Hand held spot lights

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RidgelineMotorsports

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I have been building these hand held spot lights utilizing the Rigid industries Dually LED lights. All machined here locally, the handle is made of 6061 aluminum, and is anodized black. All of the mounting hardware is stainless, and has an illuminated rocker switch. I also put a 10' DC adapter cord on it so there is lots of reach in the cab as well as sticking it outside the rig to spot light whatever. Figured these would be fun for night runs, and some late night predator hunting. I am also in the process of building a portable battery pack for them as well. What do you think?

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i like it man, any way to add an swivel attachment or hang it so it could double as a work light on the trail??? just a tought :awesomework:
 
Have you done any night comparisons against a traditional spot light. Do they project for distance, like several hundred yards or act more like a flood light?
 
They actually put out some really good light in comparison to the traditional spot lights, and reach out farther. Nick mentioned they do have a 1/4x20 hole in the bottom for a mount. I am putting together a light right now, and will get some pics compared to a standard spot light.
The Duallies actually come in 3 different patterns, but I would really only suggest the flood or the spot, but everyone I have done with the exception of the prototype has been spot, and that was only because I had one laying around. I have dropped it out of my pickup onto the pavement and in the rocks and snow, and these things are pretty damn durable.
 
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I have been playing around with the idea of a portable battery pack, but am trying to get a little more run time and keep the battery small. I got 53 minutes of run time out of it so far. How much run time do you think would be sufficient?
 
How bout a magnet on the back?...so you could use it as work light under your rig or what ever..:awesomework:
 
If you put the magnet on the on the handle you can still angle the light where you want it instead of being stuck with the angle of whatever your stick it onto.

Maybe you could incorporate a 2 power mode with the battery pack version. a low power mode with 2 of the led's and a high power mode with all 4. I think 50+ minutes with all 4 is pretty good already but I think that 2 power mode would perfect for the battery version.
 
That's pretty awesome, takes up a lot less room than my current hand held spotlight I keep in my rig.
 
So, you think 50 minutes is an ok runtime? If I use 2 6v batteries together, I should be able to get almost twice that and not be any bigger than the 12v setup, it's actually a little smaller.
 
Look into the 18650 lithium rechargeable batteries. Getting more and more common in the highpower LED flashlight/laser market.

A buddy had some bicycle headlights that he glued to his helmet (Cree T-6 LEDs) and they use the 18650 battery. He can get 4 hours run time out of a single charge, and the single bulb is almost as bright as the HIDs on my quad.
 
ChopTop84 said:
Look into the 18650 lithium rechargeable batteries. Getting more and more common in the highpower LED flashlight/laser market.

A buddy had some bicycle headlights that he glued to his helmet (Cree T-6 LEDs) and they use the 18650 battery. He can get 4 hours run time out of a single charge, and the single bulb is almost as bright as the HIDs on my quad.
Click to expand...

You have any info on these to make the search go easier?
 
RidgelineMotorsports said:
You have any info on these to make the search go easier?
Click to expand...

This is the bicycle headlight he had, and they've dropped in price since I looked last, they were about 40 bucks a piece, now down to 28.

http://www.amazon.com/Lumen-Bicycle...e=UTF8&qid=1360600640&sr=8-5&keywords=cree+t6

There are tons of options on the 18650 lithium batteries. Just google and browse until you see something you like.

Cree LED's currently hold the record for most light output per watt, but they dont really sell completed units, just the LED itself, which other people then buy and put into housings and sell as complete units. Odds are good that the housing your using now, probably has some form of Cree LEDs in it.
 
Thanks for the info, I'll look into those batteries. I am trying to keep the price down as low as possible, the battery I am using right now only costs about $14, and that is without making a housing for it. I know that the new Phantom batteries would be awesome, but I don't know how many people would want to pay $80 for the battery.
 
The 18650 is the same battery that the Halo torch uses, you can get them cheap from china if you don't mind the wait in shipping (3wks) I paid around $7 a battery off ebay. I have used them extensively without any problems
 
Yeah, it's like $12 with shipping for the Rigid and only a couple of days away. Those batteries are only 3.7v though, which will not work in this application since the lights require a minimum of 9v to operate.
 
I like them. I also like the battery pack idea too. With how low of a draw LED's are, you could use something like this when using it as a work light (since yours have the lighter plug on them) because I wouldn't be too worried about running my truck's battery down with it (unless it was having charging system issues...). You could always connect it to your buddies truck that you were out with also, or if you have an expedition built rig with dual batteries and an isolator.

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Otherwise, another option would be for people who carry those rechargable jump start packs, those usually have lighter sockets on them also and it would plug right into it.

Building a battery pack for it wouldn't be too hard and would eliminate cords to tangle on things and trip over though.

~T.J.

EDIT: I came up with 350 mA per LED in that light, multiplied that by 4 for yours, and that's 1400 mA. So, if you did a pack of the 18650s (2600 mAh on the low side), that should be good for 1.5 hours (give or take for discharge to ~80% to be on the safe side). At ~$6 per battery on Amazon, that's only ~$25 for the needed four cells, plus case, wiring, plugs, etc. Also, the 4 cells at 3.7 volts each when connected in series would give you 14.7 volts approximately, so about what they would get from a running vehicle through the lighter socket. The specs I found said 10 - 50 VDC input, so you're well within the specs there too.

If you really wanted to play around, you could make a larger pack with 8 cells which would give you the same 14.7 VDC but 5200 mAh which would run your light for about 3 hours (give or take to 80% also). Good idea in theory, BUT, you still need a charge circuit or charger of some kind to re-charge them.

EDIT #2: Here is a holder that would hold 4 of the 18650s (although, quality could be lacking). Two of these could be your 8 pack setup for massive run time: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Plastic...=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1360618540

Here is a better quality looking holder: http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dkse...ucts=0&ptm=0&fid=0&quantity=0&PV32=189&PV36=3

Here is a charger for 18650s (but only charges two at a time) and includes 4 18650 batteries (with a claimed 4000 mAh, assuming it's realistic): http://www.amazon.com/Ultrafire-Li-...f=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1360618539

Here is a better version in my opinion because it charges all 4 at once (with 3100 mAh supposedly "tested and confirmed"). Also, charger input specs say 12 V at 2 amps, so you could charge them in the car even: http://www.amazon.com/Channels-Pana...=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1360618540

Just some random thoughts :D
 
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Yeah, a cable like the one you posted that was a good length would be a sweet option actually. There are a bunch of different uses for this thing! I am going to work on the battery pack a little more mainly because I have had a few people ask about it. If would be nice to throw the battery in your backpack and do some coyote hunting or even shed hunting at night or early morning hours.
 
I like the idea. How are the quality of these lights? I found them on FB and seam to be a good product. Would like to see them a bit more economical but newer tech is always more.

Might want to take a look into some of the batteries that are used in the RC field. You can get some compact ones and some come in 11 volts so could can get a few of them and run in parallel, should be able to fit into a jacket pocket.
 
The quality of the Rigid lights are friggin awesome, not to mention the handles are built pretty damn tough as well. I have dealt with a lot of them and and very confident that they will fit the needs of just about anybody and will take a serious beating. There are some torture videos out there on YouTube showing the abuse they will take.
 
Peanut Gallery said:
Might want to take a look into some of the batteries that are used in the RC field. You can get some compact ones and some come in 11 volts so could can get a few of them and run in parallel, should be able to fit into a jacket pocket.
Click to expand...

The RC car stuff is getting heavy in LiPo (Lithium Polymer), but they are very critical in their care. You have to be careful how far you discharge them, or you will damage them. Which is the opposite of the old RC car batteries where you had to completely drain them between charges. Anything using LiPo needs to have a special battery controller to prevent damaging discharges. That said, they are awesome batteries!!
 
LiPo batteries are pretty sweet. On the economical side of things, it is cheaper to make the case and use the batteries I have been working with. If I was out sourcing the machine work to china it would be a different ball game. I am hoping to keep the battery pack in the neighborhood of $50 including the female DC socket and the case it is in.
 

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