Hey - I need a little help and guidance here - I know I'm tackling kind of a monster for a first build, but I'm sure someone can help me out with my power issue 
I'm building a UV light source for night time UV mineral hunting. I bought a Streamlight Night Com UV based on thread reviews, went out at night and found a decent amount of minerals - It was kind of backbreaking work because that flashlight has 24mw radiant flux and I had to be within 6" to spot them. I'm hooked on nighttime hunting, and now I want a better light. For ease of use, I'm going to use a light out of a Ridgid 18V combo pack , it has the ideal form for looking at the ground and a clip for a shoulder strap. ( I really don't want to mess with batteries and I have several Ridgid 18V 1500ma/3000ma batteries on hand )
I'm going to side mount two 2D maglites, each with improved optics from DX, each with a 10W 465nm LedEngin LZ4 - ( spec sheet ). I'm going to heatsink, louvre/slot near the head, and active cool the bodies with 40mm CPU fans.
So I've got 18Vin, Vfmin = 14.7 and Vfmax = 19.5, and If=700ma (per LED), and I'm stuck at what to do. VIn is above and below Vf - Do I run them in parallel with a buck, or do I run them in series and boost them? My other thought is to run the emitters in parallel ( per star ), but mouser didn't give me an option of series or parallel star, so I have no idea what I'm getting. I'd like low voltage warning LEDs and or open/short protection, but these are important but optional
Some other questions - I've never seen thermal fuses or fast blow fuses mentioned - I'd like to run a thermal on the heatsink and a 800ma fuse inline with each LED - Is this a good idea? I've got plenty of space since each Mag2D will be basically a massive heatsink and the power is under the ridgid lamp body.
Summarizing - Cost isn't exactly a factor, but I'm not going to go out and pawn the car title for something
Buck or Boost, and can you recommend a driver?
Thermal fuse - yes or no?
Regular fuses?
Thanks!
Todd
I'm building a UV light source for night time UV mineral hunting. I bought a Streamlight Night Com UV based on thread reviews, went out at night and found a decent amount of minerals - It was kind of backbreaking work because that flashlight has 24mw radiant flux and I had to be within 6" to spot them. I'm hooked on nighttime hunting, and now I want a better light. For ease of use, I'm going to use a light out of a Ridgid 18V combo pack , it has the ideal form for looking at the ground and a clip for a shoulder strap. ( I really don't want to mess with batteries and I have several Ridgid 18V 1500ma/3000ma batteries on hand )
I'm going to side mount two 2D maglites, each with improved optics from DX, each with a 10W 465nm LedEngin LZ4 - ( spec sheet ). I'm going to heatsink, louvre/slot near the head, and active cool the bodies with 40mm CPU fans.
So I've got 18Vin, Vfmin = 14.7 and Vfmax = 19.5, and If=700ma (per LED), and I'm stuck at what to do. VIn is above and below Vf - Do I run them in parallel with a buck, or do I run them in series and boost them? My other thought is to run the emitters in parallel ( per star ), but mouser didn't give me an option of series or parallel star, so I have no idea what I'm getting. I'd like low voltage warning LEDs and or open/short protection, but these are important but optional
Some other questions - I've never seen thermal fuses or fast blow fuses mentioned - I'd like to run a thermal on the heatsink and a 800ma fuse inline with each LED - Is this a good idea? I've got plenty of space since each Mag2D will be basically a massive heatsink and the power is under the ridgid lamp body.
Summarizing - Cost isn't exactly a factor, but I'm not going to go out and pawn the car title for something
Buck or Boost, and can you recommend a driver?
Thermal fuse - yes or no?
Regular fuses?
Thanks!
Todd
