DIy 700 lumen batteries inside light

pdw – is this the halogen or HID? I’ve got a solution for the halogen can with a custom heatsink but I’d also recommend running at less than 1A there anyway. For the HID I’ve just received one on loan which I’m looking in to options for.

Based on feedback I will redesign these as rectangular with one side maximum 20mm. I’ll need to have a play in my CAD package before I can confirm exact dimensions.

Troutie, payment sent for LED kit – many thanks.

BCT, could I order a driver kit please? If there’s a choice between two and three way I’d rather have a three way (insert appropriate innuendo here!), and if you haven’t already placed your order with digikey could I add a 2x 18650 holder and a 4x 18650 holder please.

Cheers guys!

In order to test the runtime of the light I take it a desk fan would provide sufficent cooling?

As a thought would copydex glue be ok to use to bond the reflectors to the LED starboards and seal around the switch & power lead plug?

On the packaging it says its a

“strong natural rubber latex based adhesive, solvent & acid free, suitable for DIY,wood, metal, plastic, touch dry in 20mins, resistant to normal washing machine cycles”

I cant link to the company website as its currently under construction but its http://www.makingdiyeasier.co.uk

One of these for me BCT please

2x 4×18650 holder – BK-18650-PC8-ND

By the way, have you used LED’s for lighting a reeftank yet…

Please change my original order for 1 to 2x 4×18650 holder – BK-18650-PC8-ND
Please.

is it possible to fit the 18650 battery pack in the hammond box so it’s an all in one unit? Looks as though it would be very close. Is the internal box dimension 20mm high? (dont have mine yet) Holder is 21.54mm, battery 18mm so may be able to shave something off to fit it in?

mau – I thought about that too. Measuring my box with a tape measure I make it 20mm inside, and putting an 18650 in there leaves about 2mm space, so I don’t think that holder would be an option for inside though I’ve not seen one in the flesh yet. The bigger problem is the width of that box would only let you put 2 batteries in side by side, so you would need a fairly long box if you wanted to run 4 18650s in it, to give space for the rest of the stuff that goes inside, unless you go for the next size of box up. So to run with 4 18650s i think it’ll be an external battery pack for me.

Well, still not sorted my problems. Light comes on (did have a poor connection in the battery pack, so that was one issue, but not the main problem) but its very weak. The 3-way switch does nothing – no change in any position, light stays on. Disconnected the A lead as suggested – no change. Run a load of diagnistic tests with a multi meter. Im sure now that all the joints are good, and that the switch is working correctly, and that there is sufficient power in (from 8 x eneloop AA’s). Output from the board is only 0.4amps so im left assuming the problem is something to do with the driver, would that be a reasonable assumption? Anything else anyone can suggest?

Hi,
I ordered a LED and driver kit.
Been reading through the thread, as far as I can tell I email and pay troutie £20 for the LED kit?
But what about the driver kit?
And finally, do I find instructions somewhere?!
Thanks

Adam …. so both Leds are lighting up OK , just at 0.4A instead of near 1A .. Yes?

You could eliminate the AA batteries as the source of the problem if you had a car battery handy …. 12 – 13V and lots of power available will not harm the driver (if connected the right way!).

Have you tried connecting the “A” pad to PWR negative. This should shut off the driver and light … if it doesn’t something is amiss with the driver.

You could ask BCT what the possibility of him accidently sending you one of his 350mA drivers was instead of the 970mA (even if very remote, I guess it has to be a possibility).

The only thing bothering me about your description of what you have so far at 0.4A is that, from what I saw of Lipseal’s light on low setting I would not describe the output as “very weak” on a setting around that sort of ampage. In fact I’d be very happy running the light at the lower setting (not sure what Lipseal’s low setting is exactly) so something just does not add up here. 0.4A and 2 * xp-g’s should still be pretty bright …. 300-ish lumens!

yes, sorry, forgot to mention i did try shorting across from A to PWR-ve, and no change. so it does sound like a driver problem. it is definately too weak to go off-road on, not good enough for an unlit road i would say.

Adam, Was the 0.4A measurement with the LEDs connected or just the short-circuit current of the driver. If there is some limitation on the power input then you’d get a higher current short-circuit than with the LEDs in the circuit. As Bob says it should still be fairly bright at 400mA.

No idea where this would come from to be honest – won’t be the 330mA driver as even a cheap meter wouldn’t be that far out. To confirm it is the 970mA driver, R2 should be marked .10 Also, check what R1 is marked – I could possibly have sent you the dim mode version by mistake but unlikely.

If you are still struggling, remind me of your address and I’ll pop another driver in the post tomorrow.

Regarding the kits, I need to finish testing tomorrow then will be able to post the kits out. As before, plug with flying lead and socket, switch with boot, driver and half-power resistors. Due to the increase in the driver cost and the more expensive switch I’ve had to put the price up to £9 delivered. If you want two kits knock a quid off the second one.

Please put your address in the Paypal message and I’d appreciate it being a gift so I don’t pay fees. Address is in my profile. I’ve got 20 kits at the moment and possibly a few more depending how many drivers I end up with.

BCT- I will take one of those kits off you unless those 20 kits you mentioned have already been reserved by others? I appreciate I am one of the later takers on this project- I don’t want to take one if others before me have been waiting.
I am at work so will send the payment later this evening.
Out of interest, why is the driver 970mA- is that a pre-assigned value based on the components used, or is that what you set it to? I was just thinking if people are finding that this light is cooling fine in the hammond box, could a higher rated driver be used, say 1200mA? I understand that the LEDs lose efficiency when they get too hot, is the concern that the driver could also overheat?

BCT I’ll take two kits please as I have two lots of LEDs coming from troutie. I will paypal you the £17 in a minute. Cheers! 8)

yes, measured with the leds connected and powered up. Measured across the led + and – pads on the driver. The R2 seems to be marked .10 (as far as my failing eyes can see). R1 seems to say 3301…would that be right?

BlackCat – Are your switches more or less the same as these maplin SPDT OnOffOn ones? . I ask because I want to replace the clicky switch on a couple of DX P7 torches I’m cutting down. If you have a boat load would it be possible to make your life even more confusing and ask for 2 more to be added to my already annoying driver & battery holder order?

Going off topic a bit, would the RS cables you are doing with this kit be suitable for a P7 running off 2x18650s or is the 1A rating too low? If so would it be possible to also add 2 more of the cable and sockets too?

If this is too annoying please just say or ignore – I have a maplin about 10 mins walk from the office, its just they charge £6 for their 2.5mm DC power cables

Thanks for your time!

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone that has contributed tecnically to this thread. Ive just built up one of these lights today, and I am pretty impressed with it so far.

Hope to have it out on the bike sometime next week for a proper test.

Can anyone tell me what the thickness of the 20mm star boards are, and what the total height is from the back of the star boards (plain side) to the front of the reflector once the Regina is mounted on top of the LED? Thanks.

according to my verniers, stars 1.6mm, reflector 15.2mm (without pins)
EDIT: my stars were purchased from ledtech but i assume they are the same.

one post per lumen

Thanks Gary … now this may sound like a mad question, but is the total height from the back of the star to the top of the Regina 16.8mm? I can’t measure this myself as I’m still waiting to get my 20mm Leds from Troutie. There might be some other factor involved … like the back of the reflector sits a bit high on the Led itself …not flat on the board …. etc. Thanks in advance.

freespace – Member
one post per lumen

LOL 😛

got my light built and i’m impressed by how bright it is. just need to seal it up to keep the weather out and i think it’s good to go. thanks all for the help.

Can we go through this again?
I have found a battery and a tin. Scrounged a bit of wire, also got some melting gear together.

Now what do I do?

TY-PHOO TEA-P0T light! Love it!

Hi Troutie … I know you’re probably been out with the hound …but when you get a chance, I emailed you asking how much I’ll owe you. Thanks, Bob.

yeah, 16.8mm total for my reflector/star bob

Thanks Gary

What switch do I need?

Can I use a sub-minature switch from maplin with rubber boot?

Sure blackcat had included one but for the life of me I can’t find it.

What resistor should I use for mid power?

Adam – Yes, that is the standard 970mA driver. Options seem to be either restricted input power for some reason or a fault on the driver. I’ll post another tomorrow once I’ve finished testing this batch.

Bigjim – Don’t you love websites that have ‘click to enlarge’ and all they do is make the background bigger? I think the only real difference to the Maplin switch is that the ones I get have an M6 thread, most are 1/4 UNF. The boots are M6 also which means they only fit the switches I get from Rapid. Also, at the moment I only have DPDT switches so slightly fatter and with a redundant pair of terminals.

Power lead is rated at 1A 12V DC in the datasheet – this seems way too conservative to me, the cable is 14/0.2 and 7/0.2 is generally rated at 1.4A. Not sure of the plug rating but I’ve seen this type running well over 1A before.

Defaultslipper – The kits go to whoever pays me first! Only a few gone so far. I should always be able to do them but I think most of the current stock of PCBs are committed so it may be 2-3 weeks before I can do more when this batch sells out. The reason for the rating is that the driver I use can only do 1A maximum, the resistor I use to set the current should give 1A but in practice it is usually slightly lower than this – you are talking a tenth of an ohm so any resistance in the PCB tracks will have an effect. I’d think that you could drive them harder in the Hammond case as long as your driver could reduce the current based on temperature to protect the LEDs when standing still, my current driver can’t go beyond 1A though.

Quirrel – Any switch would do, it will be passing about 50uA! As above, the Rapid boot won’t fit the Maplin switch though. 180k is about half power in my experience – I use 200k on the dim mode drivers but generally get about 530-540mA with that.

Other stuff before I get back to watching the GP – the Digikey order hasn’t gone in yet as I’ve been held up with the circuit I need to order parts for. Should be the next few days though. If anyone wants holders or has special requests for the kits please email me direct as it is easier to keep track of rather than wading through posts on here and possibly missing things. I do have a few leads and switches spare at the moment.

Hi Folks .
had a few mails over the weekend and sorry you have not had any replies yet . been very cold and busy

will get some replies out later today

Steven might be better if you dim it down a bit more say 400 ma
as there is not that much of a difference at the moment.

defaultslipper – there is a (second)list roughly in order of request a few pages back, the idea being that the list is copied and repasted with your own name and request each time someone adds a request, so trout and BCT don’t have to work out from individual posts. Suggest whoever put in requests since the list was last updated updates this list from its last posting with the new requests that people have put in since, trout and BCT are busy enough as it is i suspect.

BCT – thanks, I’ll email you re the power cables to keep it simpler for you. Don’t think a double pole will fit in my p7 torch so will go to maplin for those.

Troutie – YGM 🙂

defaultslipper – there is a (second)list roughly in order of request a few pages back, the idea being that the list is copied and repasted with your own name and request each time someone adds a request

Yep, think I did the last update. I was just asking whether the 20 kits BCT had built up were for existing orders that he was still waiting for payment for, or whether those 20 were now waiting for those on the list to pay to be allocated. BCT- payment sent, but will wait if others are before me on the list.

Looking forward to having a go at this sometime soon!

Trout,
I am not sure if you can help but I am wanting to fabricate my own bike lights. I have done some research but can’t seem to determine which led to buy. I was thinking xpg in white run by a bFlex. Can you cast any wisdom on this for me.

2Flash.

Hows everyone doing? anyone been out using them yet 8) I guess once youve built one you want to build another for the bars/ helmet.

Remember the clocks change this weekend 😛

some one please do a list update my heads a shed at the moment.

2Flash

Depends really on what you want, the xpg and regina build on here will take some beating as it is the best optic I have seem for the XPG for long range throw .
you may need a different set up if you want a flood

mail me if you want to discuss different options .

First batch of kits going out today – Royal Mail nearly had me putting the computer through the window last night when their website decided I’d already printed the labels so I couldn’t print them off but it sorted itself out in the end.

Still about 10 kits left at the moment.

About to order the battery holders – getting 20 each of the 2 and 4 way plus 1 and 3 ways for Ells. There are a few 2 and 4 way ones left in that 20 so if anyone else wants to get involved let me know.

Rough costs will be £1.75 for the 2-way and £2.25 for the 4-way. Postage for just holders will be £1.50. If you are ordering kits at the same time, kit price is £8 and total postage for the order will be £2. (The holders take the size from Large Letter to Packet and the weight will almost certainly be over 100g)

I AM STILL TRYING TO GET A REPLY FROM TROUTIE AND BCT ON AN LED CONVERSION FOR MY LUMI CANS!!!

Please help – I’ve been trying to get a reply for 3 weeks now 🙁

Sorry for the hijack!!

Hi Stephen just sent you an email RE: battery holders