The Creeyobi "Lamprey" - Fixed Pics

[CodeOfLight]

I finally finished my coolest light EVER!!!!

I took 7 cree LEDs, 3 of which are NOT on a MCPCB, four of which are, and mounted them to a disc of 1/8 " aluminum (Because I had so much trouble soldering to the ones that were not on a MCPCB, I switched to pre-mounted ones.)

On the back of the disk (where you can't see) I built a little tunnel of copper RAM heatsinks.

Inside the tunnel, I potted a shark driver board turned up to maximum. This drives the LEDs at 310ma. I could have driven 6 at 700ma, but the entire setup gets way too hot. If I change my mind, all I have to do is short one of the LEDs.

The blue things on the face are another set of RAM heatsinks, doubled up two high and Arctic Silvered in place, with small aluminum spacers underneath where they needed to sit up off of the board. Some of the more "sticky outey" fins are cut off because they were causing a shadow in the beam.

It's Total light output is all flood with absolutely NO artifacts., and I estimate at around 490 lumens. It completely BLOWS AWAY the other Ryobi incandescent light I have. It will run for 2.5 hours straight before suddenly dimming by about 50% as the shark drops out of regulation, slowly dimming from there onward.


This thing is MUCH brighter than a coleman lantern, will easily mount to a tree with the light rotated up and illuminate an entire campsite. It will also illuminate a large tent with enough light for everybody in the tent to comfortably read, while pointed at the side wall of the tent.

I call it the "Lamprey" (emphasis on LAMP) because of the obvious resemblance.
Pics:




http://img1.imagefuse.com/upload/codeoflight/IMGP2175.JPG




http://img1.imagefuse.com/upload/codeoflight/IMGP2176.JPG

A real Lamprey:



http://img1.imagefuse.com/upload/codeoflight/lamprey.jpg

 

[nein166]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

Thats a sweet working man's mod. If you crank 6 cree's at 700ma and it gets too hot find room in the handle for a fan drill holes in the heatsink and vents in the bezel.
Power tools + Flashlights Rule!!
Go all the way make Tim Taylor proud, Awoof! :rock:

>Your pic links are down.

 

[TORCH_BOY]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

It looks like its going to bite you,
nice mod

 

[Newuser01]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEssssss.......

 

[65535]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

You would be lucky to get 5 minutes out of that battery pack. Interesting mod I may try on with less optics as I want decen tbattery life.

 

[CodeOfLight]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

You would be lucky to get 5 minutes out of that battery pack. Interesting mod I may try on with less optics as I want decen tbattery life.

Perhaps you did not read my first post. I TESTED this setup at 2 hours, 31 minutes before ANY dimming. The output was constant. I also did a complete voltage monitor during this period. The light output dims suddenly when the input voltage drops below 4v. I would call that VERY good battery life.

 

[65535]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

Input below 4V? You are killing the batteries at 4V those cells are at .27 volts they are not going to take well to that. Good battery life but battery life overall will suffer greatly at that super low discharge. these are 15 cell 2.0Ah Nicd battery packs with no cuttoff.

 

[matrixshaman]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

Tried to look at the pics several times but all I get is "Image does not exist" Sounds like a cool mod but I wish I could see the pics.

 

[CM]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

Image does not exist

 

[CodeOfLight]

I fixed the pictures. They are there in the first post now.

 

[CodeOfLight]

Re: The Creeyobi "Lamprey"

Input below 4V? You are killing the batteries at 4V those cells are at .27 volts they are not going to take well to that. Good battery life but battery life overall will suffer greatly at that super low discharge. these are 15 cell 2.0Ah Nicd battery packs with no cuttoff.

This was a one time test. I generally change to a new pack after about 90 minutes or so. I just wanted to know what the cutoff characteristics would be for any given pack. I needed to know how long it took to get down that low. The pack does not get below 14 volts in 2 hours.

Besides. NiCD does not get harmed nearly as much by taking the voltage too low like NiMH does.

See this : http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-21.htm

and this: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-4.htm

One of the nice things about using NiCD is the fact that it can take the punishment. Also, it is cheaper. With the regulator in the light, it will be obvious when the pack has reached the end of service by readily discernable loss in runtime. However, the brightness will remain constant. When a pack is done, I will discard it.

 

[Blacklight]

It's Total light output is all flood with absolutely NO artifacts., and I estimate at around 490 lumens. It completely BLOWS AWAY the other Ryobi incandescent light I have. It will run for 2.5 hours straight before suddenly dimming by about 50% as the shark drops out of regulation, slowly dimming from there onward.


This thing is MUCH brighter than a coleman lantern, will easily mount to a tree with the light rotated up and illuminate an entire campsite. It will also illuminate a large tent with enough light for everybody in the tent to comfortably read, while pointed at the side wall of the tent.

I assume you mean it is brighter than any Coleman BATTERY Lantern. The Stainless Steel Pinnacle from Coleman is 1550 lumens. Brightest Coleman BATTERY lantern currently is a flourescent that is about 400 lumens, and runs for 12 hours on a set of batteries. I actually have a battery lantern we mocked up here that is 800 lumens but I think most people would want more than an 30 minutes of run time!

Neat mod though, good job!

 

[CodeOfLight]

Maybe overall a coleman lantern puts out more light, but You also end up looking into the lantern a lot. The light is TOO omnidirectional. The Creeyobi would work like a light fixture attached to a tree, shining down on the campsite. I also cannot have a lit coleman lantern in my tent for very long. When I do, SOMEBODY will burn themselves on it.

 

[Blacklight]

Very true! Its not safe to have a burning appliance in that tent!