Battery for homemade light

[leet22]

I found a diagram for homemade light on a web site it uses a 12v downlighter globe. What type of battery will be best for it. Or if some one else has diagram with a list of items needed etc that is better if they could let me know. I know that a lot of guys make some awesome lights and maybe not willing to give away the details but any info on what type of globe and battery and where to buy would be verry welcome.

Thx

Lee

[whipped]

Lee

Gaan kyk op YOU TUBE soek vir LED LIGHT. Daar is n hele klomp. Jy kan ook by candle power forum gaan soek, maar ek dink jy gaan maklik reg kom by you tube.

[stewie911]

For battery I would think that nimh would be easiest if you look at price/weight/capasity.

[greatwhite]

18650 batteries are a reasonable option these day - many of the LED systems use them. They a Li-ion batteries and you can pick them up on ebay and other places for not too much money (don't get me wrong, thats not to say they are cheap). 4 of them would give you more than the 12v you need for you down lighter.

 

All the above said, down lighters are power inefficient and you either have to have a massive battery pack or suffer from short run time. Most of the reason the newer bike light systems are LED based is because LEDs are massivley more efficient (approching 10x), so you don't need to carry 1kg of batteries to get 2 hours of run time. In short, what you save in batteries, you will be able to spend on LED parts, and you'll end up with a lighter, more robust system too (most LED are rated for at the very least 10000hrs mean time before failure, where as down lighters are rated for 2000hrs).

 

Do a search on this site, there are guys who have made lights here and posted pics and part requirements. Soeul Semiconductors P7 (same as used in magicshine) is a nice option or look at a CREE MC-E (slightly lower lumens, I think, but more efficient). see http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_mce.asp

[Stretched@Birth]

Have to agree with Greatwhite, the LED option, although more $$$ is a better option. I've built a lot of 12v downlighter lights, and though they're simple to do, and are cheap, the battery weight and short run time is a big negative.

 

LED is the way to go, and there are a few peeps on The Hub who will hook you up at a reasonable price.

[Brighter-Lights]

Downlighter: 15-19 lumens per Watt (and most have wide angle beams, giving the impression of even less light on the trail at such low output)

 

Older LED's: 60-80 Lumens per Watt

 

Latest LED's: 120-145 lumens per Watt

 

If you HAVE to use a downlighter, get a 4 cell (14.8v) lithiumm polymer battery... performs much better than li-ion at high current. You can then use the battery for your future DIY high power LED light.

 

The 14.8v will be around 16.8v when fully charged, which means that you'll be overdriving the 12v downlighter, which will make it a lot brighter, and lessen the lifespan to about 30 hours. I've ran 12v downlighters off 17-21v before I started making LED lights. The main reason for that is increased brightness, and if you ever decide to build a LED light (which you eventually will), you can use the same battery pack to drive various LED combinations with.

[Johnno]

Sorry to high jack this post, but I have a Sigma Sport EVO X light, have it for about 1 year and a bit before I knew about LED lights. Can I use my existing battery pack, "bit bulky I know" to power a LED light and if so where would I be able to get just the light from? And what would that cost me?