DIy 700 lumen batteries inside light

Out of curiousity how many 18650’s are people using for their packs?

Foxyrider .

Sorry it seems Virgin Media like to protect me from emails
even important stuff ie orders from my website .
and this last two weeks alot of my mail has been filtered out by their servers.
This has caused huge problems

mails working again with no filtering so am now getting lots of tackle enlargeing mails too .

stayhigh – I am using 4x 18650’s for two of the light units with a splitter cable (or will once they are built)

BlackCatTech,

If you have any spare holders still, please put me down for 1x 4 battery pack. Oh and thanks for the quick supply of drivers via ebay this week too.

I will email you my details tonight.

Thanks

Cheers Troutie – sorry to shout – its busy here 🙂

Thanks

Rich

posting out all who have paid to date tomorrow.

Woohoo! Homer style! Thanks for all your efforts.

Troutie, did you manage to rig up the star drilling jig, and drill us some holes for regina legs?

Yeap !, e-myther trouble is what did it.

Still, I hope you’ve sorted it now Trout 😉

BTW, big thanks to Trout for piggy backing some items onto his order from Cutters for me. Much appreciated fella 😉

Trout, yhm mate.

Cheers

Luminous
8)

As a side issue, has anyone had a play with any elliptical optics on individual xp-g’s (i.e not triples)?

I’m a bit confused about Carclo 20mm ellipticals, there seems to be more than one elliptical lens and more than one holder. I think 10197 is suitable in a 10566 holder, but then I found references to 10003/L25 in 20mm. Will they work and fit on an xp-g?

As I said in my first post, I’d like to try a dip beam similar to the one on my halogen twin Smart lights for road use. I’ll quite happily play with the reginas aimed down at first, especially having seen Lipseal’s light in the flesh, but would like to try alternatives. Anyone any advice?

Ive bought some of these in the hope that i can trim them down to fit in a box. My plan is to use 1 box with the regina’s and 1 with these.

http://www.dotlight.de/products/en/LED-accessories/For-HighPower-LEDs/LED-Lens/Cree-Optics/Optic-elliptical-for-Cree-XP-38-x-21-diffusor.html

Hi all

BlackCatTech,
if there is spare i will have some of those holders if you have them going. if i can of each one twin and one quad holder. please i will send the payment now for the kit and holders.

Thanks for all the ordering and posting out BlackCatTech, and trout.

Just to follow on from my previous post above.
I have just had a look at the lens, it will just about fit in the box without modification if you remove it from the black housing.

Thanks Gary. I think I’ve read a similar idea elsewhere … the problem there was that (if I remember correctly) without the holder there is no way of fixing the lens without altering the optical property of the lens.

I wondered about a few different makes of 21.4/21.6 square and round lens/holder combos but they look like they might be a bit fragile to file down to 20mm. The Carclo ones I quote might be the only ones that fit without filing … just not sure if I got the numbers right. Anyone tried them?

Question. I bought the black box with the plastic ends. Is the driver going to be OK AAA’d to the plastic end panel rather than alu? Its obviously not as good a thermal conductor as alu but its only a couple of mm of plastic between the driver and the arctic scottish air…does it get that hot?

trout – did you get a list sorted, the last list was from 6 days ago, here it is:
Jazid – xpg LED Kit (incl. lexan + angle) + Driver Kit (3way + 2way)
runswithscissors 2x LED kit + Driver kit
bobblehat 4 * 20mm xp-g + 2 pieces of lexan please!
john_walker74 2* LEDs and bits & 2 * Driver
bigjim LED kit + driver kit
mau00149 led kit + driver kit
norcbot led kit + driver kit
landy813 – driver
Clobber, 4xLED kit + 4xDriver kit + 2*20mm xp-g (these are for friends so I’ll make sure there is a profit for you Troutie!)
Damo2576 – LED & Driver Kit)
Steelrider – LED kit + driver kit
Citizen Kane- 3 LEDs and 3 Reflectors
chinochio- LED kit (unsure on if driver was needed?)
Ells- 4 LEDs and 4 Reflectors
defaultslipper- LED kit and Driver kit

but I think others have asked here since, though not updated the list, but its too confusing for this time of night going through all those posts. Perhaps if those who requested that aren’t on this list update the list for trout that would be good.

Bigjim …. why not do what I did …. cut a rectangular hole in the plastic and AAA a piece of ali to the outside of the plastic panel (I used a spare ali panel from another box, but any neat piece will do).

Then AAA the piece of ali that Troutie provided to the underside of the driver board and AAA that through the hole in the plastic to the ali on the outside!

One tip ….. don’t cover the whole of the 19mm width of the driver, you have to make a more precise hole in the plastic with 19mm covered …. 14mm to 16mm covered gives you a bit less plastic to cut out.

Right, the holders are on order. Not sure when they will arrive – I’m hoping this week. Not sure on weights yet so I’ll have to work out postage if anyone wants to buy lots. To summarise costs etc:

DIY Kit comprising Driver, Switch + Boot, Power Plug and Socket etc £8
Twin 18650 holder £1.75
Single, Triple or Quad 18650 holder £2.25

Postage:
DIY Kit £1
18650 Holders £1.50
DIY Kit + Holder £2

I’ve got plenty of 2 and 4 way ones, only 2 or 3 single and triple ones. There are 10 kits left at the moment. First come first served on all items.

Payment as a gift please – I’m doing the extras at cost plus a few pence only so I’d appreciate not having to pay Paypal fees! Address in my profile.

Quick ‘n’ nasty diagram of my last post.

If you use a Hammond metal panel the screws will also hold the metal panel to the case as well as the AAA between the metal panel and the plastic panel.

BlackCatTech – I’ve emailed you re. payment

Service is slipping I am afraid .

No holes in stars as too busy sorry .
no free bit of cable or little bit of ali as have run out .

and to cap it all I think I may have missed putting the odd bit of Lexan in the odd packet as have some left sitting of the bench ???.
but arnt gonna unpack them all just to see if yours is missing then mail me and will pop it in an envelope

Ref the list Gave up on that and sent stuff to who ever had paid .

some more leds on their way as I would really like to keep some to use myself too 😆

trout thats not good enough, you’ll be telling me you aren’t coming round to build it for me next. not to worry, i have various bits of alu from pc heatsinks after rescuing an old pc out of a bin, much to my girlfriend’s delight. I’ll delight in rummaging through skips for cable next time we go out.

bobblehat, thanks for the idea, does the driver+alu actually get that hot to warrant doing that though? I had also thought of gluing it to the box but that would be a problem if I need to get it out if something goes wrong.

The honest answer Bigjim is I don’t know yet! Troutie hopefully sending my LEDs out today, so I can’t fire mine up yet! It’s all sat there in partial state of assembly waiting for LEDs and Lexan.

I mounted my driver that way because I intend to experiment with a 7.2V Sub-C NiMH pack, as well as an 8 Cell Eneloop pack. Stephen (BCT) warned me that the driver gets hotter as the battery volts fall nearer to the lower limit of the driver and getting closer to the Vf of this 2 LED set-up.

The other reason I chose this method was partially because of what I had to hand, 2 solid plastic end caps, 2 skeletal end caps and 2 metal end plates (I’m building 2 lights) and aesthetics. I had to make a choice whether to use the skeletal cap on the front with no chance of any vignetting through an open lexan plate or use the skeletal cap at the rear with the metal plate and drill or cut the solid end cap for the LED end. I didn’t fancy cutting out or drilling the solid endcap for the front, I didn’t trust myself to make it look as neat as CK’s. So the solid end cap went on the rear, with the hole I cut for the driver being neatly covered by the ali end plate.

There might be a very slight advantage too. I was worried about the LEDs heating up the driver directly by conduction and convection inside the case. The plastic end cap might just reduce the conduction from the metal case to the metal plate, with the thick layer of plastic end cap in between. The driver is AAA’d to the inside of the metal plate which in turn is fully exposed to the outside …… marginal … but all helps.

What gauge of wire should I get from maplin for wiring the LEDs to the driver etc? I have some various mega thin bits for the low current bits to teh switch. I’m also wiring a couple of P7’s on another set of lights so something that’ll cope with wiring up them as well as these XPG’s would be good.

bobblehat – by skeletal end caps do you mean the plastic bits that come with the alu end plates if you get that option? I’m not too worried about making mega neat holes like CK’s, it’ll either be dark, or you’ll be blinded by the LEDs if they are on, so no one will see. Paperclip on a soldering iron could help make neat hole. interesting how the driver runs hotter as the battery gets lower, seems backwards to my simple brain.

You can see them here BJ …

I too had some old duff PC stuff around, found some nice red and black wire on an old noisy power supply that I took out of a PC. The gauge seemed similar to each core of the 3A 3way mains cable I’m using for the pigtail, so I judge it would be good for the driver to LED hook up. Both the PC wire and the 3A 3Way cable soldered nicely into the driver pad holes with just a little wiggle room in the holes before soldering.

Hope Stephen doesn’t mind me quoting his email regarding the use of 7.2V NiHM pack … sort of explains what BJ was mentioning about heat issues with the driver. I think these need to be put into context though … and say I don’t think it’s anything other than a minor issue with this build. I’m just going to experiment with a battery and case size that might be at one extreme end of all the builds going on here. I can just fall back on … or even prefer … the 9.6V Eneloop pack anyway!

QUOTE: Q: “Hi Stephen. I’m about to build a 2xp-g/Regina bike bar light and wondered if a 7.2V Nimh 3700mAH battery I already have would work with your driver (8.4V hot off the charger)? It seems a little close to your minimum recommended. I don’t mind it dimming near the end point if it has no bad effects on the driver.”

A: “Hi Bob, It does seem a little close to what is ideal. The internal circuitry would need about 1V of overhead to operate under these conditions. You would be unlikely to get full output once the voltage drops and the driver will start to dissipate more heat as it will be passing current for longer. (The circuit send out pulses of current to charge an inductor, the closer the input is to the output the larger these pulses need to be) If you can keep the driver away from the heat of the LEDs then you should get away with it though.”

Ah I see. I’m going for death by 4×18650 so that shouldn’t be an issue for me. Your desk needs to be messier.

Bobble sorry but I was expecting a post office where I am working

Cambois. Geordie land

there is not even a pub until I have fitted the flooring .

will endeavor to find HMPO tomorrow. I have them in the van ready

Received driver kit today, cheers Steven.

DoH! Post Office closures ….. Bl00dy Government …… Newcastle Brooon! Bah! (Tetley Bitter …. Eh?)

Better luck tomorrow …….. don’t go near Hartlepool … they hang Floor Fitters Monkeys there!

finally got a night ride in last night and used the torch as a head torch and i got to say its pretty darn good. riding a mixture of techy steep switchbacks and fast rooty sections. i dont feel i need a bar light with this at all.

pretty chuffed!

Bobblehat – hey, watch it! I’m originally from a little town just north of Hartlepool… That said, it must say something about the locals that they are so proud of their ancestors inability to differentiate between a monkey and a Spaniard that they elect a man in a monkey suit as mayor…

Bigjim – Trying not to get too technical, but the cooler the driver runs the lower the losses. Also, running it from the 2x 18650 or a similar voltage is slightly outside the specs of the IC manufacturer anyway so it needs all the help it can get!

18650 holders – I’m getting lots of people asking to add on to the order. No need, if you want 2 or 4 way ones just send a payment as above – I’ve ordered 20 of each. The single and three-way ones you’d best ask about though as I only ordered 5 of each as only one person had expressed an interest when I placed the order. I may well be doing another Digikey order in the next few weeks so if there are more want holders than I have I can get another batch.

A friend of mine has one of these:Solid Lights[/url] running off a dynamo hub. Could this homebrew light be run off a dynamo hub and what would you need to do circuitry wise?

Steelfan – remove the driver and add some components as mentioned here.

Once I’ve got these two working using Teap0t drivers, a dynamo light is my next build!

BCT – I would like to order a 3 cell holder if any are left if not a 4 cell holder please. I’ll send payment plus p&p.

Thanks

Simon

BTC & Troutie

Any news on the Lumi can conversion? Or are you still going through the list of emails?

Lads – the holders have arrived! Problem is that I’m in the process of preparing to trade at a show this weekend so it is unlikely they will get posted before Monday.

This also means replies to emails may be slow – apologies for this.

Foxyrider – will get back to you after the weekend. Sorry about this but not got the time to look in to it until the show is over.

Right, some holders posted. No time for any more until Monday now I’m afraid! Also, all triples now gone. Still get over a dozen each of 2 and 4 way and 3 1-way ones.

Foxyrider – will get back to you after the weekend. Sorry about this but not got the time to look in to it until the show is over.

Cheers, signed, Mr Impatient 😉

BCT – my holders arrived this morning – many thanks

Gave it a go using my magicshine battery pack and no luck.

Not sure why not, will have to investigate further, no light, no burning, nowt……still my soldering was ok for shaky hands.