On camera LED light

Max R. Wilson

Max R. Wilson

Stream Master
Has anyone attempted making a on camera LED light?
like the light panel one or vidled one?

It looks pretty simple. I figure i will get a custom battery pack made at batteries Plus thats rechargeable, that runs at 12V. with 48 LEDs it will draw about .4 Amps. and i will also hook a dimer switch to it.

I ordered 100 LED's from ebay and will wire it in a array like this:
Code: 
Solution 0: 3 x 16 array uses 48 LEDs exactly
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
    +----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+  R = 82 ohms
 
The wizard says: In solution 0:
  each 82 ohm resistor dissipates 51.25 mW
  the wizard says the color code for 82 is grey red black 
  the wizard thinks ¼W resistors are fine for your application
  together, all resistors dissipate 820 mW
  together, the diodes dissipate 4080 mW              
  total power dissipated by the array is 4900 mW      
  the array draws current of 400 mA from the source.
 
I was at Best Buy the other day and I noticed a small LED on camera light. The company is SIMA, it has a hot shoe attachment, uses 2 AAA recharable batteries and comes with a charger all for about 20 bucks. The light is a little hot and focused so I put some diffusion material over the LEDS. Voila! No soldering guns, resistors, circuit boards and certainly a lot less expensive. Need more light? Buy another or 3 or 4 or 5. You'll still under the expense and labor of making your own.
Gary
 
Gary said:
I was at Best Buy the other day and I noticed a small LED on camera light. The company is SIMA, it has a hot shoe attachment, uses 2 AAA recharable batteries and comes with a charger all for about 20 bucks. The light is a little hot and focused so I put some diffusion material over the LEDS. Voila! No soldering guns, resistors, circuit boards and certainly a lot less expensive. Need more light? Buy another or 3 or 4 or 5. You'll still under the expense and labor of making your own.
Gary
Click to expand...


I actually bought that a few weeks back.. and was pretty happy with it. Like you said, kind of spotish, and probably too small (only 9 bulbs), but the convenience of it was fantastic. I used it on my (p)ig rig covering a wedding reception.. in a dark hall, with a few white string lights on the ceiling.. and it helped alot! probably a little too hot,.. I need to rig a gel over it.. but overall, a good experience. I was there about three hours, used it off and on.. and it seemed to work well.

The same occurred to me, smack them together, side by side, and glue them with epoxy. A little wiring and you could probably have a central switch for all of them, and maybe a central charging point.

Two drawbacks that I saw.. prohibitive cost, if you buy multiple ones.. you could be in a $100 before you know it..

Secondly... as they are, you can't power them from external power. When the charger is plugged in, the light goes off.. no "charge and shine" at the same time.

Let me know what you guys think??

J
 
Team Joe Dawn,
Your right, you can't power them from an external source unless you get inside and replace the batterys with a 3 volt power supply, which incendently allow you to turn them all on or off at once. The batterys last a very long time though, especially if you turn off the light when you don't need it. As far as the cost of 5 units at $100, the cost of the components, 45 LEDs and all of the wiring, batterys and work will easily go over $100 to make it yourself. I understand the commercial versions can be $500 to $700. For as often as you need it, this light "ain't too shabby".
Gary
 
I gotta get one of these. It might make a perfect eye light.

What model number of this device?
 
khmuse said:
Thanks! I am going to grab one as soon as they open up.
Click to expand...

Price compare.. the one I bought at best buy was not the cheapest.. I "froogle'd" it and found mildly cheaper.. in bulk, thay may save you a bit.

J
 
I think that is not a bad idea.. epoxy four our five of them onto a backing mount.. wire them all up to power/charge together, and wire them for easy switching..

Like you said.. it could conceivably be cheaper than a DIY solution.. although Im not sure how much the other components are, but i thought the individual LEDs are pretty dirt cheap..

J
 
To do a DIY it will be less then $50, i got 100 LED for $20 shipped, so thats enough to make two lights
A battery pack will be around $15-20 i already have a 12v charger.
Cases and PCB and other parts come to about $10

Gary said:
Team Joe Dawn,
Your right, you can't power them from an external source unless you get inside and replace the batterys with a 3 volt power supply, which incendently allow you to turn them all on or off at once. The batterys last a very long time though, especially if you turn off the light when you don't need it. As far as the cost of 5 units at $100, the cost of the components, 45 LEDs and all of the wiring, batterys and work will easily go over $100 to make it yourself. I understand the commercial versions can be $500 to $700. For as often as you need it, this light "ain't too shabby".
Gary
Click to expand...
 
Team Joe Dawn,
I can't imagine needing more than 2, it's pretty bright and focused. Even after I diffused it (one) it's more than I need for most applications. It's still a little too bright to look into it directly. Of course I don't know your intended application.
Gary
 
Gary said:
Team Joe Dawn,
I can't imagine needing more than 2, it's pretty bright and focused. Even after I diffused it (one) it's more than I need for most applications. It's still a little too bright to look into it directly. Of course I don't know your intended application.
Gary
Click to expand...

How did you diffuse it? Clip some kind of filter or paper across it?

J
 
No, I went to Home Depot and rummaged through the lens' for florescent light fixtures. I brought the light with me to sample the effect. Yeah Yeah I know these things are 2 feet by 4 feet but I actually had some other applications for it. Anyhow I used some very small dowel pieces to form a frame and glued into it place. After I found out it worked really well I dressed up the wood frame a little.
My other purpose, while we're at it, was to diffuse a light for an interior car shot.
I was doing a commercial for a high end custom garage door company and I needed to be inside the car showing an actress pushing the garage door transmitter while seeing the door go up. I also went to Home Depot and got one of those screw in florescent bulbs that are balanced for daylight. I needed the diffusion plastic to blend and fill the dark spots of the car interior and bring up the overall balance to the outside. Yow this answer got out of hand.
 
Gary said:
No, I went to Home Depot and rummaged through the lens' for florescent light fixtures. I brought the light with me to sample the effect. Yeah Yeah I know these things are 2 feet by 4 feet but I actually had some other applications for it. Anyhow I used some very small dowel pieces to form a frame and glued into it place. After I found out it worked really well I dressed up the wood frame a little.
My other purpose, while we're at it, was to diffuse a light for an interior car shot.
I was doing a commercial for a high end custom garage door company and I needed to be inside the car showing an actress pushing the garage door transmitter while seeing the door go up. I also went to Home Depot and got one of those screw in florescent bulbs that are balanced for daylight. I needed the diffusion plastic to blend and fill the dark spots of the car interior and bring up the overall balance to the outside. Yow this answer got out of hand.
Click to expand...

Any pics, Gary? sounds great... although I dont' need 8 sq ft of it.. interested in trimming off a piece of your big honker and sending it to me, possibly in trade? :-)

J
 
It ain't pretty just functional, as far as the material, it's only 3 or 4 bucks for an entire sheet. The cost of packaging and postage will kill any savings. Plus it took me a couple of tries to cut this crap without breaking it.
 
Gary said:
It ain't pretty just functional, as far as the material, it's only 3 or 4 bucks for an entire sheet. The cost of packaging and postage will kill any savings. Plus it took me a couple of tries to cut this crap without breaking it.
Click to expand...

fair enough

J
 
figure i will update this thread...

I just ordered some 27 Ohm 1/4W resistors, this will allow me to run the LED's at there max voltage 3.8V off a 12V battery...

I also got a 4000 mAH NiCd battery pack made, that would allow me to run one light pack for about 10 hours, or two for 5. i also have a LCD screen that i run off that battery with both on it should run for about 3.6 hours.

Ill post up some photos next week when i get to soldering.
 
Actually, if I were you, I would design it so that I won't need any resistors in series since those will only serve to dissipate heat and waste power. Why not add a few more LED's to drop the voltage? That way you dissipate it as light instead of heat which does no one any good.

Daniel Wee
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top