Hack a $4 LED flashlight into a scuba diving light with a laxative!

I honestly thought that this would not work because it is way too simple and easy for me to be the first person to think of it. (or at least the first person to publish)  A normal scuba light will run you about $100-$150, renting one usually goes for between $9-$15.

I made a video podcast for the project below.
Please check out my other instructables as well.

Step 1 Materials

All you need for this project is:

LED Flashlight (I got 3 for $9 from Home Depot and made 2 dive lights)  The lights should also have a push-button switch with a rubber seal and rubber seals at the threaded joints.
A drill with a small bit (I used a 3/64")
A small tupperware container
A small bottle of mineral oil (its a laxative so get it at a pharmacy for a few $)

Comments

[lynnewu]

This is great, but I think the greatest part of it is figuring out you could use a drill bit as a pump! Genius, even. Thanks.

[emihackr97]

I,m making a super-bright scuba light rated at 1200 Luments, like the $1,000 ones but at a cost of about $300. It includes the batteries ad has a 20 watt LED as the light source.

[snowluck2345]

1200 lumens WOW. Thats amazing, only 300 dollars too, thats so cheap.

In case you couldn't tell I'm being sarcastic. Very sarcastic.

I have a light which caused $50 to build, and is 2200 lumens.

Another light which was about $70 dollars and is roughly 5000 lumens.

The lower lumen one is a sst 90 and throws better

The other one is 5 cree xm l leds and has some throw but mostly flood.
Both are waterproof.

[Tazo]

Scuba light need not only to be waterproof as you claim but to withstand at least three times the atmospheric pressure. Yes, may be there are cheaper light out there but yo will not be able to say you did it yourself, would you?

[snowluck2345]

i machined my light out of aluminum. its not meant to be a dive light but I think it could take the pressure. I would have to swap out the switch for a piezo. It has a 66mm aspheric lens and an sst90 at 9 amps, powered from 2 lifepo4 26650 batteries. aspheric lenses have problems under water so it has a removable 1/4" piece of plexiglass in front of the lens, but recessed behind a bezel. i don't have a lux meter or a sphere to measure lumens but i'm guessing around 1500-1700 otf and around 2500 emitter lumens based on the binning.

[dave spencer]

Why would it need to withstand 3 x AP? The concept is like having a water bottle filled 100% with water dyed red. You can take it down to infinite pressures but the red water will never leak out into the surrounding water as long as the lid is on tight. The video in the instructable explains it well.

[emihackr97]

UPDATE: my new version is actually going to be 2,174 luments, have a smaller, lighter, li-ion battery and me more energy efficient, AND it's going to be cheaper!

[snowluck2345]

what type of led? It sounds like your taking the specs off a sst 90. is that otf lumens or rated for the led? What size battery? multiple 18650 batteries? or a d sized lithium? or a square pack? c sized? Copper or aluminum for the body? Modified maglite or custom? Specs?

[emihackr97]

it is a luxeon star 7 LED array, it consumes 1 amp and gives out 2174 Luments, the battery is a 13x6x5 cm (approx) Li-Ion Block. it is rated for 18 Amp/hour at 12 VDC

[snowluck2345]

why use such outdated less? sounds like your going for flood so just use a few cree xml less.

[snowluck2345]

sst 90?

[godbacon]

Nice! Get yourself a bike inner tube and make yourself a sleeve to go over the cylinder, one more layer of waterproofing and it will hold your oil in.

[Rteen]

Could you put duck tape around most of the flashlight?

[ice828]

I make one using this idea, 12 LED. In one dive I went to like 1 hr @ 35 ft it work perfect. good for look inside small cave to see fish or for signal the boat at night. The bad think happening at 75 ft on the second dive , my 12 led flash light didn't hold the pressure. after a revision I see that the light have two o-ring it better if you cant find a light that have only one opening and a strong o-ring or put some marine silicon on the thread. but it was fun and you cant impress the other divers

[bluethunder8000]

All what i can say it is awesome , nice work nice movie too

[danistravis]

Ah, ok! I get it now, awesome idea!

[danistravis]

Did you reseal the lens after drilling? If so, How? This is very cool, I'm planning on taking an Advanced scuba class through my college, but they require a $300 light kit which is out of my budget!

[dave spencer]

sorry if the pictures are misleading, the holes are not in the lens, the holes are drilled through the back side. Look at the picture with the drill pointing down if it is still not clear or watch the video. Good luck on the course!

[Chad-Nadir]

Hi, first off: pure awesome! I was about to rush to the local hardware store and chemists but something occured to me I thought I should ask you about: since mineral-oil is a petroleum by-product is this safe to use around marine life? I know it's designed not to leak, but if it did could it create mini gulf-of-Mexico spill? Thanks!

[dave spencer]

I think the gulf oil spill was measured in gallons per second. I'm pretty sure there is less than 100ml in my flashlight. As it is a laxative I assume it can't be that toxic to other life (although I have absolutely zero scientific knowledge or facts to back this up) I envision the worst case scenario being a catastrophic failure that dumps all the oil in the water and the nearest fish has a bad case of diarrhea.

[Chad-Nadir]

I totally see your point. It's used ofr fire-breathing right, so it can't be that bad. Next stop, B&Q!! Thanks for the prompt and useful answer. :)

[crasch48]

i am workint on an artificial reef in the philipines and realized this will work for cheap remote camera also.
thanks a lot!!

[kingzilla]

This works equally well with vaseline (Petroleum Jelly).
It can be easily melted in a toaster oven, or other heating device. Then, pouring it into a flashlight is easy.
The nice thing about using vaseline instead is that at room temperature it reforms into a solid. Being much more viscous then the mineral oil it will be much less likely to leak out. NO MESSY LEAKS

[dave spencer]

But doesnt vaseline have a milky color to it? It needs to be really clear or you are wasting light by diffusing it. Neat idea for a watch though.

[kingzilla]

It is milky when solid. I used the vaseline for the inside of the case, covering the circuit board. I found that allowing water to seep next to the LED's directly had no consequence as long as the leads from them were protected. I simply removed the protective lens and applied some vaseline around the base of the led's just to be safe. (Note: I have only taken this down some 20m)

[steveo625c6]

I had considered this. My new major is Automated Machining Engineering so I wanted to make some stuff for when I dive, but wasn't sure about using mineral oil. Great instructable!

[Derek Smith3]

i just saw that movie earlier today, very clever!

[dave spencer]

Too bad I missed the flashlight contest!