G4 LED replacement of halogen bulb in dive lamp

gordan0810

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Hello all,

as always want to extend light time under the water.
I have infinitely dimmable halogen lamp. Halogen bulb is G4 50W 12V.

Searching on the internet found this LED (6W, there also 3 and 9W). By your experience, is it possible just to replace halogen with LED or do I need consider new driver for the LED?
Do I need additional heat sink.
I do not want to replace battery pack which is NiCd 12V 3000mAh, just to extend use of it.

TIA
Gordan
 

DIWdiver

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I wouldn't get too excited about those LEDs.

I wouldn't want to make any promises that it would work well as a drop-in replacement, though it very well might. It's cheap enough to try it.

The emitter area is much larger than the halogen's, so it won't focus as well. You should be getting 700-1000 lumens from the halogen, there's no way you'd get 400 from the 6W LED. Given the cheapness of it, there's no way you'd get anything close to the performance of good modern LEDs. With the 9W you might get close to the total lumens, but it will be spread over a wider area, so it will definitely not be as bright.

I notice the two photos are of the same LED. They just photo-shopped a color change. So don't expect the colors are anything like accurate.

At 6W, an LED definitely needs a heatsink. But there's no good way to get heat out of that LED, wrapped in silicone as it is.

One definite advantage will be a much longer burn time.
 

gordan0810

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Hello DIWdiver,

thank you on fast response.
I am somewhere on your path, but as machine engineer, I do not have experience with LEDs. Last time I was soldering something was 20 years ago. :)

Definitely this LED is trial basis, and I will try 3 and 6W. My concern is not to fry anything else than LED in the perfectly good lamp. But as I am a boy, "do-not-touch-sleeping-lion" concept is something strange to me.
Lamp is Kowalski 1250 Speed, so all electronics is sealed.

I have also thoughts of another LED project for another, it this case dead, Kowalski lamp. But this is for another topic and much more experience.

TIA

Gordan
 

DIWdiver

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I would definitely trust Barbarin's experience. He's a dive lighting professional. I'm only an amateur.

There's a path to better light, but it's longer than this...
 

Barbarin

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I would definitely trust Barbarin's experience. He's a dive lighting professional. I'm only an amateur.

There's a path to better light, but it's longer than this...

Thanks Sir! I'm flattered

No longer into dive lights, but for sure into lighting. (well, OK, I still do some "homemade lamps", one day will post about them.

The Kowalski halogens were extraordinary lamps for its moment, but nowadays you will spend more time and money if you want to transform it into a modern world dive light than you would if you but a commercial one, LED and li-ion based. So, my suggestion is that unless you have other reasons than the pure pragmatical ones, keep the K as it is, in all its beauty, as a piece of museum, and head towards a modern product. Of course, if you want to go the way of the upgrade there are here very capable people that will help you to do, but you need some skills.

Probably the easiest way, if the battery is still OK is to use a high quality MR16 LED with a wide Vin input... You can get around 600 real lumen, and with little complication. Keeping in mind that it will be pulling from the batteries less than 8 watt, you should have light enough for hours.
 

gordan0810

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Hello,
Barbarin and DIWdiver

This is just a tought to squize more life from a aged battery pack until I refurbish another my older dead Kowalski with proper LED and new battery pack.
This is another project that I am talking about, but this needs more preparation for which I do not have time at the moment, just an idea. And here I will need more help and remember some of my older skills.
 

Barbarin

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... then try to buy a G4 from a honest supplier. It there are saying you that they can achieve more than 1,2 Watt, they are either trying to cheat you, sell you something that won't last or they don't have idea at all about what they sell.
 
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