problems... weird. It's helped me through a wedding already, and during the reception, even at 50% (more like ~70%) output it eclipsed the video lights from all videographers! I did use it to help light the scene for my videographer friend, so he loved it One of the cool features, at least for me, is that I can screw in any 77mm filter to change the color of the light, or just to protect the LEDs inside. A dark red filter really sets the mood if you know what I mean :naughty: I plucked the foam in the Pelican 1200 case to make room for at least one filter box, containing a neutral density filter to help cut down power to 25%. Also, it affords me some redundancy - if I break a filter on any of my lenses I can swap in the filter from my light, or vice-versa.
The light can get really hot after running at full power for around 30-40 minutes, so until I can get a proper thermometer to accurately measure the temperature of the front disc, I am weary of leaving the light on for prolonged periods. The specs say to run the LEDs below 100 C to maintain long life. At 50% (or 70%) the internal heatsink and fan can completely cope with the heat, and the light stays just lukewarm to the touch until the battery runs out. At full power the battery lasted about 4 hours and 17 minutes. Not continuosly, but with 5 minute breaks in between each run so the internal fan could cool down the light. I was hoping for a runtime a bit closer to 5 hours, but that's fine too. The way I shoot I don't need the light on for more than 3-5 minutes at a time. And it's great for lighting up backgrounds, specially now that the sun sets so early, and couples still want to brave the cold for some outdoor shots. Shooting through an umbrella (photo #40) cuts down power by 1-2/3 stops, or close to 4x, but the resulting light is velvet soft for close up portraits and macros.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable build, and I hope to get some photos to show the kind of results I'm getting.
