DIY lights - LED project

[Willehond]

and here it is: The setup with 9.6V battery pack, buckpuck controller and 3 x 1W Luxeon LED's and Fraen narrow beam collimator:

 

 

The light without the lens collimator:

 

 

and with the collimator:

 

 

It gets a bit hot, so I think a heat sink will be required, but the light is awesome!  For the price it is a real steal and it's loads of fun to build.

Willehond2008-02-28 13:46:05

[porky]

OK I have finally built the light.  Well' date=' the shell anyway!  Just to illustrate it's effectiveness I will compare it to my trusted Cateye OptiCube 550, which costs around R550.

 

SNIP SNIP........ 

enough if you are going in a straight line!

 

No do you want to see what light my new 3 x 1W Luxeon LED light throws????

[/quote']

 

Yup, I do, I actually forgot about the "project" willehond.

 

I must say the Opticube is a very focussed light, and the spot appears to be very small, I would have preferred a wider beam which can easily be done by using 6 LEDs - 3 on each side on a vertical plane about 15mm apart as in the APEX light by Princeton Tec, (which also has a tight beam you can switch to if you prefer.)

I havent used the Apex for cycling before - never had the need to, but I am a keen hiker and its worked great on all of the trails I have used at night, the product is unfortuneatly not easily available here in SA except in the watersport market where they excell.

  

 

porky2008-02-28 13:51:53

[Willehond]

Porky, that is why my Opticube will be confined to the cupboard or fixed to my helmet in future!  Look at my next post for the 'project' light.  It is my new main handlebar light.

 

Here they are side-by-side:

 

OPTICUBE                                                                                         3 x 1W Luxeon

Willehond2008-02-28 13:58:55

[mountain_lion]

I also need components for my next light project, so I just tried browsing

http://shop.rabtron.co.za/catalog/login.php

without much success.

 

No matter what I try (with Firefox and IE7) I am stuck on the login page. Clicking continue as new (unregistered) customer has no effect.

 

Even tried to register, but submit of the registration form (they require a ridiculous level of personal data...), took me straight back to the login page and I still can't login ...

 

If I can't even browse a supplier's website before registering as a customer, I am certainly not going to order from them...

 

Are they having problems, or is something wrong on my side? 

[Willehond]

mountain line, I can browse (just checked) without registering, so I'm not sure what is hapening on your side (cookies disabled maybe?).  All I know is they sent me all the suff, no worries.  Sorry to hear you are struggling!  Their website is standard off the shelf shopping software, so it should really not give you any hassles.  I can send you the details of my shopping list if you want to contact them by phone?

Willehond2008-02-28 14:28:58

[mountain_lion]

Thanks for checking WH

 

Nope, cookies enabled etc.

 

Same on 2 PCs here; perhaps my ISP or something on my router.

Although I have no problem with other similar sites...

 

Will try from the office tomorrow.

 

[mountain_lion]

All fine from the office; must be something funny with my ISP or my setup at home.... 

[CaptainDura]

Willehond

 

So how much money did all of this cost in the end ?

 

ps. that sure looks like a very very potent light indeed..

[Willehond]

CaptainDura, it came in to just over R500 bucks for the components I have now. (R504 to be exact!).  Add about R20 for the battery packs and wires and it is still small change.  I still have to get the housing and heatsink, but that shouldn't smash the piggy bank.

 

The Buckpuck is the most expensive part as it is the brains and it costs. R175 ex VAT

 

The Yak and I chatted about this today and he is keen to get some downlighter housings as the collimator is designed to fit standard 50mm housings.  This project is far from over!

[markStockton]

My parts should be delivered to my door Monday or Tuesday. 

[Canaris]

Willhond, a 50mm plumber pipe works just fine as a downlight housing.

[Willehond]

Willhond' date=' a 50mm plumber pipe works just fine as a downlight housing.[/quote']

 

Thanks KonaFan!  I might just go and have a look this weekend.  The Yak just got back to me about Eagle Lighting not having anything remotely zooty enough to house the light.  The search continues (at the local plumbing supplies)

[markStockton]

 

My parts should be delivered to my door Monday or Tuesday. 

 

My order from Rabtron was delivered to my office on Saturday. What incredible service.

 

[markStockton]

Last night I assembled the LED's in series, hooked them up to the Buckpuc k, hooked that up to a 12v battery, and there was light. In fact lots of it, with only 0.96A current draw.  Now all I need to do is find / create a housing finalise the battery I'm going to use and mount this all on the bike.   Thanks Willehond and Thug for the inspiration.

 

 

 

[markStockton]

Guy's, I'm looking for inspiration wrt mounting the light on the bike. Won't you please post your idea's here.

 

Thug, won't you please post some pictures of your completed unit.

 

At present my plan is to mount the LED's on an old CPU heatsink. Use a 50mm PVC pipe as a housing to seal the lamp, and then somehow mount this on the bike.

 

[wendfan]

Willhond' date=' a 50mm plumber pipe works just fine as a downlight housing.[/quote']

 

 

 

Also look at the irrigation dept. 50mm Nylon nipple with threaded end works perfectly and keep it in place with threaded end cap drilled to correct size