Diving torch

Hi, Please forgive me as I am a newbie, i also have limited electronics

experience.

I hope anyone will be able to help me?? I have built myself a diving torch, The design is an umibilical system,

there are no external switches. To turn the torch on the handle rotates

which operates a reed switch which is place internally. This is connected to a relay which turns on the lamp.

I would like to improve this with a self monitoring circuit which will dim the light by 50% when the battery voltage reaches 50% of the operating voltage.(Hope that makes sense??). I would also like the lamp to flash (approx 5 - 6 times) when the voltage of the battery reaches the minimal voltage allowable(As specified by the manufacture) then it switches off until the batteries are fully charged. Attached to the circuit I would like to have a push button to determine

the battery status when the case is open, ideally via 3 off leds?? Green - Good Amber - Medium Red - Low

Here are the details of the torch:-

Batteries - 2 x 12V 3.2Ahr seal Lead acid Lamp - Halogen 12V 75W Reed switch in the umbilical torch

Regards

Simian_196

Reply to
Siman_196
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Hi, Please forgive me as I am a newbie, i also have limited electronics

experience.

I hope anyone will be able to help me?? I have built myself a diving torch, The design is an umibilical system,

there are no external switches. To turn the torch on the handle rotates

which operates a reed switch which is place internally. This is connected to a relay which turns on the lamp.

I would like to improve this with a self monitoring circuit which will dim the light by 50% when the battery voltage reaches 50% of the operating voltage.(Hope that makes sense??). I would also like the lamp to flash (approx 5 - 6 times) when the voltage of the battery reaches the minimal voltage allowable(As specified by the manufacture) then it switches off until the batteries are fully charged. Attached to the circuit I would like to have a push button to determine

the battery status when the case is open, ideally via 3 off leds?? Green - Good Amber - Medium Red - Low

Here are the details of the torch:-

Batteries - 2 x 12V 3.2Ahr seal Lead acid Lamp - Halogen 12V 75W Reed switch in the umbilical torch

Regards

Simian_196

Reply to
Siman_196

I have to agree with Ed.

I do some recreational diving, including night dives, I would hate my torch to flash a few times and switch off just because of the manufacturers battery specifications (assuming i was silly enough to go night diving without charging the batteries). I would prefer to use it until it no longer operates at all, damaging the battery or not, as once your down there you care about your life far more than that of your batteries :)

The original description sounds fine, the only thing you might add would be the suggested battery meter.

Alex.

Reply to
Quack

I'm not a diver, but the requirements don't make sense to me. It seems like you would be letting the state of the batteries' charge influence the diving experience. For example, you been under for 20 minutes and have 20 minutes of air left when your torch decreases the light output by 50 %. Now you can't see as well. Do you want that to happen, or would you prefer to have full output from the light during the dive? Worse - you are down for a period, your light flashes and quits completely because of your requirement for the electronic design. Might that lead to disaster? Again - I'm not a diver, but it sounds like you would put technology in control when it could be life threatening.

It seems wrong to me to take technology with you on a dive that won't last as long as the dive was planned for. My answer is to forget modifying the light the way you posted. Instead, design it to last for the full period of your longest duration dive, plus some safety margin.

Ed

Reply to
ehsjr

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