DIY Portable LED Worklight

Welcome to my Instructable :)

Let me introduce myself..

My name is Marko and as a hobby I make stuff that are interesting to me, like for example I wanted to see if I could make an LED Worklight from scratch. I used some Ebay components that I will link below, and some sheet metal to bend and weld it in to shape. It was a fun two day project and I hope you enjoy this instructable as much as I enjoyed making it :)

I also do YT so I will link a video so if anyone want to watch some moving pictures instead, please be my guest, since my subscribers are not that interested apparently :D

Tools i used:

Soldering iron

Welder

Grinder

Screwdrivers

Drill

and some others I probably forgot

I used 8 LG ICR18650HE4 Batteries that i sourced localy

These are the Ebay parts I used:

Heatsink: https://ebay.to/2LRRgOw

Latching switch: https://ebay.to/3aiA4Lq

Step up module: https://ebay.to/3u0HaMC

Step down module: https://ebay.to/3dcOrTp

Capacity indicator: https://ebay.to/3phHtPu

2S balance board: https://ebay.to/3pn9yom

12V 1000LM Led: https://ebay.to/2ZlZG3z

USB PD Trigger board: https://ebay.to/3pl6au8

Using soldering iron I soldered all of the components together, I used this reminder I made in MS Paint :)

I even soldered the batteries togethe which is not recommended but I couldnt wait for my spot welder that i ordered 3 weeks ago

The battery pack I made was with 4 batteries in parallel and 2 in series so 4P2S

I used the balancing board to balance charge them so they have overcharging, overdischarging and overcurrent protection

Usb type-c with power delivery board is used to trigger a normal wall charger to output 12V that goes into the step down converter and converts the voltage to 8.4V needed to charge the baterries

From the batteries voltage goes to the switch and from the switch it goes to the step up converter to raise the voltage to 12v to power the LEDs and regulate current

The capacity indicator is connected directly to the BMS output..

Power meter that shows Volts Amps and Watts is used to set the step up and step down voltages and currents.

Thats pretty much it for the circuit

I cut, bended, grinded, welded, hammered, drilled, filled, tapped that steel into a shape i wanted..

This took some time, bit it turned out cool, as I said in the video, It looks silly, and is heavy, but i love it :)

First i measuret the components in the way i wanted them to be, then i took some steel and cut two same rectangles and welded them together on the edges to grind them in the same time so they look the same.

I rounded off the edges and separated two plates.

I marked a hole in one plate for the LEDs and cut that rectangle out with a grinder.

I filled all the edges so i dont cut myself.

Then I started bending the long steel strip that i cut for the edge of the lamp earlier.

I spot welded the inner corners that wont be visible from the outside.

After welding the strip to the plate, I inserted some smaller metal strips so I can screw the backplate on to it.

When i got the whole thing closed, I used my sandblaster to clean it all, and i paited some primer on it.

Later I drilled and filled in to shape some holes for the switch, handle, usb port and capacity indicator

After that i cleaned everything and sprayed it with a syntethic rubber in a can, I used 6 coats, and I sprayed the handle red :)

When it all dried up I packed the box in with the electronic goodies, glued the glass in front and used alot of epoxy glue, I closed everything up and tested the led worklight

Charging worked great

Leds were really bright for the 2 10W cobs

and im happy that the light can last up to 3h20m with one charge which is great for me, i could lower the current on the leds to even more improve the time but i love it as is...

I did it, i set my mind to it and went with it, and i love the result, and think it will be usefull in the future

Thank you for reading/watching

Consider subscribing to my youtube channel DIY Garage Projects and Reviews it would mean a world to me

and I see you in my nex project soon ;)