*A bike light for UNDER R1000!!

[markStockton]

 

 

Will you all stop beating the man to the ground. He is trying something new' date=' told everyone he is not competing against BL isn't selling this on a huge commercial basis, may just find a solution by accident to a price problem and is having fun doing it. If we shot down everybody who was trying to create something new, we'd all be riding dikwiels instead of gizzion rand mountain bikes. Leave him alone you bullies, afterall BL started somewhere.

(I will say though that bl has put a heck of a lot of effort and work into his lights so he does know what he's doing) [/quote']

 

 

As someone who as actually made a couple of lights myself as opposed to taking the easy option of taking out my credit card, I need to applaud Speedi for trying.

 

For the rest of you, go find your instant gratification with your credit card and stop being such pratts.

markStockton2008-06-06 05:03:35

[Marius]

you must be the daddy then

[markStockton]

 

you must be the daddy then

 

No Dude, I just don't appreciate how this kid is getting picked on. He is doing something, and I for one am interested in the results. And I don't appreciate those who try f-all always having a chirp.

 

When last did you post an innovation of yours to this forum? 

 

[Marius]

Did not realize this was a Inventors Forum were we had to invent stuff to be able to post?

We can't all be Nurdy inventor types, you need ppl lik eme as well, I use the stuff, break it and then complain about it. We all have our place.

 

So now we are telling young Speedi15 to go back to his little drawing board and try harder, do more reseach and come up with something better.

 

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Marius2008-06-06 06:07:31

[markStockton]

 

What does the term Tech mean for you?

 

 

 

[Marius]

Just that, he has quistions and wants awnsers, I think B-L help him out there.

[Brighter-Lights]

I think the issue here is that one week a guy pretends to buy a light from me and meet up to look at my lights... 3 days later he had a prototype ready and compares it to my light - in my mind it means he had the prototype ready before he met me to see how I do it. Forgive me if I'm wrong.

 

The fact is, I already sent him an email with all the calculations and facts a few days ago.

 

Anyone can do what he likes to, but please get the facts right before comparing it to a Brighter-Lights system. It's misleading.

 

I've been doing this a while now and no one can tell me anything about the latest LED technology and available driving circuits because I've tested these led's and others with at least 14 different driver options under various circumstances. I might sound arrogant but I'll score 100% in this exam. I know the manufacturers and I'm up to date with their news flashes.

 

Good luck with your DIY projects! Innovation makes the world go forward and at 15 it's a good starting point! I opened my dad's first ever laptop when I was 12 in 1991...imagine his response when he got home... eina!  

 

JG  

 

 

Brighter-Lights2008-06-06 09:27:51

[markStockton]

 

I think the issue here is that one week a guy pretends to buy a light from me and meet up to look at my lights... 3 days later he had a prototype ready and compares it to my light - in my mind it means he had the prototype ready before he met me to see how I do it. Forgive me if I'm wrong.

 

The fact is' date=' I already sent him an email with all the calculations and facts a few days ago.

 

Anyone can do what he likes to, but please get the facts right before comparing it to a Brighter-Lights system. It's misleading.

 

I've been doing this a while now and no one can tell me anything about the latest LED technology and available driving circuits because I've tested these led's and others with at least 14 different driver options under various circumstances. I might sound arrogant but I'll score 100% in this exam. I know the manufacturers and I'm up to date with their news flashes.

 

Good luck with your DIY projects! Innovation makes the world go forward and at 15 it's a good starting point! I opened my dad's first ever laptop when I was 12 in 1991...imagine his response when he got home... eina!  

 

JG  

 

 

[/quote']

 

BL, I got this info from Azonic in a PM. I really wouldn't worry. I had a look at a Revolution 3 and it is miles ahead of anything else I've seen. Not only are the LED's super good but you've spent a lot of  time on the circuitry.  I wouldn't even attempt to compare my 3 LED light to yours.

 

I just really didn't appreciate some others attitudes to a 15 year old who is actually doing stuff with his own two hands.

 

Make no mistake your lights are definitly the benchmark.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

 

[mountain_lion]

I agree, no need to be so hard on Speedi15. (and if you have never tried to build anything yourself, go comment on something you can buy with your credit card).

 

I like his idea. Nothing wrong with his light. I am sure it will serve him well for a while. Some of my DIY attempts of many years ago had less light output than his light and worked fine for me at the time.

 

We know his light is not even in the same league as Brighter-Lights, but it does not have to be. He wanted a light for under R1000 and did it.

 

His only mistake was to blindly believe the light output as stated on the packaging of his torch. I gave him some subtle hints in that direction with my posts yesterday evening...

 

Speedi15, I would like to know more about your light and how it compares to my own DIY effort.

Please post your beam shot photo's with details of the camera settings used.

A photo of the light mounted on your bike showing the details of the mounting system will be interesting too.

Finally post the details of the torch you bought. Others on a tight budget might want try your mod too. Saves all the work of building your own housing.

 

 

[Speedi]

after taking pics this evening one realises how good you can make you can make your light look with an extra long exposure. we(my dad and i) took a few shots and selected the one which looked the most like what we were seeing in reality. also i want to mention, my dad and i are bike nuts and what we've made is just a result of unscientific tinkering in our workshop. watts a lumen anyway?

 

 

 

also, we never had the intention of making any comparisons to BL! His stuff is brilliant but my lifes savings need to stay savings for a while, so my project will have to make do in the mornings until my ship comes in. its a helluva lot better than any of the little bar mounted LEDs we've had so far!

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy the beamshots!

 

 

 

will post mounting pics tomorrow.

 

 

 

Speedi15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mountain_lion]

 

after taking pics this evening one realises how good you can make you can make your light look with an extra long exposure.

 

 

Hope you enjoy the beamshots!

 

 

 

will post mounting pics tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Thanks. Now you know why I asked for camera settings.

 

Not bad for a single LED, but most likely less than 180 lumen. Should still be fine on the road.

 

 

 

[Speedi]

yeah probably less than 180. but remember, its been running for 11hrs already so might be a bit weak! anyway, when i build another one and mount it, ill post some beam shots. than it'll be quite powerful! double trouble...

[Speedi]

could you run two light heads ie two LEDs on one battery pack?

[ZorgusPrime]

Good job Speedi15,

 

If you get the manufacturers LED specs off their website
( for Cree XR-E it is http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLamp7090XR-E_B&L.pdf and http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLamp7090XR-E.pdf ) you can work out roughly how much light you are producing.

 

Find out the bin number of your LED (hopefully indicated somewhere on the torch specifications), and look this up on the B&L.pdf above on page 3(It will normally be called Cree XR-E Q5 or similar (they take the led's after manufacturing, test them, and then group them into "bins" based on their performance. Each bin is +/- 7% the same output) and from this table you can get the lumens the LED produces at 350mA). For example a Cree XR-E Q5 at 350mA would be somewhere from 107 to 114 lumens.

Next, goto the second datasheet, page 8, and you get a table of relative flux based on forward current. You can take the current, and interpolate on the graph what the relative flux will be. For example at 600mA it would be 1.5

 

Now you do some multiplication:
XR-E Q5 @ 600mA would give 107*1.5 = 160 lumens.

 

I recon if you are getting 10 hours, then you are running at a lower current. See if you can measure the current, which is going to be easier than gettting hold of a light meter.



Also, remember that if you are using the same basic technology as the big boys, simple physics means that they are inevitably going to be getting the same results as you.

 

Take the setup that I use at the moment, and compare it to a BL light:

 

Revelation 1.

LED: Cree XR-E Q5
Output: 220lumens* (manufacturers claim)

Battery: Li-Po

Life: 11.5 hours

System Weight: 360grams

Price: R2000

 

ZorgusPrime's Anonymous-Setup

LED: Cree XR-E Q5
Output: 320lumens* (manufacturers claim, I put it at 260 rather)

Battery: Li-Po

Life: 12 hours

Total System Weight: 348 grams

Price: < R2000

 

Remarkably similar results

 

 

 

 

 

 

ZorgusPrime2008-06-06 14:13:04

[mountain_lion]

 

could you run two light heads ie two LEDs on one battery pack?

 

Much depends on the type of and configuration of the driver circuit you are using (buck or boost), but from 3xD-cells in series = 4.5V, your options are limited.

 

Assuming the driver circuits are integrated in the light heads, you could just connect the 2 heads in parallel.

This will double the load current and halve the run time (in theory; in practice the run time will be even less than half).

 

The supply voltage from 3xD-cells in series will not be sufficient to drive 2 LEDs in series from one driver.

 

 

See B_L's earlier post.

 

[Azonic]

 

Revelation 1.

LED: Cree XR-E Q5

Output: 220lumens* (manufacturers claim)

Battery: Li-Po

Life: 11.5 hours

System Weight: 360grams

Price: R2000

 

ZorgusPrime's Anonymous-Setup

LED: Cree XR-E Q5

Output: 320lumens* (manufacturers claim' date=' I put it at 260 rather)

Battery: Li-Po

Life: 12 hours

Total System Weight: 348 grams

Price: < R2000

[/quote']

 

Will have to take a look at those specs of yours... If the systems weigh about the same, you must +/- be using the same mAH range Lipo as BL. I also know that BL drives those Rev 1's pretty bright, so for you to get somewhere between 260-320 lumens, AND longer runtime, either BL is understanding his light's capabilities, or you are over stating yours, because component specs are on par.