New Basic LED Primer for Dive Light

Hey there, first post here- looking for some knowledge! I am interested in making an LED light for scuba diving/photography and looking for a basic primer or background document with the basics to start- if that exists for scuba/dive lights. I've built many 3W Cree LED rigs for aquariums, so I know the basics, but hoping for a resource particular to building a scuba light. What I really don't know about is the battery component- since my LED builds have been all wired thus far. Any resource document would be appreciated. Thanks! Best, Peter

Okay, so after a little more research into what I would like to do- I'd like to make a combined night dive light, and camera video/focus light. What I know and have built with before in aquarium lighting is cree 3 watt 20mm stars. Would those be applicable here?

This is what I would like to do (I'll be making a custom aluminum enclosure for these)

Three 5-watt Cree 5-Watt XM-L stars MAx 3000mA, about 5000K, ~2.9v forward voltage each. Not sure how many lumens this would be, but aiming for about 1,000 to 1,200
Along with those, I'd like to run three 3-watt RED XP-E led's, MAX 700mA ~2.4v forward voltage (these I'd like on a separate switch, for funding critters at night, as they don't see the red...)

Ideally the 5-watt Cree white LED's would be on a dimmer, or somehow control their brightness. I would do this on a potentiometer normally running AC power, but not sure what options there are with batteries, or if they are the same.

If I were doing this with AC power it would be no problem, but with batteries- not sure what to do. What rechargeable batteries would you suggest, in what configuration?

I saw these http://www.all-battery.com/asizenimh2500mahrechargeablebatteries.aspx

Which are 1.2V and 2500mA, so does that mean I would need about 6 to run the 3 CREE's above, slightly under driving them?

I could probably put the 3 red LED's on another circuit, as I need to drive them at significantly lower amperage- do I need a different battery whose output is 700mA? I think I might be missing some fundamental formula for calculating what I need Help?

Thanks, Peter

Here is the outline for what I'd like to do, can someone please chime in with some advice? These LED's will be in a single custom housing:

2 XML 5w 3000mA (SPOT: narrow lenses for spotting)
4 XML 5w 3000mA (FLOOD: wide lenses or no lenses for video/focus lighting)
4 XPE 3w 700mA RED led's (probably 30 degree lenses for mid-penetration)

Each of group above will be on its own toggle, for 3 switches total, so I can switch from spot, to focus, to red light, or burn spot/flood.

It looks like I would need 3 different circuit drivers, one for the spot XML's, one for the FLOOD, and one for the RED? It would be great if each could have 3 modes, low, medium, high that I could cycle through with each toggle. I saw some flashlight circuit boards, but I don't know how these should be configured. For instance, for the 2 XML spots, do I need a flashlight circuit board whose output current is close to 3,000mA and whose volts are more or less than the combined forward voltage of the led's they are driving? So, for these two XML led's, would this one work: http://dx.com/p/4-mode-2500mah-led-driver-circuit-board-for-flashlight-dc-5-0-8-4v-106303?item=19

I would also like to run these on 1 (or 2?) battery packs. Can someone suggest how many batteries and of what type I would need? Looking for good burn time, and don't mind carrying alot of batteries.

Thanks for your help!

Best, Peter