Has anyone made a CREE/Lux Home Tracklight?

Sorry mods/people .. I didn't see the Fixed Lighting board. You may move this post if needed.

I am curious about making a Tracklight type lamp out of CREE's or LUX's. I got some old HP Laptop/Printer AC/DC adapters, and DIY plans to make clean DC Power regulated board.

I don't have any exp with torch DIY mods..so I'll need some advice about how to put together the emitter & reflector, using some kind of heatsink (I have access to copper tubing I could flatten to use as a HS. I also have access to Aluminum stuff too).

Sooo...has anyone made a CREE or LUX home lamp?

Yup, sure have and what I did with cree's and the optics from Brum (look in groupbuy section) is just what you want. Follow the link then come back for comments:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/182153

If you have access to mill then go for it. However, everything I did on the mill you could do with hack saw and file or grinder or sander. It would just take longer. You might be able to find some suitable donor object already manufactured and just glue in the cree and optic (cheap cans at habitat for humanity place if you have one close). Even square stock or rectangular stock would look good with the cree optics on it.

I just got an idea. Go see who you can find pentuim 4 heatsinks from....those would look cool on a track. I did have to do some work with a dremel to get the optics to sit properly on the leds.

Good luck with your project and PLEASE post some pictures in the fixed lighting forum (or here) when you get it done. We all like as much exact detail as possible as I promise you at least three of us will try to reproduce what you have done if it looks good and is reasonable.

Bob E.

Your 1st attempt is more of a super spotlight. I am thinking of more of a flood/diffused lighting. I work at an ACE Harware, so I can find some good ideas for fixtures and heatsinks. The mod'ed flourescent fixture sounds like a place to start for me.

Thanks for your link!

If you order the diffuser optics that Brum sells in the B/S/T or the marketplace (I just can't remember right now), you will have the diffused look that I think you are after. If you were looking at my pictures of the desk those lights on the left were the 8 degree spot optics and the diffusers (which at 18 inches or so) on the right still had a spot like effect on the desk but not anything like the spot optics. The photo does not bring out the differences much, but in person, there was ALOT of difference.

I assume we would be looking at 7 to 8 feet from a ceiling, so those diffusers would give a great spill I would estimate from 6 to 9 feet in diameter with a nice soft edge. Perhaps you could place the cree, optics and heatsink in a can type fixture and get the flood/diffuser you want while keeping that standard look the women seem to enjoy.

While you are eying all the stuff at work, I will try and find one of the diffuser optics I used and simulate what you are trying to do and get back with the results.

Bob E.

You can buy MR16 LED lights that will plug into track lighting fixtures. Make sure the power supply doesn't put out too much voltage under the light load.

The premade light may be what you may use but as said above, check out the electrical requirements to see if you can use your free power supplies for it.

If you still are trying to make your own, here is a little info and you can go from here. I have been testing run times at 1000mA with a Cree Q5 on a Pentium 4 (I think) heatsink. It is around 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches and 1 inch thick. It gets about 100 degrees running at 1000mA in a room that is about 68 to 70 degrees. So if you mount your own led in a fixture, make sure you have enough good metal around to play heatsink for you. Using a small round piece of aluminum thermally glued to a metal housing counts for good heat sinking, so you don't have to go wild, just make sure you think you have enough metal connected to get rid of the heat....so incase you plan on running these things on high alot, you need to have some good heat sinking so they will stay cool and last a long time.

Bob E.