Homemade portable floodlight help

billybob

Active Member

• Dec 4, 2021

• #1

I built a flashlight of sorts designed off a YouTube video I found by “diy perks”
I brought it to a few abandoned sites to test it and it works great!

Recently though it has been acting weird it starts turning off and turning back on at different intervals. Usually on for 3 sec then off for 3

It’s a simple design, just a battery fed to a cheap boost converter with a variable resistor to determine brightness.
Any ideas on why this would be happening?
-Ben

 

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ChrisP58

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Dec 6, 2021

• #2

More details please.
- just a battery ???
- cheap boost converter ???
- variable resistor ???
- other ???

Yes, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but without details, they're just pictures.

 

rjenkinsgb

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Dec 7, 2021

• #3

Are you using a proper balance charger on the battery?

 

billybob

Active Member

• Dec 7, 2021

• #4

ChrisP58 said:

More details please.
- just a battery ???
- cheap boost converter ???
- variable resistor ???
- other ???

Yes, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but without details, they're just pictures.

Click to expand...

I know it’s very little info, I guess a better question would be if the battery is low does the boost converter have trouble maintaining the voltage needed and that’s why it flickers? It seems to do fine on a full charge now.
would buying a cheap battery meter be worth the trouble?

 

billybob

Active Member

• Dec 7, 2021

• #5

rjenkinsgb said:

Are you using a proper balance charger on the battery?

Click to expand...

This is the charger I’m using.

 

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rjenkinsgb

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Dec 7, 2021

• #6

OK, so it's unlikely to be a battery problem.
Is the variable resistor used directly in series at some point, or is it controlling the PSU output voltage?

 

ChrisP58

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Dec 7, 2021

• #7

When I asked for detail I was hoping for more technical info.'
- A schematic
- Ratings for all items used
- And, as rjenkinsgb asked, how are you using the variable resistor to control the brightness?

 

throbscottle

Well-Known Member

• Dec 8, 2021

• #8

Likely the battery can no longer maintain the current needed (a boost converter draws a high current, relative to it's output). Also possible the boost converter is starting to fail (being cheap) if it's being run close to it's rating.

 

atferrari

Well-Known Member

Most Helpful Member

• Jan 3, 2022

• #9

Post a schematic.