Low profile Helmet light with XPE leds (picture heavy)

trout

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I have not seen anything happening with the cree XPE led and wondered why .

so I ordered a few to have a play with and see what they would be suitable for in the bike light world.

First impressions on opening the packet was dang they are small
newlights053-1.jpg


I had not ordered any optics because I did not know what to go for and there was not a lot of info on these about so left them for a while .
I suppose wanting some one else to experiment :).

I ran out of things to do so revisited the XPE s and had a look again to see if things had changed .
But no every one was doing MCE stuff me included
so I bit the bullet and ordered some optics , I went for the Carclo 10 mm square ones thinking the XPEs are on 10 mm boards so 10 mm optics .

Again these arrived and hell they are tiny how can something so tiny deal with all these lumens.
XPELIGHT010.jpg


XPELIGHT001.jpg


XPELIGHT005.jpg


I had a look around and found some curtain track and it looked perfect to use as a mount for these as in the pic above ,
This sparked the idea for a helmet light with a low profile and much studying this configuration and showing it to my helmet followed.
I could not seem to figure a way to do the build so desided to start from scratch .

First off what sort of beam was I dealing with so I did a ceiling shot to find out
the tapes are 1 metre long and the distance is 2.2 metres
this is 1 XPE and optic
XPELIGHT-single.jpg



Not bad quite a spot it was it did not throw the light every where like the MCE optics .

so the helmet light was started from a block of aluminium and My hacksaw and mini mill .
XPELIGHT019.jpg


XPELIGHT015.jpg


I went for 6 XPE as they hit the sweet spot of the MaxFlex driver and my 14.8 li ion batteries .
and are still quite compact

The mounts for helmets seem to lift the light up higher so I went for a simple strap and put 2 slots for the strap
XPELIGHT027.jpg


also to make it universal it can take a bar clamp bolted to the bottom
XPELIGHT025.jpg


and here is where it is at the moment
no wiring yet and I am waiting for a switch and power socket .

XPELIGHT026.jpg


XPELIGHT028.jpg




I could not wait so cobbled up a power supply and driver for a test and beam shot


It was a full moon so quite a bit of ambient light
moonlight

6XPEMOON.jpg



now my 6 XPE helmet light @ 500 ma from a Nflex and 18 volt battery
Hi and Low to give an idea.

The bike is 35 metres away , the post 50 metres
the trees on the right 75 metres
and the trees at the back I have no idea but I am very impressed with this as a biking helmet light.

6XPE500H.jpg


and on low
6XPE500L.jpg
 

znomit

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Troutie, thats your best work yet (and thats saying something). :party:

Now anodise it black and put some red leds out the back. :poke:
 

trout

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Troutie, thats your best work yet (and thats saying something). :party:

Now anodise it black and put some red leds out the back. :poke:


Thanks Znomit I am rather pleased with this one .
I am supprised that there are`nt a few more XPE lights out there .

Good thinking there with the red leds plenty of room available
anodising this one is not possible but the mark 2 will be .


I would have thought the XPE would be right up your street for the tiny lights with big output.
 

znomit

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I would have thought the XPE would be right up your street for the tiny lights with big output.

After my last failed 400 miler (only manage 260) I found I need to spend more time working on my legs and less time working on my lights :shrug:

Doing a single MC-E Boom SS with 3 die high beam, single die low beam(dyno of course) for a 300 mile ride in april, and slowly ledifying my Vespa.
 

DaFABRICATA

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I likey!!!

Looks pretty bright to me!

Nice Job!:thumbsup:

I haven't seen very many people using these little guys.
I'd like to get my hands on some, but don't know where to get them other than cutter...and I hear shipping times aren't that great there.
 

trout

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A bit of an update on this project .
I have tidied it up a bit and had some CNCed

XPELIGHT034-1.jpg

XPELIGHT036-1.jpg


The housings are for sale and cutters are doing a kit to fit in which consists of
6 XPE R2 leds on boards
6 carclo 10 mm square optics
1 Maxflex 3

Kit here

details on the housing is here
 
Last edited:

kuksul08

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Wow trout those are quite nice I must say, what do you do for a living? Some type of engineer or technician, or just enjoy doing this on the side?

What are the disadvantages/advantages of the XP-E's anyway... their output is similar to those of the XR-E, so why would anyone want to keep using the xr-e?
 

dom

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Excellent Trout
You need to fix your links (they have an extra "http" in them).

In reply to kuksul08 - i think the XP-E hasn't taken off so well is because of the limited amount of optics available. Or no really tight beam ,ie 10deg or less.

Though with 6 of them is such a small space should counteract any lack of spot in Trouts application :)

Nice simple design -have you some mounting options you can show us?

Cheers
Dom
 

trout

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Wow trout those are quite nice I must say, what do you do for a living? Some type of engineer or technician, or just enjoy doing this on the side?

What are the disadvantages/advantages of the XP-E's anyway... their output is similar to those of the XR-E, so why would anyone want to keep using the xr-e?


I am a carpet and flooring fitter / garden shed inventor/ mtbiker

The advantages for me were tiny size of the led and optics so I could get 6 in a small low profile housing.
there are some nice optics arriveing on the scene for these now .
and 3 of these gives a punchier beam than a MCE


Cheers Dom I have fixed the links

Good point on the mount , it is simply a velcro strap through the 2 slots on the base . a bit difficult to see in the picture against the velcro stuck to my helmet that was an experiment to see if it would hold and it was too wobbly

XPELIGHT046-1.jpg

XPELIGHT047-1.jpg

There is a bar mount option but I am waiting for some to be delivered so cant show that yet
 

lumafist

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I`ve been lurking this thread since the start and I gotta hand it to you, this is an awesome looking light...!
I`m looking for a light to give a friend that rides ( I used to but have backinjury...) and this looks like it...!

What would be the total..?
The cutter site looks a bit confusing to me.....




Allso, do you do custom jobs...?
 

trout

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I`ve been lurking this thread since the start and I gotta hand it to you, this is an awesome looking light...!
I`m looking for a light to give a friend that rides ( I used to but have backinjury...) and this looks like it...!

What would be the total..?
The cutter site looks a bit confusing to me.....




Allso, do you do custom jobs...?



Yes it is a little confusing .
you can do the build up for £120 or 140 euro
the kit from cutters is approx 70 euro shipped
the grey anodised housing is again approx 70 euro shipped

all you then need is a mom switch and power socket to match battery.
some AAA and Silicon and That is it


Yes I can do the odd custom build , but it is primarily a hobby that funds itself

loads of pics of stuff here
 

kombiman

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What battery pack range could be used?

Just unsure of the draw and how long it will last per a/hr and volts.

Nice work!
 

trout

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What battery pack range could be used?

Just unsure of the draw and how long it will last per a/hr and volts.

Nice work!

Hi Kombiman :welcome:
recomended voltage is 14.4v li ion as it is boosting up to 19 volts and the maxflex is happy at this . @ full power the draw is .98a
so you will get good runtimes even if you used full power all the time
I only use full for the techy stuff and downhill and tend to dim it for the climbs .
 

mikeh

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How hot does that get if you are not moving?
Looks like a lot of power in a small package.
 

trout

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How hot does that get if you are not moving?
Looks like a lot of power in a small package.

Here is a time lapse photo sequence with the probe drilled in to the heat sink just behind the leds .
it shows the heat up to the maxflex tripping at 50 degrees .
and how a small draught from a desk fan brings the temp back down

this is the prototype and has not got as good thermal paths as the new one .



 

John_Galt

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Wow! Those beram shots were from that little LED bar?!? Thats insane. I would love to have something like that for my quad, running off of the stator (I think thats what it's called, right?). No more headlamps for me, I'll take two.:twothumbs:faint:
 
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