LED flashlight project

[zachtheterrible]

My next project: LED flashlight. i want to make my own LED flashlight because i can't find a decent one to buy. the reason: all of them have the white LEDs in them. i was in my garage fiddling w/ some LEDs that i have and a white LED flashlight. wut i noticed is that i was able to see MUCH better w/ a single yellow LED than with my flashlight w/ 4 white LEDs. i think this is because the human eye is more sensitive to green and yellow light.

1. what is a high flux LED? im searching around on the internet to find the perfect LEDs to buy for my perfect flashlight and i came across these . . . they sound bright.

2. also, take a look @ this: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/a2_specs.htm
i know that it says: Note: photo is to show beam pattern, digital camera and monitor cannot accurately reproduce the pure colors emitted from leds- see emission wavelength in specs and spectral graph above.
but i dont care about the color, im just concerned as to whether or not it will be bright. duz that look like it'd be bright?

 

[Maxer]

if you want really really bright use LUXEON LED's Any color they are the brightest in the world.... google it
luxeon sells LED"s makes led's for companies like Sony and AUdi for there applications
here is pic of new LED head light coming out by AUDI using LUXEON LED's
https://www.audiworld.com/news/03/050403b/content.shtml
there beam agle is very wide as well more wider then any other led's you will find online.
one led will be good enough for a flashlight
let me know if you decide to make one, i am intersted in making one too just have not gotten around to doing it.
max

 

[zachtheterrible]

i think that i am going to have to implement those :lol:

i am thinking maybe ill get some green and yellow ones and put them together, since 555nm is right between yellow and green light. 555 nm is the wavelength that the human eye is most sensitive to. now, questions:

1. how many LEDs do u get? wen i went to the order page, i saw quantity: 250 on some of them.

2. how bright are these things? like how would they match up w/ a maglite that has 2 D size batteries?

im starting to get excited :lol:

 

[Oznog]

Go to https://www.luxeonstar.com
They have good prices on single Luxeon devices.

Be aware that they generate a lot of light, but also generate a lot of heat (though overall efficiency is better), and the die can't take high temps. The 3w or 5w devices even get a star-mounted one too hot to hold. They require good engineering to use.

They're really bright, but they need lenses to focus. The Lambertians spread the light evenly over almost 180 deg. So look at the Fraen lenses on that site too.

 

[zachtheterrible]

i don't want to use the stars because of that. i was thinking of using the emitter. which one should i use to have the brightness of a maglite?

 

[Maxer]

i don't want to use the stars because of that. i was thinking of using the emitter. which one should i use to have the brightness of a maglite?

use Luxeon V portable here is what the website says about them
"Luxeon V Portable LEDs offer up to 120 lumens of pure white light light from a single LED. These LEDs are ideally suited for flashlights, portable lighting and battery operated applications."
but the bad part about portable is life expectancy
"however the rated life span of the Luxeon V Portable is 1,000 hours as compared to the Luxeon V, which is 100,000 hours."
also they allready have sell maglights on the page so take a oot att those and see if you can do something simliar..
now i got another idea.. if money is not the issue and you truly want a super bright flashlight, prolly be the brightest in the city you live in if not the state. now you might not go with this but i still want to share and if you do that be awwsome. **broken link removed**
here is a pic of a person holding this flashlight in normal room lighting and look how bright it is...
what he used is HID (high intensity discharge) lights they use in really expensive cars like BMW, mercedes and so on.
these projectors cost a lot like 200 bucks each
behind the projector is a bulb that has pure XENON gas and when its ignited its really really bright.. there is a comparesion chart attached of how bright XENON light is.
with the projectors comes with a ballast and depending on what type you purchase of what car and ignitor. ignitor has wires extending that goes to back of projector. these wires carry about 2500KV from ignitor.
i recently bought these projectors for my bike once called bi-xenon means one projector has capability to have high and low beam. here is pic of my projectors. **broken link removed**
and here is another pic of how the light out put is on cars with these lights installed. **broken link removed**
if you do the flash ligh this way i be really really excited because i want to do this as well. if you are intersted i can send more infor your way. this project will cost you about 200 - 400 bucks depending on type of projectors you use and how your gonna make it.
you can power the HID lights of 12V. the guy above uses about 20 battries for that flashlight. i know how to hook them up in a car or a motorycle.. i am not sure how to with just battires thats not the hard part i am sure thats very easy to figure out.
advantages to having an HID flash light is you can temporarly blind some one or just signal batman for help hehe
Max

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

1,000,000 candle power torches are freely available, they are rechargable and cheap to buy - I bought one at the petrol station a few months ago.

Obviously with anything portable, there has to be a tradeoff between weight, brightness, and battery life - I've never had the torch on for long, nor have I measured it's consumption, but I expect it's very high :lol:

The battery is a sealed lead/acid one, and the bulb gets far too hot to touch (as does the glass in front of it!).

 

[zachtheterrible]

i gotta admit, that is SWEET!! :lol: unfortunately tho, money is a BIG issue w/ me. the most that im prepared to spend is maybe 40 buks.

lemme define wut i'm looking for:
1. i strictly want to build a LED flashlight, no other kind, as this would mean that i might as well just go out and buy one.
2. i want much lower battery consumption than any other regular incandesent bulb flashlight.
3. it doesnt have to be EXTREMELY bright, maybe a little less bright than a 2 D sized maglite.
4. i want to use a green or yellow LED or both because that is the brightest color to the human eye (and it also looks really cool)

so which emitter? I, III or V? btw, i know that I=1watt, III=3watt n V=5watt.

maxer, wen i get into the money, im gonna make one of those!!! cuz its sooo sweet

 

[Maxer]

**broken link removed**
here is a website it has LUXEON flash lights they use like 3W so emitter III maybe just check it out maybe you can steal an idea or something.
Max

 

[pike]

hey hey!!

I read an article in a magazine about this kind of stuff a while ago. Acordingly, if you were to use 2 d sized cells, this LED wont even light up... this is becuase a luxeon requires 3.4volts to operate!!!

Your gonna need some kind of circuit to boost the voltage up.

For a circuit like this you would have no option but to use SMT. reqular sized components will never fit into the torch along with the 2 batteries.

The voltage converter will too have to be efficeint in converting voltages, otherwise you might aswell stick you your reqular dumb flashlight.

 

[Dee Bee]

i gotta admit, that is SWEET!! :lol: unfortunately tho, money is a BIG issue w/ me. the most that im prepared to spend is maybe 40 buks.

lemme define wut i'm looking for:
1. i strictly want to build a LED flashlight, no other kind, as this would mean that i might as well just go out and buy one.
2. i want much lower battery consumption than any other regular incandesent bulb flashlight.
3. it doesnt have to be EXTREMELY bright, maybe a little less bright than a 2 D sized maglite.
4. i want to use a green or yellow LED or both because that is the brightest color to the human eye (and it also looks really cool)

o which emitter? I, III or V? btw, i know that I=1watt, III=3watt n V=5watt.

maxer, wen i get into the money, im gonna make one of those!!! cuz its sooo sweet

This may be what you are looking for

https://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=674&link_str=178&partno=TLE5

**broken link removed**

DEE

 

[zachtheterrible]

do they have those for 2 D flashlights?

 

[Dee Bee]

2 D's

do they have those for 2 D flashlights?

Here is what they offer

https://www.luxeonstar.com/sub_cate...78&PHPSESSID=c9c363e0b79e69d541cabbdd2a9903f3

DEE

 

[zachtheterrible]

i wish that they made that kind of replacement in a yellow color. my experience with the white LEDs compared to yellow ones is that they are much less bright and they seem to make a silhouette of the thing that they are pointed at, rather than being able to reveal details.

 

[Oznog]

Actually green and red are more sensitive than yellow for human eye response. Also, they're more common to find in a high power device than a yellow.

 

[Dee Bee]

Flashlight Modification to RED LED

i wish that they made that kind of replacement in a yellow color. my experience with the white LEDs compared to yellow ones is that they are much less bright and they seem to make a silhouette of the thing that they are pointed at, rather than being able to reveal details.

I just converted a flashlight to LED.

It was a two cell AA flashlight that used a 3 volt screw base bulb. I took the bulb out of the flashlight. Then with a needle nose pliers, cracked and removed the glass from the front of the bulb. Next I used the pliers to slightly flex the alum. base to crack and loosen the glass inside the base.

Next using a soldering iron, I desoldered the buld connection from the bottom base point. With the filament removed I had an empty base.

My red LED runs at 2.1 forward voltage. A White LED typically runs as 3.4 forward voltatge, so the 3 v would not light this. But the 3 v will drive the Red LED. So I soldered the + LED leg into the bottom base of the "empty" bulb. The soldered the - LED leg to the edge of the round opening of the bulb base.

Check out other colors with a forward voltage of less than 3 volts. These can be used to modify the flashlight without adding resistors.

I inserted the single LED now attached to the screw base in the flashlight

Works great. The LED is running slightly above the rated forward current, so it may have a shorter life. I est 100 hrs, vs 10,000 hrs of operation.

Cost one LED

Used my exisiting flashlight which has the bulb in it that I modified.

It took about 15 minutes.

Next I want to modify a MiniMag Light If I can do that I post


DEE