head lamp 2000+ lumen's the brighter the better

[upsidedownorangejuice]

2000+ lumen's the brighter the better
been trying to figure out how some one would build a 2000+lumen head lamp off a battery supply i do know that it will cost a lot to build im just not sure where to get started i've come across 3.5 volt leds that suit the job and the 5000 lumen  ones that require 45 volt (wt?) and around 50 watts
so yea no clue even some one pointing me in the right direction would be awesome 
the battery can be mounted on a waist harness but head mounted would be best and it will be used in tough environment (caves) and i know how im going to water proof it all ready and i will get a heat sink made for it custom through friends

[ddavidebor]

You're going to cook your head

[upsidedownorangejuice]

no not really found a head lamp with 1200 lumens + helmet 1500$ seriously out of my price range  i would kill to own it though.

[digsys]

I had a play with a better grade version of this module last week, that has a 5Km range (I can't show it ) -
smalite.en.alibaba.com/product/486721316-213396946/30W_high_power_LED_Array_compositive_integrate_LEDS.html
Doing more testing Friday. This one seems to have your perfect Voltage range, there's probably a few variants out there.

[upsidedownorangejuice]

thanks this look about right how hard would it be to make that a led driver with pwm for diming

[M. András]

http://www.ti.com/product/lm3423 i just leave this here your problem would be getting suitable lithium cells which will last long enough and wont weight 10kg for the runtime at max output

[Psi]

2000 lumens though? Go on, you want more 
http://dx.com/p/prime-100w-8000lm-led-emitter-metal-plate-pure-white-42806

Actually, many thousands of lumens maybe an issue for moving through caves. You don't want to accidentally induce temporary blindness in others around you.


Go with one of those 1-3A 20-35V led arrays, couple it with a CPU heatsink/fan and run it from a multi-cell lithium battery pack. (perhaps two RC lipos in series)
Using 20-35V led arrays gets around the problem of switching/supplying large currents

Charging multi-cell lipo can be an issue for more than 8 cell packs.
Maybe you could use two 6S packs in series for operation and parallel for charging.

These 6S are smallish and would work http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__20962__Turnigy_1300mAh_6S_25C_Lipo_Pack_450_helicopter_HK_Trex_Rave_E4_etc_.html

[digsys]

Yes, you want Lithiums for weight. Easiest is to go higher voltage and pick up say a MPPT controller from ebay.
These usually have pretty high efficiency, ones we use are 98%+ (Too expensive and large for what you need).
Or lower Voltage and one of those CC Led drivers, as suggested.

[peter.mitchell]

Go with one of those 36-40V led arrays, couple it with a CPU heatsink/fan and run it from a multi-cell lithium battery pack. (perhaps two 6S RC lipos in series)
Using 30-40V led arrays gets around the problem of switching/supplying large currents

2000 lumens isn't enough though, you want 8000 
http://dx.com/p/prime-100w-8000lm-led-emitter-metal-plate-pure-white-42806


The only issue is charging multi-cell lipo packs. Once you get past 8 cells chargers are harder to find.
Could use two 6S packs in series for operation and parallel for charging i guess.
.

I just built pretty much the exact thing you just described, a big old flashlight as an "enclosure" some pipe fittings to mount a lens on (screw/unscrew to focus), a CPU heatsink, a 12v boost converter/driver, a pair of 17-45v input 12v output dc-dc converters, a wide variety of RC lipos, a high current lipo LVCO and a 100W LED. Weighs a ton, but if you focus it close and put stuff in front of it it ignites. I assume the DC-DC converter is reasonably efficient as the airflow from the 80mm fan on the CPU cooler is sufficient to keep them cool.

Oh, also, psi, i went through HK and found the best Wh/$ are these http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15521__Turnigy_5000mAh_4S1P_14_8v_20C_hardcase_pack.html
74Wh, $22.60 = 3.2Wh/$
The ones you linked are 28.86Wh, $20.20, making them 1.45 Wh/$

Sure they're smaller and higher voltage, but the voltage doesn't matter since you're going to have to boost it and CC it to power anything more than a 15W LED, and smaller is only a slight advantage because the rest of the flashlight is freaking huge so the battery doesn't matter much by comparison.

[Psi]

Yeah, CPU coolers are able to get rid of a lots of heat.

Most CPUs are in the 60-90W range so stock heatsinks can handle that no trouble.
Overclocking heatsinks can handle 150W+

[peter.mitchell]

Yeah, CPU coolers are able to get rid of a lots of heat.

Most CPUs are in the 60-90W range so stock heatsinks can handle that no trouble.
Overclocking heatsinks can handle 150W+

Yeah, i bought a bulk lot of old AMD cpu heatsinks, $3 each including fan, free shipping, sure, they may only be designed to cool a 60-90w cpu, but since these are in open air, and the thermal restrictions on a LED are a little less than a CPU it's not too bad.

[upsidedownorangejuice]

shl clarify this is side mounted to a lower power led as my normal led tis is the big boy for lighting up massive pitches and high rifts  i reall agree with going crazy  with the lumens

[Corporate666]

I can't imagine it would make sense to build this yourself.  I bought some bicycle lights on DealExtreme, eBay and Amazon.  The work is all already done for you... just plug it in and go.  And they are cheap.  Really cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SolarStorm-5000-Lm-2-x-CREE-XM-L-U2-LED-Bicycle-bike-HeadLight-Lamp-Flashlight-/400444055601?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3c536031

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Light-and-Headlight-Cree-XM-L-T6-3-x-LED-4200-Lumens-4-Mode-6400-mah-/140955730381?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d19dc1cd

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4000Lm-3x-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Bicycle-Bike-HeadLight-Headlamp-Light-/310651519990?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48544603f6

http://www.amazon.com/Headlight-Bicycle-HeadLamp-Charger-Included/dp/B007IOWQQC/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1366231272&sr=8-27&keywords=bicycle+headlight

They claim 4000-5000 lumens for $30-60 - including battery and head strap.  I have the older generation (3 of them) on my bike, and one on my head and it is at least 2-3 times brighter than car headlights.

The battery life is maybe a couple of hours... so depending on how long you need, you could buy extra batteries and build them into a belt system. 

These lights get pretty warm - not to where you'd burn yourself, but any LED setup cranking out ~2,000+ lumens is going to generate substantial head.

[upsidedownorangejuice]

heat is not to much of a biggie as it would be mounted on a helmet nice and