making a headlight for a snow blower

burro breath · Nov 9, 2015

I just bought a snow blower and it has a terrible headlight. I have made flashlights before but its been a few years. the current headlight setup is a 22watt incandescent bulb. at 12v 22w = 1.75 amps available. I was planning on a cree xml with a single mode driver. any reccomendations on a driver. I would like to think I can push the current draw to 2 amps and the snow blower still handle it. I want the brightest possible output. I plan on machining a huge 4 inch diameter 4 inch long finned aluminum heat sink plus as it is used during the cold winter months heat will not ever be an issue. im open to any and all thoughts

fivemega · Nov 9, 2015

You may consider making single or double housing for something similar to this, if you are OK with color of LED but if Halogen / Xenon is preferred, you can choose many available sealed beam or MR16.
Just make sure voltage is within the range. :twothumbs

burro breath · Nov 10, 2015

fivemega said:
You may consider making single or double housing for something similar to this, if you are OK with color of LED but if Halogen / Xenon is preferred, you can choose many available sealed beam or MR16.
Just make sure voltage is within the range. :twothumbs

this is exactly what I am looking for. I will be adding a huge aluminum heat sink since it could be on for over an hour.

m4a1usr · Nov 10, 2015

You might want to consider the lumen output carefully since your going to be operating in a highly reflective environment. Not sure how much time you have spent shoveling or using a snow blower but since you mentioned being out for over an hour there is a over exposure aspect you might consider. Maybe a multi mode instead of a single high output. I don't have a snow blower but I do my fair share of shoveling and all I need is a headlamp. And its only a 100 lumen Surefire. I have a couple others that put out several hundred lumens and found they can be too much light for what I'm doing.

Just my 2 cents but consider having the option of bumping down a notch or 2. Especially if your in snowy conditions where you will get even more reflection off the falling snow.

Tac Gunner · Nov 10, 2015

m4a1usr said:
You might want to consider the lumen output carefully since your going to be operating in a highly reflective environment. Not sure how much time you have spent shoveling or using a snow blower but since you mentioned being out for over an hour there is a over exposure aspect you might consider. Maybe a multi mode instead of a single high output. I don't have a snow blower but I do my fair share of shoveling and all I need is a headlamp. And its only a 100 lumen Surefire. I have a couple others that put out several hundred lumens and found they can be too much light for what I'm doing.

Just my 2 cents but consider having the option of bumping down a notch or 2. Especially if your in snowy conditions where you will get even more reflection off the falling snow.

As well as more of a thrower than a flooder plus neutral tint. I have found a floody cool white light causes a lot of reflection and after just a few minutes it makes it difficult to see. For me it causes me to get near sighted, loose depth perception, and get a head ache. If the beam is more of a thrower and neutral it seems to penetrate the snow better allowing me to see farther and not have as much reflection.

burro breath · Nov 10, 2015

Tac Gunner said:
As well as more of a thrower than a flooder plus neutral tint. I have found a floody cool white light causes a lot of reflection and after just a few minutes it makes it difficult to see. For me it causes me to get near sighted, loose depth perception, and get a head ache. If the beam is more of a thrower and neutral it seems to penetrate the snow better allowing me to see farther and not have as much reflection.

what do you recommend for a neutral tint as far as leds.

making a headlight for a snow blower

burro breath

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fivemega

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burro breath

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m4a1usr

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Tac Gunner

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burro breath

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