Flyingdrums
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My most recent light build. The video is meant to have some "light" hearted humor. :ironic: Includes PWM circuit diagram and overview of the build.
100 Watt Homemade PWM Flashlight with Laser
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Wow, GREAT project and fantastic video! :twothumbs
Two question:
1) How much does the heatsink heats up? It's huge, maybe there's no need for a fan!
2) Did you use a 44mm lens? i see that almost all project with a 100w led do have a 44mm lens, but i'm wondering what diffecence could it make to use a bigger lens, for example a 77mm one with his reflector. Any idea?
Two question:
1) How much does the heatsink heats up? It's huge, maybe there's no need for a fan!
2) Did you use a 44mm lens? i see that almost all project with a 100w led do have a 44mm lens, but i'm wondering what diffecence could it make to use a bigger lens, for example a 77mm one with his reflector. Any idea?
Flyingdrums
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Thanks for watching and commenting. The heatsink does get pretty hot after it runs for a few minutes even at the lowest power. I thought about disconnecting the fan to conserve power, but with the fan pot turned all the way down it is only consuming a watt or two. I figured I'd error on the side of caution by leaving it connected.
Yes, I used a 44mm lens because I had used them in the past for my grow lights and didn't take the time to actually do any calculations, In my grow lights the lenses were narrowing the beam enough to direct the light down, but not too much so that I could have an area large enough to grow at least a few plants based of course on the height of the light, which is right now about 6 feet. The other reason I went with the 44mm is because it was cheap! It wasn't until I took it outside and aimed at the woods that I realized that a collector and a narrower beam would have been more ideal. So maybe I'll modify it in the future and will happily listen to any suggestions you have. As you may be able to tell from the video I'm just trying to have some fun with it while learning something in the process and more importantly encouraging others to do the same. Its one thing to watch things on the internet or read a book, but it's quite another to try and conceive something and then actually build it. I expect to screw something up and that's how I learn.
If even with such a large heatsink te fan is needed ... well ... the power is a lot
Yes, I used a 44mm lens because I had used them in the past for my grow lights and didn't take the time to actually do any calculations, In my grow lights the lenses were narrowing the beam enough to direct the light down, but not too much so that I could have an area large enough to grow at least a few plants based of course on the height of the light, which is right now about 6 feet. The other reason I went with the 44mm is because it was cheap! It wasn't until I took it outside and aimed at the woods that I realized that a collector and a narrower beam would have been more ideal. So maybe I'll modify it in the future and will happily listen to any suggestions you have. As you may be able to tell from the video I'm just trying to have some fun with it while learning something in the process and more importantly encouraging others to do the same. Its one thing to watch things on the internet or read a book, but it's quite another to try and conceive something and then actually build it. I expect to screw something up and that's how I learn.
Thank you for the feedback!
I asked about the lens because i'm looking to realize a simple project (at least it's simple if compared to your) like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c--5c3Egv4E , and the lens used is the same size of the one you used, but than i looked at this http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?353341-DIY-Flooder-10000LM and i was wondering about the difference that a bigger lens would do.
I'm not an expert so i don't have suggestions about it, but from what i read an easy way to have a longer beam is to use an additional lens in front of the 44mm one, for example a fresnel lens (i don't know how the result could be though).
I think i'll go with the 44mm one cause i agree with you, these projects are just fun and i want to spend little on it.
One more question if i can: which regulator did you use for your project? in the youtube link i'm following the regulator is a 100w Voltage regulator, but i'm now i'm reading that it's not the best solution...
Any advices?
Flyingdrums
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If even with such a large heatsink te fan is needed ... well ... the power is a lot
One more question if i can: which regulator did you use for your project? in the youtube link i'm following the regulator is a 100w Voltage regulator, but i'm now i'm reading that it's not the best solution...
Any advices?
The voltage regulator I used for the 555 timer PWM is the lm317. To power the LED though you need something that limits current. V=IR. Because the LED has pretty much no resistance when applying a voltage across it will essentially be a short circuit and your LED will be no more because it has limitations. I don't know of a resistor that can handle 100 watts so you have to find a special circuit that can handle that power. There are several options to "drive" your LED, but it depends on what you're using for a power supply. I used a 600 watt boost converter from ebay that can boost the voltage as well as limit current and I can use it interchangeably with a lot of other projects. It is a dc to dc converter so it will obviously work with batteries. They do make dc to dc drivers specifically for 100 watt LED's but I liked the versatility with the boost converter for using it with other things when needed. You could also get an ac to dc driver specifically for the 100 watt LED that you could plug into your wall, but that wouldn't make much of a flashlight would it?:huh:
