Packhorse
Flashlight Enthusiast
First let me apologise for the lack of pics but I am having camera issues and will rectify that ASAP.
After building the Hexispherical I decided that it wasnt quite bright enough.
Sure 6 XR-E R2's behind aspherics produces a pretty bright beam but for the job at hand it could have been better ( Its job is a search light on a Coastguard SAR vessel).
I have played around with the DX 44mm aspheric lens a little ( see my aspheric mag project) and was quite impressed so I thought I would try out a trispheric set up with the SST-50's.
Heat was a small issue on the hexispheric when run for along time. So instead of a PVC body and aluminium back I decided this more powerful light needed to be all aluminium.
I had a fellow Coastguard crew member and engineer make up a body from 125mm aluminium tube with a backing plate and handle. This seems to dissipate the heat quite well although I have not really given it a goo hard test yet.
The lenses are held in place with delrin spaces I machined up and sit about 26mm away from the back of the SST star.
Power supply is the boats 12v supply which will peak at 13.8 volt when motors are running. So really the best set up was 3 SST's in series with one being driven by 12 amc 735 chips giving a current of 4200ma.
It could also be operated from a portable batty pack although it would probably fall out of regulation quite quickly.
There are a few things I need to do to finish it off including a front lens and also paint the inside of the shroud black to eliminate as much scattered light as possible that can be very annoying as it reflects off objects on the boat ruining the crews night vision.
I have a second housing ready to go and 3 more SST-50's although there is quite a temptation to go for SST-90's instead!!!! Perhaps I shall see how hot this one runs first.
After building the Hexispherical I decided that it wasnt quite bright enough.
Sure 6 XR-E R2's behind aspherics produces a pretty bright beam but for the job at hand it could have been better ( Its job is a search light on a Coastguard SAR vessel).
I have played around with the DX 44mm aspheric lens a little ( see my aspheric mag project) and was quite impressed so I thought I would try out a trispheric set up with the SST-50's.
Heat was a small issue on the hexispheric when run for along time. So instead of a PVC body and aluminium back I decided this more powerful light needed to be all aluminium.
I had a fellow Coastguard crew member and engineer make up a body from 125mm aluminium tube with a backing plate and handle. This seems to dissipate the heat quite well although I have not really given it a goo hard test yet.
The lenses are held in place with delrin spaces I machined up and sit about 26mm away from the back of the SST star.
Power supply is the boats 12v supply which will peak at 13.8 volt when motors are running. So really the best set up was 3 SST's in series with one being driven by 12 amc 735 chips giving a current of 4200ma.
It could also be operated from a portable batty pack although it would probably fall out of regulation quite quickly.
There are a few things I need to do to finish it off including a front lens and also paint the inside of the shroud black to eliminate as much scattered light as possible that can be very annoying as it reflects off objects on the boat ruining the crews night vision.
I have a second housing ready to go and 3 more SST-50's although there is quite a temptation to go for SST-90's instead!!!! Perhaps I shall see how hot this one runs first.
