"Waterproof housing" dive light build

[hanachan]

"Waterproof housing" dive light build (many picts)

hi,
ive almost built a prototype of new project underwater light.
its concept is simple.

the light is constructed with
A) a waterproof housing made with aluminum pipe having frontal window cap & tail cap with magnet
and B) another inserted aluminum pipe contains optics, LED, driver, battery, FET and reed switch
or C) commercially available flashlight in which a FET connected parallel to clicky switch + battery for the FET and reed switch.

the prototype of the light

im now testing this light system.
my impression is very good.
it is very easy to exchange parts, remake and maintain in my DIY inner light.
in addition this system would make the cheap strong small light from DX a nice dive light.
(sorry for my poor English)

 

[hanachan]

ill show the details of the parts.

1) waterproof outer case

32mm diameter aluminum pipe, both sides are caped with acrylic plates.

caps components

left:frontal cap, right:tail cap

tail cap: a rotatory black acrylic disk with an embedded small magnet stops at two positions (on & off).

 

[hanachan]

2) modify a commercial flashlight to be switched by magnet

i searched a small & bright flashlight and bought this from DX.

FandyFire 2130 CREE XM-LT6 3-Mode 900-Lumen White LED Flashlight w/ Strap (1 x 17670 / 1 x 18650)　
SKU 90609
IMO not 900 lumen. maybe 500-700lumen. but very bright.

take the tail cap apart to pieces and connect the small FET parallel with the clicky switch.

solder a 100k ohm register between GATE and GROUND.
withdraw the wires from GATE and GROUND outside.　

make the battery box which powers the FET with a reed switch

i tested 2xCR2032(6volt) and 1xCR2032(3V). no difference of brightness.
so use 1xCR2032.

check proper actions (on, off and mode change) both by clicky switch and reed switch (magnet).

 

[hanachan]

all the components in using the commercial light under water.

the housing was made for the DIY inner light which is a little bigger than
the commercial light.
so there is some space between the light and housing.

wrap the light in aluminum hoil for fixation and heat dissipation.
put a spacer (short plastic pipe) between the light and the reed switch stuff
for adjusting the length.

insert them into the housing with very thin aluminum pipe cut longitudinally.

beam shot

bright! and heat dissipation seemed good.

the advantage of this method is that the commercial flashlight can be used on land
in the same way as before modified, without the housing.

i could make much smaller housing only for the flashlight
and bigger one for a large powerful commercial light for example STL-V2.

next id like to show the detail of DIY inner light.

 

[huorfefalas]

That's the what is all i need! It looks so beautiful! Did you ever test the limit of the waterproofity? If it works great, I wanna get this baby too for my laser pointer.

 

[Packhorse]

Why dont you just buy a water proof laser instead?

 

[hanachan]

That's the what is all i need! It looks so beautiful! Did you ever test the limit of the waterproofity? If it works great, I wanna get this baby too for my laser pointer.

thanks.
have not yet used it under water. i think 30-40m depth OK.
using for laser pointer is good idea. id like to mod my laser pointer i have had already too.

Why dont you just buy a water proof laser instead?

maybe expensive.

 

[huorfefalas]

Why dont you just buy a water proof laser instead?

Because they're power is between 5-100mw. I wanna use 1000-1200mw pointer.

 

[huorfefalas]

thanks.
have not yet used it under water. i think 30-40m depth OK.
using for laser pointer is good idea. id like to mod my laser pointer i have had already too.


maybe expensive.

If it is work about 30meters and nice fit for a laser pointers I really wanna get this. Do you ever think churn out this prototype?

 

[lucca brassi]

I wanna use 1000-1200mw pointer.

That thing just as what they said '' just call an accident''

 

[huorfefalas]

That thing just as what they said '' just call an accident''

In your opinion, what's the most dangerous thing of the world? Knife? Gun? Lasers? I don't think so. It's just "prejudice". You can kill someone even with a most useful thing, pencil. "Usage" is the golden point I think. If you know exactly what you'll do, there shouldn't be any problem.

 

[Klem]

Because they're power is between 5-100mw. I wanna use 1000-1200mw pointer.

Why? US FDA has 5mW as the limit of 'Eye safe'.

 

[lucca brassi]

In your opinion, what's the most dangerous thing of the world? Knife? Gun? Lasers? I don't think so. It's just "prejudice". You can kill someone even with a most useful thing, pencil. "Usage" is the golden point I think. If you know exactly what you'll do, there shouldn't be any problem.

well you should think in other way .... if you shoot from gun you can determine target , and shooting direction even from sound or smoke .... bla bla . Knife ... you see blade ;-) you can perdict distance even for throw ... but let left stupidity behind ...

Purpose of pointer is to show a friend something interesting ( or from previous post even to measure something ) . So your buddy dives a few meters from you and you have to signalize your buddy interesting thing ... what you will do :

a) signalize your buddy with laser under him where is about 95% he would not notice your laser spot

b)signalize your buddy with lamp and in other hand show with laser on interesting object and when your buddy turn to you ; you wil turn your lamp off to show with laser on object ?

- problems with lasers are also unwanted reflections back , which normaly is hard to provided . Cost is maybe some retina buning for life without protective goggles .
- at last even pointing with such powerfull laser ona animal , can simple destroy animal eyes .... ist this normal human or just wanton behaviour from some consciousless holliday diver?

think a little !
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Story from last week ....

We a just in buying some fast and precise thermal cameras and phyrometers and some sealesman come to us and have presentation of their products.
Well these things have build in when measuring for more simple targeting - laser pointers and when before pyrometer or camera starts captures pictures these pointers highlight object...and some clever guys mesures each other temperature of their head ...because camera shows thermal image like in film of ''ALIENS VS PREDATORS'' and even they normaly know what they doing they simply forgot that they aimed laserpointers in coworkers head .... if lasers inside will be 1,2W.... then someone will be permanently blind ...

That also can be done that they aimed in glass walls of conference room ant get reflection from their lasers in their own head...

 

[lucca brassi]

double post

 

[hanachan]

please stop the discussion about the danger of high power laser in this thread.
it may not be productive.

Do you ever think churn out this prototype?

sorry, no.

I wanna use 1000-1200mw pointer.

oh very high power!
i dont know how hot the laser is and how strong its beam is.
what happens at a front part window with the garbage the beam lights up? not melted?

as building the similar waterproof housing for your very strong laser is not so difficult,
you should order or DIY & test it.

 

[hanachan]

id like to show a DIY inner light for the housing.

specs of this light:
battery: 1x18650 lithium ion battery
LED: XML T6 from DX
heat sink: 25mm diameter 20mm length aluminum cylinder
regulator: 3mode (max 2.8A) 8xAMC7135 board from KD (not available now?)
optics: 26mm reflector form DX or 22mm condenser lens from junk camera

a LED and heat sink is movable and fixed at adjustable position.
no glue nor thermal paste makes each component easily exchangeable.

heat sink cylinder is tightly fixed in the inner alumi pipe cut longitudinally.
open the break with radio pliers and set the LED+sink at suitable position.

power supply

reed switch + FET
mini banana connector from DX

tail and top

setting

1) set LED at suitable position
2) set power supply with spacer
3) connect LED wires with power supply
4) insert the inner light into housing

beamshots with reflector & lens

 

[hanachan]

hi,all
i got TrustFire TR-J1 (nice review is here) & compared my DIY light with that.

left:my DIY light: KD 8xAMC7135 3mode regulator (old version)+DX 26mm reflector from DX+XM-L T6
middle: FandyFire 2130
right: TrustFire TR-J1
the reflector diameters of DIY light & TR-J1 are same (26mm) but TR-J1 reflector is a little deeper.

all the batteries are TrustFire 18650 2400mAh non protected.
initial voltage was 4.21 volt.

on land

leftIY light, center:FandyFire 2130, right: TR-J1

first i measured tail cap currents:

DIY light high: 2.7A mid,low:not measured
2130 high:3.0~3.2A (direct drive??), mid,low: not measued
TR-J1 high:2.30A, mid:1.15A, low:0.23A

as shown in the above fig.
beam shot angle: 2130>DIY light>Tr-J1
spot brightness: DIY light=Tr-J1>>2130

flicker on video

check the flicker phenomenon at taking video with Panasonic GF1 digital camera.

DIY light: high:none, mid:none, low:none
2130: high:none, mid:+, low:+
TR-J1: high:none, mid:+, low:+

KD 8x7135 regulator produced no flicker at any mode while
2130 and TR-J1 did considerable quantity flicker at mid and low modes.

under water

under water the beam angle and hot spot intensity were clearly visible.
DIY light produced wide angle beam and more lumen.

run time test
carried out another day. with same battery and initial voltage 4.18volts.
both lights started on high mode.

upper light:TR-J1, lower: DIY light

after 51min DIY light decreased its brightness a lot and started blinking
(maybe low voltage warning). so i changed to mid mode.
at 60min blinking again so changed to low mode.
75min blinking again. could not stop this blinking so i stopped its test.
final DIY light battery voltage was 3.0 volt.

TR-J1 brightness apparently decreased during 60-70min.
it kept usable brightness at 100min. figure 10 shows very dark lighting.
but at this stage it produced sufficient brightness (see Fig.10b taken by high camera sensitivity).
and i could change the mid, low mode.
i stopped test at 102 min with dark but enough brightness. final voltage was 2.75volt.

conclusion
i must say that TR-J1 is a very good (back up) diving light for the price ($27.96+shipment$5.0).
suitable beam angle and long run time,
no abruptly stop lighting or no disturbing blinking.

if possible i would like to exchange the driver and reflector in my DIY light with those of TR-J1.

 

[Doc Ed]

Thanks for the beamshots and the burn-time test. Its interesting to note that we got different values for tailcap current fir the tr-j1. I should try re-checking with a different sample and maybe a different meter to determine the possible source of the variability.

 

[DIWdiver]

Thanks for the beamshots and the burn-time test. Its interesting to note that we got different values for tailcap current fir the tr-j1. I should try re-checking with a different sample and maybe a different meter to determine the possible source of the variability.

Doc, the variability could be your meter. Some single-cell lights react substantially to even a small resistance added to the circuit.

 

[hanachan]

thanks for the comments.

i added data about the flicker phenomenon on video.

sorry, the initial voltage was not 4.18 but 4.21 volt at measuring tail cap current.
i corrected data.

we got different values for tailcap current fir the tr-j1.

the current difference between you and me may mainly depend on the voltage difference.

when i measure large amount current, i use thicker & short wires as shown in the fig.

i measured tail cap current again.
the 3.92 volt battery showed 1.93A with the thicker wire and 1.83A with standard test probe.
so your measuring current is thought to be acceptable.