Home made bike lights? Help please....

welshside
welshside Posts: 63
edited July 2011 in MTB workshop & tech
I seem to remember last year a topic or web page on building your own light system... Can anyone direct me to it..
Cheers

Comments

  • gtd.
    gtd. Posts: 626
    I've been thinking about this myself as I have 24v sealed lead acid hip battery packs at work

    Was thinking seat post mount pannier rack, fit the battery pack to it then use electron mounts and headlamp casings fitted with 24v halogen dichroic bulbs

    Electron Double Bracket Handlebar Mount
    with this
    Electron Headlamp For EHP300/310
    or this
    Electron Replacement Headlamp & Rear Button
    powred by this
    557656.jpg
    which contains this
    144548_DETAIL___20090130.jpg
    2 12v 4.5Ah sealed lead acid batteries
    Mountain: Orange Patriot FR, SubZero & Evo2LE.
    Road: Tifosi Race Custom.
    Do it all bike: Surly Disc Trucker 700c/29er
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Good idea, but that battery pack looks really heavy.
    For the cost, I don't thin kit's even worth trying to best the P7 torches from DX.
  • Deputy Dawg
    Deputy Dawg Posts: 428
    Theres probably gonna be something helpfull from the jamies over at CPF
    Statistically, Six Out Of Seven Dwarves Aren't Happy
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    Li-ion mobile phone batteries or laptop batteries will be about 1/3 the weight of the above. Then I would consider looking at Troute's Lumen liberator, which is made out of alu box section..

    But has been said, Why bother when you can get 1.5K Lumen on your bike for under 60 quid.

    In addition, the most powerful/efficient LEDs run on 3.7 - 8.4v not 12.
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    diy wrote:
    Li-ion mobile phone batteries or laptop batteries will be about 1/3 the weight of
    The cells from DealExtreme are the same as are used inside laptop batteries, apparently.
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    Its not apparently - its absolutely correct.. Its all I use, got 100s of them. Sub-notebooks use mobile phone cells the larger laptops use 18650s, although they are not protected as the battery box itself has a charging circuit.

    Just calculated that a pair of 10w halos in that (above) setup will produce around 300-400 Lumen tops and with both Lead acid cells on charge, run for about 5 hours.

    vs. a pair of XPGs which will run for 3 and produce 600+ lumen. I think I'd be happy to carry a spare 18650 or two, given how much weight I'd be saving.
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Two P7 torches here, and a stock of spare 18650s, and I'm all set. Batteries weigh next to nothing, so it's no hardship to carry them around.
  • Tank-slapper
    Tank-slapper Posts: 968
    diy wrote:
    But has been said, Why bother when you can get 1.5K Lumen on your bike for under 60 quid.

    Where from?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    DealExtreme.
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    Tank slapper,

    there is a large thread in buying advice about it.. read from about p100
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... start=2000

    Bestofferbuy . com and deal extreme are the places to get them. a 501b with a P7 LED will cost about 14 quid, an XPG slightly less. The p7 is rated 8-900 Lumen, but with a protected cell you will be producing around 600. The XPG produce around 300-350, but run at lower power. P7 and XPG chips produce about the same Lumen per watt, one is just designed to run at higher amps than the other.

    my night riding buddies all switched over from their 3-500 lumen halogen setups, costing around £200, when I turned up with twice the lumens for 1/4 of the price.
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • konadawg
    konadawg Posts: 447
    yeehaamcgee wrote:
    Good idea, but that battery pack looks really heavy.
    For the cost, I don't thin kit's even worth trying to best the P7 torches from DX.

    100% with you.

    An MTE P7 with the best batteries x4 and also the best reviewed charger will come in at sub US$50 all-in. These take single 18650 batteries so are perfect to be simply ziptied to a helmet (undoubtedly the best location for a bike light) and throw so much light that "medium" setting is all you really need for 70% of your riding, which means that with judicious cycling fo the modes I can get a night ride and a bit out of a SINGLE battery, and hey, having a spare is hardly going to weigh me down.

    Wires and stuff? Thanks, but no thanks.

    Only comment I would make is that despite the output being more than sufficient I feel that having a "stereo" setup (two lights) results in vision that has better depth of field - more 3D - it is surprising how flat night time vision can be with only one light source.

    Well for the (IIRC) $28 price of the torch and considering the compact size adding one to the helmet won't be an issue.
    Giant Reign X1
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    konadawg wrote:
    [it is surprising how flat night time vision can be with only one light source.
    That is precisely why I reccomend to put the main light on your bars. It's the location of the light that lets you perceive depth. Having it near your eye-line causes a werid effect where it's very hard to judge depth, because everything you see is flat-lit.
    This is why the pop-up flash on cameras aren't flattering to people.
  • BG2000
    BG2000 Posts: 517
    What are these pictures of lead acid battery packs ??!!

    That's what I started doing about 20 years ago, with a MR16 12V dichroic bulb in an old metal Pifco lamp housing...awful...but better than any 3V halogen bulb rubbish at the time.

    Luckily, USE Exposure started making proper LED lights a few years ago and I've not looked back since. You get what you pay for.

    But to answer your question, now that high lower LEDs have become common throughout the world of eastern mass-production, I recently purchased a nice aluminium CREE LED torch from Maplins for £30. It came with 2 Li-Ion batteries, enough for 6 hours @ 200 Lumens.

    I also bought a couple of rubber/velcro mounts from eBay, one for the handlebars, and one for the helmet, both costing me about £4.00 each...

    something like eBay item: 290482893926

    Keep it lightweight, and simple, with no wires and battery packs flopping about...
  • konadawg
    konadawg Posts: 447
    yeehaamcgee wrote:
    konadawg wrote:
    [it is surprising how flat night time vision can be with only one light source.
    That is precisely why I reccomend to put the main light on your bars. It's the location of the light that lets you perceive depth. Having it near your eye-line causes a werid effect where it's very hard to judge depth, because everything you see is flat-lit.
    This is why the pop-up flash on cameras aren't flattering to people.

    I find that bar mounting causes visible shadowing which can be seriously distracting, plus the inconvenience of a light that is not necessarily pointing where you are looking, for a fair bit of the time as one may discover.

    Nevertheless, one on the head and one on the bars will work very well too but two on the head - a setup I had used before with 100-lumen Crees - is IMHO (and an opinion it must remain) better, you have the light being projected from the same vertical planes as your eyes are, so no needless shadow, all the stereo vision you could use, and light that lights up wherever you look.
    Giant Reign X1
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    konadawg wrote:
    two on the head is IMHO (and an opinion it must remain) better, you have the light being projected from the same vertical planes as your eyes are, so no needless shadow, all the stereo vision you could use, and light that lights up wherever you look.
    Two light sources don't give you stereo vision though, it's the eyes being seperate that give us stereoscopic vision.
    The shadows from the bar lights help us perceive depth.

    If I remember tonight, I'll knock up a quick rendering, or take some photos to illustrate it.
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    What is this "shadow" concept you talk about ;)

    2 on the head, 4 on the bars :D shadows? where?

    This conversation remind me of camping in guatamala - big problem with terantulas when walking at night.

    In order to see them you hold your torch to your forehead and the retina of what ever is in front of you or watching you lights up as the light bounces back in to your eyes. So you get a cats eye map of where not to tread.

    BG2000 wrote:
    But to answer your question, now that high lower LEDs have become common throughout the world of eastern mass-production, I recently purchased a nice aluminium CREE LED torch from Maplins for £30. It came with 2 Li-Ion batteries, enough for 6 hours @ 200 Lumens.

    If you don't mind a wait or internet based customer services.. you could have had a 501b with the latest CREE chip for £13 ~ 300-350 Lumen.
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • BG2000
    BG2000 Posts: 517
    diy wrote:

    If you don't mind a wait or internet based customer services.. you could have had a 501b with the latest CREE chip for £13 ~ 300-350 Lumen.

    Wow, they're getting stupidly cheap, not far off what you'd have paid for a rubber / halogen torch a few years ago !

    Can you clarify your 'night walking' trick, I wasn't quite sure which direction you're pointing the torch - I might need to know this one day !
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    place the torch on your forehead between your eyebrows if you can as if a dalek, you will look stupid, but you wont tread on any spiders.

    Blimin scary if you are sleeping in the jungle, because you realise just how many things are waiting for your fire to burn out, before coming to eat you ;)

    I think it works on snakes too, not sure about scorpions. The rule of thumb for scorpions is big tail, small claws be very scared.
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • gtd.
    gtd. Posts: 626
    I now have access to some new 18v 1600mAh and 24v 1600mAh Li-ion packs made of 1.2v AA Li-ion cells and crappy chargers to go with them

    Thinking they might be useful, Tried a 12v halogen dichroic bulb and it didn't pop

    Although I could split a 24v pack and run it as a 3200mAh 12v I'd just need to find a charger.
    Mountain: Orange Patriot FR, SubZero & Evo2LE.
    Road: Tifosi Race Custom.
    Do it all bike: Surly Disc Trucker 700c/29er
  • car.crash
    car.crash Posts: 170
    is it possible for somone to throw up a few links on whatus newbs need to be buying. i have a few laptop batterys coming but unsure on what light i need. if somone can link me up i will get one orderd. many thanks chaps and thanks for the help so far :).
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    Hi car crash what was wrong with the links in the what light thread?
    Guide to cheap bike lights Turbo Trainer Vids Play list
    Stretching & Workout Vids
  • car.crash
    car.crash Posts: 170
    Sorry bud I didn't see them. I will head over and take a look again :)

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