Thug Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 My buckpuck sits in the plastic bottle where I've hidden all the wiring. The following pics show an orange bottle but that has since beenreplaced by one of those BBB bottles with a screw cap that's used tostore bike tools.
Willehond Posted March 7, 2008 Author Posted March 7, 2008 Cool Thug, I thought the long length of wiring might affect the buckpuck negatively, but I guess not!
markStockton Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 Cool Thug' date=' I thought the long length of wiring might affect the buckpuck negatively, but I guess not![/quote'] I thought the same, this is why I wasn't planning on mounting the Buckpuck with the battery. The other reason is I want the battery to be a quick change item for 24 hour races.
Thug Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 I've never had an issue with the buckpuck but whether I'd get a brighter light by having the buckpuck close to the LED's I'm not sure. You could always solder in a quick connector for the battery pack !
mountain_lion Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 The only issue with longer wiring between the LEDs and the buck puck is impedance of the wiring. To reduce the impedance of the wiring (and thus the voltage drop) , just increase the wire size (cross sectional area).More copper = less impedance. No problem. How are you doing brightness control?Variable pot on the buck puck or switched fixed steps?Also where are you locating & mounting this control? Running at max. brightness should not always be required and by dropping the current to the LEDs you can extend your battery run time by a considerable amount. mountain_lion2008-03-07 14:11:35
mountain_lion Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 All fine from the office; must be something funny with my ISP or my setup at home.... ISP traced the problem with http://shop.rabtron.co.za/catalog/ to a proxy machine. Changed to a different proxy and all is fine, so I can start shopping...
markStockton Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 One advantage to the cold and wet weekend we just had, I made a epoxy / carbon housing for my light. Here it is I also shaped the CPU heatsink to mount the LED's on. All up it weighs 136grams, I think the heatsink is over half the weight. It looks like having a good knowledge of composites is going to pay dividends with biking as well. markStockton2008-03-18 03:50:18
mountain_lion Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 Looks cool Mark! Care to post a photo of the beam in action? I doubt if I am going to go for fancy like you with carbon. I hope to find the right diameter Al pipe else PVC. I am not really concerned with weight. But first I must order my LEDs...
markStockton Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 More copper = less impedance. No problem. Thank's' date=' that answers that question for me, the Buckpuck is going on the frame in the same enclosure as the battery. How are you doing brightness control?Variable pot on the buck puck or switched fixed steps?Also where are you locating & mounting this control? I havn' t decided about these option's yet. My plan at present is to have enough battery capacity to complete the ride at full power. Initially I'm planning on using 8 X 2500 NiMH batteries which should provide 2 1/2 hours battery life. I'm also considering making up a 3S 2P Lipo (Lithium Polymer) pack that should provide 5 hours battery life.
markStockton Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 I doubt if I am going to go for fancy like you with carbon. If I can find a source of 50mm round heatsink's, I'll make a mold for the carbon case and be able to turn them out fairly easily and cheaply. I'll try and take some pic's tonight, weather permitting.
slowpoke Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 ok, if i hadn't already bought the sigma karma i'd have considered commissioning markstockton to make me a light - that one of yours looks good. BUT show us a pic to show how well it works! (ps, the karma is stunning - i need to take pics to show it compared to my old light
mountain_lion Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 8 X NiMH AA is probliby the best way to go. Easy to source and charge. Might need to get a larger charge - my smart charger only takes 4 at a time. I also had some other cheap NiMH AA chargers, but gave them away. Using a smart charger does extend battery life. I have a few 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid gel batteries which I am using for my existing home made light sets. Also easy to charge and not expensive, but they are bulky and heavy. Unfortunately I doubt if 6V will be enough to power 3 LEDs in series. Where do you get Lipo batteries? Cost? Special charger needed?
wendfan Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 Have a look at model hobby shops (remote cars, planes etc). Bought a smaller (25mm) heat sink there for R20
Willehond Posted March 18, 2008 Author Posted March 18, 2008 One advantage to the cold and wet weekend we just had' date=' I made a epoxy / carbon housing for my light. Here it is I also shaped the CPU heatsink to mount the LED's on. All up it weighs 136grams, I think the heatsink is over half the weight. It looks like having a good knowledge of composites is going to pay dividends with biking as well. [/quote'] Mark, I am totally stunned, this is just brilliant! Wow, is all I can say. Oh, and where do I get hold of one?! Man, that light is going to be awesome! Congrats on a stunning design and solution.
Willehond Posted March 18, 2008 Author Posted March 18, 2008 Looks cool Mark!Care to post a photo of the beam in action?I doubt if I am going to go for fancy like you with carbon. I hope to find the right diameter Al pipe else PVC. I am not really concerned with weight.But first I must order my LEDs... ML, I have been phoning around like mad for aluminium pipe, but just can't find 50mm internal diameter. Looks like it will have to be PVC again (unless we can get markstockton to share)
markStockton Posted March 18, 2008 Posted March 18, 2008 ML' date=' I have been phoning around like mad for aluminium pipe, but just can't find 50mm internal diameter. Looks like it will have to be PVC again (unless we can get markstockton to share)[/quote'] Ok, I can either give you a HOW-TO and refer you to some excellent documentation on the web as well as composites materials suppliers, or when I get a chance I can make some more for you guy's. However epoxy carbon is a ghastly expensive mix. The resin alone is around R 200 per kg and cloth runs from around R 400.00 per sq meter. Epoxy glass would be a lot cheaper. BTW - I had to do some work tonight so I didn't go take photos of the light pattern (in the rain). Maybe tomorrow night.
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