bobjane
Enlightened
After seeing wquiles' Nichia 219 shop light I decided that an accurately positionable light is something I really wanted. However as nice as the shop light is, its 110V power supply and magnetic base didn't suit my needs. Now I know I could have just attached a flashlight to a flexible arm, but this was much more fun (and MUCH more expensive
).
The light itself is a Nichia 219 4500k 92 CRI from Craig @ Illumination Supply (Thanks Craig for the excellent service).
It sits behind a 20mm wide frosted Carclo optic. A UCL glass lens protects the rather scratch prone optic.
The driver is a LUXdrive 3023-D-E-700P BuckPuck, 700mA output, DC powered, dimming function via external potentiometer.
The housing is an off-the-shelf unit designed to host the BuckPuck. Having no machining capabilities I chose this for convenience however I would not recommend it, more on this later.
The stalk of the light is based on Loc-Line 1/2" hosing and connectors. This provides huge flexibility in shaping and mounting the light.
The driver is powered via USB 5V DC and the current draw should be a bit less than 700mA. It works with any AC to USB wall warts, computer USB ports and car USB power supplies capable of supplying the required current.
Here you can see the housing. It provides a heatsink for the LED MCPCB and a space for the BuckPuck. The tail end has NPS 1/2" female electrical threads. It was very rough out of the bag and I tidied it up as best I could with scotch brite and steel wool. Applied some copper tape along the joins to improve heat transfer.
The reason I wouldn't recommend this housing is that none of the joins are threaded. The heatsink slides into the head VERY loosely, as it is there would be minimal heat transfer and nothing stops it from sliding back and forth once installed! I wrapped the heatsink with copper tape until it achieved a somewhat acceptable friction fit. The head and tail slide need to be glued to the body, not good if you need to open it up later.
You can see the black Loc-Line 1/2" male threaded connector attached to the tail. This was a bit of a problem as Loc-Line is only available in NPT and BSP plumbing threads. I went with NPT and it wouldn't thread in very far at all, this turned out to be a good thing as it provided a nice spot to mount the switch and dimmer.
The LED heatsink came looking like this (photo of the back side since I'd already refinished the top).
Sanded down for better heat transfer.
The BuckPuck is not supposed to need additional cooling and the housing doesn't provide any. However it's going to sit in an enclosed space next to a hot LED and I wanted it to be able to run it for long periods of time without issues. I hacksawed a 10mm disc from 1" aluminium bar stock. It also serves as a spacer to keep the LED heatsink jammed in place. The BuckPuck is attached using Arctic Alumina and the body tube had to be heated to allow the disc to slide in.
Had to get it right first go or I'd have to set fire to the tube again with the driver inside!
I chose to mount the on/off toggle switch and dimming potentiometer on the Loc-Line connector attached to the tail. Hole drilled and a bezel dremeled for the potentiometer's aluminium knob. A similar hole was drilled on the opposite side for the toggle switch.
Body mostly assembled.
Hole drilled through a segment of Loc-Line to let the USB cord out at the base. Nice thing about Loc-Line is that if you mess up, it's just one segment. A cable tie serves as stress relief for tugs on the cord.
Loc-Line's mounting base connector can be easily bolted onto a variety of attachments. Here you can see Loc Line's own magnetic base next to the DX clamp I'm using. Vice clamps commonly used for desk lamps can also be used.
Completed light (note the huge dings on the tail).
Beamshot.
This is now my full time desk/reading/task light.
Some issues worth noting:
1. LUXdrive recommends placing a 220uF 50V capacitor across the power leads if they are longer than 18". As I understand this is to smooth out any power irregularities. However when I attached a capacitor, the toggle switch (mounted parallel to the potentiometer as recommended by LUXdrive) would cause a shift in output level rather than turn it on and off. Any explainations for this would be appreciated.
2. The dimming is a bit flakey, especially at the low end. I think this is due to the BuckPuck needing a minimum of 7V input for the dimming function. The wall wart I'm using outputs a beefy (for USB standards) but inadequate 5.4V.
3. While the housing was clamped up overnight waiting for the epoxy to set, I had the USB cord plugged in and the switch toggled off. The light came on by itself three times through the night. Creepy. It hasn't switched itself on all day today.
As a final note. Even though Loc-Line products are fantastic (so many uses - lighting, photography, aquariums), availability outside of North America and possibly the UK is terrible. There is one importer/distributer in Australia who charges triple NA/UK prices and on top of that only carries a tiny subset of available connectors. It was also a challenge finding any vendors in NA willing to ship me a few pieces of plastic for less than three figures!
I really wish more vendors would provide the option of shipping via USPS First Class/regular airmail. It can bring the cost down from $1xx couriers/$4x USPS Express/$2x USPS Priority down to $3-10 in many cases. For this project my costs came out to be about 70% shipping 30% components and believe me I shoppped around!
).The light itself is a Nichia 219 4500k 92 CRI from Craig @ Illumination Supply (Thanks Craig for the excellent service).
It sits behind a 20mm wide frosted Carclo optic. A UCL glass lens protects the rather scratch prone optic.
The driver is a LUXdrive 3023-D-E-700P BuckPuck, 700mA output, DC powered, dimming function via external potentiometer.
The housing is an off-the-shelf unit designed to host the BuckPuck. Having no machining capabilities I chose this for convenience however I would not recommend it, more on this later.
The stalk of the light is based on Loc-Line 1/2" hosing and connectors. This provides huge flexibility in shaping and mounting the light.
The driver is powered via USB 5V DC and the current draw should be a bit less than 700mA. It works with any AC to USB wall warts, computer USB ports and car USB power supplies capable of supplying the required current.
Here you can see the housing. It provides a heatsink for the LED MCPCB and a space for the BuckPuck. The tail end has NPS 1/2" female electrical threads. It was very rough out of the bag and I tidied it up as best I could with scotch brite and steel wool. Applied some copper tape along the joins to improve heat transfer.
The reason I wouldn't recommend this housing is that none of the joins are threaded. The heatsink slides into the head VERY loosely, as it is there would be minimal heat transfer and nothing stops it from sliding back and forth once installed! I wrapped the heatsink with copper tape until it achieved a somewhat acceptable friction fit. The head and tail slide need to be glued to the body, not good if you need to open it up later.
You can see the black Loc-Line 1/2" male threaded connector attached to the tail. This was a bit of a problem as Loc-Line is only available in NPT and BSP plumbing threads. I went with NPT and it wouldn't thread in very far at all, this turned out to be a good thing as it provided a nice spot to mount the switch and dimmer.
The LED heatsink came looking like this (photo of the back side since I'd already refinished the top).
Sanded down for better heat transfer.
The BuckPuck is not supposed to need additional cooling and the housing doesn't provide any. However it's going to sit in an enclosed space next to a hot LED and I wanted it to be able to run it for long periods of time without issues. I hacksawed a 10mm disc from 1" aluminium bar stock. It also serves as a spacer to keep the LED heatsink jammed in place. The BuckPuck is attached using Arctic Alumina and the body tube had to be heated to allow the disc to slide in.
Had to get it right first go or I'd have to set fire to the tube again with the driver inside!
I chose to mount the on/off toggle switch and dimming potentiometer on the Loc-Line connector attached to the tail. Hole drilled and a bezel dremeled for the potentiometer's aluminium knob. A similar hole was drilled on the opposite side for the toggle switch.
Body mostly assembled.
Hole drilled through a segment of Loc-Line to let the USB cord out at the base. Nice thing about Loc-Line is that if you mess up, it's just one segment. A cable tie serves as stress relief for tugs on the cord.
Loc-Line's mounting base connector can be easily bolted onto a variety of attachments. Here you can see Loc Line's own magnetic base next to the DX clamp I'm using. Vice clamps commonly used for desk lamps can also be used.
Completed light (note the huge dings on the tail).
Beamshot.
This is now my full time desk/reading/task light.
Some issues worth noting:
1. LUXdrive recommends placing a 220uF 50V capacitor across the power leads if they are longer than 18". As I understand this is to smooth out any power irregularities. However when I attached a capacitor, the toggle switch (mounted parallel to the potentiometer as recommended by LUXdrive) would cause a shift in output level rather than turn it on and off. Any explainations for this would be appreciated.
2. The dimming is a bit flakey, especially at the low end. I think this is due to the BuckPuck needing a minimum of 7V input for the dimming function. The wall wart I'm using outputs a beefy (for USB standards) but inadequate 5.4V.
3. While the housing was clamped up overnight waiting for the epoxy to set, I had the USB cord plugged in and the switch toggled off. The light came on by itself three times through the night. Creepy. It hasn't switched itself on all day today.
As a final note. Even though Loc-Line products are fantastic (so many uses - lighting, photography, aquariums), availability outside of North America and possibly the UK is terrible. There is one importer/distributer in Australia who charges triple NA/UK prices and on top of that only carries a tiny subset of available connectors. It was also a challenge finding any vendors in NA willing to ship me a few pieces of plastic for less than three figures!
I really wish more vendors would provide the option of shipping via USPS First Class/regular airmail. It can bring the cost down from $1xx couriers/$4x USPS Express/$2x USPS Priority down to $3-10 in many cases. For this project my costs came out to be about 70% shipping 30% components and believe me I shoppped around!
Last edited:
