BramageDained
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- Aug 4, 2012
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This is really more of a "Because I(probably) can." project more than anything. And seeing what things like the Vison X bars cost.
I found a website where I could order Cree XM-L 10W LEDs already soldered to small boards and reflectors that are made to fit over the LED itself. Cree rates them at 1000 lumens each at 10 watts. I figure I'll drive them at ~90% current.
I ordered 52 of the LEDs and 10, 25 and 45 degree reflectors. The different reflectors are so I can make the beam pattern whatever I want too. Probably the 45's on the outside ends for wide light up close then the 10 and 25s for farther out.
While looking up what it would take to drive them I came upon discussion about potential voltage spikes that can cause problems for most of the drivers out there. Well, there's a forum for that and I found a guy in Florida that was producing and selling drivers for automotive use, that can drive 12 of the Cree 10W LEDs each.
The 4 drivers, the LEDs and reflectors were ~$450.
Here's a pack of 50 of the LEDs and one of the drivers next to a sharpie for scale.
Originally I thought my main issue would be heatsinks, but, it turns out there's a lot of websites that you can buy extruded aluminum heatsinks and varying shapes and sizes for cheap online. When I get to that part I'm simply going to order some up then cut/weld it into whatever shape I want.
Originally I was thinking of making the bar fit in the lower part of the factory front bumper where the grill is, but, then I started thinking about a grill mount. I think the issue with putting one of the off the shelf lights in the grill and losing light output is because some of the lights will end up behind the plastic parts of the grill. Since I'm doing it myself, I'm going to make a light for that part of the grill(also will hide the enclosure if it ends up fugly), but, I'm going to have the lights centered in the square openings.
Regardless of where it goes, the housing will be all aluminum using the extruded heatsink as the back, and sides built to the front with a polycarb front so I can have a sealed box.
Today I went and picked up a cheapo CPU heatsink from Microcenter so I have something to mount the LEDs to so I can test them(they did come from Hongkong afterall). The drivers will end up mounted to the heatsink at some point too so I can adjust their current output one at a time too.
I figure worst case Ill have lost some money and my time.
Dunno if I this should be here or the build/project forum.
The project will be awhile coming, I won't have access to welding/machining for 2 weeks at the earliest and I had to reorder the 10degree reflectors which could take 3 weeks to get here.
I found a website where I could order Cree XM-L 10W LEDs already soldered to small boards and reflectors that are made to fit over the LED itself. Cree rates them at 1000 lumens each at 10 watts. I figure I'll drive them at ~90% current.
I ordered 52 of the LEDs and 10, 25 and 45 degree reflectors. The different reflectors are so I can make the beam pattern whatever I want too. Probably the 45's on the outside ends for wide light up close then the 10 and 25s for farther out.
While looking up what it would take to drive them I came upon discussion about potential voltage spikes that can cause problems for most of the drivers out there. Well, there's a forum for that and I found a guy in Florida that was producing and selling drivers for automotive use, that can drive 12 of the Cree 10W LEDs each.
The 4 drivers, the LEDs and reflectors were ~$450.
Here's a pack of 50 of the LEDs and one of the drivers next to a sharpie for scale.
Originally I thought my main issue would be heatsinks, but, it turns out there's a lot of websites that you can buy extruded aluminum heatsinks and varying shapes and sizes for cheap online. When I get to that part I'm simply going to order some up then cut/weld it into whatever shape I want.
Originally I was thinking of making the bar fit in the lower part of the factory front bumper where the grill is, but, then I started thinking about a grill mount. I think the issue with putting one of the off the shelf lights in the grill and losing light output is because some of the lights will end up behind the plastic parts of the grill. Since I'm doing it myself, I'm going to make a light for that part of the grill(also will hide the enclosure if it ends up fugly), but, I'm going to have the lights centered in the square openings.
Regardless of where it goes, the housing will be all aluminum using the extruded heatsink as the back, and sides built to the front with a polycarb front so I can have a sealed box.
Today I went and picked up a cheapo CPU heatsink from Microcenter so I have something to mount the LEDs to so I can test them(they did come from Hongkong afterall). The drivers will end up mounted to the heatsink at some point too so I can adjust their current output one at a time too.
I figure worst case Ill have lost some money and my time.
Dunno if I this should be here or the build/project forum.
The project will be awhile coming, I won't have access to welding/machining for 2 weeks at the earliest and I had to reorder the 10degree reflectors which could take 3 weeks to get here.
