The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014

blablablacksheep

supersonic wrote:

Well it is light. But that is all I can say about it!

thanks for your insightful knowledge sonic :P

Another headlight that seems to get good reviews from the "clever peeps" is the Spark series of lights but no where in UK supply them from what i can find

So far the Zebralight H600 looks perfect choice but hard finding UK suppliers(ones that do sell it sell it for £76 quid which seems a lot for a headlight given no charger/battery are included...), anyone know of a good importer ??(dx dont sadly)

diy

There is no reason to think it will perform any differently than the <£15 lights normally recommended. It is a single XM-L and 18650. There are no funky optics, no special driver, so can't see why it has the price tag it has.

supersonic

My thoughts exactly, is 5-10 times more than it should be.

leaflite

Still waiting for the bits from manafont and dx for my trustfire 3t6 mod.
Im toying with the idea of adding a led battery life indicator, but does anyone know how to make/where to buy one?

Thanks

sicknewt

Anyone know if you can get a UK spec (3 pin plug) charger for one of these http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-waterproof-xml-t6-3-mode-1200-lumen-white-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-82510 ?

The charger / plug adapter combo I've got takes some waggling to work...

101_North

leaflite wrote:

Still waiting for the bits from manafont and dx for my trustfire 3t6 mod.
Im toying with the idea of adding a led battery life indicator, but does anyone know how to make/where to buy one?

Thanks

I used one of these when I diy'd a set of lights:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-1s-6s-Lip ... 3f0c850950

It shows voltage but from there you can work out roughly the charge left - the info is earlier in this thread somewhere.

My first idea was using an old Magicshine cable - wired up the battery pack with the female connector and the light with the male. I had a spare piece of cable with a male connector which I soldered to the chip linked above - it's marked on it where the + and - terminals are. When I wanted to check voltage I simply unplugged the light and plugged in the chip - it's actually very accurate when compared with my DMM.

Main issue with that set up was that I couldn't easily get a reading when out and about so I've now got the chip connected to the battery pack along with a simple push switch. When I need to check voltage on the trail I just reach down, press the switch and the LED lights up with the voltage. I glued the chip and the switch on the battery pack, covered with a small piece of transparent plastic (cut from a document folder) and then waterproofed the whole pack using amalgamating tape. Works a treat.

101

jairaj

Does that actually give you accurate readings with the magic shine battery?

The ebay advert say it works with 1 to 6 batteries in series I thought the magic shine batteries were 2 parallel sets of 2 series batteries?

leaflite

101_North wrote:

leaflite wrote:

Still waiting for the bits from manafont and dx for my trustfire 3t6 mod.
Im toying with the idea of adding a led battery life indicator, but does anyone know how to make/where to buy one?

Thanks

I used one of these when I diy'd a set of lights:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-1s-6s-Lip ... 3f0c850950

It shows voltage but from there you can work out roughly the charge left - the info is earlier in this thread somewhere.

My first idea was using an old Magicshine cable - wired up the battery pack with the female connector and the light with the male. I had a spare piece of cable with a male connector which I soldered to the chip linked above - it's marked on it where the + and - terminals are. When I wanted to check voltage I simply unplugged the light and plugged in the chip - it's actually very accurate when compared with my DMM.

Main issue with that set up was that I couldn't easily get a reading when out and about so I've now got the chip connected to the battery pack along with a simple push switch. When I need to check voltage on the trail I just reach down, press the switch and the LED lights up with the voltage. I glued the chip and the switch on the battery pack, covered with a small piece of transparent plastic (cut from a document folder) and then waterproofed the whole pack using amalgamating tape. Works a treat.

101

Fantastic!
Can it be connected permanently, so it is always on?

Thanks

101_North

jairaj wrote:

Does that actually give you accurate readings with the magic shine battery?

The ebay advert say it works with 1 to 6 batteries in series I thought the magic shine batteries were 2 parallel sets of 2 series batteries?

It'll see your MagicShine battery as 1 cell or 1 battery in the series. The MagicShine battery only has 1 positive terminal regardless of the internal set up of the battery - so it'll be read as a single cell. If you look on the chip there is 1 negative terminal and then 6 positive terminals - if you connected 6 MagicShine batteries in series you could check the voltage of all 6.

101

101_North

leaflite wrote:

Fantastic!
Can it be connected permanently, so it is always on?

Thanks

Yes it can. Only thing to be aware of is that it circuits through each of the six series - although it'll always be on - the voltage will display but with a split second '---' appearing as it cycles through the other 5 series. The '---' only appears once for the other 5 series - not 5 times so it really is only displayed for a split second.

When connecting there is 1 negative - terminal and your postive goes on the first positive + terminal - marked 1S. If you had 6S then the other 5 positive leads would go on 2S, 3S, 4S etc.

Just found a UK seller of the chip on eBay for under £4. Never used them though so can't comment on what they're like as a store.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1s-6s-LED-Lip ... 983wt_1270

101

diy

For the ultimate set-up you could add a dc-amp meter too.

blablablacksheep

supersonic wrote:

My thoughts exactly, is 5-10 times more than it should be.

I know it quite exspencive the Zebralight H600 but ofc the reviews are very good but like someone said it has a XML with a single 18650 so compared to my T6 Cree XML i guess the output is going to be very simular but the cost of having that in torch form just ant worth the money it seems..

Have tried mounting my T6 to my camelpack straps to see if that would work as then i could stick the battery pack into the top pocket and would be a pretty interesting set-up for running, will try it out and see how it goes.

If that works i might buy a Magicshine quality light that i know wont fail on me during my run and maybe get some good batteries for it, but looking at DX their magicshines arent much cheaper than buying from UK supplier as they around £90.....wied.

toasty

Has anyone found any good helmet mounting setups for torches just out of curiosity? I used lockblocks last year, but it wasn't fantastic and didn't really give any adjustability.

blablablacksheep

Toasty wrote:

Has anyone found any good helmet mounting setups for torches just out of curiosity? I used lockblocks last year, but it wasn't fantastic and didn't really give any adjustability.

Theres a very good velcro set-up for torches to helmet that im sure someone will link for you......

pretty much looping some velcro straps through the hole in the top of helmet around two torches to secure, very simple idea but looks solid.

diy

2" wide elastic with two loops in the ends. Works for Giro Hex too.

bamba

Can any one advise on delivery times from dx uk warehouse ? are they as they say 3 to 5 business days

supersonic

from the UK it was about that for me, yes.

diy

+2 days for me.

diy

Just thought I bung this tidler up.

The new S06B XM-L T6, with zoom head, battery and charger for £14. All you need to buy extra is a mount.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/new-s06b-x ... 113?item=4

I wouldn't run it on full for long given the claimed 2.5A draw, but with a bit of care this could be the new bargain light.

blablablacksheep

Nice find, though if you bought a aftermarket battery(18650) from a decent seller maybe you might be able to get a better runtime/consistant light output over the standard battery supplied....

Ouija

diy wrote:

Just thought I bung this tidler up.

The new S06B XM-L T6, with zoom head, battery and charger for £14. All you need to buy extra is a mount.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/new-s06b-x ... 113?item=4

I wouldn't run it on full for long given the claimed 2.5A draw, but with a bit of care this could be the new bargain light.

I always use these special Senybor 5.6A 18650's. Not only can they handle higher amp outputs but they also are wider, so there is no need to pad them out to stop them rattling about inside your torch.....

diy

2.7Ah at 1A is good, but don't get misled by the 5.6A claim, all they are talking about is the limit of the protection circuit. Though it sounds like they are pulling 2.8Ah at 5.6A current.

I have laptop cells that are on par - My snot green ones out of a lenovo pull 2.7Ah at 2.4A and my sanyo's out of a Dell pull 2.5Ah at 2.4A

I still have no idea what the green ones are.

legacydan

I was looking at getting a few of those ultrafire torches and mounts for my bike to do some night time off road biking. One of the guys in work that does it bought and exposure Diablo I think it was for 215 euro! I wanted to make Him realise the error in his ways and get a set up far superior with multiple lights on bars and helmet for less than 100 euro. I then got a brain wave and realised maybe I could uses torch I already have. I got an electrolumens firesword. I rarely use it. Its supposed to be 3000 lumens from what I have seen its pretty bright. I'm wondering if I could somehow. Modify this to get it mounted on the bars by unscrewing the head and remove the tube and put batteries in a battery pack. Is there much soldering etc required to make something like this work as a bike torch?

http://elektrolumens.com/FireSword/FireSword-IV.html

diy

That torch is 4 * MC-E so the 3K lumen claim is not going to be far off. at 3A. I'm not sure it is 3A though, if you have an amp meter you can test this by unscrewing the tail cap. My guess is it is probably 1A per LED, so more like 1.5K Lumen. That is actually more use IMO as you will get longer run time.

The best option is to unscrew the barrel and find something like a bar end to plug the body up (or a plumbing compression fit end/terminal) , then run wires from the + cell to the spring on the head and the body to the outer on for the -. and then make a stubby attached to a clamp for the head. This way the switch will work and you can probably attach the tail to a cycle pump holder on your down tube or seat tube

TBH you are going to bugger up a nice looking torch when you could source 3-4 501bs for a lot less.

MCE are nice floody LEDs, they are similar to the SSC p7, but personally I prefer single core LEDs like the XPG and the XM-L The light is a lot more useful for "headlights". You'll spend a lot of work

The benefit of going the torch route is you can adjust your light output per light and you have no single point of failure with multiple lights. I went night riding with a chap with a maxx-d the other day and I blew his light away on medium due to my ability to point my lights exactly where I wanted, combined with the fact that my XM-Ls were putting out much whiter, focused light.

legacydan

i was looking at it today and does seem like a lot of butchering to use that big torch, think ill just take the plunge and get 3 of those ultrafire or similar ones and some mounts, Still havent found a decent mount that can be used on a full face helmet though.

legacydan

I got 4 of the XML torches from manafont. Shipped on Friday so hopefully I'm not waiting too long. Just need to get some mounts for my helmets.

legacydan

still waiting on my lights from manafont seems like they aren't that quick with delivery anymore!

blablablacksheep

i ordred a 501b ultrafire from dx i hoped sinse they have a europe warehouse it be speedy order but it seems that that isnt the case...(no way of knowing if you ordering from europe warehouse it seems)

anyway been 9 days so far sinse ordered and hasnt been listed as shipped so i guess it looks like it coming from china so probably be a month/4weeks like my old t6 bike light was. :roll:

legacydan

they finally turned up yesterday, 1 month and two days after order, nice little torches all the same!

bamba

Just another reminder for any one thinking about ordering torchs/lights , get them ordered now to save the waiting when the dark nights are back, a a bit pessimistic i no, being as summer time is only just here ,but will save you waiting when you want/need to use them.