# My LED homemade showerhead



## ahorton (May 21, 2010)

*My LED homemade showerhead + beamshot added*

Ooh it's scary in here! I've never been over in this part of the forum.

But I thought I might show a few pictures of the LED showerhead I'm making:



























The black thing is 2kg of aluminium with about 2.5 x 10^5 mm^2 (400 sq inches) of useful surface area.


----------



## Nos (May 21, 2010)

OMG dont tell me you are going to use six SST-90s


----------



## DM51 (May 21, 2010)

Nos said:


> OMG dont tell me you are going to use six SST-90s


Wow! Is that what those are? This will be an amazing build...!


----------



## kramer5150 (May 21, 2010)

WOW... great work thus far!!


----------



## AnAppleSnail (May 21, 2010)

Since you're powering 6-7 SST90s, add a fan.


----------



## TheTest (May 21, 2010)

Nice! Not what i was expecting from the title , if thats going to use your 30mm aspherics (is it?) it will be an absolute monster, and will far surpass any conventional "showerhead" type light in output and throw. What are you going to power it with?


----------



## tsask (May 21, 2010)

TheTest said:


> Nice! Not what i was expecting from the title QUOTE]
> Me either. I was thinking of one of those 5mm "lunar white" LEDs.
> 
> This LED showerhead is an excellent idea! Well done!
> Thanks for those pics! looking forward to more


----------



## ahorton (May 21, 2010)

Nos said:


> OMG dont tell me you are going to use six SST-90s


Indeed! Top bin too.



AnAppleSnail said:


> Since you're powering 6-7 SST90s, add a fan.


Maybe. It does have a lot of heatsink and will usually only get used for a few minutes at a time. If the thermal switch goes off too often then I will throw a fan on the back but I prefer to have passive cooling.



TheTest said:


> Nice! Not what i was expecting from the title ,


But you clicked anyway! This forum needs more people like you!




TheTest said:


> if thats going to use your 30mm aspherics (is it?)


Actually these are 39mm lenses to try to tighten the beam from a 3x3mm die just a bit. I almost used my 30mm lenses but I figured the thing would have to be this big anyway to deal with heat so I might as well use bigger lenses.





TheTest said:


> it will be an absolute monster, and will far surpass any conventional "showerhead" type light in output and throw.



I hope so!





TheTest said:


> What are you going to power it with?



At the moment, just some linear regulators and I'll restrict myself to a battery (probably a vehicle while turned off)

Eventually I'm going to have to turn the vehicle on and deal with fluctuating voltage and surges etc. I like the look of Der Wichtel's new driver, but I have yet to establish that it will be ok in an automotive application. I'm also short on hobby cash so it will have to wait.


----------



## TheTest (May 22, 2010)

Thanks for replying, I've also been eyeing Der Wichtel's new driver, got an sst-90 that needs current-regulated feeding .
Excellent design btw, i was wondering how to make a practical multi sst setup with some throw, looks like you've done it.
I hope you get it running so that i can stare longingly at the _beamshots_ (hint hint)


----------



## ANDREAS FERRARI (May 23, 2010)

I'm anxious to see how this turns out.I hope you can post photos when your finished. 



ahorton said:


> Ooh it's _*scary*_ in here! I've never been over in this part of the forum.



If you think this place is scary than you should stay clear of "*The Dark Room*"


----------



## IMSabbel (May 23, 2010)

If you are only using it for a few minutes at a time, the mass itself should be fine.

But for prolonged use, it will not be stable.
Maybe you could just trigger the fan by the thermal switch, i.e. only use it if you keep it running for prolonged time?


----------



## papajoe (May 23, 2010)

Clever title, actually - got my attention immediatley.

C'mon now, keep busy. All eyes are upon you. 

I admire the design thus far - great sink and fins to dissipate. Fantastic. Using equilateral triangle array for maximum density in the head. Outstanding.

Thanks, I'll watch carefully for this one. Joe


----------



## bobo383 (May 23, 2010)

I love the revolver-cylinder look, "Makes my day"!


----------



## kingofwylietx (May 23, 2010)

Definitely not what I expected from the title...I thought it would be a bunch of old-style leds.

I really llike what you are doing. Please post beam shots when you finish.

Very cool!


----------



## mrartillery (May 23, 2010)

+1 on some beamshots, I can imagine that this will be a beast when completed. Nice build. :thumbsup:


----------



## JulianP (May 24, 2010)

Make sure you don't point it at airplanes :naughty:.


----------



## fyrstormer (May 24, 2010)

Skip the fan, machine the fins in the shape of turbine blades, and motorize the head instead. Gatling Light! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!


----------



## RAGE CAGE (May 24, 2010)

fyrstormer said:


> Skip the fan, machine the fins in the shape of turbine blades, and motorize the head instead. Gatling Light! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!


 
Now THAT would be a true DAZZLER/Puke light if it didn't burn your eyes out first :sick2:


----------



## Kestrel (May 27, 2010)

IMSabbel said:


> Maybe you could just trigger the fan by the thermal switch, i.e. only use it if you keep it running for prolonged time?


Excellent suggestion. God, I can't wait to see what this thing will do with aspherics.


----------



## ahorton (May 29, 2010)

I powered up 3 of the LEDs.

Intensity according to my cheap DX Lux meter was about 6x what I get from and XR-E R2 at 1A behind my 30mm aspheric.


----------



## calebra (May 30, 2010)

I have seen this beast in person, and when its finished it will have to be licensed i reckon. folks, watch out for this man, he is dead serious about doing the unthinkable safely:wave:


----------



## clint357 (Jun 1, 2010)

How long do you think it will be able to run without heat issues? I'm guessing that you flet some heat with your short lux meter test. It looks like this was machined from a solid model on a cad program. If so, can you check how many square inches of surface area this thing has? I'm curious because I just make a 2,000 lumen flood light with an aluminum body that has about 100 square inches of surface for heat dissipation...and it's pushing really close to it's max temp.


----------



## Jarski (Jun 1, 2010)

clint357 said:


> How long do you think it will be able to run without heat issues? I'm guessing that you flet some heat with your short lux meter test. It looks like this was machined from a solid model on a cad program. If so, can you check how many square inches of surface area this thing has? I'm curious because I just make a 2,000 lumen flood light with an aluminum body that has about 100 square inches of surface for heat dissipation...and it's pushing really close to it's max temp.



The surface area is mentioned in the first post.

Impressive beast! Cannot wait for beamshots


----------



## ahorton (Jun 1, 2010)

Yes it was starting to warm up after 10 minutes of use.

It never really got hot and the side without the LEDs felt a lot cooler by hand.

Normally when someone says that one part of a light-body is warm and another is cool, I ask "Is the body able to move the heat from one part to the other?".

In this case, the heat is spread by a 10mm thick slab of aluminium and it is all machined out of one solid piece. I think that's a pretty good heat-spreader. So I assume the heat gradient from one side of the slab to the other means that the fins are doing their job well.

Of course, so far I've only run 3 LEDs at 8A each (approx 90W total power). When I run 6 at 10A (approx 220W total power) it will be a very different story.

If you never hear from me again, you can assume I burnt my fingers off.


----------



## clint357 (Jun 1, 2010)

ahorton said:


> Yes it was starting to warm up after 10 minutes of use.
> 
> It never really got hot and the side without the LEDs felt a lot cooler by hand.
> 
> ...


 
Sorry, I missed the area onthe first post. If the above mentioned catastrophe takes place, please post beamshots with your nose or a pencil in your mouth.


----------



## Illum (Jun 1, 2010)

I sense there might be a thermal overload with this design, but the design of the handle is :twothumbs:

this is a helmet light yes?


----------



## ahorton (Jun 1, 2010)

Illum said:


> I sense there might be a thermal overload with this design, but the design of the handle is :twothumbs:



The handle is pretty simple. It allows me to put an insulating spacer between the main body and the handle. When it's done I'll wrap it in bike handlebar tape. I want to be able to use it even when it gets hot.




Illum said:


> this is a helmet light yes?


Yeah, why not? It runs off 3 AAA cells (alkalines) which go in the middle chamber. It weighs 2kg so I probably need to use at least 2 velcro dots to make it stay in place on the helmet. 4 dots should do the trick.


----------



## Glenn7 (Jun 3, 2010)

Well when you have one up for sale


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

I've had this thing up and running for a while now but I don't have a camera or skill for taking good beamshots.


So I'm just writing to give you my experience for anyone else who wants to build something similar:

1) Heat is not an issue. It gets warm but never hot. The hottest place to put your hand is actually in the light beam! The forward voltage of the LEDs drops a bit after about 3 minutes as it starts to warm up.



2) Intensity at more than a few metres is about 12 times what I get from my 30mm aspherics with an XR-E R2 EZ1000 at 1000mA. The projected square is also about 4 times larger (in area).

I'm only stating the comparison because I don't trust my cheap DX Lux meter to give me meaningful numbers. 

Even though I have all 6 (square) dice in the same orientation, they end up giving a somewhat rounded hotspot with no real corners. There is also a lot of spill.

I've been out shining around a farm and it just lights up a whole paddock to about 400m. We saw a mob of kangaroo eyes at about 800m once and a cat that was probably about 1000m away.

3) Space is an issue. I've never made anything this powerful before and I underestimated the space needed. I'm using stranded copper wire with 4mm cross section and it's chunky stuff!




Hope this helps and we see more builds like this around the forums.


----------



## wolfy (Aug 9, 2010)

Hope you find a camera soon, it sounds pretty damn good, but the light needs to be seen.


----------



## mvyrmnd (Aug 9, 2010)

So where in Aus are you (kangaroos, are a giveaway)? I'd love to see this in person!


----------



## Vesper (Aug 9, 2010)

Wow. Nice project and also looking forward to photos.


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

mvyrmnd said:


> So where in Aus are you (kangaroos, are a giveaway)? I'd love to see this in person!



Perth.


----------



## mvyrmnd (Aug 9, 2010)

ahorton said:


> Perth.


Well, no visit for me then!


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

mvyrmnd said:


> Well, no visit for me then!



If you tell me where you live I'll take a bearing and shine it in your direction!


----------



## Th232 (Aug 9, 2010)

ahorton said:


> 1) Heat is not an issue. It gets warm but never hot. The hottest place to put your hand is actually in the light beam! The forward voltage of the LEDs drops a bit after about 3 minutes as it starts to warm up.



Just double checking to make sure I'm reading this right, this is all 6 SST-90s running at max ratings?

Even if it's just 3, woah...oo:

If it is all six, WOAH!

Will say I'm surprised that it's dissipating heat that well.

Pity you're on the other side of Aus, I'd love to see it in person.

Small question, what're the outer dimensions? Eyeballing it I'd say ~150 mm dia?


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

Good guess. It's 160mm diameter.

Yes it's all 6 running at full power (~9A).

Everyone seems to be surprised that it's dissipating heat. Think of a small bowling ball that is 50% fins and you start to get an idea of how big and heavy this thing is. Remember that you are always holding it up in the air and waving it around as you search (usually from the back of a moving vehicle) so it gets a huge amount of airflow past those fins. Each fin is 2mm thick (thicker than most flashlight bodies) so they transport heat very well.


----------



## jellydonut (Aug 9, 2010)

I was wanting to build something with SST-90s just to see if I could do it before I saw this.. I'd never manage something like this.:mecry:

I guess I could at least try to learn, and then waste my money on a bunch of LEDs and lenses I don't know what to do with.

I don't know if you're willing to share the details but I'd be interested in a little pictorial of the components and how it all comes together. I did a year of electric/electronics but it's all mostly forgotten by now.


----------



## Toke (Aug 9, 2010)

I am impressed.

(Just one nitpick, the green/yellow wire is normally used for ground wire in 230/400 V installations, and the colour combination should not be used for anything else.)

The data sheet say 2,5-3,8V driving voltage, does that mean you run then in series 3 and 3 for a 12V supply with linear driver?


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

Yes I confess to that and several other crimes against colour conventions in this light. When I first put it together all I could find that would take 10A were some old 240V power cords I had salvaged from some broken appliance. I hope you'll all forgive me for not waiting 'till morning to go to the shop and buy more cable.

You are also right about the driving setup. So far I have been running it in two separate circuits of 3 series LEDs with a linear driver from a 12V vehicle battery. This has a few disadvantages so I've ordered two switchmode drivers that should be able to handle a wider range of battery voltages without much waste heat.


----------



## Darvis (Aug 9, 2010)

How about a picture of the completed unit? I'd just like to see what this thing looks like now that it's operational...


----------



## Walterk (Aug 9, 2010)

Nice designwork !


----------



## Toke (Aug 9, 2010)

ahorton said:


> Yes I confess to that and several other crimes against colour conventions in this light. When I first put it together all I could find that would take 10A were some old 240V power cords I had salvaged from some broken appliance. I hope you'll all forgive me for not waiting 'till morning to go to the shop and buy more cable.


Don't take it too hard. 
I am an electrician, it sticks out to me, and I feel entitled to be a nitpick on some subjects. 



> You are also right about the driving setup. So far I have been running it in two separate circuits of 3 series LEDs with a linear driver from a 12V vehicle battery. This has a few disadvantages so I've ordered two switchmode drivers that should be able to handle a wider range of battery voltages without much waste heat.



Yes, the driver heat generation would increase a lot when the car is running. I have just never seen a switchmode driver with current regulation in that size. Guess I would have gone for some DC-DC in series with a linear driver. 
Good thing you found them.


----------



## wyager (Aug 9, 2010)

Here's to hoping you find a camera! How many pounds would you say this thing is? I imagine all that metal is not very mobile.


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

Darvis said:


> How about a picture of the completed unit? I'd just like to see what this thing looks like now that it's operational...



When the new drivers are installed I'll be putting all the glands in and wrapping up the handle in bike-handlebar-tape. After that's done I'll find someone with a good camera and get some beamshots and deskshots.



wyager said:


> Here's to hoping you find a camera! How many pounds would you say this thing is? I imagine all that metal is not very mobile.



The whole thing is less than 2 kilograms (~4 pounds)


----------



## mvyrmnd (Aug 9, 2010)

ahorton said:


> If you tell me where you live I'll take a bearing and shine it in your direction!


As spectacular as your light is, something tells me is won't manage to shine the ~2900KM required.


----------



## Th232 (Aug 9, 2010)

ahorton said:


> Remember that you are always holding it up in the air and waving it around as you search (usually from the back of a moving vehicle) so it gets a huge amount of airflow past those fins. Each fin is 2mm thick (thicker than most flashlight bodies) so they transport heat very well.



Ahh, that does help make a bit more sense.:thumbsup: With the wide spacing, was that to do with maximum efficiency, or cutter size when you were making it?


----------



## ahorton (Aug 9, 2010)

Th232 said:


> Ahh, that does help make a bit more sense.:thumbsup: With the wide spacing, was that to do with maximum efficiency, or cutter size when you were making it?




I had an idea of the fin thickness and height I wanted (based on mechanical strangth) so I played around with some simulations varying the spacing. 10mm spacing is apparently pretty optimal and it agreed with my intuition so I went with that.


----------



## Th232 (Aug 9, 2010)

Been playing around with some heatsinks myself, if you don't mind me asking, what software did you use for your sims?


----------



## ahorton (Aug 11, 2010)

I'm embarrassed to say that I just used this rather than working it out myself.

The embarrassment is because I used to write software for computational mechanics so part of me knows I should really sit down and work it out for myself. Anyway, I got lazy and it gave me results that made me happy.


----------



## Th232 (Aug 11, 2010)

Woah, you went through all the permutations with the FigPrim calculator? Well, it worked, and that's what matters.:thumbsup:

Looking forward to the beamshots.


----------



## Walterk (Aug 11, 2010)

ahorton said:


> I just used this



Great info! Nice and easy tool.


----------



## CKOD (Aug 12, 2010)

sooo in for pics of the completed unit.


----------



## ahorton (Aug 12, 2010)

They're not much good, but here are some pics:


----------



## Southpawtact (Aug 12, 2010)

That is a sight of pure beauty! Can't wait for beamshots!


----------



## Walterk (Aug 12, 2010)

I think he meaned beamshots


----------



## Nos (Aug 13, 2010)

:goodjob: woow, that looks good, well done 

The lenses could use some clean, but there rest really looks fine. Cant wait for beamshots


----------



## ahorton (Aug 29, 2010)

*Re: My LED homemade showerhead + beamshot added*

Running at about 6A.






For comparison, the top left is an XR-E R2 at 1.4A behind a 66mm DX aspheric.

Top right (very hard to see so I've highlighted it in the next image) is an XR-E R2 at 1.0A behind my 30mm aspheric.








I think the 66mm aspheric thrower is slightly brighter at the moment but you can't tell the difference in person. At full power I expect this thing to throw just as far.


----------



## KeyGrip (Sep 18, 2010)

That is insane.


----------



## JulianP (Sep 18, 2010)

I love the hardware side of it too. Did you manufacture it yourself, or did you contract the work out?


----------



## ahorton (Sep 18, 2010)

I got someone else to machine it. 

Not cheap to get a one-off made like this!


----------



## Echo63 (Sep 19, 2010)

Nice work.

Another Perth based flashaholic here, who would love to see what this thing can do.

We need another Perth meet up.


----------



## saabluster (Sep 20, 2010)

Nice work!:thumbsup:


----------



## river rock (Sep 20, 2010)

i guess no one has told you they already make and sell these they change the color of the water


----------



## ahorton (Sep 20, 2010)

river rock said:


> i guess no one has told you they already make and sell these they change the color of the water



Just as unhelpful as all your other posts.


----------



## saabluster (Sep 21, 2010)

ahorton said:


> Just as unhelpful as all your other posts.


Boy you aren't kidding. Look at it this way. With a start like that he can only go up.


----------

