Z
z_Huckmeat
Guest
A little background... I have all sorts of Fenix and Surefire lights, a few nice LED headlamps, and an assortment of bike lights.
I race a long (multi day) canoe race, where more light is usually better, and durability and weight are important. Typically, we are using a JET HID light, or a Niterider Moab HID. These work OK, but the shape of the beam is a tradeoff - Spot vs flood.
In the canoe, seeing the stump directly in front of a long, fast boat before we hit it and smash the carbon fiber to bits is important. But so is having a wide enough beam that we can see the better side of the river to be on. A problem with the HID's that always concerns us is that if your bulb burns out, you're done. The races are multiple nights, and no support/resupply is allowed, we have to carry it all.
I have some nice LiPo patteries that are around 70-80 Wh (bike bottle batteries) that are great. If I could make 2 nights of light on one of these, that would be great. I'd be willing to carry two.
What I'm thinking about is CNC machining a custom housing to put a large beam directly ahead, with two other smaller beams angled off center to the right and left. Perhaps a 4th small beam aligned with the center. Enough power supply electronics to split the LED systems across multiple supplies so if one fails, we still have something. Some basic dimming levels, with perhaps an 'oh shoot!' switch to take the current up for short (5-10 minute) periods of time when we enter rapids or otherwise think we need everything we have.
I was thinking of machining my assembly to use some pre-made heads (like the tk35 and a few smaller heads) or building my own using say, XRE and MCE LEDs on stars with reflectors'optics selected by me...
My requirements short list
-3 + beams
-If I can match my HID light on 70 Wh per night, +
-Dimmable
-LED/PS redundant - If one string fails, and I have at least some working bulb, I can reorient the light on the canoe to continue.
I've got a decent electronics background, and can machine my own parts and have PCBA's made. I don't know much about the new LED technology, driving them, or building bright lights. I'm very much an optics hack.
I'm hoping folks here might have suggestions on modules that work well, are relieble, and how they would approach this. Money isn't much of an object, we take $400 Niterider HID's into swamps and hope they come out, but if I can use the batteries I have, great.
I race a long (multi day) canoe race, where more light is usually better, and durability and weight are important. Typically, we are using a JET HID light, or a Niterider Moab HID. These work OK, but the shape of the beam is a tradeoff - Spot vs flood.
In the canoe, seeing the stump directly in front of a long, fast boat before we hit it and smash the carbon fiber to bits is important. But so is having a wide enough beam that we can see the better side of the river to be on. A problem with the HID's that always concerns us is that if your bulb burns out, you're done. The races are multiple nights, and no support/resupply is allowed, we have to carry it all.
I have some nice LiPo patteries that are around 70-80 Wh (bike bottle batteries) that are great. If I could make 2 nights of light on one of these, that would be great. I'd be willing to carry two.
What I'm thinking about is CNC machining a custom housing to put a large beam directly ahead, with two other smaller beams angled off center to the right and left. Perhaps a 4th small beam aligned with the center. Enough power supply electronics to split the LED systems across multiple supplies so if one fails, we still have something. Some basic dimming levels, with perhaps an 'oh shoot!' switch to take the current up for short (5-10 minute) periods of time when we enter rapids or otherwise think we need everything we have.
I was thinking of machining my assembly to use some pre-made heads (like the tk35 and a few smaller heads) or building my own using say, XRE and MCE LEDs on stars with reflectors'optics selected by me...
My requirements short list
-3 + beams
-If I can match my HID light on 70 Wh per night, +
-Dimmable
-LED/PS redundant - If one string fails, and I have at least some working bulb, I can reorient the light on the canoe to continue.
I've got a decent electronics background, and can machine my own parts and have PCBA's made. I don't know much about the new LED technology, driving them, or building bright lights. I'm very much an optics hack.
I'm hoping folks here might have suggestions on modules that work well, are relieble, and how they would approach this. Money isn't much of an object, we take $400 Niterider HID's into swamps and hope they come out, but if I can use the batteries I have, great.
