Custom Night Hunting Light - The Green Monster! (Pic Heavy)

iLOVEthehunt

iLOVEthehunt

New member
My most recent project has been building a flashlight that would outperform anything on the market. I nicknamed it the Green Monster. It puts out between 800 and 1000 lumens of solid light from a massive green LED. I've included pictures of it against the XLR250. The pictures speak for themselves. I was blown away by the performance of this light the first time I fired it up. Can't wait to get it out in the field and use it. I made a red one as well, but the pictures didn't turn out too good. I'll post a follow-up with those photos.

Control Shot - No Lights
flashlightbeamshots020.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

XLR 250
flashlightbeamshots017.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

The Green Monster
flashlightbeamshots018.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

Green Monster on the left, XLR250 on the right
flashlightbeamshots013.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

Size comparison - Lights from the left: XLR250, Green Monster, Red Monster, Tiablo A9 with aspherical head
xlr250prototyperedproto.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

Big Red Light Beamshot (added on 12/27/2011)
beamshotsno2038.jpg

By davicas at 2011-12-24


I've decided to part with these lights since I need the money to fund my next LED light project. Check them out in the classifieds section if you are interested.

 
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Yeah... but, if you house it in a regular mag-lite flashlight case you can't charge $250 for it! It's gotta be in a special aircraft grade, laser turned, aluminum with jeweled trim case. So we all think it's special anyhow!!
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The green monster looks to be awesome at range... Just to your swingset it's maybe a little bright! Can you add a switch to set different levels of light intensity??

What do you anticipate for final costs on your product?
 
Originally Posted By: Dead Down WindI want one!

You gonna share your recipe...........
I think for now I'm going to keep the design underwraps. It's far from a perfect light and I still need to do some further refinements. Plus, the batteries that are used for it can be volatile if people don't know how to handle them.

Originally Posted By: Coondoggercool...how many yards do you think they will reach?
In testing so far it can reach to about 150 yards. In my opinion its much more useful as a scanning light since it has a good amount of flood light to it.


Originally Posted By: Rocky1 Can you add a switch to set different levels of light intensity??

What do you anticipate for final costs on your product?
You can add a switch to it, but I didn't do that on this build, it's simply one mode. The total build cost me about $200 just in parts, so it ain't cheap.


Originally Posted By: Dead Down WindHow is the Cold weather going to affect this product??
This light actually performs better in cold weather since the LED generates a considerable amount of heat. Keeping the temperature of the LED regulated has a big impact on performance.
 
Originally Posted By: iLOVEthehuntMy most recent project has been building a flashlight that would outperform anything on the market. I nicknamed it the Green Monster. It puts out between 800 and 1000 lumens of solid light from a massive green LED. I've included pictures of it against the XLR250. The pictures speak for themselves. I was blown away by the performance of this light the first time I fired it up. Can't wait to get it out in the field and use it. I made a red one as well, but the pictures didn't turn out too good. I'll post a follow-up with those photos.

Control Shot - No Lights
flashlightbeamshots020.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

XLR 250
flashlightbeamshots017.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

The Green Monster
flashlightbeamshots018.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

Green Monster on the left, XLR250 on the right
flashlightbeamshots013.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19

Size comparison - Lights from the left: XLR250, Green Monster, Red Monster, Tiablo A9 with aspherical head
xlr250prototyperedproto.jpg

By davicas at 2011-11-19



That looks great, how did you measure the lumen output?
 
You can measure lux with a light meter. Dealextreme sells them. I don't know of a reliable way to measure lumens that's why I say somewhere between 800 and 1000. I got this number based on the specifications of the LED that were on the data sheet coupled with the amps that I am able to measure from the tailcap with a multimeter.
 
I'd be interested in that lux reading. Lux is a much more useful measurement for a hunting light. Looks like you have a great light in the works.
 
You are right. Lux is a much better measure of light being able to hit a target at distance. This light is more of a scanning light than a shooting light. I'm working on a different light that will be able to out-throw the Green Monster. It will be much smaller and weapon mountable.
 
I've updated this post to include beamshots of the Red LED light that I made. I used these lights to coyote hunt last night and it was amazing. The Green light shines about 30% further than the XLR250.
 
I guess it depends on your definition of "bulky". Compared to a Lightforce with an SLA battery, this thing is a dream come true. Compared to an XLR250, it is about twice the size, but it has 400% more light output and shines 30% farther.
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So aspherics are the way to go with distance.

How long does the battery last on that thing, I would imagine quite a while.
 
This light doesn't have an aspheric, but yes a good aspheric lens will blow you away. I have a Tiablo A9 with an aspheric and I can easily ID out to 400 yards with that light.

The batteries on these lights don't last as long as I'd like, but if you use the lights in short 1 - 3 minute bursts when scanning the batteries will last you 2 hours. If you just kept the light on constantly though, it would heat up so much that you would have to let go of it before the batteries would die. That's because the LED is so massive that it generates a ton of heat.
 
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