How I built my own bike light

[hvh]

very nice

[Eddi]

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

 

I can make you one...casing or complete light...? made that one on a bench lathe at home.

 

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?

 

Using a b3flex, 18650 batteries gets expensive when you get to the serious 3400mah rated ones, Also protection/balance PCB's are expensive to keep all the batteries at the same voltage which is crucial with Li-*** batteries I'm using a RC hobby battery with a balance charger, to me it seemed like the safest and better priced option. input: 21V (5cell battery) 3000mah

 

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

 

Only for R20 000 000 LOL!

 

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?

 

Yes, I can fill a book on this...The short version: the pictures don't really do the justice, what seems to be a complete white-out on High is actually a really nice lit stretch of paving. You really have to see the light in person to get a good feel for it. Yes, MEDIUM does seem like enough light(Medium is roughly 1000lumen) which i'll do most of my riding on, but when i'm doing 50 -60kmh downhill on Seaview road I want light way ahead of me, this is where the remote switch comes to play. Also I'm using 3 LED's in series, on Medium level it draws ABOUT 6.5 Watts compared to a single LED at 1000lumen which draws about 11 Watts (including losses in driver) see where I'm going...?

 

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!

 

Haha, yeah frame building is also on my bucket list...Would love to try and build my own carbon TT frame. Any test Pilots?

Edited June 11, 2013 by Eddi

[Eddi]

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.

 

Thanks! I also tried to source everything locally but some of the parts I just could not get hold of.

 

On another note, I did make the casing myself, including turning threat for the end caps.

 

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/IMG_0916.jpg

 

The lathe:

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z425/Eduan_Adams/ELIOR/IMG_0918.jpg

[davetapson]

Pics are included

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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

 

try kickstarter.com

[Jeepdude]

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?

just imagine taking this on a 24 hour route! i would looooove it

[REKKIE]

Awesome work Rookie!

 

This is a real Rekkie light!

 

Do you take orders and how much does it cost?

[Delgado_073]

Awesome Ed !!!!

Mark

[Bobbo_SA]

Will PM you - really need to get myself a lathe one day, I miss my fitting and turning days - would be interested in a case only, I have a few different Cree LEDs that I mess with that I would love to house in a nice casing.

 

I mess with PICs as a side hobby so would do a custom PIC based driver for it with temp sensor, voltage gauge etc, :-)

 

Your build is stunning, always like doing something myself rather than buying it off the shelf.

[Eddi]

Awesome work Rookie!

 

This is a real Rekkie light!

 

Do you take orders and how much does it cost?

 

Thanks! I'll make them for anyone who's interested, but I can't buy all the parts (round R2k) out of my pocket,wish I could but ja..., I'll do it on a deposit method or so. PM me then we can work something out.

 

Will PM you - really need to get myself a lathe one day, I miss my fitting and turning days - would be interested in a case only, I have a few different Cree LEDs that I mess with that I would love to house in a nice casing.

 

I mess with PICs as a side hobby so would do a custom PIC based driver for it with temp sensor, voltage gauge etc, :-)

 

Your build is stunning, always like doing something myself rather than buying it off the shelf.

 

Thanks! I prefer to do DIY myself when and wherever possible. PIC's are awesome little things!! Wish I had the knowledge and equipment to mess with them myself. The Lathe is really handy! just need a bench top mill now... I have a couple other lights I want to start building.

[Bobbo_SA]

I do most of my figuring out on the Arduino or the Stamp, once I have the sensors etc working then its fairly simple to translate it down to PIC level.

 

PICs are dirt cheap and the possibilities are almost endless, you also don't need assembler, I do my programming in PICbasic which is much simpler, understandably not as efficient but I'm not trying to wring out every MHz out of them so it works, :-)

 

I started with a cheapo "bidorbuy" programmer, then eventually got a PICkit II from Mantech for a couple of hundred, needed the ISP ability to prevent having to remove the pic all the time.

[Eddi]

Thanks for the info Bobbo, will definitely try and get my hands on those. Is the writing of code not difficult though?

[Ed-Zulu]

I can make you one...casing or complete light...? made that one on a bench lathe at home.

 

 

 

Using a b3flex, 18650 batteries gets expensive when you get to the serious 3400mah rated ones, Also protection/balance PCB's are expensive to keep all the batteries at the same voltage which is crucial with Li-*** batteries I'm using a RC hobby battery with a balance charger, to me it seemed like the safest and better priced option. input: 21V (5cell battery) 3000mah

 

 

 

Only for R20 000 000 LOL!

 

 

 

Yes, I can fill a book on this...The short version: the pictures don't really do the justice, what seems to be a complete white-out on High is actually a really nice lit stretch of paving. You really have to see the light in person to get a good feel for it. Yes, MEDIUM does seem like enough light(Medium is roughly 1000lumen) which i'll do most of my riding on, but when i'm doing 50 -60kmh downhill on Seaview road I want light way ahead of me, this is where the remote switch comes to play. Also I'm using 3 LED's in series, on Medium level it draws ABOUT 6.5 Watts compared to a single LED at 1000lumen which draws about 11 Watts (including losses in driver) see where I'm going...?

 

 

 

Haha, yeah frame building is also on my bucket list...Would love to try and build my own carbon TT frame. Any test Pilots?

Hi Eddi, thanks for the reply...yes, last night I sat thinking about this and then realised that on a road bike, you would need to see well in the distance at speed, therefore the additional distance needed.

 

Good work you did and congratulations, nothing like achieving a goal and able to enjoy it! :thumbup:

[Eddi]

Absolutely! Best feeling when what you've designed/planned and built gets finished and it's exactly what you wanted. Thanks for comments/compliments from everyone. Nice to know I'm not the only one who appreciates a good light.

[Eddi]

Just an update. I did some pricing etc. And if anyone is interested, I'll make them for R3500 with a bigger battery. Just send me a PM.

 

Chrs