mountain_lion Posted May 4, 2009 Author Posted May 4, 2009 Respect Konafan' date=' Your solution is elegant and easy! Missioning with fancy li ion battries & chargers, imported LED's and LED drivers, heatsinks ETC, etc = was beaten. Li ion batteries tricky to work with, drivers complex to connect, heatsinks heavy, my experience with it. The 3 x 2 w (cool white), 12volt cree downlight by sunfor in 50 mm irrigation pipe, with .8 Ah (+-2 hour use - weight +-500g ) or 1.5 Ah (+4 hour use - weight +-800 g), works awesome. Costs around R500 yes, (LED price R300, battery price R50 - R150, pipe R25, clamp R25). Plenty light, just might be too much for on coming riders...Only one mode setting and that is either on or off! Old car charger - good job to chargE basic 12v lead acid batteries. These small batteries from Mantec Electronics. Can't post pics, don't have permission on hub. [/quote'] You complain about a heavy heat sink for a power LED, but are happy with a 800g lead acid battery?? Anyway, sounds interesting.What is the current drawn by these LED downlighters?If not excessive you might even be able to use NiMH AA to power it.A pack of 10 MiMH gives you 12V (and if voltage drops too quickly, just add another cell or 2; I guess the driver in these will not mind 14V)With NiMH you can drain the battery below 50% capacity with much less damage to the cells than lead acid. Would love to see a pic. Strange that you can't post pics in this thread; I have no problem.Did you reduce to below 100kb?Please try again or else upload somewhere else (picasa, facebook etc) and post a link.
DaLoCo Posted May 4, 2009 Posted May 4, 2009 I have the same concern, already have a few of these 12v batteries which came from handheld spotlights. I would rather prefer to go for something lighter like R/C car batteries, which should be good, depending on the current drawn by these lights. It should be simple to later just exchange said LED's for the 5w Led's. I can also get our machine shop to make me an elegant housing.....but let me first get the lights
mountain_lion Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 I have the same concern' date=' already have a few of these 12v batteries which came from handheld spotlights. I would rather prefer to go for something lighter like R/C car batteries, which should be good, depending on the current drawn by these lights. It should be simple to later just exchange said LED's for the 5w Led's. I can also get our machine shop to make me an elegant housing.....but let me first get the lights[/quote'] Oi, this is a DIY thread! Buying LED downlighters off the shelf and sticking them in a custom housing made by your machine shop is not DIY.Interesting idea; go for it and post some pics and beam shots (in your own thread) Most of the work (and fun) in a DIY light is making the housing.Sticking LEDs on a heatsink and wiring it up to a driver is a no brainer.Getting it all into a light weight robust and elegant housing which is easy to mount on a bicycle is the challenge for the DIYer.
Carbon_Kooi Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 The problem with the R/C batteries, refering to the Li-Po ones, is that they must not be fully discharged. Thus you will need to design a small circuit with diodes and resistors, or if you want to, buy a voltage detector circuit to switch off the light or warn you once the batteries gets to a threshold voltage. I built a light using a Cree Q5 and a 7.4V 3150mAh LiPo. The main advantage of this battery is that it's so much lighter than any other battery you will find (140g), using SLA batteries just does not make sense. The battery also charges at 1C if you have a charger capable of doing that, mine only charges at 2A, thus taking about 1h30min from flat to full. With a current load of 600mA the light does 5 hours before I need to charge it. The housing is rubbish since it had to be done the night before a 24h race, so I used what was lying around, will upgrade this soon. But the light it makes is amazing. Will post some pics sometime. I will be building a light for the bike with 3xCree Q5 LED's sometime this year, when time allows it. It will make use of a 14.8V 3150mAh LiPo battery (+- 300g) and my own driver circuit, since the buck drivers are expensive. Will post some pics when this is done. Nice work on your lights mountain lion.
ENZO Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Mountain Lion, no complaints about ML lights at all, just not working for me. no brains or time (got dark fast this winter) to do a proper fancy diy ML light.the konafan light was a quickish, simple effective solution for a non electro pro. i am not sure of total weights between ML light and Konafan light. we should probably do a full kit mass comparison for interest. i made a error on the smaller battery, it is a 1.2 ah (2 hour use) about 500grams. the 4 li ion pack i have does have some weight too. i am not sure of the current draw - the box just said - 2 x 3w, 12 volt. thanks for the NI MH battery idea - will try sometime. i am aware of possible battery damage on 12 volt - no protection - so far battery lasting - at R57 each, they cheaper than 2 x D durcells. i took some pics and will try post again - if i don't come right will try another plan.
DaLoCo Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 I have the same concern' date=' already have a few of these 12v batteries which came from handheld spotlights. I would rather prefer to go for something lighter like R/C car batteries, which should be good, depending on the current drawn by these lights. It should be simple to later just exchange said LED's for the 5w Led's. I can also get our machine shop to make me an elegant housing.....but let me first get the lights[/quote']Oi, this is a DIY thread! Buying LED downlighters off the shelf and sticking them in a custom housing made by your machine shop is not DIY.Interesting idea; go for it and post some pics and beam shots (in your own thread) Most of the work (and fun) in a DIY light is making the housing.Sticking LEDs on a heatsink and wiring it up to a driver is a no brainer.Getting it all into a light weight robust and elegant housing which is easy to mount on a bicycle is the challenge for the DIYer. Eish, kry my gat nou slae. I need something to make light so I can ride. I will head into the making it look good at my own effort as time goes. i agree, that is where the fun is, but I might not be done before winter is gone
Brighter-Lights Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 I can help you guys with some of your problems... Moulded DC connector set (male + female) with 30cm cable on each plug... R38-00 per set (severals sets left) -> works with Sigmasport Nipack, Evo ** 4 Stage battery voltage monitor for Li-ion or Li-po battery with 2 cell or 3 cell. R95-00 (1x 2Series and 3x 3Series left) (can be used for 12v SLA if 3rd of 4 warnings is taken as absolute low. 2 Series : 7.4v and up -> Blue LED shines6.8v to 7.4v -> Blue LED flash6.6v to 7.4v -> Red LED shinesbelow 6.6v -> Red LED flash + Beeper 3 Series :11.1v and up -> blue LED shines10.2v to 11.1v -> blue LED flash9.9v to 10.2v -> red LED shines below 9.9v -> red LED flash + Beeper 7 LED battery level indicator for 4.8v and 6v. R80-00 (6 left) Can be used to indicate 5x NiMH pack, 4x Alkaline AA pack, 4x AA NiMH pack, 6v SLA -> Works with Sigma Sport Nipack. The above DC connector set, 2 tap washers, clear heat shrink and the 7 LED monitor make a nice inline battery level indicator if done like I did in the photo below: Brighter-Lights2009-05-05 09:09:15
Dirty Twin Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 BL you are champion. Giving away your trade secrets and all.
mountain_lion Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 Hey BL you having a end of line sale? Very kind offer! If the connectors were the nice weatherproof ones you used on some of your lights, I would be interested...
Brighter-Lights Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Just stuff that's lying around that I'm not gonna use soon. The 7 Led voltage indicator's and DC moulded plugs I got for making a light that works with the Sigma Nipack battery... too busy with bigger projects to care about that now... A rubber/foam boot easily keeps moisture out of the DC connectors... I'll add that to every set for free. The connector's I've been using cost me almost R300 a set with duties!!!!! Crazy... The li-po indicator's works with the Revelation-1. The light that will replace the Revelation-1 now has a battery level indicator built into the driver circuit. The Rev-1 replacement doesn't have a name yet but will be ready in about 3 weeks. Now with in house moulded mounting, battery enclosure, moulded plugs and 540 lumens for 6hr20 high beam and 300 lumens for 13 hours dim. All this at 400g. R3500-00 The Revelation-3 stays the same. (750 Lumens) R4400-00 The Revelation-4 (980 lumens) to be replaced by a new light with 2550 lumens for 1h45 to 420 lumens for 12 hours. This monster needs some work to get rid of heat... So far a cast aluminium housing with cooling fins... will only be available in a 2 to 3 months. Is the brightest LED bike light ever made in the world. R9000-00 I'm literally sleeping with lights and parts next to me in bed and some nights I wake up with new ideas and start new drawings in the middle of the night... Gonna show you awsome new lights soon... Brighter-Lights2009-05-05 13:17:10
mountain_lion Posted May 5, 2009 Author Posted May 5, 2009 BL, you mean something like an insane quad MCE light ?
thysmeades Posted May 5, 2009 Posted May 5, 2009 Just stuff that's lying around that I'm not gonna use soon. The 7 Led voltage indicator's and DC moulded plugs I got for making a light that works with the Sigma Nipack battery... too busy with bigger projects to care about that now... A rubber/foam boot easily keeps moisture out of the DC connectors... I'll add that to every set for free. The connector's I've been using cost me almost R300 a set with duties!!!!! Crazy... The li-po indicator's works with the Revelation-1. The light that will replace the Revelation-1 now has a battery level indicator built into the driver circuit. The Rev-1 replacement doesn't have a name yet but will be ready in about 3 weeks. Now with in house moulded mounting' date=' battery enclosure, moulded plugs and 540 lumens for 6hr20 high beam and 300 lumens for 13 hours dim. All this at 400g. R3500-00 The Revelation-3 stays the same. (750 Lumens) R4400-00 The Revelation-4 (980 lumens) to be replaced by a new light with 2550 lumens for 1h45 to 420 lumens for 12 hours. This monster needs some work to get rid of heat... So far a cast aluminium housing with cooling fins... will only be available in a 2 to 3 months. Is the brightest LED bike light ever made in the world. R9000-00 I'm literally sleeping with lights and parts next to me in bed and some nights I wake up with new ideas and start new drawings in the middle of the night... Gonna show you awsome new lights soon... [/quote'] Hi BL, can't wait to see your awesome new REV1. Trying my own little DIY project for now, but nothing like the lights you are building!!! regards, Thys
Matchstix Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Do You connect the battery stright to the lights or do You use a circuit board to regulate the current?
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