High power video light

I have been looking for a way to use LED based bulbs in portable video lights. This is for my personal use, not for designing anything for others. At most suggesting my solution to other people in forums.

This portable light has to have several characteristics:

1) Must be 12vdc powered or less.

2) Must be the lumens equivalent to a 50w halogen lamp or better.

3) Must be spot, not flood or wide angle.

4) Must be white, 3000K or 5000K. No color leds.

5) Can't be too large or heavy, because it will be secured on a video camera.

The closer options I have found are multi-led MR16 and 5W Luxeon types. But they do not seem to be too bright.

Luxeon types could be an option, if there were 10W versions, using 6 Luxeon LEDs or more. But such types come only in 110/220V AC versions.

Suggestions?

It sounds to me like you might be better off going hid. A cree led cluster might give you the brightness you need, but can you get them at this point with a guarenteed tint in the color temp you want? I know wolf eyes makes both a small rechargable 10w hid and one that runs on 4 cr123 batts. Its beam can be focused from flood to a spot, and it should be light weight with decent runtime. You can get them from Pacific Tactical Solutions starting at $200.
Good luck whatever you choose to do.

woodrow said:

It sounds to me like you might be better off going hid. A cree led cluster might give you the brightness you need, but can you get them at this point with a guarenteed tint in the color temp you want?

Click to expand...

What's a cree led cluster?

I know wolf eyes makes both a small rechargable 10w hid and one that runs on 4 cr123 batts. Its beam can be focused from flood to a spot, and it should be light weight with decent runtime. You can get them from Pacific Tactical Solutions starting at $200.

Click to expand...

If they start at $200 then I can pick a ready-made video light. I am looking for something that could be cheaper and give other advantages over them.

Please give dimensions of the original light (or how big the completed light should be). I bet you can pull off a light that uses 6-8 of the Seoul Semiconductor P4's that has the same brightness, but the color would be a little cooler. These P4's are like Luxeon's (in size and shape), but they are so much brighter (240lm @ 1A vs. a Luxeon 3W, which is 80lm at 1A). There are many different cheap and expensive reflectors and optics that will give you this tight beam. Depending on the optic, you can have a small cluster of LEDs (with a diameter of ~50mm) to a larger cluster (with a diameter of 85mm), all with the same number of LEDs. The larger optics will give you a brighter and tighter beam because they collect more light.

So you want a custom solution or something that is pre-built? The cluster mentioned above will have to be custom made. You may be able to find one of those SSC P4 LEDs or the Cree XR-E (with similar brightness) LED with a warmer tint that is closer to the pure white range. Cost can vary, too, depending on the type of optic and LED (probably with a super minimum of $100 for this cluster). Keep us updated and give us more details. There would be many people here on the CPF that would not mind helping!

-Tony

Or use a thick copper plate with nine Cree XR-E emitters mounted in a square cluster and these lenses:
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut678&cat=33

Then get a driver that can drive each led at 1A, preferably with multi-levels when you dont need the 1650 lumens that it can produce to light your way with.

That is equivalent to a good 100w halogen.

Yeah, it is too bad to see people get discouraged over a project like this. I would love to see people follow through on doing these nifty custom lighting projects. That is alright. I would if I had the spare change and time. :huh: Come back, Carlos. We will walk you through it, or you can find another member of the CPF to do it for you. It is a great experience in electronics, optics, and mechanics. Overall, it is easy, but any custom project may test your patients every now and then...


-Tony