Building in CREE light

[103Alex1]

Hi Alex, I'm afraid I intend to use my fried magicshine for a while on my Brompton in order to test a new DCDC converter. If it functions ok I may use my newer light head and sell the blown one after I've tested for a while.

Okey dokes. Let me know if you decide you're through with it (provided it still works lol).

Yes... but (there's always a but, lol)

You are allowed to choose your own bottle for putting the ship in

... and on that note, whilst away from my build and waiting for parts from far-off lands, been trying to find proper waterproof "bottles" which might house a driver and decent CREE XML-T6 lamp, just to see how much more it would be to build your own and what's involved... but ...

no joy so far finding decent bottles. If anyone has any magicshine-type lamp housings from redundant lights which they'd be willing to offer up for experimentation would be interested. Also if anyone comes across any decent "bottles" to house T6 ships then let me know

 

[Scimitar]

Okey dokes. Let me know if you decide you're through with it (provided it still works lol).



... and on that note, whilst away from my build and waiting for parts from far-off lands, been trying to find proper waterproof "bottles" which might house a driver and decent CREE XML-T6 lamp, just to see how much more it would be to build your own and what's involved... but ...

no joy so far finding decent bottles. If anyone has any magicshine-type lamp housings from redundant lights which they'd be willing to offer up for experimentation would be interested. Also if anyone comes across any decent "bottles" to house T6 ships then let me know

Knock yourself out:
http://tinyurl.com/23r9jad

 

[Old_Dave]

Knock yourself out:

Great find... a bottle and ship shop

 

[103Alex1]

Scimitar I nearly danced out of the room with excitement when I saw this - it's like the answer to a prayer ! However ..... on closer inspection we'd still need to find an alternative driver board which allows the light simply to come on when current is opened from the handlebar switch. All the T6 driver boards seem to be designed for torches and lights run off standalone supplies. How in heavens' name do we "ditch that wretched in-lamp switch" ?

Great find... a bottle and ship shop

Ship shape

 

[Old_Dave]

A driver board doesn't have to be a t6 one... All it needs to have is a suitable voltage and current for what ever led you want to use..

So climb up to the crows nest and look a bit further, lol

I still recon the simple £6.99 ones with their built in voltage reducers are the answer (fit more for more light)




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[103Alex1]

A driver board doesn't have to be a t6 one... All it needs to have is a suitable voltage and current for what ever led you want to use..

So climb up to the crows nest and look a bit further, lol

I still recon the simple £6.99 ones with their built in voltage reducers are the answer (fit more for more light)

So basically a 3.7v @ 1A lamp driver board capable of being wired in to a circuit with remote switch activation and which fits in to the lamp housing. Hmmm.

Now you see, that never occured to me lol. If I climb up to the crows nest tonight looking for that it'll probably be man overboard ! Going to have to go sleep on it !

It must be possible - have come much closer to a solution to open the door to handlebar switch controlled lights now... and those Marwi bullet lights in silver would be great on the front of the Trek on a bracket.

I have 3 x 250lm ones on the way via DX to arrive at some point this year (!) for princely sum of £10 delivered. I just can't second guess what they'll be like as only real points of reference are the B&M dynamo light on my Kalkhoff (just about do for being seen to be complying with the law and not much else) plus the so-called 1200lm and 4000lm CREEs running off battery (the 1st one is fine .. but x 3 depending on whether on road, on lane or off both at night would be in a different league entirely).

 

[Old_Dave]

Just to add a little bit more that may help the design (or confuse it even more).. The drivers don't have to be in the lamp enclosure. Just the led, heat sink.and of course a reflector /lens


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[103Alex1]

Just to add a little bit more that may help the design (or confuse it even more).. The drivers don't have to be in the lamp enclosure. Just the led, heat sink.and of course a reflector /lens


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OK ... re-engaging with this lighting thing after giving the grey cells a chance to recover from blow-out overload ! Two things are still perplexing the life out of me :

1) If I get single-LED drivers (presuming one each required for 3 lights) for example and run them at say 1400mA each at 5V all off a single 36V to 5V buck converter then ....

as far as my buck converter is concerned does this have to be rated to 3 x 1400mA i.e. 4.2A maximum current off it for all 3 lights ? Am assuming the amps rating is for the current drawn by the power consuming device after the buck converter and not the amps drawn at the source battery and that you aggregate the current draw of everything connected to the buck converter, either of which assumptions might be wrong

2) None of the buck converters rated for 3.7V (the recommended voltage to supply all single-T6 LED drivers I have looked at) will take 36V in without limiting output to 1.5A. If my assumptions above are correct then I'd have trouble even running two lights off it let alone 3.

Can the 'enlightened' amongst the forum members help explain ?

Thx

 

[Old_Dave]

as far as my buck converter is concerned does this have to be rated to 3 x 1400mA i.e. 4.2A maximum current off it for all 3 lights ?

If the info re the mA is correct then yes .. using 1 buck converter it will need to be rated for the total max current. (Im sure you could find one that's suitable if you looked around)

However... maybe relying on 1 converter is asking for trouble if it fails then you will be in the dark, sooooo maybe 1 for each would be safer (and they are cheap enough)

DC-DC LM2596 Converter Buck Adjustable Step Down Regulator Power Module 1.2-35V | eBay

 

[103Alex1]

If the info re the mA is correct then yes .. using 1 buck converter it will need to be rated for the total max current. (Im sure you could find one that's suitable if you looked around)

However... maybe relying on 1 converter is asking for trouble if it fails then you will be in the dark, sooooo maybe 1 for each would be safer (and they are cheap enough)

DC-DC LM2596 Converter Buck Adjustable Step Down Regulator Power Module 1.2-35V | eBay

I'd need to split my 36v supply about 6+ ways then taking the lights, 12V circuit, secondary 36V feed and main controller feed into account lol. Will definitely need to find some sort of way of distributing the power along branched off feeds through a connector block of some sort as you can't splice 6 wires into a single supply wire I wouldn't have thought ..... (unless I've missed the point on how you split the supply). Any ideas ?

The LED drivers have current limiter chips on them which can limit current drawn to 1400, 1050, 700 or 350ma per light. Thing is the lower you drop the current the lower the light output and that kind of defeats the object of having a CREE T6 in the 1st place, and you're limiting current twice which is inefficient

Am struggling to rationalize how tillson managed to connect 2 x 2-LED CREE T6s and a magicshine rear light off a single max 3A 9V buck converter. The single LEDs in each 2-LED unit must be current-limited by the driver board to draw no more than 700mA each or the 3A max rating of the converter would be exceeded and yet they are run on all modes including brightest mode which would usually draw 1400mA per LED (2800mA per light). Something just doesn't add up .

 

[Old_Dave]

Any ideas ?

Easiest =

 

[103Alex1]

Is that called a terminal block ? Do you just connect the main wire in one side and several wires out of adjacent modules on the other side then ? (Have never used these)...

 

[Old_Dave]

A couple of different methods..

Cut 1 segment of the strip, stuff all the wires into it and tighten the screws, or use several segments (1 for each circuit) fit the main power into side A terminal 1 and then loop into terminal 2 ....3.....4.. and so on, side B will be for each circuit 1..2..3..4

In an ideal world each circuit should have its own fuse.. so out of the contact strip into fuse and then onto where ever its going.

 

[103Alex1]

A couple of different methods..

Cut 1 segment of the strip, stuff all the wires into it and tighten the screws, or use several segments (1 for each circuit) fit the main power into side A terminal 1 and then loop into terminal 2 ....3.....4.. and so on, side B will be for each circuit 1..2..3..4

In an ideal world each circuit should have its own fuse.. so out of the contact strip into fuse and then onto where ever its going.

I'd struggle to get 2 12AWG wires into one segment hole let alone 6 ... so I still need to get 6 loop wires into segment A hole to loop into

1 to 2
1 to 3
1 to 4

etc.

.... or just one from 1 to 2 then another from 2 to 3 and so on like that ...

Do the loop wires need to be rated as highly as the supply wires or they can be thinner wires (presumably carrying current and the controller is drawing 30A ? )

There are 2 wires - the black and the red ... is a separate identical block used for each of them ? Trying to visualize ....

I could use a fuse block I guess as a neat way of routing the loop wires through fuses ?

 

[Old_Dave]

12AWG

If you use a cable / wire of the correct thickness for the total amount of current required (+ a bit) then you will see that 12g is wayyyyyyyyyyyy OTT

1 to 2
1 to 3
1 to 4

No.. 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4 and so on.

Do the loop wires need to be rated as highly as the supply wires

Yes.. just to keep it simple, same size supply to strip and loops

There are 2 wires - the black and the red

The reason for using the contact strip is so that each circuit can be easily fused / separated / isolated / neatness. the black wires can either be done the same or just joined together as one ... what ever.

I could use a fuse block I guess as a neat way of routing the loop wires through fuses

Yes that's another option.. there are many ways of skinning a cat, as long as its a safe way (circuit on 1 fuse or each circuit) and the end result looks tidy then the method really doesn't matter

 

[103Alex1]

Quick question .... if to make life simple I run a separate supply to each light over its own DC-DC (the cost is negligible) then is this going to prevent me controlling bringing them on via a single switch (which is whole point of the exercise) ?

If you use a cable / wire of the correct thickness for the total amount of current required (+ a bit) then you will see that 12g is wayyyyyyyyyyyy OTT

I used this coz d8veh said it was better than 14AWG for the battery to controller lead for the size of controller and battery I am using . It is making it hard to wire up for multiple supplies now I've decided to do that. So do I need to downrate my wiring gauge now on account of wanting to take additional circuits off ?

Otherwise I'm going to need connector block with decent sized terminal holes

 

[Old_Dave]

if to make life simple I run a separate supply to each light over its own DC-DC (the cost is negligible) then is this going to prevent me controlling bringing them on via a single switch

Yes ... in short , longer answer is that the wiring can be altered to do what you need.

I used this coz d8veh said it was better than 14AWG

Yes... but we are not supplying the controller / motor which needs lots of Amps that's the main circuit which is quite ok, we are just tapping off of it.

 

[103Alex1]

Yes... but we are not supplying the controller / motor which needs lots of Amps that's the main circuit which is quite ok, we are just tapping off of it.

In my head the main circuit is what feeds into one side of the block and will have to come out of the other side also - and there is a 12AWG wire feeding this because at the moment that is the only supply (to the controller).

Think I phrased my question confusingly - I am assuming the "tapping" occurs by way of the loop wires coming out of the hole that this 12AWG main supply wire goes into .. and hence the question do the loop wires have to be the same as the main 12AWG wire carrying the supply we are tapping ...

I am figuring not from what's above ? (So the hole 1 has incoming 12AWG and 1st thinner loop wire to hole 2 etc.) ....

 

[Alan Quay]

Personally, I would use chocolate block as a last resort. Soldering would be better, crimping better still.

As I know you don't have a crimper, then I suggest this:
Cut the 12 AWG between batt and controller, and slip some heat shrink tubing over. Solder 12 AWG's back together, with a smaller 'tapping' wire connected. Ensure that solder joint is good, and heat shrink this all together. Take tapping wire to a fuse(s) and from there to dc-dc converter(s).

Note that tapping wire prob only needs to carry a small current, so only needs to small.

When soldering, the joint should be mechanically sound before you solder it. I.e, make sure to bare enough copper so you can twist together tightly before soldering.

 

[103Alex1]

OK this starting to make sense working things through ... have to agree on the chocolate boxes - I had in mind something like a block with solder terminals (see other additional circuits thread post with question about BUS blocks, which I thought might be a solution after hours of trawling google searches looking for ideas !... if they had solder terminals at any rate)

I guess I don't even need to cut the 12AWG, could just expose section by removing insulation and solder the tap wire to the main wire by wrapping around as a T-join and covering with Silweld like I did on double-throttle construction job (CST - it's all working thread) ? Can I take 5-6 separate tap wires off the same battery to controller wire like this (as that's what's likely to be needed) ? Will it affect the current flow to the motor messing about to this extent ?