Project Logs

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• Change of boost converter

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 06/11/2019 at 15:44 • 0 comments

  It was about time i revisited this project.

  The boost converter i had initially was a beefy "600W" part that seemed like a good idea back then but only runs good at around 17V+. No chance at 12V to get full output power.

  So i got a new "250W" one that claims to run down to 9V, bolted to an old pentium 3 heatsink and tested it at 12V. It draws about 14A at 12V which is way over the claimed 10A it is capable of but with some added output capacitance and overkill cooling i see no issues. Should be completely fine at higher voltages and even at 12V it achieves maximum output power :)
  

• Added a morse function

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 08/02/2014 at 18:15 • 0 comments

  To do something useful with the arduino in this project i added a morse function to tell the night what you think about it ;)

  It will send any text that is received via serial and return to normal brightness afterwards:

  It is possible to put the light and a raspberry pi anywhere and send messages over the internet into the darkness.

• Power Terminals and Poti finished

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 07/13/2014 at 18:23 • 0 comments

  Got the potentiometer and some high quality banana terminals fixed to the case.

  A lipo can be connected safe and everything works at high power.

  Video will follow soon.

  Next step: Video and maybe a strobe mode and a pushbutton.

• PWM working

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 07/08/2014 at 16:24 • 1 comment

  Almost all components are now stuffed into the case. Still looks awful but works great. 

  Cooling and PWM control are working fine.

  Next steps: cleaner wiring, making use of the switch and screwing banana plugs for power in and replacing the old power socket with the volt/amp meter.

• Boost converter arrived

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 07/07/2014 at 10:40 • 0 comments

  Some minutes ago the new 600w constant current boost converter arrived.

  Sadly some capacitors were damaged and broken off the board.  duh. what a mess. Bent in all directons.

  This is how it arrived:

  Managed to solder them back on and they seem to work fine. (not exploded in my face :P)

  Constant current is set to 3,2A and maximum Voltage to around 35v as there is a drop in the wires and the pwm mosfet.

  The booster has only two transistors but three holes in the heatsink so i screwed my mosfet onto the heatsink.

  I can now control the brightness with an arduino and a potentiometer. The arduino will do a fade if the pot is turned fast and i want some kind of exponential curve as the high settings have almost no change and the first values with high brightness changes are very close to each other on the pot.

• Everything tested

  Yannick (Gigawipf) • 07/06/2014 at 11:56 • 0 comments

  Found a good heatsink and got almost all components.

  Still waiting for some boost converters from china.

  The led was first secured by wood.

  Now i am using alu plates and long screws.

  Everything holds together and won't fall apart anymore ;)

  Next step: waiting for the better boost converter to arrive and connect a lipo.

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