WeaponLight project-Finished pics

To me, it's intuitive that LED's would stand up to shock better than a filament. But I know they get hot, and of course there is an electronic circuit.

I'm trying to decide on a weapon light for a shotgun. The design I have in mind precludes the usual rail-mounted surefire, in that the head will mount separatly from the battery container.

So what say you, experts?

Oh and a pic of the gun, in case you are interested:

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Almost all decent LED lights should be more vibration and impact resistant then normal incan lights.

The only way to really break a LED is to sever a electrical bond or break the die itself. Both of which are hard to do since they require direct impact to the LED itself or a really, really hard impact(usually the circuit breaks first).

The circuit is made of solid state electronics so, similar to a LED, the only way to break it is to break a solder joint, or break the component itself, both of which is pretty hard to do if the circuit is within the light.

In cheap lights there's the risk of a bad solder joint and will make the light much easier to break(the component can usually be soldered back on) but it shouldn't be a problem with the better lights.

In short, with a good light, it's really hard(nearly impossible) to break the light without breaking the body.

If you want to be sure, you can buy a easily open-able light, take it apart, and cover the circuit with epoxy(not too much epoxy, the light still has to be put back together). That way it would be almost impossible to break the circuit board.

:welcome:

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

If you want to make absolutely sure nothing will rattle loose, buy a light with an epoxy-filled head. The LED isn't really ever in danger of blowing out due to vibration, but it's always possible the electronics that control the flow of power to the LED could rattle loose -- unless they're embedded in epoxy, that is.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Thank you gentlemen, that is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.

As I mentioned in the OP, that's what I was thinking but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. That short-barreled 12 gauge has a pretty good kick.

I'll post pics when I get the project going; now I have to choose a flashlight to cannibalize.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

If you're buying completed lights the term you'd be looking for, is "Potted electronics".

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

tebore said:

If you're buying completed lights the term you'd be looking for, is "Potted electronics".

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Thanks.

I haven't necessarily decided to buy a complete light, but I'm leaning that way. I'd like to keep costs down as this is a rough application and I'd hate to ruin a bunch of expensive stuff.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

There are a lot of reported cases of the glass domes on Cree's falling off after head-frist impacts and the gummy domes on SSC's coming off after being wiped. I don't think being mounted on a fully automatic rifle would produce as much shock as a headfirst impact, or friction and movement from wiping though, so it should be fine. Just make sure you get a nice light and if it does have a circuit, that it's potted.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

L.E.D. said:

Just make sure you get a nice light and if it does have a circuit, that it's potted.

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are the p60ls and e2d/e1b heads potted? :thinking:

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

my blunder

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Mounting a light on your Saiga-12 might present some challenges that limit you to a certain size and shape to begin with.

Do you have a molded picatinny rail on the opposite side of the foregrip or something? From the looks of it there isn't enough remaining for a barrel mount.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Well, it's no big deal to mount a regular light on a rail, which is easily mounted on either side (or the bottom) of the handguard. But as I said in the OP I've got a different idea.

I'm going to mount the head of the flashlight directly in front of the gas plug. You'll note that even though it's an 8" barrel, I used the full-length handguard. I've got about 1.25" diameter X 1.5" to work with

I'm mounting the batteries in a vertical forward grip, with a momentary switch built into it.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

BobAsh said:

I'm going to mount the head of the flashlight directly in front of the gas plug. You'll note that even though it's an 8" barrel, I used the full-length handguard. I've got about 1.25" diameter X 1.5" to work with

I'm mounting the batteries in a vertical forward grip, with a momentary switch built into it.

Click to expand...

Still, 1.5" isn't much to work with at all and it sounds like at this time you don't know which light/head you're going to use.

If you're going the mount the batteries separately what did you have in mind to close up the back of the head? If you plan on using this shorty for serious purposes then you'll want it to be "bulletproof" so to speak. Custom lights aren't usually the best choice for such applications especially when the design is more complicated than just switching out the LED in an existing weaponlight.

With the light mounted that far forward the current flash suppressor will blast powder deposits directly onto the lens and greatly reduce it's output after a few firings. Last but not least, if you have to get to your gas plug quickly for some reason having to remove the light first will slow the process. I'm not sure if that's an important consideration for your purposes or not but once again it depends on how serious your application will be.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

That is a very large magazine (to my eye.) :duh2: You preparing for the zombie hordes or something?

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Patriot36 said:

Still, 1.5" isn't much to work with at all and it sounds like at this time you don't know which light/head you're going to use.

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I think it's plenty of space for a 100 lumen light head. This thread is an attempt to get peoples opinions about what I'm going to use.

Patriot36 said:

If you're going the mount the batteries separately what did you have in mind to close up the back of the head? If you plan on using this shorty for serious purposes then you'll want it to be "bulletproof" so to speak. Custom lights aren't usually the best choice for such applications especially when the design is more complicated than just switching out the LED in an existing weaponlight.

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I have a full machine/fabricating shop at my disposal.

The most "serious purpose" I have is night varmint hunting out at our shooting ranch.

I'm not so much talking about a custom light as modifying an existing light to my needs.

Patriot36 said:

With the light mounted that far forward the current flash suppressor will blast powder deposits directly onto the lens and greatly reduce it's output after a few firings. Last but not least, if you have to get to your gas plug quickly for some reason having to remove the light first will slow the process. I'm not sure if that's an important consideration for your purposes or not but once again it depends on how serious your application will be.

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Thanks for the advise, but I've mounted a lot of lights on a lot of weapons, and I'm very familiar with the AK platform. This is just an idea I've been toying with for awhile.

Check out what we do at tromix.com

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

likeguymontag said:

That is a very large magazine (to my eye.) :duh2: You preparing for the zombie hordes or something?

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lol yeah, it's a 20-round drum.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

BobAsh said:

The most "serious purpose" I have is night varmint hunting out at our shooting ranch.

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You varmint hunt with an 8" full auto shotgun?

If you get an operating light head to work and survive in that mounting location it would be neat to see.

I saw your website and those comps look nice. I've been shooting JP for the last decade or so and it would be hard to pull me away now.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Patriot36 said:

You varmint hunt with an 8" full auto shotgun?

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There must be a lot of varmints.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Patriot36 said:

an 8" full auto shotgun?

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Wait, what? That thing is full auto?

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

No that one is not full auto, although we have made some full-auto shotguns, the videos of which you can view on our website.

Re: Are LED's more vibration resistant?

Patriot36 said:

If you get an operating light head to work and survive in that mounting location it would be neat to see.

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I've mounted a few lights in that proximity to the muzzle, just on longer guns (Don't laugh at the ultra-long magazine!).


That gun has had that flashlight on it for about 4 years.