S'Mores! Led for melting marshmallows

clutchsauce · Nov 20, 2009

Long story, but I need to somehow melt marshmallows usiing only batteries. Can you guys give me any suggestions for the cheapest LED to buy and battery. I do have a $ 30 limit. Also the LED would have to not burn out after a few uses something that can actually sustain mutiple uses of around a minute (or less) of use each time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Other ideas would also be welcome for alternative ways to melt soemthing. I was originally thinking toaster like heating coils but that draws far too much electricity.

Gunner12 · Nov 20, 2009

I wouldn't use a LED light, since they are more efficient then incandescents and the heat is not going to be concentrated by a reflector.

What kind of batteries would you be using? I think a hotwire maglite should work pretty well.

tebore · Nov 20, 2009

Buy a bunch of matches and a few newspapers.

You're not going to do melt anything with LEDs and not under a $30 budget.

nub-sauce

Ken_McE · Nov 20, 2009

You need an incandescent bulb. They produce more heat than light. LEDs produce more light than heat, which is not what you need. You might get a cheap 6 volt lantern, swap out the lense for a piece of foil, sit it on its tail and try that. That big battery holds a reasonable amount of power.

A soda can with a candle burning inside and a marshmallow sitting on top might work. If you still need to have batteries you could use them to ballast the can and hold up the candle.

Benson · Nov 20, 2009

Ken_McE said:
You need an incandescent bulb. They produce more heat than light. LEDs produce more light than heat, which is not what you need.

Strictly speaking, not true. LEDs dump around 1/3 of the power into light, and 2/3 to non-light heat. (And technically, the visible light is heat, too!) The big difference, though, is that the non-light heat transfer from an LED is almost entirely conducted out through the base, while the non-light heat from an incan is almost entirely radiated out the front with the light.

Aircraft800 · Nov 20, 2009

Sorry, but in a nutshell, you won't be able to melt a marshmallow with a LED for under $30. You would even be hard pressed to do that with a incandescent lamp and battery for under $30.

I'm sure a Mag85 could do it, but not for under $30.

I wish I could help.

EDIT: The more I think about it, if you have a battery pack from a cordless tool, you could get a Low Voltage Halogen bulb for landscaping lighting (like a 30W Malibu bulb), and a socket and melt stuff. Just match the battery pack just above the bulb voltage. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would melt something!

R@ndom · Nov 20, 2009

Aircraft800 said:
Sorry, but in a nutshell, you won't be able to melt a marshmallow with a LED for under $30. You would even be hard pressed to do that with a incandescent lamp and battery for under $30.

I'm sure a Mag85 could do it, but not for under $30.

I wish I could help.

EDIT: The more I think about it, if you have a battery pack from a cordless tool, you could get a Low Voltage Halogen bulb for landscaping lighting (like a 30W Malibu bulb), and a socket and melt stuff. Just match the battery pack just above the bulb voltage. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would melt something!

Old car battery and a 50 watt non diochic MR16 will do it.

kramer5150 · Nov 21, 2009

-12V SLA battery
-Steel wool
-Newspaper

Forget the LED, its not needed.

SFG2Lman · Nov 21, 2009

some of the more powerful green lasers may be able to burn small pieces of marshmallow...maybe

ma_sha1 · Nov 21, 2009

not with Led, but can be done under 30 for sure. WF-500 remove front glass, $25. or Dx 15w p60 drop in to a cheap host. this is brighter & more heat than ROP Low.

S'Mores! Led for melting marshmallows

clutchsauce

Newly Enlightened

Gunner12

Flashaholic

tebore

Flashlight Enthusiast

Ken_McE

Flashlight Enthusiast

Benson

Flashlight Enthusiast

Aircraft800

Flashlight Enthusiast

R@ndom

Enlightened

kramer5150

Flashaholic

SFG2Lman

Enlightened

ma_sha1

Flashlight Enthusiast

Similar threads

Latest posts