HexBright, an Open Source Light by Christian Carlberg — Kickstarter

About this project

EVERYTHING IS OPEN SOURCE!!! MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & SOFTWARE!!!  

Grant Imahara from MythBusters likes the HexBright!





Thanks for looking!

I am offering pre-orders for two unique and powerful lights, the HexBright Prime for $35 and the HexBright Flex for $60. Both models are virtually identical looking with an ergonomic, very comfortable grip and use the best available LED light source. The Prime has a max light output of 350 lumens and the Flex has a max light output of 500 lumens. For reference, a good quality $30 brand-name flashlight puts out 100 lumens of light. The major difference between the Prime and Flex models is the HexBright Flex is USB rechargeable and USB programmable. If you want, you can re-write the default code and tweak the HexBright Flex however you desire.

Why do I need a programmable light? What can I do with that? I don't know yet. And that's the point. I want to release the HexBright Flex into the wild and let the community develop original source code. I want to see how brilliant (pun intended) people can be and supply an outlet (hexbright.com) where folks can swap and share ligthing code. I'm not fundraising just to make creative lights, I want to build online creativity.

What about programmable color LEDs? Yep, definitely want to do that, but I am taking baby steps first.

Back story

Just about anywhere you can buy a cheap flashlight with a zillion unnecessary modes (high, med, low, slow blinky, fast blinky, SOS blinky... laser pointer too??). All garbage and the light will usually break on you. I made myself a light the way I wanted it; I picked the best available LED (a CREE XM-L!!!), a good rechargeable battery, built the electronics and programmed it with the only modes I wanted- high, low, and blinky. From necessity (also known as cheapness) I machined the body out of 1" aluminum hex bar stock and came up with a unique elegant look with a surprisingly very comfortable grip.

Based on the aluminum hex-bar body, I named my light the HexBright Prime, and I was pretty happy with it. Then I wanted something better.

It was a no-brainer the next upgrade should have a mini-usb plug right on the board so we could flash direct to the microprocessor. And hey, might as well put a charging circuit on the board to charge the lithium-ion battery right in the HexBright case. 

I conceived the HexBright Flex but I was tapped out of cash to actually make one. Kickstarter became an obvious solution. To raise capital I am offering reproductions of my original and first-made HexBright Prime for just $35 or you can pre-order the more powerful and versatile HexBright Flex for $60.

What's the money for?

The money is going toward economies of scale. I need to order at least 1,000 of the most expensive items (CREE XM-L, electronics, optics, batteries) so my fundraising amount is based on making 1,000 HexBrights. Also, I need to make molds and aluminum extrusion dies to reduce manufacturing costs. I machined my original HexBright Prime out of solid hex-bar stock, but if I can have the bar stock made with a hole in the middle I save a ton of time and money and you can pre-order a really great light for a low-low $35 pledge. My primary goal is to put as much of your pledge money into what really matters for a light- the LED, the electronics, optics, and the battery. The sexy, ergonomic, anti-role grip is just the icing on the cake.

The HexBright Team

It takes talented people to get anything ambitious done. Resident electronics expert Terry is the "bright" behind the HexBright's amazing power.

Terry H. Cooke has 10 plus years in mechanical and electrical design experience. He has worked both in the aerospace industry for NASA and Oribital Launch system as well as designed 3D camera systems for James Cameron and the movie Avatar. His current work includes Lecturing and Research in Mechatronics design for Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Contracting work in the medical field.

One more note

If I can raise more than my fundraising goal I will be able to run the HexBright Prime and HexBright Flex through a series of tests to qualify them as "tactical" lights. Tactical lights are typically at least 250 lumens and cost over $200. How cool would it be for you to own a 350 lumen tactical light for a $35 pledge?

Thanks again for reading and I hope you like the unique look of HexBright! I will continue to post more info.

WEB: hexbright.com  TWITTER: @hexbright  FACEBOOK: hexbright

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FOR THE LIGHT ENTHUSIASTS

LED Info

CREE XM-L  http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXM-L.pdf

Pulling the  XM-L-T6 from a bin 1C right around 6500K color temp.

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LUX is a measure of light intensity over a small area. It is usually measured at a light's brightest, center spot.

For reference, lights for surgeons in operating theaters put out 60,000 LUX.

via kickstarter.com