Once you've whittled many paths down to 2 or 3.
'tis then, the path that you will choose, seems obvious to me.
Quite right. It's just that I whittle a lot faster than I can type! Sorry if I seem to be going several directions at once (wait a second, I ALWAYS go several directions at once! :thumbsup but you've given a LOT of good ideas, some of which required some quick self-education on my end. Seems like if, after considering all the reasonable possibilities, I keep coming back to the same place, that I'm getting real close to the "answer." Thanks to you, I do have a very clear (although "adjustable") picture of where I'm going with this.


I think I've figured out the order I need to acquire parts to make sure they all play nice together. (Although, deep in my heart, I am lusting after that 100-15 driver! ) Getting as much as possible from few vendors saves a bit on shipping, too.

Already ordered:

1) Arctic Silver epoxy, plus the 2-part cleaning solution set. I'm expecting some kinda grease, anti-oxidant coating, or something like that to be on the heat sinks. ($23.23 shipped)

2) Two 8.5x 13" sections of that heavy heatsink. Grand total with shipping: $62.55. Should be here by Wednesday. Decided to get the sinks together to save shipping, but just building one light right now.

I want to mount two 92mm fans right against the fins of each heatsink, like the 80mm is mounted on the Procyon. I just need to confirm that the mounting holes for the fan line up with gaps between the fins. Once I know what fans I'm using, I can put in the order for the LED's and get finger guards for the fans on the same order. (Later next week.) :dance: Once I get the LED's I can measure 'em and decide on a PS. (Although I REALLY want a 100-15. Did I mention that? )

Meanwhile I'll play with the sinks a bit to see how they balance, etc. to decide how to mount the flying hardware (prolly just use ringbolts). MIGHT be nice to be able to hang the light "sideways" too, although I don't plan to use it that way.



Anyway: I believe each heatsink is over 5 lbs. of aluminum. I was planning ("no gotta calculate, overkill will do jus' fine") to run (2) 12V 92mm fans gently on a 9V wallwart to keep the junctions as happy as possible. Is this crazy overkill? Is that enough heatsink where a wise man wouldn't even use a fan? You mentioned a thermal switch on your lamp. Are you actually able to get by with passive cooling? Or is the switch doing something other than kicking in your active cooling, like shutting things off above a certain temp?? I'd like to see how you have that set up.

Kinda waitin' 'til you have the LEDs in hand and can use the variable supply to label them with the actual Vf, at the current you want.
Yes. Your guidance will be critical here. Little apprehensive about firing them up the first time, and I don't even own 'em yet! (See avatar.)


:what: :silly: :stupid: