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Homemade LED light bar

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by Skycam3, Mar 6, 2012.

  1. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:11 AM
    #1
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    Here is my writeup on my DIY/homemade LED light bar. First, I will start off with the finished picture and the start from the beginning and work my way to the end.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    From my calculations it puts out just under 7100 lumes at 6000k. Not bad...
    Now for the parts. I will give you a list and where I got them but I do not work for any of these places, just found them on the internet.
    1. Ledsupply.com CREE XPG-w417 (x6)
    2. Ledsupply.com Carclo optic 10507 (x4)
    3. Ledsupply.com Carclo optic 10510 (x2)
    4. Ledsupply.com Buckpuck 1000mA driver(modded for 1400mA) 10023- D-N-1000. I'm not even getting in to how I did this. Let's just say I'll never do it again. Should have just bought two 700mA drivers.
    5. Newark.com Heatsink 23T0438
    6. 220fu 50v capacitor(I had these laying around)
    7. Amazon.com 36" 1 1/2x3 angle 1/4 thick(aluminum)
    8. Artic-Alumina thermal adhesive(I had this already)
    9. JB weld(who doesn't have this...)

    There is more stuff, but it's in the writeup. First the LED light:
    [​IMG]
    Then the buckpuck. This is the driver for the LED lights, it maintains constant voltage and amperage for the LED light:
    [​IMG]
    Then the capacitor. As you can see, I put shrink wrap around the ends to keep any shorts from happening. Since my power supply is farther than 18" from my lights, I installed this per the LuxDrive(buckpuck) spec:
    [​IMG]
    This is the buckpuck and capacitor all wired up:
    [​IMG]
    Here is the optic:
    [​IMG]

    This is the heatsink being drilled because the wires come up through the center:
    [​IMG]

    and here are all the heatsinks drilled, be sure to drill in the center:
    [​IMG]

    Here is the wires soldered from the buckpuck to the LED star(I grabbed this picture from Thumperjockey.com):
    [​IMG]

    Here is the front with the heatsinks and LEDs attached. I used the Artic-Alumina thermal paste to attach the LED to the heatsink. A little goes a long way and there is only about a three minute working window. I did two at a time:
    [​IMG]

    Here is a picture of the back of the angle bracket with all the stuff attached. I used platidip on the inside to help insulate in case anything came loose and hot glued the buckpuck and capacitor to stay in place:
    [​IMG]

    on the aluminum be sure to sand, clean really well and remove any oils that may have come off your fingers(I used isopropyl alcohol 91%) and then apply this:
    [​IMG]

    I then painted over the primer on the angle bracket with this:
    [​IMG]

    The cap that I used over the LED optic is the back of a flashlight that I got at Home Depot. They had a package of eight for $8. I just unscrewed the back off and popped out the switch and rubber boot:
    [​IMG]
    I place two drops of JB weld on either side of the optic cover(flashlight back) then used clear silicone to seal it:
    [​IMG]

    Here is how I routed the wires in the back:
    [​IMG]

    After this I used a dremel with a wire brush where I put the two pieces of angle together to make a box for the back. I used JB weld for this. Sorry no pictures of this.

    Here is the test firing of the lights before I joined the angle together, just in case I screwed something up and had to redo something:
    [​IMG]

    Now of course I had to buy a switch to turn all this on:
    [​IMG]

    Here are some quick night pics just in my driveway. All pictures wewe taken with a 1 sec exposure and 3.5 f/stop:
    Low beams...
    [​IMG]

    Lows with factory fogs:
    [​IMG]

    Low beams, factory fogs and LED light bar:
    [​IMG]

    The specs say this: 417Lumes@350mA so overdriven to 1400mA I get 1355 lumes per LED star X 6 = 8131.5 Lumes. I had to correct for the optics efficiency @ 87.3 so total lume output is roughly 7098 Lumes. All I know is it is bright and I did it myself. My wife says I should have just bought a F@#king LED bar...but where is the fun in that?

    I will get some pictures down a back road tonight or tomorrow night.
     
  2. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:33 AM
    #2
    IluvTEA

    IluvTEA Well-Known Member

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    looks great man! Sorry if I missed it but how much did all of the materials cost? That switch is awesome, where did you get it?

    Sub'd for more pics!
     
  3. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:49 AM
    #3
    Zombie Runner

    Zombie Runner Are these black helicopters for me?

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    oil change...
    Looks great! I bet you could build a few of these and sell them on here.


    so does each LED star require a buckpuck and capacitor? then you just run all the wires in a series or parallel?
     
  4. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:53 AM
    #4
    Cortland

    Cortland THIS IS AMERICA!!!

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    Subbed
     
  5. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:54 AM
    #5
    Fuze911

    Fuze911 Well-Known Member

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    Oh im subbed... Good work dude!
     
  6. Mar 6, 2012 at 11:58 AM
    #6
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    ahhhh..I guess it helps if I put how much money I spent.

    LED stars are $16.87 ea (x6) $101.22
    Buckpuck $13.73 ea (x6) $ 82.38
    optics $ 1.50 ea (x6) $ 9.00
    Heatsinks $ 3.47 ea (x6) $20.82
    capacitors are about $0.50 ea $ 3.00
    aluminum angle bar was about $12 $ 12.00
    shipping $6.00 $ 6.00

    So I have about $234 invested from parts. The rest of the stuff I already had.
     
  7. Mar 6, 2012 at 12:03 PM
    #7
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    Each one requires a separate buckpuck. The forward voltage wouldn't be enough. If you use the 1000mA buckpuck(non modded) it come out to about 6000 Lumes and would be a hell of a lot easier.
     
  8. Mar 6, 2012 at 12:08 PM
    #8
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
     
  9. Mar 6, 2012 at 12:09 PM
    #9
    Taco Man in HD

    Taco Man in HD DC TRD MallRunner

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    Methods, Red Labels, and other bro stuff.
    very impressive!
    I bet you could sell them too...:spy:
     
  10. Mar 6, 2012 at 12:10 PM
    #10
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
  11. Mar 6, 2012 at 1:01 PM
    #11
    TurboGT

    TurboGT Stirring the pot since...

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    None yet, starting over!! OME lift w/ Dakars & 885's Remote Start w/ window control
    You say you should have just bought 2 pucks for each light.... is the additional $82 you spend to do that really worth it? What's the upgrade process involve?
     
  12. Mar 6, 2012 at 1:14 PM
    #12
    TRDyota09

    TRDyota09 Well-Known Member

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    Holy shit Batman! I would hate to accidentally look into that bright ass light! Well done sir, well done indeed!
     
  13. Mar 6, 2012 at 1:52 PM
    #13
    Zombie Runner

    Zombie Runner Are these black helicopters for me?

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    :laugh: at least we know who wears the pants at the Skycam home :p



    No work shop or garage?
     
  14. Mar 6, 2012 at 6:54 PM
    #14
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    As long as she is wearing hers I wear mine...



    Have a garage, too cold for me, I'm from Texas. Anything below 70 deg F and I'm inside. I used to be in the Army and I've done my time in the cold.

    Here are the pics I promised. The tree line is about 50 yards from the front of the truck. Shutter speed is .8 sec with 4.0 f/stop with a 15mm lense on a canon D30:

    Low beams:
    [​IMG]

    Lows with factory fogs:
    [​IMG]

    Lows, fogs and my LED bar:
    [​IMG]

    This project was a lot of fun, but it took longer than expected. Total hours were roughly 25 or so but that included installing a BlueSea 12 block terminal and all the various stuff that goes with that.
     
  15. Mar 6, 2012 at 7:02 PM
    #15
    BEEFY_CHEESY_TACO

    BEEFY_CHEESY_TACO DUDE MAN BRO

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    Ha!! I've been looking around at materials to make one myself! Good work
     
  16. Mar 6, 2012 at 7:02 PM
    #16
    blackhawke88

    blackhawke88 wo ai ni bao bei ^_^

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    this is freaking awesome!
     
  17. Mar 6, 2012 at 7:02 PM
    #17
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    If I had to do it again, I would just go with the 1000mA buckpuck. The difference between 6000 lumes and 7000 lumes isn't enough to justify the extra money. The upgrade process was tearing into the buckpuck and changing a lot of things. One of my freinds is an elcetrical engineer and he told me what to do. He said it might work...it might blow up. There were waaay too many small circuits that got soldered and changed for different parts. Time will tell if it last. If the buckpuck blows, I'll just replace with 1000mA. Sometimes it's better just to buy parts off the shelf.
     
  18. Mar 6, 2012 at 7:06 PM
    #18
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    To seal the optics and the optics holder(flashlight backing) I used O rings out of the plumbing department. The ID was just over 3/4 inch. Box of ten cost something like $0.98
     
  19. Mar 10, 2012 at 7:19 AM
    #19
    Skycam3

    Skycam3 [OP] Waiting to see...

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    Flyzeye, Redline hood struts, Demello Sliders, Pelly wrap around light bar, Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover, 2 Hella 700FF, DIY LED light bar(10,000 lumes), LED bed lights.
    One last thing that I forgot to mention. The Power draw from this bar is only 30 watts so only 2 amps! They have some newer stuff out now, so when I kill this one, I'll make a new one. For any of you that want to make your own, this will be a good baseline. If you have any questions please ask and I will do my best to answer. For anyone with a basic working knowledge of electronics, this will be a breeze. The throw is a little bit too spread out for me, but I feel with a little research on the optics, and it would be perfect. There is a lot of good info @ candlepower forums.com . Cheers and I hope you guys enjoyed this project..
     
  20. Mar 10, 2012 at 4:15 PM
    #20
    David K

    David K Well-Known Member

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    Differential Breather Mod Light Bar: 4 Cree LED lamps Bilstein 5100s Ride Rite Air Bags
    Cool... can you control the type of beam (fog/cornering, driving, or spot/pencil) and thus combine types? Sorry if I missed that, as well as what was the material cost to make one?
     

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