Big Boys Hobbies

Lighting for night detecting?

PuddleJumper

PuddleJumper

Elite Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
575
Location
Waukesha, WI
Heres the idea, led lights on the shaft of the detector to light up the coil area and one or two to light up the controls that can be controlled by a switch. The problem, other than knowing how to solder and a little about electrical systems for motors I'm clueless about coming up with something like this. Anyone want to point me in the right direction?
 
What detector are you lighting? Lights on the shaft wouldn't do much and would be no use when you put the detector down to dig. You probably would do better with LED lights on you cap. There is a post on back lighting, do a search. Rob
 
I made a schematic for you on how to wire it up. I tried to make it as simple as possible for you. I also have links to all of the components needed to make this. This is just how to make the actual wiring and it is up to you how you want to mount it on your detector. You could mount it in a Radio Shack project box which I will also post a link to. I think it will work good for lighting up your hole at night. Hope this helps

ledproject.jpg



Materials and Tools Needed-

"AAA" Battery Holder

2 Pack of White LED's

On/Off Toggle Switch

Hookup Wire

Project Boxes

Soldering Iron


Last but not least, a good site on how to solder: Click Here

Hope this helps you out. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me!
 
Led lights

I have used LED lights and you have to have a resistor in series the the battery or the current will burn them up in a second. They are also like diodes in that the polarity must be correct or you will not get any light. The current and resistor depend on the voltage and the ratings of the LED's. There are lots of sites for beginners in electronics that will give the needed info. Sounds like a great idea though. You could make strings of light like on a Christmas tree!!!
 
Sorrry, I forgot to mention about the polarity of the LED's. They all have to be facing the same direction. ie positive then negative on all of them. Do you really need a resistor if you apply a small current? the LED's that I put a link to are rated up to 3.6 volts.
 
I use a head lamp that has 4 different settings. Spot light, Flood light, both together, and red lights. The Red is nice for when you are just swinging to save batteries, then when you go to dig, just switch it over to flood light. I got it on sale at Home Depot for like $12. Less work involved that way.
Head Lamp

But it would be cool to have lights near the coil.

Justin
 
Lots of good info here, thanks guys. The idea would be that you could be detecting just with the natural light and then when you get a signal you could flip a switch, see the reading and pinpoint the spot, then turn the switch off and you can start digging using a flashlight or whatever. I'm pretty sure they have directional type leds that should put enough light on the coil and by using red or green lights it should help to preserve your night vision.

Oh, and those visor lights don't work too well if your wearing a winter hat :mad:
 
Nightblaster...

I use a 3 white LED headlamp called nightblaster. Picked it up at Walmart and it's very bright. Nothing else needed. I've also got one with red LED's but I like the white ones better. One nice feature is that it takes AAA batteries.

Marty
 
Night detecting

When I'm digging at night I use the light that's built into my White's Bullseye pinpointer. It works great.
HH
Flapjack
 
The light on the garrett pinpointer works pretty good too for searching in the hole at night.
 
Well :p to all of your fancy lights :D Thanks to our snow today I pretty much have the next three or four months to be creative.
 
Curious, Where does one hunt at night? and are you not in fear of being attacked?
I would never go hunting at night around where I live, heck, some places I go in the middle of the day make me nervous. :lol:

I think its a 330 ohm resistor you need so the L.E.D.s do not burn up. I thought about this same thing but putting the light on the center of the open coil so it shines directly on where I need to dig, and also, as others have suggested wearing a hat with lights on it. :)
 
Night hunting

Bajanick said:
Curious, Where does one hunt at night? and are you not in fear of being attacked?
I would never go hunting at night around where I live, heck, some places I go in the middle of the day make me nervous. :lol:

I think its a 330 ohm resistor you need so the L.E.D.s do not burn up. I thought about this same thing but putting the light on the center of the open coil so it shines directly on where I need to dig, and also, as others have suggested wearing a hat with lights on it. :)
Click to expand...

I hunt at night the same places that I would hunt during the day. But I only hunt at night when I have a hunting buddy.
Flapjack
 
Night Hunting

Hello All, I would rather hunt at night than in the day time. For me it is much better. I use Ratphones so I can hear what goes on around me. I also have two lights, one is a hat light I bought at Gander Mtn. It is a Browning LED, the reason for the Browning is it is the only one that pivots up and down (very usefull and a must) the other light is a Streamlite Stylus, also LED. About the size and dia. of a pencil. I mounted it to the shaft on my detector using a 1" scope ring and a mounting plate for a 22 rifle. (lite, ring and plate all aluminum for light weight) See photos below. I use the light on my detector while I swing, It lights up coil and ground around it well. When I find a target I just hit the light on my hat and start to dig. I go out quite a bit at night and this set up works well for me. Also both lights are LED and green in color, not the bright white lights like a regular flash light. I think this helps in not wanting to attract unwanted attention.
 

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from my car website...there is another website called "oznium" I think. Google it. They have all sorts of LED's, and they sell single LED's that have wire attached and resistor already soldered in. Might help save some time and money if you want to wire in your own LED's.They might also have larger, brighter LED's, and a type that has 4 LED's built into a cube shape....I bought some of their products and it is good stuff.
 
Bajanick said:
Curious, Where does one hunt at night? and are you not in fear of being attacked?
I would never go hunting at night around where I live, heck, some places I go in the middle of the day make me nervous. :lol:
Click to expand...
My apartment complex for one and a lot of our parks in the area are open until 8-10pm whether its light out or not. Figure if I'm not shining some massive flashlight around its going to be a little harder for the weirdos to see me.

Thanks for the site stangthang, looks like they have some cool stuff there.

Might have to try making something like this work, http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5452 They make battery packs to accept usb plugs and there are some how-tos out there for making home made battery packs.
 
You're metal detecting at night and refer to the other users of the park as weirdos?

LOL ... that's a good one. :lol:
 
I very rarely hunt at night but when I do I use the light on my Garretts pinpointer. rascal
 
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