what to do while waiting for ice

[shnelson]

Start innovating!

With my previous portable, I had used a lantern whenever I needed light. This was great as it added heat, but I got sick of the propane fumes and loud howling. I also didn't like how it heated the top of the canvas, and put a slight bend in the bar from its weight. I know I'm not the only one that burned myself while packing up and who knows how many globes i've replaced . I upgraded to the big buddy heater and threw up some reflectix, now I can gladly ditch the lantern and move into some LED's!

After some shopping around on the bay and a trip to fleet farm/radio shack, I was able to start throwing things together. I picked up some cheap l e d PCB's, a whole bag of light emitting diodes, some resistors, a couple feet of 1" ID clear tubing, and some pvc end caps. Throw in some quick soldering and speaker wire, and here's what we get:

My intent was to build two light tubes with quick connect sockets to connect together, but I torched one of the PCBs and will need to order some more before I can complete the second. I was pretty impressed with how much light it put out, and it is somewhat directional so I can see in front of my feet quite well. The light you see in the pictures is pretty close to what you get, they're a little blurry because I was getting cold in the garage and didn't want to hold the camera very steady .

I've got a few modifications I want to make to the design, but it's pretty close right now. I also have plenty of material to make a handful of them, I want 4 total in the house so it will be plenty bright. The bonus is that it'll be completely waterproof when i'm done (maybe even submersible!).

[merkman]

Very nice!!

[Bottle Fish]

Nice project, but it might be too much for most of us. Best thing is they look better than most out there on the market right now.

Great job.

[icefishing21]

Love your portable! maybe because i have the same one hehe

[shnelson]

Too bad mine has yet to see anything other than a concrete floor! I know you've gotten plenty of use out of yours this year already...

I just put in an order to usplastic for some acrylic tubing, I don't like the flexible tubing that I have now so we're already looking to upgrade .

[icefishing21]

That sounds interesting let me know how you like it compared to the flex tubing!

P.S. love the light mods! looks like they'll work awesome! too bad I don't have enough time to do something like that! it looks awesome tho great job!

[shnelson]

Thanks icefishin21. I've got material on it's way to build 10 more light bars with 15 LEDs each. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted that or 24 like the one I already constructed, but I think I will be better off having more light bars with less lights than less light bars with more lights (gives more flexibility to spread them out and shine where you need them).

They'll all be able to link together with independent power switches, so only one run needs to go all the way back to the main battery.

These are coming together pretty cheap too, overall it is about $5 per light bar in material. It only starts to get expensive when you factor in my labor .

[BartmanMN]

I was wondering where the uni-bomber went to. I guess Scandia. J/K Looks good.