Five Watt 1 LED High Power Rechargeable Flashlight

Whether you just need a high powered flashlight for long range illumination, a headlight for riding your bike in the dark, or simply want to outshine the competition, this will show you how.

Step 1 The Materials and Cost

1 - Five Watt High Power Luxeon Star LED $7

8 - AA 1.2 volt NiMH Rechargeable batteries $6+ (depending on brand)

1 - Eight AA battery clip (4 rows of 2 batteries) $2.50

1 - small piece of aluminum foil a couple cents if you already have some

1 - 3 x 5 notecard a couple cents if you already have some

1 - roll of double sided tape $1.50

1 or 2 - stick(s) of hot glue ~$2 for a small bundle

1 - aluminum heat sink (salvaged, or new) $2-10 (depending on size and seller)

1 - switch or button a couple cents

some wire a couple cents

1 - package of high strength glue (i used JB Weld) $5-8 (this is only necessary if you use the lens

1 - focusing lens large enough for the head of the flashlight (I salvaged this from an overhead
projector, so I am not sure of the price)

Multiple resistors of different values (preferably 1/2 watt), or one 3.9 ohm resistor with a 4-5 watt
rating

1 - small tube of thermal compound grease $1-2

1 - 9v battery clip (optional)

total: roughly $27 depending on what you already have and what brands you buy

(for the batteries, thermal grease, and LED, I suggest ebay. the rechargeables are very cheap, but ive been using them for weeks with no problems yet)

Comments

[Scott_Tx]

Crees put out more light per watt than the luxeons. I think an r2 can do 200+ lumens for 3 watts

[lilpepsikraker]

r2 does easily 200lm. Wattages are NOT the way for measuring light output. it's the stress on the batteries. My Fenix LD01 does 80 lumens on a single AAA battery. it's amazing.

[Sergei-]

Clearer to say lumins is the measure of visible light

[Jayvis Vineet Gonsalves]

So by using an array of 99 LEDs can I get a beam powerful enough so that it can be used as the headlight on a Motorcycle?

[bhvm]

Vinet,
Stop wasting time with 5mm LEDs. They're complete junk, only suitable for Toys, Indicators etc. If you need some practical illumination, look at SEOUL p4 Z-LED which are now available in Bombay. 

[phephq]

 you should be all set, yes. I have a flashlight using 48 that is about 2/3 the brightness of the flashlight from this instructable.

I am not sure how many lumens each of those LEDs produces, but if yours are capable of 20 lumens each, your motorcycle should be quite adequately lit.

[Jayvis Vineet Gonsalves]

By the 20 lumens LED I mean an Ultra Bright 5mm LED capable of producing 20 Lumens.     ; (

[phephq]

assuming that you are using 3.6 volt LEDs, your best option would be to use only 99 LEDs. this would let you set up an even array of 33 parallel series of LEDs with 3 LEDs per series.

you would need 68 ohm resistors for this setup. if you'd like to see a diagram fo this, just go to: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz
and enter your information

[Jayvis Vineet Gonsalves]

Unfortunately in my place we don't get any Cree LEDs. But can I use an array of 100 LEDs of 20 lumens each to produce an overall 2000 lumens? If yes, how can I connect these LEDs together and which resistor should I use for a 12V power supply? I desperately want to make LED headlamps for a motorcycle ; (

[Jayvis Vineet Gonsalves]

So you mean that with the appropriate lense or reflector I can use them as primary headlights in a motorcycle!!!

[phephq]

 most definitely. although, as another commenter mentioned, cree does have a better wattage-to-lumen rating.

I highly suggest that you use the Cree XR-E led. You can get them on eBay for $4, and they have double the output.

Using the same battery setup (from my instructable) with an XR-E, you would need to make the resistor capable of dissipating 7+ watts.

That being the case, I suggest running the XR-E at 700 mA using a 3.6v battery pack (using batteries in increments of 3 (either 3, 6, 9, or so on) 
That way, you would be able to run the led at around 200 lumens. You would need a 1+ watt resistor in this configuration.

hope that helps, and good luck!

[Jayvis Vineet Gonsalves]

How many meters of veiwing distance do you get with the LED torch?

[phephq]

 Through the lens, or with a reflector angled around 50 degrees, I could get roughly 100 feet (~30 meters)