DIY Cree LED bike light

[WillemT]

where in the western cape are you based?

[scuzzy]

Bellville area

[mountain_lion]

 

Thanks Night Rider

 

I'm in a bit of a predicament at the moment.  I'm using a smal 12V 20W halogen lamp in some irrigation piping at the moment' date=' it's good for general slow sort of night riding, nothin to fast though and I'm using those big alarm/gate type batery, only gives me about 1.5 hours of light.  I need to up that, to do some long night rides with the boys, but to do the whole led thing delivery assembly, sorting a housing out, etc,etc, will probably take 4-5 weeks, so I'm looking at a quicker solution to get my battery life up with the halogen lamp and the try and re-use the battery for the LED lights, but..... it seems like getting a descent Li-ion battery will also have to be done via international sites.

 

I'm going to attemp putting together by own sort of rechargeble battery pack, don't to a lot about these sort of thing, but I guess that is the joy in making you own light.

 

Will post result, if sucessfull.

[/quote']

 

Depending on where you order from, it need not take that long... perhaps 3 weeks.

 

Li-ion is nice, but you could also use NiMH AA rechargeable cells. They are easy to get hold of locally. Just a bit of a pain keeping 10 to 12 AA cells charged.

 

 

 

[scuzzy]

I recon if I get the Li-ion 14.8V 4400mAh, i can work with that to start of with and get some descent burn time with the Halogen lamp and then also use it for the LED light once that is built.

If I have 12AA bateries I'll need like 3 chargers, a bit of a mission.

I'll get there, even if it takes a while.

[mountain_lion]

I am using 2200mAh Li-ions. 4400mAh will be plenty for LEDs, but the higher capacity will be useful with the halogen.

 

You might need to drop the voltage a bit for use with the 12V halogen. I am not sure how much over voltage they can take. 14.8V might be a bit high.

 

You can of cource make do with the halogen and lead acid battery. It is all I had for years. We just went slower at night but still had fun...

 

[jacostrydom]

Those alarm type lead acid batteries should give you 7Ah. Your 20 watt halogen draws less than 2 amps. I used to get 3 usable hours from a battery. If your battery gives you 1.5 hours it has lost a lot of capacity.

 

You also get a slightly wider battery that gives you 12Ah. For training the little bit of extra weight is only a bonus. (Train heavy, race light).

 

Also have a look at some of the bigger shops (Builders warehouse in Pretoria) you find these 20w halogen lights with a narrow beam (i think 10 degrees in stead of the 38 degrees) These lights make very good cycling lights.

 

I have progressed to the LED DIY light stage, but still use some of my halogens as torches and backup lights.

 

BTW have anyone seen or used the new LED and 20 degree lens from Rabtron?

[scuzzy]

Jaco

 

What you are saying makes absolute perfect sense, thank you for your comment. I think the battery that I have at the moment is a bit old, so you are right.  I will also have a look around for that narrow beam halogen.  The only problem is that the DIY guy in me wants to give these funny things a shot, even if it is just to se if it can be done.

 

I'll get the narrow beam light today and take some pics tonight and post it.

[Schwynn]

Ok, as a doffel I want to build a Cree with 3-in-1 reflector. What I do not get from the parts list or on the sites is which tells me which star board to use for tripple led's.

 

Any help out there please?!

[knersis]

You can get the part lists from Babbel and order the parts www.bekkie.com

[Schwynn]

You can get the part lists from?Babbel and order the parts www.bekkie.com

 

Hie,Hie,... ou Snaaksie

[scuzzy]

I think I've found something battery wise, but would like to get some input from you guys, I don't know if you get good and bad batteries.  I think this is  a descent price and it has the nifty LED power indicator.

 

The link is here, http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4898 , I know it is not from all battery as suggested.

 

Any input would be nice.

 

Thanks

[mountain_lion]

 

I think I've found something battery wise' date=' but would like to get some input from you guys, I don't know if you get good and bad batteries.  I think this is  a descent price and it has the nifty LED power indicator.

 

The link is here, http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4898 , I know it is not from all battery as suggested.

 

Any input would be nice.

 

Thanks

[/quote']

 

Only reason I did not order from batteryspace was that they only ship international by courier, which I considered too expensive.

Batteryspace also have some waterproof connectors which look very nice.

 

At the time All-battery shipped international via US Postal. Don't know if they still do.

 

Someone posted a link to a local battery supplier earlier in this tread. Has anybody tried them?

 

 

[ENZO]

 

 

ENZO2009-07-17 09:30:02

[Musashi]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread with interest as I also plan to build my own light (3 Cree Q5 LED's).  However, my experience with electronics is dangerous so I compensate for that with research.  At the moment I'm a bit stuck on the driver. 

 

bflex seems the way to go but the taskLED website is down and Cutter is quite expensive. 

 

It seems the Buckpuck driver will also work (am I correct?) but which model do I go for?  Is this the correct one:  "3021-D-I-1000"?

 

I appreciate all input!

 

[scuzzy]

Good question

 

I think my next question was also heading in that direction.  I must say, that as far as possible try and order from DealExtreme, seems like they are relatively cheap and now shipping fees, or at least that is what I got when I ordered batteries.

 

This is fun and games

[WillemT]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread with interest as I also plan to build my own light (3 Cree Q5 LED's).  However' date=' my experience with electronics is dangerous so I compensate for that with research.  At the moment I'm a bit stuck on the driver. 

 

bflex seems the way to go but the taskLED website is down and Cutter is quite expensive. 

 

It seems the Buckpuck driver will also work (am I correct?) but which model do I go for?  Is this the correct one:  "3021-D-I-1000"?

 

I appreciate all input!

 

[/quote']

 

If you take the one with internal dimming you can only set the level of the buckpuck where as if you take the one with external dimmer you can put a switch on there to get different dimm levels.

 

So for that reason I use the 3021 -D-E-1000