DIY Halogen Lights

[bogmonster]

Hi,

Not sure if this is of general interest - I will see if I get any replies

I have been looking at lights for my bike and really struggling to find anything that allows me to ride at night in unlit country roads, especially when the moon is not out. I Have found some lights that would do the job but they are sooo expensive so I am making my own. Still early days but I have made a very rough prototype using halogen MR16 12v lights likt the type you use in regular downlighters. For power I am using 2 7.2v NIMH RC car packs in series. Overvolting the 20w halogens to 14.4v volts provides a nice bright light. I now need to order some bulbs with a narrow beam like the high efficiency Osram 20w 24 degree IRC bulb.

For mounting the bulbs I am using black 40mm waate pipe compression fittings from B&Q. For a chgarger I am using a dual peak charger used for RC cars. I have also ordered a digital controller for the lights from Canada:

LIGHT BRAIN - Bike Light Controllers

This will allow me to decide to overvolt or not. I am hoping the controller will work OK for a 10w bulb as well so I can use a dual bulb config. I only need the bright light on the potholed country roads when the moon has not risen and the fog is in. One of the interesting things I have discovered (much to my surprise) is that regular halogen bulbs are more efficient than LEDs when overvolted. LEDs are more efficient when undervolted. To get a bright light out of LEDs and a high degree of efficiency you need an awful lot of them.

Unfortunately the regulator in he controller is not good for more than 20v input so no good on 24v or 36v systems

Anyway, when I get closer I will post some pics and let you know if they are any good. I'm expecting the lights to cost about 60 pounds. On the commercial market it would cost 150 pounds plus to get anyhting close I think? Strange, but I saw lights for well over 400 pounds, whop buys these?

Cheers, BM.

 

[Phil the drill]

LED lights

Hi BM,

I sympathise. I too have to travel down steep narrow unlit county lanes at night, and it is a real struggle to find anything that gives even remotely adequate light for these conditions. Many 'solutions' are horrendously expensive. I bought some cateye halogens (a pair) a few years ago - they were bright, and worked, but weighed a ton with the large (lead acid) battery required, and had barely enough endurance. The modern Lithium alternatives cost a bomb, as do the powerful LED alternatives except -----
take a look at this link:-

http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/ledp/LP3025.htm

I bought one of these, and although not dark enough to try out properly yet, it looks very promising. At $14-00 US including shipping you can't go wrong. Mine arrived in just over a week, and although a little 'plasticy' and rather cheaply made (as you would expect) it works really well. I'm ordering another to fit twin headlights on my bike (will run for a fair time on AA NimH). For a total cost of £15-00 the pair, delivered, it's worth the punt before parting with large amounts of your hard earned I reckon......
Incidentally, they also do 1w single led lights for $12-00 each, a pair of these may also do the job....

Cheers, Phil

 

[flecc]

Strange, but I saw lights for well over 400 pounds, who buys these?

Goodness knows, but some are even dearer, I've seen over £600 in the past. Here's one near to that:

Busch and Muller

All the best for your project, I hope you succeed.
.

 

[bogmonster]

Goodness knows, but some are even dearer, I've seen over £600 in the past. Here's one near to that:

Busch and Muller

All the best for your project, I hope you succeed.
.

Flecc,

I'd want a helicopter to fly in front and light the way for that price!

Wow, my first car cost less!

BM

 

[Blew it]

78 LED's

Hi Phil,

Those 78 LED lights are good, I loaded mine with 4 X 2600 Mah rechargeable AA's, It lit a very clear path the full 65 feet length of my rear garden. After a further two hours of being left on the brightness was still much the same. I would imagine this would be adequate for most commutes.

The weak point appears to be the quick release slide, It tends to be a bit floppy. I recall reading on another forum that one of these lights had broken as a result of this rather slack fit. A single layer of clear plastic cut from the bubble pack it arrived in and superglued in place soon firmed it up a treat.

Another thing I noticed is they don't suddenly go out when the batteries become discharged, they just get gradually dimmer.

Best regards

"Cyclepants" (Bob)

 

[Mussels]

There's quite a bit of info in the technical forum on this with the electronics needed.

 

[frank9755]

I suspect the weakness will be battery life. I ordered a cheap eBay one with about 20 LEDs, powered off 3 AAA cells. It was a good light but I had to change the batteries every other day so it is now in the garage on the shelf.

Haku and Ian have posted a fair bit on making ultra-bright LED lights and powering them from the bike battery. They've both produced some pretty effective looking lights for a fraction of the price of those high-end commercial ones.

 

[mikepepler]

A friend of mine built some using "chip" style LEDs, a bit like these, but 1W think

He mounted two of them in copper caps (meant for plumbing) with holes drilled through the back for the wires, and ran them off a small SLA battery. He set it up so he could vary the brightness too.

When I saw them in use they lit up the road ahead like car headlights, and he said cars coming the other way flashed him if he didn't have them angled down as they were dazzling.

Mike

 

[wurly]

I'm really interested in your idea's for better lights. Last year i fitted a cateye HL EL530 and i'm very impressed with it. Battery life seems to be very good and it produces a very good thin beam. Although i think i would like a broader lighting area. So i have been thinking about a small SLA battery and a 12V 20W diachromic bulb in a home made enclosure. The light brain controller looks just the job for regulating power.Please keep us enformed has to how your DIY kit works out.
Incidently how do you think your setup would compare to some of these lights? (You can see what i mean about my current cateye light)
Mel

http://www.cateye.com/sites/cateye/upload/manuals/en/CATEYE%20Head%20Light%20POS.pdf

 

[Mandy]

Hi
I too would be interested in your findings and the best lights out there as the best one's to my mind are really pricey!
I have a long dark unlit road to travel on my journey home from work and have a rubbish front light at mo and need to stop on occasions when no cars are going by or coming towards me and the nights are sure drawing in and my Monday journey is at around 8.40pm!!
The rest of the week is 5.40pm so not quite so pitch dark at mo
Cheers
Mandy

 

[Andrew harvey]

Luxeon leds

The new name in high intensity LEDs is Luxeon, I believe it's a Philips trade name.
Type the name into E-bay search.
There are a fair variety of lamps and torches.The thing to look for are the 3 watt single element LEDs. The Creek brand of small torches have been recomended to me, by others. I have a headlamp but it has no name left on it.
A really cheap trick for fitting torches to handlebars is a piece of blue tack to act as a base, (keeps them from rocking) and an elastic band.
If you want something to build up yourself you might look at the 12v MR16s they are a direct replacement for halogen spot lights, equivalent to a 35w halogen.
I have 4 of them in my kitchen, and a customer now has a complete kitchen lit by 12, 3w LEDs. A 5w version is about but as yet I haven't seen any and they are still twice the price

The best news the lamps are now available in the UK at Denmans Electrical, and Sable, (both electrical wholesalers) for around £7, which means all wholesalers should soon have them. They carry the Crompton brand name.
I include a couple of photos, I could show how they look in my kitchen but the washing ups not been put away

 

[Haku]

The LED lighting setup I wired on my ebike, 60 LEDs on front, 6 on the side & 8 on the back, all runs from a 5v DC-DC regulator off the bike's battery, the regulator can only output a stated max of 1A (I think I measured 1.1A in real world usage when all 74 LEDs are lit) meaning it's only consuming about 6-7 watts (taking into account the voltage conversion from 26v to 5v) and it's certainly bright enough to see down the unlit country lanes I enjoy riding along, even at speed.

Andrew, have you seen the Cree X-lamp's? they're outshining the Luxeons in terms of lumens per watt. High power LEDs are steadily gaining more performance and I've seen more than a couple of websites detailing how to make your own bike lights with them but because of thier heat output and need of a collimator it means you can't have them discreetly placed like the 60 normal 3mm ones I embedded in my front reflector (those do actually get a little warm but nowhere near the level of Luxeons).

 

[bogmonster]

Hey, not forgotten that I started this thread. I've been very busy with work and will be on holiday for the next couple of weeks. I hope to make some progress when I return.

 

[allotmenteer]

I made a halogen bike light last winter using a 12V MR16 bulb + 40mm overflow pipe. I used a 12V 7Ah computer UPS battery which I got free from work (they get replaced every couple of years and the old ones get binned). Total cost was about £5 and although it looked a real bodge job it worked great. It lit up the country lanes brilliantly and gave over an hour of run-time even with the shoddy battery.

I can't imagine why anyone buys the expensive ones for 100s of £.

 

[stokepa31_mk2]

I've just ordered a pair of P7 Lenser torches with free bike mounts from Glow Gadgets. They are 167 lumens each so should produce plenty of light and yo can adjust the beam to suit your needs. Should arrive Friday so i'll let you all know how it goes. £100 for the pair but the equivalentin proper bike lights would be £400-600.

 

[Citrus]

I've just ordered a pair of P7 Lenser torches with free bike mounts from Glow Gadgets. They are 167 lumens each so should produce plenty of light and yo can adjust the beam to suit your needs. Should arrive Friday so i'll let you all know how it goes. £100 for the pair but the equivalentin proper bike lights would be £400-600.

They look excellent. I have just copied you and order two for myself. Hopefully I will get them tomorrow as they are being delivered to my work address.

 

[stokepa31_mk2]

Good stuff citrus. The guy sends them next day but he was waiting for a new delivery. he gave me Friday as a worst case so maybe they'll turn up tomorow too.

 

[Citrus]

Dispatched!

Hi stokepa31,

Just checked online and the lights have been dispatched - so we will probably both have them tomorrow. I bought one of the Chinese 50 odd something LED bike lights for £7 - and although good for city/town riding it is hopeless on unlit roads. These lights you saw look tremendous (especially for the money). We will soon know for sure.

 

[stokepa31_mk2]

Cool

I've also ordered two mounts as i'm not sure the supplied ones will be sturdy enough.

LED Lenser Torch Mount

 

[Citrus]

Lights arrived today. Absolutely awesome! Very, very bright. These are a bargain and will be terrific on unlit country roads at night. Thanks for the link to these Paul.