[Closed] Bother and drat! -homebrew light help required

Sorry I can't help you. Thought this was going to have beer content.

I don't think I do, but I 'might' have one of those 'teapot' drivers that I bought but never used in the garage.

No promises, but I'll have a look when I get home this evening.
If I don't respond by 8/9pm tonight, give this thread a bump, as I'll have forgotten......

Or you could look at getting a driver from somewhere like TaskLED - the B3Flex driver I think would work, depending on what battery you are using.
They are a lot more sophisticated than the Teapot drivers in terms of changing settings etc. which may be an advantage or not, depending on what you want.

This is the guy who used to sell them, can't see any on there though. I had a few off him over the years: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/teap0t42
As stumpy says you could go for a more sophisticated TaskLED driver (I use them alot and they are brilliant) but they are quite expensive (c£40 with shipping form the US). You'd probably need to put a momentary switch in there too.

What voltage battery are you using and what LED's/how many?

well i want it to work. other than that i dont know what i can have!

on and off would be a good start!

i use 7.4 v RC car batterys (mainly as its what i had at the time and i`ve yet to find a need to change)

if you do have a driver that would be ace.

leds are 2 xpg going on the original thread...

oh and cheap is good. i dont need fancy just working - ideally a half/reduced power setting is all i need

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/diy-700-lumen-batteries-inside-light ]original link[/url]

Van Halen - Member

if you do have a driver that would be ace.

Like I say - no guarantees, but I'll have a look.

I know I've got some of the Taskled BFlex drivers from ages ago when I was all set to do my own lights, but ran out of machining help for the cans when I moved companies.
I can't remember if they are BFlex or B2Flex but if I can't find the Teapot ones, I'll have a dig around for the Taskled ones. Only issue there is that my Wife has had a 'tidy up' at some point, which means I can never find stuff.... 🙄

I also think I have one of those lying around.

I also have a light I bought off stevied a while back that I no longer use. Failing getting a direct replacement driver the driver board from that could be useful.

haha i've moved and renovated twice in the time ive had this light - if i had a spare i'd have no chance of finding it so i appreciate the sentiment if nothing else!!

If no-one else comes through then I have some of these DX drivers that I have successfully used in a number of single and double XP-G lights over the years. Will probably boost your output over the teapot driver as well! 😆

http://www.dx.com/p/18v-5w-cree-circuit-board-for-flashlights-16-8mm-5-5mm-26110#.WBtnsskempo

It's good to know it might not be game over for it just yet. If I do use an alternative driver I might need some help on how to wire it up! I can see power into that but no power out. Also would it do a half power setting?

Thanks for all the help!

Sorry, it was only on subsequent reading that I noticed you want 100%/50% settings. Presumably that's what the existing driver gave you?

The driver I posted is single 1.25A output only which is probably higher than the existing driver I am guessing so you would have the advantage of a brighter light with even more throw. The Regina reflectors in trouties light were known for a pretty tight beam which is probably why you like it as a helmet light.

Connecting is very simple (if you can solder and have a small tip). The red and black wires in the picture are the LED +ve and -ve. These are very thin as standard on the driver so I would recommend de-soldering these and using the connection wires from the old driver.

Battery connections are the reverse side of the board and are the plated areas. The middle one +ve and the outer ring -ve.

There are loads of these sort of torch drivers on the Chinese websites so if this one doesn't suit, I'm sure there must be something we can find that has multiple modes. Hopefully though, one of the earlier posters will be able to come up with a replacement teapot driver which should be straight swap.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how it goes or you can always PM me.

Blooming heck one of those kits still nearly working .

I just checked in the garage and have 2 of those drivers sitting around
you can have them

trout, you sir are a gent. I'll email you.

i love this torch. i actually danced around the kitchen when it worked for teh first time- i was so chuffed. it has sentimental value! if i hadnt been a dick it would still be going strong.

i`ve put a cateye waterproof power connector on it so it doest have a fixed cable and now its perfect, battery lives in my bag and i connect it up quickly when need it, its lightweight, low profile, bright with just enough flood, velcros nicely to my pisspot. it could maybe be a bit more floody but i fail to see how anyone needs any more brightness??

cheers all!

Anybody else like happy endings? 😆

trout, actually i cant email you, i cant see an email!

can you email me on markenaumann at googlemail dot com and i'll pay for postage and a few beers for you!

mark

Sounds like you are sorted which is good news because I couldn't find any of the drivers so must have used them or blown them up.

Trout - my Lumicycle converted cans are still going strong with the BlackCat drivers and the Cutter xpg LED boards.
They aren't looking terribly bright compared to the latest offerings, but can't really afford to replace them.

just had a flick through the old thread
6 years on how many are still working ?

I know of 3 people still using the Altair lights I made back in 2010 🙂

All the XP-G lights I built for friends and family in 2010/11 are still going strong. A mate is still using his quad XP-G light and a single XP-G headlight. I have passed my quad XP-G bar light and double XP-G helmet light down to my grandson. All use the 1.25A single mode torch driver I linked to earlier. I built all the battery packs as well.

Not worth building anything now though because I can buy a complete light with battery pack and charger for less than it costs me for the individual components. That's probably why troutie (and others) have given up as well.

I'm still using my homebrew headtorch which uses XR-Es and built just after those came out (I had some of the first batch, imported from Australia!) Not quite sure when that dates it to - I guess 2006 or 2007?

Ok Mark .
posted drivers today also with a little surprise for you to have a play with

haha this could be fun. this thread could have legs so dont run off chaps...

thanks trout!

Yay! Night rides are back on.

Thanks all!

Thursday 'diy day' will involve a trip to maplins for a switch and bits for the other light...

B-) I'm so rubbish at soldering even the wife can't stand the expletives... Haha

what power connectors are you guys using? i pillaged one off my old halogen cateyes for the 'trouteapot' special so i can unplug the headunit from the power cable. (really bloody useful)

Unfortunalty i`ve binned the rest of the cateye units so i can pillage another waterproof power socket/connector. I cant seem to see anything suitable?

cheers!

I use the 2.5mm DC panel mount sockets. Had no problems with them in 6 years
Like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/25-x-55mm-single-hole-fixing-dc-socket-jk10l

trout - Member
just had a flick through the old thread
6 years on how many are still working ?

Not from then, but earlier I think. I still have two quad LED lights that you built for me to run off an original Lumicycle battery - machined round alloy housing, big black momentary switch. Still going strong as back-up / guest lights though I now have a later eff off Lumicycle main bar light.

I also have the quad spot in a Lumicycle halogen can I made myself way back before even that...

Steve, thanks but how well do they work when used in the pouring rain? Won't the water do bad things? The one I have has a rubber o ring and cover to prevent water ingres?