Simple Project for Seeing At Night

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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Staff member
Years ago I made "headlights" to light early morning dark boat rides. I still have one that uses an incandescent bulb and it has served me well for years. This old model uses a hard hat with an aircraft landing light mounted in a funnel. Real high tech...

Needing another light I thought I'd try using an led light instead of incandescent. I perused all kinds of off-road sites until I found just the perfect light for my application, a Squadron Sport Spot made by Baja Designs(https://www.bajadesigns.com/...n-sport-led-spot.asp). The light is bright, compact, light weight, and uses a simple mount that could easily be attached to a hard hat. With the key component identified I placed an order for it, a cigarette lighter plug with about 10 feet of 16 gauge lead(https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), a two conductor plug (https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), and I scrounged up a 10 amp toggle switch, some crimp pin connectors, and a plastic cable clamp.

With the above in hand it only took about 30 minutes before the headlight was complete. The new led is significantly brighter than the old landing light and draws about half the current meaning my battery will go longer between charges.

I researched similar lights, typically used by coon hunters, and found comparable ones to be quite spendy, say $350. This project was less than half with most of the purchase going towards the high-end led I selected. So if you are looking for a way to light your way to the duck blind, and don't want static mounted spot lights, or want a hands-free system, this might be of interest to you.


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That looks great, LEDs are great the way they have improved battery life and increased our options.
 
Eric, our gator hunting lights are exactly like that (though my hat is pink and Steve's black) though we used car headlights. One was a low beam and the other persons was a high beam. But they do get very hot to wear and if you put your hand on your head for some reason you might burn your hand if you aren't careful...have you noticed any great amount of heat associated with that light? Nice job on your light
 
Dani

The light's aluminum finned housing is supposed to dissipate heat. I just finished wiring it up two nights ago and haven't put it through a long field test yet to see if it gets hot but will let you know if I run into any problems.

Eric
 
Probably in a different category than the headlight you built but am throwing this out there for others.

This one by Fenix is the best I have ever owned. It uses a very reliable and proven Cree warmer white LED. The LED used also has a very high CRI. The higher the CRI, the better this light shows the true colors you are illuminating. Lower CRI chips will make blues and greens hard to see at night. And blues and greens are what I'm looking for at night.

https://www.fenixlighting.com/...chargeable-headlamp/

I have owned this light for 3 years now and have not had the need to look for a replacement. It is brighter than what I have ever needed and rarely put it on the highest setting. I do see Fenix has come out with a dual beam, 1400 lumen headlamp that may be interesting.

Not trying to hijack your thread Eric and would love to see that light at night.

Mark
 
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Eric,

Helmet lights like the one your built were all the rage when I lived in Arkansas and Florida especially running in flooded timber in the dark. Like you I found the factory ones were very expensive so many people built their own. Fast forward to moving back to Illinois. Running the river I always used a 12v hand held spot light. One day I was spending some time on a local hunting website and several people were all giddy about a new low cost head lamp from a company I'd never heard from that used rechargeable batteries with led lights throwing out 8000 lumens. Lumens was a new description for me and I had no reference to know what this meant vs my million candlelight hand held. The cost was $15 from Amazon with free shipping with prime. I thought I've thrown away a lot more that $15 bucks buying gadgets for hunting or fishing so I ordered one. That was 2012. I'm still using the light and the same rechargeable batteries. I looked it up and unfortunately the cost now is $17.49. I don't mean to hijack your post but I highly recommend this head lamp.

https://www.amazon.com/...ps%2C182&sr=8-14
 
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Eric, I second what Dani said. Those LED hi output lights are the best in the world at illumination, but buddy they get hotter than hell.

It is incredible the changes that technology has brought to lighting over the last 20 years. We used to drive home on the old Pac Hwy #99, and there was an unlit section down along bear creek. There were some folks that used to commute on bikes and their lights were every bit as bright as hibeams on a car.



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Ed L. said:
Eric,

Helmet lights like the one your built were all the rage when I lived in Arkansas and Florida especially running in flooded timber in the dark. Like you I found the factory ones were very expensive so many people built their own. Fast forward to moving back to Illinois. Running the river I always used a 12v hand held spot light. One day I was spending some time on a local hunting website and several people were all giddy about a new low cost head lamp from a company I'd never heard from that used rechargeable batteries with led lights throwing out 8000 lumens. Lumens was a new description for me and I had no reference to know what this meant vs my million candlelight hand held. The cost was $15 from Amazon with free shipping with prime. I thought I've thrown away a lot more that $15 bucks buying gadgets for hunting or fishing so I ordered one. That was 2012. I'm still using the light and the same rechargeable batteries. I looked it up and unfortunately the cost now is $17.49. I don't mean to hijack your post but I highly recommend this head lamp.

https://www.amazon.com/...ps%2C182&sr=8-14
Click to expand...

Hi Ed -

That is a heck of a deal on that headlamp since it includes two 18650 rechargeable batteries. Hate to throw water on it but there is no physical way that headlamp puts out 8000 lumen. The thing would melt and catch fire if it did. The heat sink required for 8000 lumens would be immense. And a 8000 lumen headlamp powered by two 18650 batteries would light for about 3-4 minutes.

Chinese tend to mix up lumen with lux.

Mark
 
Ed L. said:
Eric,

Helmet lights like the one your built were all the rage when I lived in Arkansas and Florida especially running in flooded timber in the dark. Like you I found the factory ones were very expensive so many people built their own. Fast forward to moving back to Illinois. Running the river I always used a 12v hand held spot light. One day I was spending some time on a local hunting website and several people were all giddy about a new low cost head lamp from a company I'd never heard from that used rechargeable batteries with led lights throwing out 8000 lumens. Lumens was a new description for me and I had no reference to know what this meant vs my million candlelight hand held. The cost was $15 from Amazon with free shipping with prime. I thought I've thrown away a lot more that $15 bucks buying gadgets for hunting or fishing so I ordered one. That was 2012. I'm still using the light and the same rechargeable batteries. I looked it up and unfortunately the cost now is $17.49. I don't mean to hijack your post but I highly recommend this head lamp.

https://www.amazon.com/...ps%2C182&sr=8-14
Click to expand...
Bought one of the same last year and love it. I still use my rechargeable handheld when running boat long distances but use this for setting decoys , erecting boat blind, etc. Insane amount of light for such a small package. As you I was skeptical of the low price but it works perfectly and holds a charge a long time.
 
Eric,
Back when I was running a trapline, I had one of the "coon hunters" lights. Can't remember for sure but I think it may have used a halogen bulb. The light was powered by a vented led acid battery which mounted on your belt. It was bright, but I don't remember it being as bright as what you have built.

As for myself, I'm pretty happy running the boat with my rechargeable handheld but I'm usually only making a 10 minute run. I could see something like this being good for running catfish lines all night.

I've got similar LEDs for back up lights on my trailer and they work great.

I guessing, if you have a boat partner he will quickly learn to keep his head down out of your beam. [huh]
 
[/quote]
Hi Ed -

That is a heck of a deal on that headlamp since it includes two 18650 rechargeable batteries. Hate to throw water on it but there is no physical way that headlamp puts out 8000 lumen. The thing would melt and catch fire if it did. The heat sink required for 8000 lumens would be immense. And a 8000 lumen headlamp powered by two 18650 batteries would light for about 3-4 minutes.

Chinese tend to mix up lumen with lux.

Mark[/quote]

Hi Mark,

I don't doubt for a minute that you are right. Your a researcher and I read reviews. Hahaha. BTW, is that lux or lox? How many candlepower = 1 lumen?

All I know is this thing throws a hell of a beam. Only on the darkest night do I need a light running the main river but this thing will light up the timber at 150 yards! This photo does not do it justice but the farthest trees in the background are across a pond and they are 110 yards away per my rangefinder. The river is another 50 yards past those trees and you can see the bank with this light standing outside. The camera can't capture the lower light beam.



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It is amazing what LED?s can do these days. Back when I was working and in the solid state lighting world, we had come up with something that would change LED lights. Couple of things actually. One we couldn?t figure out how to sell it and the other was a way to reduce by half the power draw of a LES lamp. Both are still secrets and maybe someday someone else will take it on and commercialize one or both.

Loved that business. So much to do and so many areas to go into.

Merry Christmas Ed

Mark
 
Looks great Eric, I can think of some coon hunters that would be pretty interested in that set up.

For a lightweight hand held unit, I have had great luck with Defiant LED compact rechargeable spotlight. Lightweight, durable, longlife and a great beam of light.
 
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