# DIY Water cooled LED lantern. PIC.



## Barbarin (Aug 13, 2010)

Simple, cheap, nice (at least for me), environmental friendly, and bright.

This one has a SSCP7, potted in epoxi, with a 2000 mA powe source. That should be at least 500 lm.

So, what you need is:

1. SSCP7
2. Water
3. Can (2 liter is more than enough for 7 Watts).
4. Epoxi, transparent. ( I use this one )... But you can find a lot of information for potting on this forum. Just be carefull to not cover the alloy bottom of the MCPCB.
5. Gland (For the cap) 
6. Constant current power source (I used a current limited NiCd 3 cell charger)







Enjoy


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## circa (Aug 13, 2010)

More pics please!!! Being in water crank up the amps!!


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## Lampyris noctiluca (Aug 13, 2010)

Really love this one!! Its given me an idea for a string of lights to illuminate my garden path......Brilliant!!


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## Barbarin (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks.

You can use any kind of translucent bottle. I recomend to add a little bit of soap to the water to get an even distribution.

Yes, will post more pics, and a "making of"


Javier


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## ma_sha1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Very nice, not something you see everyday


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## Barbarin (Aug 13, 2010)

Another one:






This one has bigger recipent, one CREE XPG, one encapsulated 12 Vin 700 mA out driver, and less water. Not recomended to use less water if you plan to move the lantern and it is not going to be stand up, but a nice effect anyway.


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## wquiles (Aug 13, 2010)

Very cool amigo


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## Ilikelite (Aug 13, 2010)

WOW! The ingenuity of the people on this site never ceases to amaze. :bow:


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 13, 2010)

Just don't make one with beer...... light beer


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## spc (Aug 13, 2010)

Very cool!

fill one with mineral oil, and you'll never have to worry about a short


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## mrartillery (Aug 14, 2010)

Ilikelite said:


> WOW! The ingenuity of the people on this site never ceases to amaze. :bow:



+1. Great idea.


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## Barbarin (Aug 14, 2010)

What about a DIY kit? Would be enough interest to have it done?


Javier


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## Illum (Aug 14, 2010)

With deionized water it should be fine...mineral oil when its not flowing is a horrible heatsink, but if its circulating it will have no issues. Water has high heat capacity and will distribute the heat more evenly in the medium through natural, but subtle, convection.


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## Barbarin (Aug 14, 2010)

Yes, you are right... but the problem with deionized water is that it becomes ionized when it gets in contact with anything... and ones it is ionized it will be electrically conductive, and once it happens it will become more and more ionized... The only way is to use epoxi or any other encapsulant.

Oil, water or any other fluid will flow quick with a heat differential, because heat changes the viscosity. (excuse my english)

Javier


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## Barbarin (Aug 19, 2010)

*Re: DIY Water cooled LED lantern. More pics*





Here you are, hanging on the tree and hidden on the plants.


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## LEDAdd1ct (Aug 20, 2010)

Javier, PM sent!


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## fyrstormer (Aug 20, 2010)

Thin silicone oil like what comes in spray cans would be a better heatsink medium than mineral oil. However, there should be enough convection off the LED to keep the oil moving, whichever one you choose.

On a camping trip or something like that, I gotta think water would be more useful though. Mmm, nothing like a nice big gulp of baby oil on a hot day...


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## fasuto (Aug 31, 2010)

Very nice idea, it would be great if it could work from the power of a car lighter.
The DIY kit sounds interesting. 
If you have the time, please, post more pics of the "making off".


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## Illum (Aug 31, 2010)

fasuto said:


> Very nice idea, it would be great if it could work from the power of a car lighter.
> The DIY kit sounds interesting.
> If you have the time, please, post more pics of the "making off".



hmm, 12V buck converters might be more efficient, certainly a feature that could be "added on" rather than "built-in":nana:


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## Phaserburn (Aug 31, 2010)

Awesome stuff here, and nice pics!

A thought. Couldn't a traditional lantern style be developed where the globe is replace with a frosted one that can hold water on a permanent basis? Kinda like a small fishbowl sitting on a battery with a handle/bail.

To make this feasible/practical, you wouldn't need that much water in the globe to get nice heatsinking. If a serious amp-capable led could be mated with a battery than can supply it (SLA?), perhaps a really useable unit could be devised. The benefit could be that, with the proper dimmer, you could dial between 50ma to 5A to your led, depending on how much brightness you needed vs runtime. SLA lends itself to this application, and can handle abuse. The dimmer dial could be marked with a few lumens/ma/runtime markers.


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## circa (Aug 31, 2010)

I frosted a glass jar and put in a gutted 5mm led solar light in the lid, has a similar (but much dimmer) effect. 
Hope the pic works





(in traditional lantern form)
I don't see why you couldn't just make a copper sink and forget about the water. Could be heavy with liquid, but adding a drain plug would be nice.


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## PayBack (Jul 23, 2011)

OMG someone stole your idea!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/moms/994a/


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## LEDAdd1ct (Dec 17, 2011)

Any update on getting one of these as a kit? I've wanted to build one of these since last year. It looks so simple, and the XM-L is even more efficient than the P7. Perfect diffusion à la water with integral heatsinking.


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## LEDAdd1ct (Feb 21, 2013)

Any update on getting these as a kit?

I am still interested.

A 12v LiFePO4 battery offers lots of potential in this department and I would still like to get one of these...


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## LEDAdd1ct (Feb 8, 2014)

One year bump.

Any updates on these in kit form?


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