DIY High Power LED Headlamp 578 lumens

[unior]

The recipe:

small electrical project enclosure - radio shack: $5-10
10 pack 380,000 mcd leds 15 degree angle - ebay $10 + ship
small circuit board - radio shack $5
3 10ohm resistors wired in parallel per led - radio shack: $cheap
1 3.6 volt 3 cell nickel metal hydride sub c pack - ebay or google rc packs$30
1 3.6 volt nickel metal hydride charger (charger voltage output is higher)

Heres a quick and dirty diagram. The squiggly lines are the 3 resistors wired together in parallel. Or substitute 1 33 ohm resistor.

Heres a pic. It's kinda ugly but very bright. It lights up the side of my neighbors house across the street at night. Total amperage draw is ~1 amp. So I get about 3 hours burn time off of 3300mah cells.

 

[unior]

wiring diagram

 

[AussieSteve]

3 10ohm resistors wired in parallel per led -

Heres a quick and dirty diagram. The squiggly lines are the 3 resistors wired together in parallel. Or substitute 1 33 ohm resistor.

A small correction. I think you meant 1 x 3.3ohm resistor, not 33 ohm. (3 x 10 ohm resistors in parallel is 3.3 ohms)

What wattage resistors?

 

[unior]

3.3 ohms I mistyped that. The leds forward voltage is 3.0-3.6 volts so not much resistance is required.

Good catch some people might have been running around with some dim lights!