led's and heat sink's

[sitkadiver]

Where do you DIY guys buy your led's and heat sinks? I don't have an electronics store in Sitka that carries the stuff.

Thanks in advance.

[Mattleycrue76]

I'm pretty sure that alot of it is coming from here:

http://www.dealextreme.com/

[airsix]

Emitters, driver circuitry, and optics appropriate for dive lights are very specialized low-volume products. You will not find any of these components in a brick and mortar establishment. Plan on doing it all by mail.

As Matt stated, DE is a good place to start if you are looking for off-the shelf easy-to-assemble components. They cater to the flashlight building/modifying hobbyists and have a large selection of emitters, heat-sinks, and drivers. Be careful though because some of the stuff is poor quality. Not all of it, but you do have to be selective. DE is a lot like an Army surplus warehouse. Sometimes you get lucky and they have what you are looking for and sometimes not. To get the best/newest you'll often have to go to places like Avnet.

If you want to build a truly high performance light I recommend you hang out on candlepowerforums.com for a while and study what emitter, optics, drivers, and battery combos will give you the results you are looking for. Then order those specific components and build a light around them. If you slap together this-and-that you'll get a mediocre result. Component selection really takes some planning to pull off a good LED dive light, and CPF has a lot of free knowledge that will save your bacon.

-Ben

[sitkadiver]

Thanks Ben,

I've been to candlepower forums and I am getting a lot of useful info from there. Never heard of Avnet, I will look up their address. I had been looking at deal extreme like Mattleycrue pointed out, but their selection wasn't all that great.

Cheers

[Nwbrewer]

Thanks Ben,

I've been to candlepower forums and I am getting a lot of useful info from there. Never heard of Avnet, I will look up their address. I had been looking at deal extreme like Mattleycrue pointed out, but their selection wasn't all that great.

Cheers

sitkadiver, what is it that you're looking for? I'm sure Ben, H2Odoc, or myself can at least point you in the right direction if there is something specific you want.

I buy stuff from DX, Kaidomain, avnet, and there are some modders on CPF that sell stuff too. (heatsinks and drivers).

Jake

[H20doctor]

I think Dave is going to Mod his Cree Handheld MCE dive light.. The one that sells for 85.00 and has 3 modes and runs off of 2 18650

[WASP7000]

On this subject, are there any how to's out there on making your own dive light? Like maybe a step by step, pictures, components, materials, what not to do etc? I'm a very DIY person and would like to know what it would take to make my own LED can light.

I don't own a lathe, so I would probably have to buy the can already turned, but I think I could do the rest.

[Nwbrewer]

On this subject, are there any how to's out there on making your own dive light? Like maybe a step by step, pictures, components, materials, what not to do etc? I'm a very DIY person and would like to know what it would take to make my own LED can light.

I don't own a lathe, so I would probably have to buy the can already turned, but I think I could do the rest.

Come to a MMM dive and I'll show you what I did. I use a crappy wood lathe to turn my lids, but you don't need to do it that way. I just use shed 40 pvc for the tube and a maglite for the head. There's a DIY thread around somewhere here with lots of stuff on lights. When I finish my next one I'll post some more pics.

[airsix]

On this subject, are there any how to's out there on making your own dive light?

Save yourself a lot of head-scratching and buy this book. It is primarily about building halogen and HID lights, but the basic principles apply to LED as well. It's a great resource and the best starting point.

[Rockfish]

I'll second the recommendation for the DIY Airspeed press book. Best place to start. I made my own cannister light using these plans years ago and it still giving me great service. However after seeing what some of the light gurus on this site are doing I am starting to think about updating to LED.

Mike

[Nwbrewer]

I'll second the recommendation for the DIY Airspeed press book. Best place to start. I made my own cannister light using these plans years ago and it still giving me great service. However after seeing what some of the light gurus on this site are doing I am starting to think about updating to LED.

Mike

Mike, what did you use for a lighthead?

[H20doctor]

i have the book adam , if ya want to borrow or keep it... I am a light master now

[WASP7000]

i have the book adam , if ya want to borrow or keep it... I am a light master now

That would be great. I would like to read it.