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Want to make a relatively high powered night handheld flashlight

Hi guys, im new to electronics and stuff, but i work at a movie theater, and cleaning in the dark isnt fun...lol so, after seeing that awesome ultrabright headlight instructable, i was wondering if the "Ultimate Biker's Night Headlight" could be modified into a smaller, handheld version? Thanks in advance.. -robi

12 comments
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Nov 30, 2008. 12:39 PMThelonelysandwitch says:
try fenix lights they are great. The sites are fenix-store.com and fenixlight.com
May 24, 2007. 7:33 AMmoonlighttech says:
I like my Fenix 1 watt LED single AAA cell flashlight. It's approx .5" dia X 2.9" long. Fits a keychain or pocket easily. 3 intensity levels of 4.5, 12(default), and 30 lumens (very bright!). The quality is top notch, it's my swiss army light, but the "Rolex" like price is high. Perhaps you can find a clone at half price or less. Just my $.02 for your situation. I think it would be perfect.
Nov 30, 2008. 12:36 PMThelonelysandwitch says:
I love fenix lights, I just got a fenix Digital L0D Q4 it is great. it goes to like I think 75 lumens with 2 other lower settings.
May 24, 2007. 1:33 PMlemonie says:
May 23, 2007. 11:47 AMLasVegas says:
There have been a couple of recent Instructables on this topic. The most recent one, $100 Super Bright Flashlight for under $10! is, IMO the better one. There's also, Make a $200 "tactical" flashlight for about $15.
May 23, 2007. 12:40 PMLasVegas says:
I would squeeze 5 or 6 LEDs into a tight pattern at the head of the flashlight. There would be no need for a reflector since LEDs, by their very nature are directional. Using the 3 Lithium batteries, you could drive 6 LEDs in series/parallel as 3 sets of 2 LEDs perhaps even without a current limiting resistor, to get the most life out of the batteries.
May 24, 2007. 1:02 AMwestfw says:
Yes, they really put out that much heat. Figure a normal 20mA 5mm LED uses about 70 mW of power (3.5V * 20mA.) A state of the art high power LED uses 3 to 5W of power; about 50 to 70 times more, at about the same efficiency.
May 23, 2007. 8:19 PMLasVegas says:
Those are ultrabright LEDs and do tend to get hot.
May 23, 2007. 8:04 PMHamO says:
I'm looking for a really high powered "day" flashlight!
May 23, 2007. 1:27 PMkishida says:
I had bought a Luxeon 3 watt flashlight last year, for about $20 (?), but I forgot where I bought it from. I think I searched ebay, for the cheapest price. I somewhat recall that it was shipped from Hong Kong. It works fine and uses 3 AAA batteries in a holder that keep the flashlight, just a little longer than the length of one AAA cell.

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