Best Hand Held Spotlight ?

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Glad you are putting out the message. A good torch is not only helpfully it's an essential piece of safety gear.
The new LED torches are incredible, throw away your 12v halogen spotlight and get a good led torch.
Something with a single Cree XM-L from a good manufacturere like Fenix or Thrunite is a good starting point.

And as you can see, (3) Cree XM-Ls work pretty good and is also a great hand warmer.

[deckofficer]

And it makes a good hand warmer too.

[drewke07]

the Coast LED Lenser HP8437 Focusing LED Flashlight X21 is unbelievable multi power settings and a focusing beam Uses D cells too.
Amazon.com: Coast LED Lenser HP8437 Focusing LED Flashlight X21: Home Improvement

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by drewke07

the Coast LED Lenser HP8437 Focusing LED Flashlight X21 is unbelievable multi power settings and a focusing beam Uses D cells too.
Amazon.com: Coast LED Lenser HP8437 Focusing LED Flashlight X21: Home Improvement

It has an output of 1317 lumens, which is very bright but if you feel you need insane brightness, then mine at 3,000 lumens is the one to see your anchor. Just be sure to shine it at an angle so as to not blind yourself with the reflection.

A draw back is the LED junctions will heat the entire light, even with the massive finned heat sink, that after 5 minutes of use is too hot to hold.

[deckofficer]

Did a run down test last night, 35 minutes and still usable light, however when fresh off the charger, can only hold it for 5 minutes before it is too hot to handle.

[deckofficer]

Just when I thought my custom built LED flashlight was bright at 3000 lumens, a guy in Germany builds this 18,000 lumen hand held light.

Start out with some serious competition, the HID headlights of a modern German car in Germany without the restrictions on headlight output that we have here in the States. If your rolling along at 250 km/hr on the Autobaun you don't want to be over driving what you can see. This is outside Frankfurt, Germany


And this is his flashlight with the H7 HID headlights turned off.


A store bought high power LED flashlight


And the homebuilt monster...


The homebuilt light

[Cormorant]

That's awesome! More light than we may ever need -- but at least you could vaporize enemy ships. . . .

[deckofficer]

Yea, I guess if you see a bunch of Somalia pirates with seeing eye dogs, it means cruisers have picked on these types of lights.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Did a run down test last night, 35 minutes and still usable light, however when fresh off the charger, can only hold it for 5 minutes before it is too hot to handle.

That is really a bit to hot for a reasonable life from the emitters. LEDs also produce less light as they get hot.
Is the system regulated? I wonder if the designer anticipated some current limiting from the batteries and you have sourced some better batteries, but the emitters are being overdriven.
Try measuring the temp just behind the em miter.

[deckofficer]

I had to source better batteries as most 26650 will not discharge at 12 amps. The ones I found had less capacity 3600 mA/hr vs 4000mA/hr, but unlike the 1.0C discharge rate, as a 5.0C discharge capability, 18 amps. The LED pulls 12 amps, so some headroom.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

I had to source better batteries as most 26650 will not discharge at 12 amps. The ones I found had less capacity 3600 mA/hr vs 4000mA/hr, but unlike the 1.0C discharge rate, as a 5.0C discharge capability, 18 amps. The LED pulls 12 amps, so some headroom.

Normally the regulation mechanism will control the current to the emitters, but a few flashlights are built without any regulator and I suspect this may be one of those.
If the flashlight has no regulation the better batteries you have sourced may have less voltage sag than the designer anticipated.
So the better batteries produce a brighter light, but the LEDs are driven at a higher current than they should be hence the high heat you are experiencing.

[deckofficer]

I'm pretty sure there is no regulation, it is a bare bones, no PWM, twist on, Bruiser. Perfect for the kid in me. As to battery selection, I spent 30 minutes going through spec sheets just to find one battery that had the discharge specs required by this light. Are you suggesting this backyard flashlight designer built it to draw 12 amps and figured most people could only find batteries in the 4~6 amp discharge range (95% were in this range) and that was how he was going to "regulate" it?

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Are you suggesting this backyard flashlight designer built it to draw 12 amps and figured most people could only find batteries in the 4~6 amp discharge range (95% were in this range) and that was how he was going to "regulate" it?

Yes
If there is no regulation circuitry, then the batteries provide the only regulation.

Batteries that can deliver more current will exhibit less voltage sag at high currents so the led is driven harder.
The XM-L die needs a lot of heatsinking to survive high currents. The size of the head and degree of heat sinking only looks about what you would expect for a torch with a single XM-L so with 3 LEDs to cool, I think the designer anticipated the emmiters would be under driven. This is very common.
Usually this is done with regulation circuitry and most good torches also monitor the temperature of the LED and reduce the current if it is getting too hot, but an easy way to undrive the LED is to let the batteries limit the current. It works reasonably, particularly as the torch is on longer the battery will tend to sag more so the torch does not get so hot.
As the batteries are providing the only regulation the battery performance is critical. If the batteries do not deliver enough current the torch will be duller. If the batteries deliver more current the torch will be brighter, but hotter. The lifespan of LEDs that get too hot is short.

[deckofficer]

Thanks for taking the time to explain. For the run down test I performed the first night, I turned off after the 1st 5 minutes and it was uncomfortably hot to hold. After cool down, ran another 5 minutes and almost as hot. At the end was able to run for 10 minutes and the heat was tolerable, light output after cumulative total of 35 minutes was reduced but still quite usable.

Since the vendor (boutique custom flashlight designer/builder) was out of battery stock, I thought I did the correct thing my researching what the XM-L required for full tilt operation, each max rating of 4 amps, so 12 amps for all 3, then dug through the Internet for a 26650 that could handle at least 12 amps and finally found one that could go 18 amps. You would think the guy would give a battery recommendation for his light.