# What would I need to build a spotlight?



## tinctorus (Apr 10, 2011)

Hey guy's I am wanting to build 1 or 2 spotlights to have around the house and was wanting to build something like this
http://www.foxfury.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=145

I am assuming that having it run off 120v A/C is going to be the only way to do this correctly, Am I right?
I am curious as to a few things

1) What type of led's should I use?
2) What type of reflector and where to purchase it?
3) What should I do for apower supply and how should it be wired or direct me to a palce to show me how to wire it
4) I assume that for a housing I could gut a spotlight from anywhere right?
5) For cooling since this will be astand alone would I be ok with mounting fans to push/pull cool air in without a heatsink or should I get something from someplace like this
http://www.cooliance.com/custom_heatsinks.html
http://www.ledcoolers.com/
http://www.ledcoolers.com/uploads/coolstrate_data_sheet-923.pdf

Thanks in advance guy's for any help, I know THIS is THE PLACE to go for any type of light/light building questions


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## tinctorus (Apr 10, 2011)

Also I meant to add I was thinking of using the Luminus sst-90 led's OR the sst-50's The sst-90's claim 1000 lumens eachb tualso say they can do "up to" 2200 lumens each, Can the sst-50's be over driven like that?
Reason I ask is the sst-50's are about 15-16 dollars a pop where the sst-90's are about 29-32 dollars a pop


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## Packhorse (Apr 10, 2011)

You can use any power supply you want as long as it can supply the power required. Not sure why you would want to run it off mains power but you could. You would have to use a transformer and drop the voltage then convert to DC but thats not really an issue. But probably better to run it off a 12V car battery so its portable plus you could also then use it in the car.

1. Any of the current high power LEDs will work. XM-L's will probably deliver the best lumen per $.
2. That depends on the LEDs you are using and if you want a flood or spot beam.
3. Something big so you can run it for longer than 1 minute
4. Yes you could. It would probably melt really quickly of your light would cook first. Either way it aint gonna work. You will need something that is made from aluminium.
4. Well you could use fans but I am not a "fan" of this approach. 

Check out the trisperical and hexispheric lights linked from my sig line. Less lumen than the light you linked to but the case for the trispherical is what you need.


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## tinctorus (Apr 11, 2011)

Any tips on what enclosure I should use for my flood light?


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## tinctorus (Apr 14, 2011)

Nobody else has ANY idea's about how I should go about b uilding this thing without wasting money with buying uneeded parts???


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## Walterk (Apr 14, 2011)

Your question is quite wide. Thats why I don't know where to start.

Is the light always outside? So has to be rainproof? Is it fixed, or do you plan using it on a tripod or something.
What width, and to what depth do you want to light up? Be as precize as you can.
For what purpose do you have the light: see faces, skunks, park your car, light up the full property.
Any common/conventional light that has a similar output for ease of reference of what you are after?
What costs did you have in mind?
You just want a Sunbold but then cheap? (Then still; how cheap )
Do you happen to have a machinist/lath available?


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## Lighthouse one (Apr 14, 2011)

Unless you REALLY like the challenge of building things....and you are somewhat experienced...it can be done. I'd buy a couple of high power lights- and have much better use of the portability they give. Heck, get an olight 90 and an HID. 
There are a lots of very powerful lights in the $100 to $200 price range.


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## egghead2004 (Apr 20, 2011)

tinctorus,

We may be of more help if you tell us what you are going to use it for. Will you be mounting it? Do you need it to be portable? Outdoor I assume, are you lighting up a yard? Driveway? Sports court lighting like basketball/volleyball? What size area are you lighting? How far away from your target area to light will it be mounted? How high above target area can you mount it?

Most likely you will have to build your own enclosure for something like this. If you can answer some of these questions we can determine if you need 8 degree spot or will 25 or 45 degrees work for you. Maybe 3 or 4 smaller lights would be better to spread the light out and avoid shadows and glare. What color light do you want, warm, neutral, cool? 

One important factor when building high output LED fixtures...for every watt of LED light, you should have 10 square inches of aluminum surface area to dissipate the heat, unless you are using a fan, but I wouldn't go that route.

Please, answer, we like to see home made projects around here.


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