Still got plenty of leds and reflectors
had a few mails paying but cant put a stw name to them so if you want some then mail me
stayhigh - What type of drill bit did you use to drill the two holes in the black plastic cover for the LEDs, I want to go down this route but need to buy a suitable drill bit?
thesurfbus
Flicker ... just for info, the switch will operate off/high/low (or low/high/off depending on which way you wire it), but can't be set up for off/low/high with the normal switch. The centre position of the switch isn't connected to anything and that gives "high" with this driver.
StayHigh.
I see from your pics on page 20, that you appear to be using the half clamp and rubber ring for a handle bar mounting solution.
How is that wokring out ?.
🙂
Finally picked up my trout pack from the office - thanks so much trout.
Such tiny LEDs. I wonder if I could upgrade my Joystick maxx to use one of these instead of the P4....
Here are some beam shots from my ride to work last night. The quality isnt great as its a camera phone but you get the idea.
Low beam
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Full beam
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thesurfbus: I used a 20mm flat wood drill bit to do the holes in the plastic bezel. Its kinda fan shaped with a point sticking out. I had considered getting a cone shaped one but the flat bit was to hand at the time.
IIRC on CK's light the holes are chamfered which I think looks neater b ut not sure what would give you that finish. I only have access to a cordless power drill but I imagine a pillar drill would also give a better finish.
Luminous: The bar mount seems to work ok. It was used like that for a short ride and seems stable enough however the light is currently helmet mounted (cateye helmet mount)which is very good.
Anybody tried mobile phone batteries for something like this.
Four batteries strung together would be small still, even six together would be small.
I presume a charger would charge them up.
surfbus, I'm going to make holes in the plastic front too, was thinking of drilling them out roughly then filing/sanding down to a smoother finish. I'm making this to see where I'm going, not to look at, so not too fussed.
going to make a start on this this weekend! not got the driver kit yet but will cut the case down, drill holes etc.
All bits arrived safely, just need to sort the box, batteries, soldering, etc. Thank you very much troutie and BCT for all your efforts helping us all.
Bobblehat......Cheers for the heads up. I'm considering wiring it up to give Hi/med/low and off using two switches. I'm looking to use the setup for commuting, as well as leaping about like a damn fool in Delamere forest 😀 , so the three settings could come in handy.
I'm planning on implementing this using two switches as when racing its the only option and you don't want to turn it off accidentally!
Sorry flicker ... but even with 2 switches, I can't think of a way of doing high/med/low using the 3 way on/off/on switch! You can do med/high/low (or low/high/med) easy enough and have a separate switch on the battery lead somewhere to do the "off".
If you look at the schematic I posted [url= http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=657480 ]here[/url], well one half of it anyway, you can see the med/full/low set up (I called it low/full/dim - same thing!)
With the switch we are using (Maplin or Rapid or Farnell etc) the centre position can not be connected to anything, there is no connector that connects to the "common" when the actuator is in the centered position.
If you have figured a way around this then please post as it would make a lot of people happy on this thread!
You could easily do it with a 3 way rotary switch ...... or with a 4 way rotary switch of suitable power rating, you can do the on/off as well as high/med/low (or low/med/high!)
Trout + BCT, emails sent.
Might have to call into maplins tomorrow for a hammond case, although i'm tempted to dig though the scrap box at work for some billet to mill into a case 😀
Finally gave my light a test on thursday night and it worked a treat. It ran for over an hour on 8x old 2000mah batteries i had kicking around, right up until i ran out of talent on some steps 🙂
I fell forward and managed to bend the 2.1mm power connector and broke it, maybe flying leads would be better.
Oh, and my 4 way 18650 holder has arrived so cheers for that.
I bought the wrong case, it's slightly too small for the heatsink, so I either chop it or return it, but feeling lazy....so most likely will chop 2mm off the heat sink and do my best with that.
Trout and BCT, just wanted to thank you guys for the effort you've put in. I finally managed to get out and use mine Friday night. Compared to the Niteflux Photon 4 I've been using it's a whole world of difference!
Cheers 🙂
What case did you buy, Quirrel?
While waiting for silicone to dry on the dip/main pair of lights, I started on the Dynamo light .... Boy! It's so much quicker doing it again once you've done one before!
+1 filtertips ... big thanks to Troutie and BCT(Stephen). 😀
Anyone got a plastic end cap either open or closed one off a Hammond case going spare? Cash waiting 😉
Hi,
Been keeping an eye on this thread for a while now as quite fancy giving this a go.
Trout could I please get a LED kit and BCT could I please get one of your kits and a 3 way holder (4 way if that's all that is left).
I'll send emails to back this up, but if you could let me know how much I owe both of you and I'll get the payments sent to your paypal accounts.
Many Thanks
Kev
My case has two plastic ends, quite small and the two reflectors fit in ok, might just use it.
Will the two LED stars fit in it ... side by side .... they are just a little bigger than the reflectors?
bobblehat - Member
Anyone got a plastic end cap either open or closed one off a Hammond case going spare? Cash waiting
You can get the end bezels from Farnells, the link below is for solid black bezels
http://uk.farnell.com/hammond/1455cplbk/enclosure-1455-bezels-black/dp/1415009
Guys my experience with having two switches on the end of the can for power/mode is that if you use the same type of switch, it can be confusing!!
Thanks nm .... looks like they don't keep stock, but can get them in with a 14 day lead time ...... best offer I've had yet! I'll see if I know anyone that orders from Farnell .... I think the postage/minimum order would kill the deal for 2/4 end caps from a punter like me!
No switches on my cans (cases), just one pigtail coming out of each light. Switches go the bars next to my thumbs. The on/off for battery will go near the battery probably ..... if I use one. The thumb switches can be configured for off/high/mid (without battery switch) or dim/high/mid (with battery switch). I might go for off/high/mid initially ..... because ......
..... I'm working on an option to give off/mid/high ... from one toggle switch! Or ... if you don't mind a separate power switch, you could go dim/mid/high. More on this when I've confirm it's feasible, waiting for a guy to get back to me.
Bit puzzled here Quirrel the heatsinks I sent out were a little over sized as just rough cut and would need finetuning to fit in the hammond box .
😆 This thread just keeps going 😆
yes just trim the ali angle. i also had to file my leds a tiny bit to fit.
Quirrel you have the right box, you just need to file the heatsink down a bit to take account of the bits inside the box the screws go into. I've also had to file the stars down. Didn't quite get the holes mm perfect as I was rushing with a borrowed drill. Getting there though! Just waiting for the driver kit and then the batteries from dx and we are away.
Assuming all requests result in payment I'm now out of 4-way holders so only have 2-way and single holders left. Only got 2 of the single holders, still plenty of the two-way ones though.
For those who don't want to scroll a few pages back, the single holders are £2.25, twin are £1.75. Drivers are £5.20, the full kit including switch and power leads is £8.
Postage is £1 for drivers or the kit alone, £1.50 for holders and £2 for holders and the kit.
For those wondering about alternatives to the 2.5mm power plug, how about something like:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Cables-Connectors/Connectors-Audio-Video/DIN/Plastic-locking-DIN-connectors/74883
Only problem is that they only have the 4-way readily available. I'd suspect these aren't water proof but should stand a few splashes.
BCT any news on the Drivers for the Lumi can conversion?
Speshpaul - it's not the drivers that are the problem, I have plenty of those, it's getting heatsinks made that I'm struggling at! It is looking like I can't get them done at work so I need to find another way to get them machined.
Ok BCT, but might want to comment on the Lumi thread.
Whats the brief for the heat sink, as an alternative is it something that could be turned up easily?
Mine was a very tight fit, I had to file the stars, and the bolt heads connecting them to the heatsink - and herein lay my problem. once fitted and tightened up i had to take a tiny bit off the bolt head, and also trimed the insulating washer and i think I must have nicked the edge of the washer and created the smallest bridge across there, but it was enough!
Everything else worked fine, I had properly fitted the led end, but loosllely fitted the driver components, and they all tested fine. Only when I screwed it all together - it didnt work properly (lights dim and switch not doing anything). Turns out, as Blackcat mentioned, that I was shorting out as soon as I screwed on the backplate, it created a circuit between the power socket outer and the case which was now connected to the LEDs. I didnt have a mulimeter at the time of assembly, just trusted to close inspection of everything, so inevitably failed. Definately worth borrowing one to do this build! Anyway, Im going to re-build this week, so hopefully it will finally get to see the dark of a night ride by the weekend. Thanks to Blackcat for all the help on this one!
And how about a roll-call of all those finished, how many are out there now? Look forward to joining you.
See the rains finally arrived and it's time to check how sealed my light is now. I was going to do the jug of water test but bottled it. I will try and get out this week in the rain but it will depend on my toe getting a wee bit better.
BCT
Parts arrived today. Thank you 🙂
Just found a problem where not all Paypal notifications are making it to my email account - they aren't even making it to my spam folder so no idea what is going on. I was relying on the emails for addresses etc. I've tried to check back through my Paypal history to make sure I've not missed anyone but as this contains all my eBay orders as well it is possible I have overlooked someone.
If you've not received your stuff (bearing in mind the last time I posted anything before tonight was Friday) then please let me know and I'll look in to it.
trout do you have any extra reflectors that i can buy as i have damaged one of mine (melted it a little with a soldering iron) . I will also have another kit off you if you have one. As i would like another go and try to not make it look like a five year old had made it.
Blackcat - not received mine but if you posted it on friday I wouldn't expect it before today.
My top tip to anyone yet to commence building is to take time to accurately drill the holes for the stars in the alu L piece. Mine were about a mm out but thats enough to cause a few headaches!
Tell us more bigjim?
I drilled one of the outer holes too far inboard by a mm or so, so had to file the stars a bit where they meet, and do a bit of cunning redrilling of the dodgy hole with the star in place which was a bit scary. I would have flipped the L piece over and started again, but I'd already done a worse job on that side 😆
Just doing it in a rush without thinking it through properly as i had borrowed a drill for the weekend, I should have used a centrepunch to help guide the drill bit but I don't have one. If I was to do it again I'd get it right though. Its OK, just slightly asymetrical.
Yeah! I see!
I'm using 20mm ali channel that is a very tight fit in the case and the LEDs needed trimming top and bottom slightly to stop them catching on the edge of the case when I slid the channel in. Also, to stop the screw holes being too close to the edge of the ali, I trimmed the points off the stars where the two touch over the centre hole. No problem centering the reflectors and there is still enough spacing between them after trimming the stars.
I wonder if it would be a good idea to spin the star around 30 deg and mount them flat to flat in the middle instead of point to point? It would mean drilling 4 holes instead of 3, but would keep the holes well away from the edges? Still have to trim the top and bottom a tad (the little points near the screw indentations that would stick over the edges) in this 20 mm height case.
They aren't load bearing holes so I was comfortable with the couple of mm of alu left outside the screw hole, its enough to allow the screw to hold the star in place. If I decide to make another I'd probably either be more careful or think of something more cunning like you suggest.
I also had a brain meltdown and marked & drilled the holes in the case in the wrong place first time round, so I'll need to araldite them closed, in the mean time I shall refer to them as case ventilation aperatures , or CVAs, and make them a feature of the light and charge more accordingly 😆
Well I finished all the electrical bits at the weekend, just in time for a quick ride on the Sunday evening. It's a great little light, thanks to troutie and BCT for taking the time to put the kits together and letting us mortal lightbuilders have a go at building a cracking little light for not much money!
Some obligatory build pics:
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The full kit I used (minus a few Tamiya electrical connections and the 5Amp cable I used). Silicone was the Maplin stuff, a bit expensive but saved me searching around elsewhere for it. Didn't use any of the AAA thermal stuff, just copper slip.
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I decided to cut down the L-shaped heatsink from troutie to make it a tight fit to reduce the need for the extra screws on the bottom, adn therefore hopefully improve weather-proofness. Had to file off a little of the metal tabs inside the hammond box and a little more off the side of the heatsink to allow the wires going to the LED some space.
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Had the same problems as mentioned on this page in that the holes for the LED screws were slightly off so had to file a mm off the LED stars, but no hassle. Used some offcuts from RC car spares i had lying around for the little screws and then cut a bit of plastic for the larger centre screw- not exactly pretty but does the job perfectly for me, and the uglyness is hidden behind the reflectors!
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Going to use it as a headtorch to start with, so just a simple inner tube between the helmet and box so that I don't melt my helmet, and then 2 zip ties around the top. Feels pretty solid, but obviously not good if you need to take it on and off, or to find the right position to start with. Using it this way also means I don't need to cut the box down so it is more stable on the helmet. Another plus is that the heatsink is not attached to anything currently so there is a bit of space inside the box for it to dissipate the heat.
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The backplate. I didn't take a picture of the inside of this but because i got one of the larger switches off BCT, I didn't think there would be enough space to attach the heatsink, switch and power plug to the same plate.
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The full build as it stands. I am testing all my old batteries to see if they will provide a long enough run time. Inside the makeshift inner tube bag here is a 6 cell 2000mA Ni-Cd battery which gives about 8.4V hot off the charger, although it is only rated at 7.2V, so I am expecting it to cut off before it is anywhere near fully discharged. Fortunately I have a 7 cell Ni-Cd which gives 8.4V (9.6V off charger), with an expected runtime of 2 1/2 hours on high I think, which is plenty of time.
And finally some beamshots. Only taken with a point and shoot in manual mode so isn't exact but gives a fairly good visualisation of the beam. both taken in the dark with no other background light/ moonlight. Because I used a garden chair they are also not straight, but you get the idea!:
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High setting
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Low setting (using the larger resistor)
It gives a pretty good wide beam, and a concentrated spot without being too bright, and definitely enough light to be used on its own. Unfortunately when i went to test it on Sunday it was raining- I havn't finished sealing it up yet so tried to keep it covered. But when it was used in the rain it worked perfectly, with no issues. Once I have finished off the last few little things it looks to be a great cheap, bright, weatherproof light.
Thanks to everyone on here who has contributed their knowledge, time and patience. And for those who havn't finished it, or started it, get on with it. It's good fun and feels great using a light you have put together yourself, and highly addictive- I have already begun plans for another project!!!
Good write up ds!
Can't add my name to the finished list yet. Slow progress .... that's me really to a T. 😳
Not fully built but tested and working, checked for short circuits, joining these two sections together temporarily and powered them up with a bench supply. Heat not too bad even on the bench at 970mA.
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Next step .... put them into the cases with some cpu heat sink paste and some silicone for the front and rear and screw the lot up (if you get my meaning .... nervous ha! ha!).
I have to admire the guys like Troutie and CK and lipseal that can do this all in one night (or nearly!) 😯
Just got to get the mounting and the remote switches sorted and I'll have a high/dip/high+dip beam bike light system!
Dynamo light is progressing well in the meanwhile.
you wiring yours to the mains bobblehat? 😛
😛 ... gotta get those extra lumens out ... if only for a short while! 😆
Edit: ... I intend to ride in a circle of approx 30m radius ... .that's the length of my longest mains extension lead! 
lol
postman left me a note today so can't pick up the package till tomorrow 🙁
This thread is great, there's so much info on it! The finished lights look awesome.
[b]Trout[/b]: Do you have any leds/reflectors left. You mentioned you might on the last page.
Cheers in advance
Hey bobblehat, have you got a pic of the back of your back panels if you did your cut out plastic for heatsink thing?
Troutie, BCT.....
kits received, many thanks for your efforts.
now to sort a case, hammond or do i mill something out of the scrap box at work..... hmmmm
Webbo
Yep got plenty of leds and reflectors if you want some .
By my reckoning there are between 50 and 60 of these lights being constructed with the amount of leds I have sent out .
Cool 8)
Not much to show bigjim ... I took no photo of the rectangular hole in the solid plastic end cap. Here's the assembled back. I've indicated the area of plastic cut out.
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If I'd have had more skeleton bezels like I used on the front, I'd have no need to cut the rectangle out the end cap to AAA the ali piece Troutie supplied to the ali back plate. As you can see, it's a neat arrangement. The ali back plate (seen on the right) is AAA'd to the black plastic end cap.
As I said before, if anyone is going to do this, I suggest cuting Trouties piece of ali down a bit so that its about 13mm - 15mm from top to bottom .... it means the hole you cut out is just 13mm+ to 15mm+ and leaves a nice little plastic edge top and bottom to put some AAA around ... keeping things watertight.
Trout,
Sweet, nice one chap. Would you prefer direct mail about the purchase rather than on here? You must be snowed under with requests for your knowledge, what with being a resident light expert on here and the MTBR forum and the number of DIY lights popping up. Thinking of that.....is there a danger we'll contribute to light pollution? (The last comment was only joking, this thread is argument free so far!)
By the way what external batteries are people using? Is a mail to smudge required?
Drop me a mail if you want the troutie part of the kit Webbo .
I purchased a few more leds and reflectors from Trout to upgrade some old lights, same as before just a slightly different way of fixing the reflectors by glueing them into holders instead of the stars. I'll let the pictures tell the story.
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nice work ck. After I had already positioned everything I thought it would have been neat to fit the reflectors flush into the drilled plastic front and put the perspex on the front of the black plastic end cap, but maybe next time.
How can I test my soldering on the LEDs? I don't want to connect a 18650 directly, but an AA should be OK?
bigjim .... I thought about that too, but how do you seal the perspex on the front and make it look neat?
Don't think an AA will show any light, so unless you are putting a multimeter or milli-ammeter in the circuit, you won't be able to test anything.
How about troutie's method of direct drive? Whatever battery you're going to use plus a resistor. E.g. 9.6V battery - 6V (Vf *2) = 3.6V. Test current say ... approx 50mA, so 3.6V/0.05 = 72Ohm (68 ohm prefered value).
I cut the perspex to the same size and shape as the inside bit of the plastic panel, looks ok with the corners and edges sanded smooth. Would secure it by drilling for the screws and maybe a thin layer of clear sealant around the edge. With the depth of the perspex inside the black plastic end there are a few mm between the edge of the reflectors and the outside of the black plastic end piece, thought that might affect the spread of the beam a little. I think I'm thinking about it too much though!
I don't have resistors to hand and might as well wait for the driver and battery - was just looking for a quick check after the soldering. My soldering iron tip struggled to melt the solder on the star connections as the heat just got sucked away, so I used the edge of the thicker part of the iron to do it, just wanted to check the connection was good, it looks ok.
A tip that helps soldering the stars when on the heatsink
warm every thing up with a hair dryer or heat gun if you have one
I'm excited about the build now........
A quick battery question though: What's the current thinking on this? I'm thinking of 4 x 18650's in a holder. Any idea what the formulas to work out the output/runtime/brightness?
Keep up the good work
Webbo - people seem to be having some success with 2x 18650s, my drivers aren't ideal for this to be honest. I'm looking at options though.
Ideally, you want either three 18650s or 8x AAs as a minimum. To work out a rough idea of run-time, calculate the pack size in Watt-hours, so battery capacity (i.e. 2.2Ah) multiplied by the cell voltage multiplied by the number of cells. So 8x AAs at 2.4Ah would be 8 x 1.2 x 2.4 = 23Wh. The power drain is about 7W on full or about 3.5W on half power. Divide your Wh figure by 7 for hours run-time on full or by 3.5 for run time on half power, so our 23Wh would give just over 3 hours on full or about 6.5 hours on half power.
Finally got it sorted!! Finished my (2nd :oops:)rebuild last night and its amazing. Only managed a back-garden test, but its an incredible light output, though as some have mentioned it looks to be quite narrow. May get out tonight, but havent got the helmet mount sorted yet(using heavy duty velcro directly stuck on the bottom). Proper kid-with-new-toy feeling to this - magic. I will try and post some pics (if I can figure that one out) when I do.
Likely to be ordering from Digikey tomorrow - if anyone wants to put requests in for 18650 holders please do so quickly so I can judge numbers. I'll buy a few spares anyway for latecomers.
BCT,
As per my mail, can you stick me down for 1x4 cell holder please.
Let me know how much it is.
Cheers
Bobblehat.....It's ok, I know the high setting will have to be in the middle position, should have been more specific when writing my post, sorry :).
Mr Trout.....parcel arrived today, thank you very much. Even though I knew the dimensions of the parts, and I've seen the pictures in this thread and others, I didn't appreciate the size, they're tiny!. Very impressive output from something so small.
Anyone glued the stars onto the heatsink using AAA rather than screwing on? I know screws are the belts and braces approach, but I think the large surface area of the stars and the light weight will mean that they won't fall off, or am I going to be the guinea pig?
TSB yep done it loads of time with no problems at all .
AAA saving tip here mix it up on the heat sink where you are going to stick the stars and warm it up with the hair dryer helps it flow and set quicker .
I wonder if you could do something [url= http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=498270 ]like this [/url]in one of these hammond boxes...
You mean like [url= http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=6627564&postcount=157 ]this?[/url]
or
[url= http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=6292902&postcount=164 ]this?[/url]
Hi all,
I've got my driver and kit from BCT, cheers BCT for being so prompt.
Now this is probably dead easy and obvious, but being a bit of an electronic numpty it's defeating me! I'm a little confused by the wiring of the plug, there are 6 pins but by by reckoning only three are needed. Can anybody explain/show the wiring?
Cheers in advance
webbo its a double thingy switch wotsit, I think you can ignore one row of the three pins
Just to reiterate what BCT said a couple of pages back - if you are sitting waiting for the driver kit for ages - check with BCT that he got notification of your paypal payment. I'd been sitting waiting patiently for 2 weeks before checking, and received it next day after sorting it out, so check if it seems wrong.
Bigjim, cheers for the swift response.
I see!
Webbo your kit will be in the mail today if I can hobble down the post office ( knelt on a nail yesterday and have a crocked knee now )
If I cant them wifey will post it tomorrow .
Trout - No worries if it's not till next week, I'm not going to have a chance to build it before next week anyway.
Hope your knee gets better soon.
CK ..... do you have to shave anything off the holders or are they 20mm across the flats? Have you tried any newer xp-g holders that are available now? I think they are round and 21.6mm.
Just in case, what's the original part # ... I know you posted it somewhere way, way back ... but it's so well buried 🙁
Thanks Webbo pain killers and alcohol are working
posted today along with a couple of others too .
daft question #1 : on black cat's cables, is the white marked wire the one that connects to the centre tip connection?
CK ..... do you have to shave anything off the holders or are they 20mm across the flats? Have you tried any newer xp-g holders that are available now? I think they are round and 21.6mm.Just in case, what's the original part # ... I know you posted it somewhere way, way back ... but it's so well buried
Not tried any XPG holders, these ones are from Carclo for their 20 mm optics(part number for black ones 10043). When I say these are a perfect fit to the case I mean they are a perfect fit, if you look closely you can just make out an impression of the end plate self tapping screw in the holder. There not quite a perfect fit for the Regina but a few dabs of silicone and you have a set of drop in reflectors.
I wonder if you could do something like this in one of these hammond boxes...
bigjim, hears mine
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Its very bright but a bit too floody and of course very power hungry. Aparently the XPE can give these optics a bit more throw. Trout, if you have a triple XPE lying around I wouldnt mind send some cash your way.
Thanks CK .... yes I can see the self tapper marks now you've pointed them out. Useful to know if the Reginas turn out to be a bit narrow for my "Dip" beam.
That's a nice set of parts for the double-triple! Must get hot!