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:

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!:

High setting

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!!!

Getting on with the build up here in sunny [cough] scotland. I don’t have any thermal glue for the driver heatsink, is there anything else that i can use? It didn’t matter for the LEDs as the screws held it in place over the copper slip, but there is no space on the driver for screws!
Can i just use another sort of glue to attach the driver, or will it burn into flames when it gets hot? Help much appreciated, soldering challenge to begin tonight which should be interesting! One thing I have noticed is that i don’t think there is enough space for the driver, switch and power socket on the backplate (as seen in stayhigh’s post above) if you got the slightly larger switch from BCT in the second batch- I might be wrong but looking at it it all seems too close. Just means I will have to use the main body of the box as the heatsink and double check for any shorts.

All the bits are now here (I think). Just been to maplins to get the box and some silicone sealant. Just got to put it all together and get the batteries charged up. Not riding til Sunday night so got a bit of time to play with it. Only going to use the copper slip stuff for the heatsinks, havn’t figured out how I am going to attach the driver to a heatsink yet, probably just use some clips.
Going to try with an old 8.4V 2400mA Ni-Cd battery as that is what I have available, but will probably switch to an 18650 pack later. I have read through every single post again to make sure I havn’t missed anything so hopefully I won’t have too many issues, and I should have a working light by the weekend! 😀

How is everyone elses lights coming on? There must be a few more out there that have been finished, there don’t seem to be many pics of finished lights considering how many people have got the kits? Are people still using this as a headlight, or as a handlebar mount?

With all that rain its gonna be a tough ride.

Let’s mellow out a bit. After surfing down at Long Beach why not head back to The Hotel California by the Eagles:

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!

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?

Trout- payment sent!

been following this thread intensely waiting to hear of news of the next order. any chance of one more on the list or is it too late? going with the update order i think it would now be:

so next update
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

The list was taken off the bottom of the previous page and added those interested on this page (sorry if i missed anyone). I may have missed it but what is happening with the payment for the second batch, are we waiting on parts to arrive at troute’s shed and BCT’s garage before sending payment or should payment be made ASAP?

Looks like a cracking little light, I have been playing with some drawings on CAD in excitement for playing around with this project. I just hope I am not too late!?

Not there this weekend but sure it will be good. Go enjoy it!

What day are you coming down? You have the 2 main lines of the shredder and the downhill course both with some big features. Usually a good crowd on the bus that will give you advice on the tracks if you are not familiar with them. Take it easy on the first few runs you have 10 runs so don’t break yourself or the bike early on.
Other than that first run is at 9am and enjoy yourself. see you there!

If you are wanting it to be mtb related then 2 obvious topics come to mind:
1. Talk about access rights in England compared to the access rights in Scotland. Plenty of scope for drawing your own opinion into it.
2. The impact of mtb riders on natural paths. There is a thread on here from a few months back that contains the papers relating to this

Both have enough academic material to work with. I think i might still have some papers that were related to a project I did at uni.

Done that (in the same way that I made the maps for Alpinequest) however, RMaps isn’t finding the maps even though I have put them in the right folder on the phone’s SD card. Any ideas?

Are you using the Apline Quest version of the Mobile Atlas Creator? You can tell if you start up your mobile atlas creator does it say something like: “Mobile Atlas Creator 1.7.1/ AQM”. Or you can tell by looking at the file format- AQM uses .aqm format. I don’t know about RMaps, but I have AlpineQuest and TrekBuddy which use the same method for putting maps on your phone. While both use th mobile Atlas Creator, alpinequest uses the AQM version while TrekBuddy uses the standard creator. Using the wrong version you will not be able to read maps in the 2 programs. I can only assume RMaps is the same.
Just type Mobile Atlas creator into google and you will find it.

The reason I use TrekBuddy over AlpineQuest now is that there is a limit of three maps on AlpineQuest in the current version (old versions didn’t have this restriction), whereas Trekbuddy you can have as many as you want. Also you can upload a CMS to give you a lot more information:

I stood on one the other week after it hid in my carpet. I ended up ripping the stinger off the bugger. After removing the stinger my toe was buzzing for days. Don’t remember that prolonged pain but I have never heard of a wasp losing its stinger!

Oh god, it’s fancy dress too. I didn’t even know.

go dressed wearing flip flops and tatty shorts, get denied entry, have to go home because you are not urban enough. bike tomorrow.

or if that doesn’t work:
forget to take out cash, ‘conveniently’ go get cash out the machine while mates go inside, talk to them tomorrow about how great the night was but you can’t remember what happened ‘cos you were too rapped. photoshop some pictures of friends in nightclub (drunk photos are always blurred/ out of focus so just use some old ones). problem solved

can you tell i have done this before?

still not managed to get my head round alpinequest, maybe I need to spend a bit more time on it unless you know of an absolute dummies guide?

Just takes time. Another similar program is trekbuddy. It doesn’t have the downloadable maps within the app like alpinequest (you still have to create them on your pc) but you can add your own CMS which is basically a display for your speed, altitude, etc…
OP- get yourself appbrain much better than the stock market.

good to hear you are on the mend. had a quick look at the new descender bender last weekend and from what people say it is running pretty quick! went off the other way so havn't ridden it myself yet, i will probably go spend a bit of time next week having a play down at mabie.

club is riding at ae sunday evening if you are interested? leaving shop at 5, aiming to be back before the need for lights.

just sent you an email if you need another tester? plenty of time on my hands at the moment for testing and feedback!

Working sat and sun. Might get to mabie Sunday evening with a few locals if my foot has recovered. Think everyone is in fort William from round here with the tour of Ben Nevis and the sda race.

The picture looks like ae forest. They regularly ride there. There was a video in the news section here on stw a few weeks back. Probably go faster and higher than most of us over the jumps! Really impressive both the bikes and the riding!

Trekster, today tomorrow and Saturday if you are about. Alternatively we are running a club ride Sunday evening if you fancy coming along? I have just been speaking to Alan from Scottish Cycling so I guess you are probably busy today but let me know if you want to come in and have a chat over a coffee. We need all the advice we can get!
I thought Gibb was in charge or access and community involvement so assumed he would be interested in this thread. I even have a sneaky suspicion that he often reads on here, and while i have never had any problems i didn't realise he would be the best person to deal with the volunteer group. It was suggested that Andy Hopkins might be dealing with some aspect of it but as he is away on holiday we will have to wait.

I don't mind helping to set all of this up, but this does feel a lot of hassle for something that has been running previously with no issues!
Berm Bandit, would that be TIMBER then? I rode down at Thetford for a few years but have seen first hand the damage the popularity has caused! May just send you an email, thanks for the offer!

Trekster seems to have nailed the situation- there are a couple of people who are employed to repair the trails, but they are employed by a company more orientated to the DH side of the sport. As they are involved in events, the majority of their work focuses on keeping the DH trails in good nick as that is where they generate their income from. Very few riders using the XC trails will have heard of the company or used it.

they really aren't keen on getting anything new off-the-ground that is volunteer-led

i am talking about a volunteer group they helped to set up at the end of last year. They seemed happy enough with what we have been doing for about 6 months. We can't really go and do it on the sly- to move the material into position we would need to get wheelbarrows and spades up to teh site. Even if we did that the surface would need to be compressed. We had been using a 'whacker' but we would have to hire one ourselves. I don't think the FC would be happy with us leaving a mound of loose gravel across the trails, and if anyone had an accident we would be liable. I hate to talk about health and safety compensation stuff but unfortunately there are a lot of people who would cause trouble, and by doing the work on the sly we would not have any insurance!

Might be worth a chat with the SMBDC Project Manager

sorry what is that and what would they do? Do you know who that is for this region?

Trekster, who is the current district manager who overlooks all of the trails? We were talking about who would be best to contact, and we weren't sure who the head-honcho is for these things. At least if we tried to contact the top of teh chain we could figure out whether the plans to get the volunteer group up and running again was failing because it hadn't reached their desk or because someone lower down the chain is stopping us.

Cheers for the help STW- much appreciated!

Ah, thought that might have been how you did it. Where I am there are 2 bike shops. One i am linked with and teh second is linked with another centre (with a shop on-site). Healthy competition but i doubt they would fork out much to support the opposition!

you could just go and do the work on the sly
I agree, but it doesn't help us in the long run with getting permission. I can see actions like that causing more trouble than being helpful. Not to say we aren't trying to use ( 😉 ) the forest, but we can't work on the signposted trails, which is what receives all the negative focus on places like here

It's not Sherwood Pines!

Mr Agreeable, how did you go about getting funding for teh BTCV insurance? I just had a look through and the premium starts at roughly £120 i guess, more if you use powered machinery. We have a 'whacker' which we use at the end of each session if the trail needs it to help it bed in. I see the BTCV do grants up to £120 which might be worth looking into. We are only a small group so even if we split it between the group it is asking a bit much for a volunteer group to be paying effectively to help out the FC!

We have been getting rider feedback here so we have a few ideas for improving trails in the future,and there are obviously a few more people who are interested in getting more involved.

Cheers for the link- some interesting reading in there. From what I understand, you guys seem to have got insurance through an old policy that noone else can get now? And the other key point is that any work, no matter how big, needs someone in a responsible position to sign off on the work to fit in with regulation?
Ever the optimist, I hope that the inability to find sufficient insurance by the FC is the reason we can't get out there and maintain the trails, and that there is a solution around the corner. Unfortunately, the FC seem slow to get anything done. Talking to a few others in the former trail building group we are going to try and get a few people together for a meeting and get some ideas going to get it back up and running.

I won't say at the moment where it is but it's on Forestry Commission land in Scotland. I know there are a few people on here that are from the local area and some of them are connected to the FC. I don't want to make too many enemies!

I tried it for a while before i realised the mess i was making. Was using a narrow sprocket though- it seemed fine before i changed to a higher ratio, not sure whether that affected the amount of stress on the freehub.
I think i saw somewhere that someone had used an old SRAM spider with spacers. I guess they must have filed out a SS sprocket to fit over the spider but looked pretty neat and prevented damage to the freehub body.

Once you get to Loch Slapin go left for 1 mile if want a really good coffee and amazing cakes at the blue hut cafe, YUM YUM!

+1 for that,

instead of coming over the strath mor path, we came over strath beag a couple of kilometres further east. Going in a clockwise direction (i.e. glen sligachan is last bit), you come out opposite the cafe. The slog up is definitely a carry-a-bike for an hour or so but there is a great downhill to the cafe. Not sure how it compares to strath mor as havn't ridden that section.
Enjoy it, i hope you get good weather!

From a while back:
Sligachan route info and pics

National Champs are at Ae this weekend- a great chance to see the likes of Steve Peat and Gee Atherton coming down the hill at speed! XC courses I believe will be open aswell.
Have heard Drumlanrig is lethal in the wet but never been myself! Mabie is good fun for an evening ride but quite short compared to some of the other 7 stanes

you should be able to download an application that monitors your usage and can alert you if you are use for example 50% of your monthly quota. Depending on the application it may also have settings for disabling internet connectivity once you reach your monthly quota to prevent you being charged any extra.
but i have been using my smartphone for about 3 or 4 months now and have never got anywhere near my monthly quota, and that is only 500mb. then again i tend to be close to wifi at home/ work so i only use internet for gps applications and occassionally checking emails.

i just use gillette because it's the best a man can get

Glow stick from rave parties. Random but all I had to hand when I did mine!

I have been using trekbuddy. You have to create the maps yourself. It is a little bit fiddle to get used to but you can create your own custom maps for offline use. If you add something called a CMS then you get all the how readings of speed altitude etc… can also record routes for following later. Someone else was usimg rmaps. I havnt tried it but it sounds alright. can also try alpinequest but very similar to trekbuddy

definitely a dodgy sale. not sure what the best way of reporting it is though

Have you tried trekbuddy? You can download full OS mapping for use offline if you don't have loads of data to waste or if you can't get signal. Gpx files can be imported and followed. Adding another program to trekbuddy allows you to get voice instructions for turn by turn directions. It doesn't update like a sat nav if u take a wrong turn but you have a compass that shows direction and distance to the next waypoint. Available in the market and full version is free. It takes a little bit of getting used to but looks good for what I need.

Another similar program is alpinequest but following gpx routes requires the full version which is a couple of quid.

Apps that i have been using:
Google maps- for road navigation, seems okay for a free app, but the voice turn by turn instructions are very annoying!
Mytracks- see previous posters
gStrings- musical instrument tuner, very useful if you play guitar, etc… unfortunately nothing to do with gstrings!
TrekBuddy- probably my pick of the apps i have so far. you can download full OS maps to your SD card so don't need to worry about data connection in remote areas. Waypoints can be recorded and played back through voice instructions. After adding something called a CMS i also get all sorts of GPS readouts, average speed, max speed, total ascent, average ascent speed, distance to next waypoint. It took me a few hours to figure out how to do various things on it as it is not straightforward (installing is easy but the resy is a bit strange).
AlpineQuest Lite- Similar to trekbuddy but quite new. not as many features and slightly different interface
Juicedefender- helps imprve battery by turning off Wi-fi when phone is locked
AppRemover- in case i don't like apps
3G Watchdog- mentioned by another poster
Timerrific- timer that can switch phone to silent when i am at work

There are a few others but will probably be deleted as i don't use them

don't know about making them, but BETD emergency hanger is £8. i have a few funny shaped ones that i keep as spares which i use as emergency hangers- just allows me to keep a few gears to get home.

i am glad you enjoyed the biking over here. make sure you bring back more people next year! i was the guy you rented the bikes off at ae. i have only been working there a short time but have really enjoyed helping to promote the biking there. always good to hear people enjoying the trails and helpfulness of other bikers when people need help.

have you eaten all those mule bars yet? 😀

Got to say though the timing was a bit of a disaster

marshalls all volunteered and i know quite a few of them having done a few trailbuilding sessions. a couple of them had driven down from glasgow just to help out so don't go moaning about them. if there was a timing issue surely it would have been better to talk to the organisers and maybe suggest alternative timing techniques for the future?
i am sorry to hear that the timing has caused a problem for your wife, but having a go at the marshalls isn't the best solution- i am sure they didn't deliberately do it.