With daylight savings time starting up, you might not have quite as much need for lighting, but this pair of hacks should keep everything well lit whether outside or indoors. Check out the videos of both in action after the break.
The first lighting solution comes to us from [Ben]’s Youtube channel. It’s a simple solution, press-fitting a clamp light into a 1 inch PVC Tee to attach the light to a pipe. The base is made with PVC shaped into three feet for a (hopefully) sturdy rest. Several lights can be used as needed, and would probably work well for making his next video.
The second light also comes to us from Youtube, and is about converting a stock LED light into one that is much brighter. Skip to around 7:00 to see the outdoor comparison. You may or may not want to do this exact hack, but you never know when you might want to swap out your blinkenlights for something that will scare the neighbors!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaxP72L8QeI%5D
Ok, so about the flashlight, pretty cool, I like the lumins on it, it beats mine at 180 and the batteries it takes beat it too, mine takes 2 cr123 which cost me $2 each at digikey and it goes through them every 3 weeks or so. But it looks far more rugged than the frankenbeast. I do have a few flashlights that I modded for UV leds (good for spotting dye in refrigeration systems, but that doesn’t count). my biggest question is , would it survive a fall? mine is a streamlight protac 2l available at http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-88031-Tactical-Flashlight-Batteries/dp/B00396S1Q2 .
now about the desk light, on tip and you are replacing a VERY expensive bulb, LEDs might hold up better but then you get into even more expense (and my picture here is the remake that originally used an led flood light array http://www.myspace.com/480608276/photos/16897181#{%22ImageId%22%3A16897181} ). I opted for a simple desk lamp for lighting up a circuit board to look for a bad connection or blown cap.
I think if he combined the leds into a floor lamp he might get something a little more durable and cooler looking. keep working at it.
that PVC lamppost would look great with some cut mayo jar globes
Seems like the flashlight guy doesn’t rly have a clue what he’s doing and the fact that he got his to work at all is nothing short of remarkable! 1st the Cree XML T6 is capable of almost 1100 lumens, not a pathetic 450 as claimed. Secondly the forward voltage for the T6 Xml is 3.35V @ 3000ma!
http://www.cree.com/led-components-and-modules/products/xlamp/discrete-directional/~/media/Files/Cree/LED%20Components%20and%20Modules/XLamp/Data%20and%20Binning/XLampXML.pdf
4.5V into this lamp without a driver board should kill it almost instantly as it would want to draw ridiculous amps! I have found that with mine, (running thru a cheapo chinese driver board) 3×1.5v aa cells is NOT enough even though the manufacturer’s supply these torches with them, I have had much better results hacking 4×1.2V Nimh cells into the driver and the results are amazing. I would put money on my XML T6 being at least twice as bright as his just by controlling the device correctly. /rant
Looks like he was relying on the specs provided by DealExtreme.
http://dx.com/p/cree-xml-t6-5-mode-6700k-450-lumen-smooth-aluminum-drop-in-module-with-textured-reflector-55026
Looks like it’s mounted on a driver board of some sort. Knowing DX, it’s a poor clone of a Cree led.
15 bucks for a shitty knock off? why bother! Plenty of real ones dumped into shitty torches on amazon for a few dollars more.
How would not being able to draw enough amps harm the LEDs? In that case, the supply voltage drops til the draw is equal to what the battery can reply. The equivalent resistance. Surely with a too-low supply voltage you’d either get dim light, or more likely no light?
It’s not like mercury bulbs, or whichever ones (fluorescent?) where the chemicals darken the tube if the voltage falls (neons!?). Surely the LEDs, under-supplied, should be fine.
That said I’d still expect to use a driver circuit on components that get hot, and aren’t cheap.
Ah…! It mentions (the dx page) a wide voltage range and hi / med / lo / strobing modes. And it’s a “drop-in module”. So there is some sort of driver in there. From the best a Chinese kid’s bedroom can supply though, perhaps.
I never said that not drawing enough amps harms the led. I said that over volting the led without current limiting would damage the led. I had not watched the entire video when i wrote that and was going by his poor explanation of his method at the start of the video thinking that he’d hooked up an XML directly to a 4.5V supply (3.6 rechargeable – still well above the forward voltage of the diode).
With the start of daylight savings, lighting becomes MORE critical, not less. Before – there’s some light when I wake up, my body believes it is morning. After – I am expected to wake up alert and perky before the night ends.
As for evenings… well, fortunately the days are still short enough that I am not yet trying to go to sleep while the sun is up. But it’s not long until that happens. So this is a great time for the lighting hacks, since waking up in the dark is back on the problem list.
I hope some anti-lighting hacks are up by the time I am trying to fall asleep while thesun’s up.
Dammit either this site needs an “edit post” function, or I need to think more before I post. But there’s a photo of the driver PCB on DX’s site, on the chat thread for the component. The PCB contains an ATTINY and what looks like some coils and transistors.
I have found that the stand of the building flood lamp is a very good option. They are relatively cheap (around €10-$15) and you get a nice halogen lamp.
Just remember that if you’re filming a video or taking photos you should use light sources that are all around the same color temperature. If you don’t, you could have spots of weird color in the final media, or color balance will be ‘off’, or it will look like there’s a bight blue spotlight shining in through a window.
The flashlight mod was fairly bad. Here’s a $10 light fitted with a ~$6 LED XML T6 just like this guy. Basically, it keeps the nicer stock appearance as well. The boost circuit handles it fine:
http://northstreetlabs.org/2013/01/upgrade-flashlight-to-pocket-sun/
Flashlight guy is clueless. Have a look here for some proper flashlight modification
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?17-Homemade-and-Modified-Flashlights-Discussion