Makarov
Enlightened
Hi, I've been thinking about making myself a watertight, portable led worklight, to add in my firstaid kit. I want to have a light that I can give me good area light, be long lasting and watertight.
Since I had some 5mm's laying around, and some MM reflectors, I decided to make the lamp with these components in a watertight clear container.
Last year I saw someone making a watertight led "survival light" out of a Pelican (don't remember who, but kudos to you for the idea) and so I finally got around to order a clear Pelican 1010 from EDCdepot.com(recommended for int shipping btw).
The package came in yesterday, and I'm happy with the size of the Pelican, even though it's actually bigger than I had reckoned, giving room for 15 MM reflectors instead of 9 that I thought. I can also place up to 10 AA sized batteries into this package.
Here's a preliminary photo of how I see the setup(with the reflectors I've got) The sticker's gonna go of course...
for power I've got a lot of 3.6V Li primary's that is used in on board trancievers for tollcollecting that I was given by a friend. These are made to deliver small amounts of amps for a long long time, and hopefully will be able to run the 5mm's.
The leds will be an assortment of KevinL's 5mm's and Nichia CS(I've got 9 of each), and I've got to order some more reflectors.
Over to my questions;
Since I'm not a EE, I haven't been able to figure out if this setup will give me enough light for the purpose I've stated. Could anybody give me a ballpark figure of what I can expect out of this?
I'm believe that the reflectors will give me more area light than collimator optics, is that true?
Where can I get some MM reflector for cheap? (I've found reflectors at $1 a piece plus shipping, but I wonder if I could find something cheaper)
Thanks,
Since I had some 5mm's laying around, and some MM reflectors, I decided to make the lamp with these components in a watertight clear container.
Last year I saw someone making a watertight led "survival light" out of a Pelican (don't remember who, but kudos to you for the idea) and so I finally got around to order a clear Pelican 1010 from EDCdepot.com(recommended for int shipping btw).
The package came in yesterday, and I'm happy with the size of the Pelican, even though it's actually bigger than I had reckoned, giving room for 15 MM reflectors instead of 9 that I thought. I can also place up to 10 AA sized batteries into this package.
Here's a preliminary photo of how I see the setup(with the reflectors I've got) The sticker's gonna go of course...
for power I've got a lot of 3.6V Li primary's that is used in on board trancievers for tollcollecting that I was given by a friend. These are made to deliver small amounts of amps for a long long time, and hopefully will be able to run the 5mm's.
The leds will be an assortment of KevinL's 5mm's and Nichia CS(I've got 9 of each), and I've got to order some more reflectors.
Over to my questions;
Since I'm not a EE, I haven't been able to figure out if this setup will give me enough light for the purpose I've stated. Could anybody give me a ballpark figure of what I can expect out of this?
I'm believe that the reflectors will give me more area light than collimator optics, is that true?
Where can I get some MM reflector for cheap? (I've found reflectors at $1 a piece plus shipping, but I wonder if I could find something cheaper)
Thanks,
