How I built my own bike light

[Eddi]

Hi All. Just thought I'd share this with everyone, will try and keep it short.

 

A 'couple' of years ago with the introduction of high power LED's got me very interested and I started to research and "play" with these amazing things. With M@gic lights soon to follow I wanted a light that gave me what I wanted, out of a light, knowing what could be done if you really want to. I basically started designing my own light body, got hold of all the parts etc. which I WANTED, and done some calculations where I could, together with some trail and error and finally got round to building one after a year and a half or so of "development" so to speak.

 

So first of all my wants was that the light be thermally efficient (not heat up to the point of "pop" and no more light, like the early M@giclights), have PLENTY of lumen to throw out in front of me, be of reasonable size and have "hands-free" operating together with a suitable battery and some protection features included.

 

I ended up with a light (pics to follow) with these features:

• 3000 lumen max (ACTUAL lumen, not overstated like most manufacturers do)
  
• battery that provides 2hrs of runtime on max, roughly 8hrs on medium (1000 lumen)
  
• Thermal protection(if the light reaches 60 deg C, it will switch to medium level automatically
  
• battery warning + protection (warns me through small indicator LED when battery is half discharged / almost flat and fully flat, and cuts-off when battery is completely flat)
  
• 5- modes (constant light) 6-modes (flashing)
  
• NO having to cycle through modes (little on that later...)
  
• wired remote switch so I can change modes without taking my hand of the handle bars
  
• cable-tie / zip-tie mounting method (I don't like O-ring mounts)
  
• customizable / programmable driver
  

Ok, enough with the reading, I guess you just want to see the light at this point:

 

Mounted on my bike with battery inside a self-made Neoprene pouch with water proof power connector, small "dot" above the middle wire is the little red indicator LED I mentioned earlier:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/IMG_0906.jpg

 

Wired remote switch on the lift, just where I prefer it:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/IMG_0910.jpg

 

And to get good understanding of the power of the light I took some photos all with the same camera and settings.

 

The control shot:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/CONTROL.jpg

 

Lowest light level:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/ELIOR_L1.jpg

 

Medium-Low: (sorry for the blurry pic, it was damn cold that night)

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/ELIOR_L2.jpg

 

Medium:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/ELIOR_L3.jpg

 

Medium-High:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/ELIOR_L4.jpg

 

High (3000 lumen):

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/ELIOR_L5.jpg

 

And a "1000 lumen" brand name bike light for good measure:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/PA_smallXM-L.jpg

 

 

Ok, the mode working thing; You use the light by two ways of pressing the switch, a short "click" or a "press" (longer than a second) a Click turns the light ON and also steps up the level from low to high, with one step with each "click". A "press" steps the level down again, and long press turns off the light. So yes, no having to cycle through all to levels/modes all the time. If I want the light to FLASH: from the light turned OFF I use a "press" instead of a "click" to turn on and the light is then in FLASH mode. There is 6 flash modes which I can also program to my liking. As en example, you can have a constant flash in Medium-Low level or a combination of any 2 levels (alternative bursts of HIGH / MEDIUM / HIGH / MEDIUM / MEDIUM etc.) Switching between flashing modes works in the same way as with the constant mode, a "click" steps to the next flash-mode and "press" steps back one mode.

 

Nice hey??

 

And to end off I named the light "ELIOR" which is Hebrew for "My God is my light".

 

Questions and comments welcome. And if any body wants to see the light in person, PM me, I live in PE.

 

Happy and SAFE riding!!

[Busker]

How about a picture?

[Cois]

Stunning work. Next time I will build my own as well, as I got a battery that was not doing the job, and this morning decided to give me crap on my commute.

 

Well done sir!

[RocknRolla]

nice!!

 

Please post total cost of R&D and manufacture of said unit.

It would be interessting to hear.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

AWESOME work!

 

Q time - who did you order through? Cutter Electronics, or some other place? That housing looks wicked.

[Ryanpmb]

Looks good.

 

Any plans for a less permanent mounting system? I see you're using cable ties to fix the light to the bars.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Ryanpmb

[Gavmeister]

Wow, that is impressive, curious to know what it cost you.

[Guest Latent Blue]

Excellent! Taking it to production?

[reteid]

ditto on the price question

[Eddi]

How about a picture?

 

Pics are included

 

nice!!

 

Please post total cost of R&D and manufacture of said unit.

It would be interessting to hear.

 

Sho, just the parts (Alu/LEDs/battery/driver etc.) was around R2k

 

AWESOME work!

 

Q time - who did you order through? Cutter Electronics, or some other place? That housing looks wicked.

 

Yes and no. Some parts I got from Cutter the rest is from all over.

 

Looks good.

 

Any plans for a less permanent mounting system? I see you're using cable ties to fix the light to the bars.

 

At first I was going for a movable mount but after some thought I preferred a more permanent fixing as I only have 1 bike. And the O-rings on other types or mounts tent to perish over time which I don't like.

 

Excellent! Taking it to production?

 

If I had the money yes! If it does get to production I'd also make some minor improvements

[Bobbo_SA]

If I had the money yes! If it does get to production I'd also make some minor improvements

 

Love the casing, would love to get my hands on one of those, and perhaps a lens like that

[Thug]

Just a couple of questions...

 

Are you using a MaxFlex to drive the lights?

Are you using 18650 batteries and if so, what mAh & what input voltage?

[Robrider]

This deserves a step by step "how-to" guide!

[Ed-Zulu]

Hi Eddi...please read my below as a straight forward question and not to try and be a smart-ass.

 

In your pictures at medium, there appears to be enough light...I would hazard a guess that in a completely unlit area, you would be smiling at that setting. However, at all levels above that, there appears to be too much light. Seems a similar effect to holding 1,000,000candle power search light too close to an object.

 

My, question; is there really a needed to go above 1000lumens as per your last picture as the light appears to be sufficient, or is this project partially exploratory?

Edited June 11, 2013 by Ed-Zulu

[Meezo]

must be said that after this thread and BogusOne thread on he's building own frames, thehubsa has got some seriously talented people, and these are only of those that have expressed themselves....

 

NICELY DONE!

Keep em coming!

[Brian Fantana]

Awesome work Eddi!!!

 

Building your own lights is an awesome hobby.

 

I have been riding with DIY lights for a few years now. The one I currently use is 100% locally sourced, small, light, 800 lumens and the total cost was less than R1000 which included a battery and charger. I use 4 cell 18650 Li-ion 8.4V batteries which are the same those of magiclight/magicshine etc.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Brian Fantana