DIy 700 lumen batteries inside light

Here is an idea for anyone out there who wants to tinker with a home brewed light .

not too sure as to cost but it will make a great light to rival the exposure stuff .

rounding up stuff in my garage and from early diy builds .

list of components needed.and approx price

2 XPG leds on 20 mm stars £10
2 Ledil Regina reflectors . £ 5
1 hammond aluminium box from halfords £8
1 driver from teapot on ebay aka black cat tech on here .£6
switch £2
connector .£2
7.4 volt Li Ion and charger .Dont know yet but about £50ish
small piece of clear plastic
small piece of aluminium for heat sink .

drill and files
hack saw .
bit of thermal paste .

Total probably under £100 for a killer no wires light .with a beam up there with the exposure stuff .

No I am not selling it as a kit but will be building one over the next week or so

How much does smudges 7.4v Li ion batteries & charger cost?

Snaps Dont know about the 2 cell ones he may be along soon and tell us .

I do know he also has a few 15 volt Li Polymer packs which I think will fit in .

are you selling these with just the battery to connect??

RR no it was just an idea to put to interested parties as an easy way to build a killer light with no special tools .

I am going to build this one because I have the bits and will take a few pics that is all .

and will probably sell it when done but dont have the time to do more as will be busy with the Lib .

Trout has anybody gotten hold of any samples of the new Cree XM leds yet – 160lm per watt 350ma – 2A ??

Stuey
Not that i know about release date is late nov I believe I have no plans to aquire any yet will let others do the early work and see what general opinions are.

lots of lumens but also lots of amps and a huge chip so will need a large optic for a good beam .

My gut feeling is it is not going to be a good bike light more aimed at fixed lighting and leccy saving

poo – my search for a cheap efficient long throw continues 😉

trout, I maybe interested in buying this off you if you do decide to sell it.

email in profile if so

Ta

Pete

Hi yah, 8)

Neat light Troutie, no good without beamshots though 😉 which I guess you may well be off to getting shortly knowing you!

7.5V 2.6Ah Battery, Charger & mains lead inc postage £48 (+paypal fees)

Does need a beamshot to finish it off though

Point a camera at it once in a while while your building it would you? It looks like a nice winter project for me but im not the sharpest tool in the box at this kind of thing.

Stuey this is a cheap long throw

Can do the beam shots cos i have done one before and my daughter uses it.

Hmm… would be interested in trying this as a project as well. Could you take some photos while making it that will explain the more difficult things to a layman like myself?

OK will get all David bailley later today .

Ta, plus also, where on earth would I buy half the stuff on that list. I can find halfords, but LEDs on stars?
How is this one mounted as well?
(ive got a feeling you’re going to wish you’d never started this 🙂 )

Why did I say HALFORDS when I meant to say
Maplins.

Will make it all clear and the bits realy are easy to get .
probably will regret starting it but may be fun for a few folks to have a go .

Trouty – how many lm is your daughter’s light putting out – would it get swamped by a p7?

The cheapy P7 I tried had plenty of flood – but my bum right eye could use a bit more warning of approaching trees.

Still wondering if some Belladonna in my eyes and shades for the road may be my solution. 😉

Thanks

trout quick q not re this at all;

what’s the chances/opportunities of doing a bluetooth/Radio remote for lights?

with a helmet light it makes sense (to me) to have a bar mount remote to control it rather than fiddling around on top of my head/on battery pack to find switch and adjust output.

I guess it would reduce the weight of head unit for helmet mounting if the remote controlled switch was mounted on the battery as well?

Stuey
No way would it get swamped by a P 7 more like show it up as a fraudster.
it is running at 960 ma drive so on paper lumens of 700 but as the Regina reflector is real good
it punches above it weight .
probably the best 20 mm dia optic for the XPG I have seen for throw

It is possible but beyond my experience some of the electronic geeks are talking about it but
I am of the KISS principle for my lights

ok, thanks

Just had a look on cutters and an XPG on a 20 mm star is £5.85
the Regina Optic is £1.79
and 2 of each is needed .

If anyone wants to give it a go then I have an order coming in from cutters soon via fedex .
and would be happy to add a few of these to it .

please dont mail me but register you want some on here and I will tot it up and add to my order.

and please dont swamp me with requests to add lots of other stuff as I dont have time to do the sorting out .

Trout,

Could you buy all the electrical parts and put them in a jiffy bag for home assembly. 🙂

Might as well build the bugger too 😛

and would have to add TAT on 😈

would this run off a 7.4 ni cad rc pack? i`ve got them!

quite up for doing this but an electrical numpty. what does the driver do and what does one look like?!

cheers,

Can I order the stars and optics please andrewgillies
AT mac DOT com am going to give it a go. How long do the batteries last BTW? Also do you know where I can get hold of a switch on a fly lead as I am looking to use this as a helmet light and would like the switch on the end of a wire cheers.

I have a P7 Airbike light which has failed, the battery is fine so was thinking about fitting 3 XPG’s in the head unit, does anyone know if they would fit and if the driver would be sufficient (from memory I think its a 7.4V battery)?

Thanks

Doug

Van halen

it would just run but idealy need a few more volts and dont know if they would fit inside the case.

Driver here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260641549335

Some pics of the first bit done in dinner break
will explain when it is finished the fine detail.
http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/DIY%20batteries%20inside/

Put me down for the star and optic bits please, im going to have a crack at this, Ta.

Do you have a link for teapot as I’m trying to find a driver but as I’m not sure could you point me in the right direction ta.

Lipseal
it’s up there 2posts above. the bay link

Thanks thought that was for different batteries.

Hi Trout. This looks quite interesting. I’ll await the report of the full build before adding to your order for LEDs (never tried anything like this before).

Was having a look on Maplin’s website for the box. I assume its this one(although there are multiple models). From the dimensions i’m guessing the completed light will be 54 x 23 x 120. Would this be correct?

Anyone found a decent switch Ive been looking but can only find ip67 ones that are small enough on the RS web site(expensive 😯 )?

i’m just book marking this in care i get the chance to build one later in the year

is this any good ? IP67 switch not sure about current rating?

No we are looking for an on/of switch if only one light level

or three position switch if a low / hi and off is wanted.

a small toggle with a boot Would be OK

Lazy mike yes that is the correct box
might be able to cut it done a few MM in lenght

stueyI think the hole it needs is too big I’ve been looking around the 10mm mark, plus not sure if the led would work in the switch as batteries are only 7.4 v

Low and high for me, three toggle eh let the search begin.

Battery may be 15 volt Li Polymer smudge has some nice ones in stock .

but a 7.4 will do too but will dim a little as the voltage drops .

So need switch like this 3 toggle switch