[devuurstorm]

so i have a 9in Vision X Low Profile Xmitter on the front of my jeep and i love it.

now the other day while working on my jeep my roommate ask's how much the bar was and if i like it and such so i told him the price and showed him how well it worked later that night when i came home from work.

he now wants one for his ranger but hates the price so he came up with two crazy ideas.


so idea one is to use these lights(can get 4 of them which were used in a friends EE project and ran for maybe an hour at most)

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-cree...drop-in-led-module-52-7mm-42mm-8-4v-max-35241

would do this mod to run them on 12 v
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=272061

I told him i would machine him the housings if he gives me the drawings and some pizza and beer.

Now im no EE but im going to guess that one of the two spring looking things is the + and the other is the -, hook up to 12v with a relay and switch put in a housing with a lexan shield to help protect them more and your good to go.

Idea two is to buy 12 of these
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/waterproof-water-tight-high-powered-1w-led-module-12v-white-11263

Machine a housing and wire them up. said he would make it run on a 3 position switch off-6 on-12 on.

just seems to simple, i dont see either way being brighter then what i have, other wise everyone would be making their own light bars. also i dont think they will live up to the abuse if he build one.

He has money to piss away and i dont mind making the housings.

So what does the PBB say will this work or be a big fail?

 

[riksnacjnow]

The last one is a 1w led. I think that would suck. Look for 3w

 

[Mikes79bronco]

The last one is a 1w led. I think that would suck. Look for 3w

I can't see these bars being made with any thing less than a 5W LED and im Assuming that their using 10W LEDs...

I will be making my own and using 10W Leds.

A 1W wont even compare to your light bar...

 

[devuurstorm]

yea im pretty sure that my lights are 5w

if anyone know of a thread or link to somewere where someone made their own bar that would be helpful so i can show my roommate how much it costs to make one and in the end it may be cheaper to just buy one that has been tested and is ready to go out of the box.

 

[1990GT50]

How many lumens is the light bar? I was thinking this over the other day- good idea!

 

[HammerdownJustin]

Dont forget the angle of the light...I would assume you would want something more focused instead of a wide vision

 

[HammerdownJustin]

Been thinking the same thing but a little different set up than you

Thinking about 40 of these
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/heroled-3-watt-high-power-cool-white-led-130-lumen-p-8.html

Some of these to give it the spotlight affect
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/10-degree-spotlight-led-optic-lens-for-cree-xre-p-1074.html

Not sure on this but I think I would need atleast 2 depending how many lights I use
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/waterproof-led-power-supply-12v-dc-5-amps-60w-p-1514.html

 

[devuurstorm]

since i have little experiance with putting stuff like this together what is the point of that driver?

How does it work?
What is it used for?
Do you really need one?

the way i would do it would be to hook up the leds in series and run it to a relay with a switch.
if that creates to much of a draw then would parallel work better

i want to keep the circuit simple and easy

 

[HammerdownJustin]

I am not sure on the driver...I am going to show the list to a friend tomorrow that builds leds and find out..I will post back up what I find...

 

[HammerdownJustin]

An LED driver is a self-contained power supply that has outputs matched to the electrical characteristics of your LED or array of LEDs. There are currently no industry standards, so understanding the electrical characteristics of your LED or array is critical in selecting or designing a driver circuit. Drivers should be current-regulated (deliver a consistent current over a range of load voltages). Drivers may also offer dimming by means of pulse width modulation (PWM) circuits. Drivers may have more than one channel for separate control of different

 

[Mikes79bronco]

You won't be happy with your results what so ever if all you do is wire them up to 12v. Chances are your gonna fry a bunch of LEDs, At very least you need to use resistors to limit current going into the LEDs. Resistors are verry inefficient though so if your trying to keep your current draw down you need to use a driver of some sort.

 

[devuurstorm]

Been thinking the same thing but a little different set up than you

Thinking about 40 of these
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/heroled-3-watt-high-power-cool-white-led-130-lumen-p-8.html

Some of these to give it the spotlight affect
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/10-degree-spotlight-led-optic-lens-for-cree-xre-p-1074.html

Not sure on this but I think I would need atleast 2 depending how many lights I use
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/waterproof-led-power-supply-12v-dc-5-amps-60w-p-1514.html

now that i understand what the driver is for, how many of these leds could that driver drive?
how would you wire the leds, parallel or in series?
would you still need resistors? if so what type?

im just trying to gather as much info as i can to help my roommate and anyone eles who wants to build their own light bar

 

[Mikes79bronco]

now that i understand what the driver is for, how many of these leds could that driver drive?
how would you wire the leds, parallel or in series?
would you still need resistors? if so what type?

im just trying to gather as much info as i can to help my roommate and anyone eles who wants to build their own light bar

Well in a vehicle that supply wont power any...that one has 100-240V AC input...

Your gonna want a constant current source, then you will be wiring them series.

No you wont need resistors if you get the right supply

 

[devuurstorm]

ok, slowly understanding

now that i have shown my roommate this thread he has a new idea, get 10(or any even number) of those leds and the lenses and wire them to a 3 position switch, off-5on-10on.

if he was to do this what size driver would he need?
also how do you calculate the driver size? so i dont have to clutter the thread up with simple questions

 

[Mikes79bronco]

ok, slowly understanding

now that i have shown my roommate this thread he has a new idea, get 10(or any even number) of those leds and the lenses and wire them to a 3 position switch, off-5on-10on.

if he was to do this what size driver would he need?
also how do you calculate the driver size? so i dont have to clutter the thread up with simple questions

Your gonna have to start with finding the specific LEDs that your going to use. Then you need to know what the forward voltage, and current they need to be ran at. With out that info you can't pick a driver, Or what resistors you would need if not using a driver.

 

[devuurstorm]

ok so i did some more reading on some other sites and me and my roommate think that we have it figured out now
16 of these
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/heroled-3-watt-high-power-cool-white-led-130-lumen-p-8.html
with 2 of these to power them(each driver will do 8 of the LED's according to out math)
http://www.ledsupply.com/wired-buckpuck.php
the 1000 mA version so were not having the drive work at 100% all the time

our math says it will work, as far as brightness/practicality is concerned who knows

 

[Mikes79bronco]

ok so i did some more reading on some other sites and me and my roommate think that we have it figured out now
16 of these
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/heroled-3-watt-high-power-cool-white-led-130-lumen-p-8.html
with 2 of these to power them(each driver will do 8 of the LED's according to out math)
http://www.ledsupply.com/wired-buckpuck.php
the 1000 mA version so were not having the drive work at 100% all the time

our math says it will work, as far as brightness/practicality is concerned who knows

Yes you can run 8 or them off of those drivers. But you do need to match the driver current to the LED current. So you will need to the 700mA one. Its the opposite of normal the current stays the same then the voltage changes. You Wouldn't run a 12v device at 24v would you? With LEDs you don't run a 700mA LED at 1000mA.

 

[FULKERSONFABRICATION]

Take a look at www.fulkersonfabrication.com you can buy the lights in a waterproof shell ready to install to 12 volts. They come with a mounting groument that requires a 1 1/4 inch hole and thats it. 5 watts and bright as hell.
$45.00 each a little pricy but a bad ass light.
"DOC"

 

[1990GT50]

Take a look at www.fulkersonfabrication.com you can buy the lights in a waterproof shell ready to install to 12 volts. They come with a mounting groument that requires a 1 1/4 inch hole and thats it. 5 watts and bright as hell.
$45.00 each a little pricy but a bad ass light.
"DOC"

We get it bro- you sell led's. :shaking:

This is about a homemade light bar for cheap- if they were gonna drop some coin on lights they would just buy the light bar

 

[dboy]

$45.00 each a little pricy

So why dont you just lower the price.

:shaking: