CNC XPE bike light

[ktronik]

A few shots of our CNC XPE bike light.



Specs:

630lm out the front

R2 XPE LEDs driven by a blfex driver.

so here is a mock up of how it all goes together, it should be super quick to build, & can be fully pulled apart to swap / upgrade parts if needed. not shown is the bar clamp, its still being made...



Driver goes in (sits on top of a o-ring)



Driver holder goes in



Rear cap, pushes on the driver holder. Rear cap will have a cable gland coming out of it & the bflex onboard warning LED will glow through this.



Rear cover screw on, sealed by 1 o-ring & waterproof grease on sides of rear cap.



LED pcb drop in



Optic, o-ring, glass or lexan lens, o-ring & front bezel





feeler removed

[imageicon]

how are the production coming along?

[ktronik]

how are the production coming along?

Slowly, ETA end of may...sorry guys, but its quite a big run I am doing...

Worth the wait I feel...

K

[ktronik]

Testing is going well, thought I would tell you guys of some ideas I have been playing with...

Flight deck Remote switch for light:

The flightdeck wire kit has 4 micro wires on the premade switch... not really solderable & too small to be strong...

good news I have found a switch that will fit really well into the removable blank cover plate (that sits where the flightdeck remote goes) that is all ready on my lever, so on my bike, I will have a nice tactile switch on the STI road lever, on the same string, I will add another on the tops of the bar, just before it plugs into the light...so remote on the tops & @ the lever, both a have a great 'snap' action we need...

K

[LEDAdd1ct]

I *love* a nice tactile switch!

[yellow]

OT:
how does the brightness of the cold white compares to the one of the warm white MC-Es?

Do the warm make a nicer light?

[ktronik]

OT:
how does the brightness of the cold white compares to the one of the warm white MC-Es?

Do the warm make a nicer light?

Hey Yellow, have a look @ the tints on this post, I have mixed 3 different tints to get a better overall colour retention & I must say I do really like it...but you would get less lumen out the front...

EX of MC-E tint/Lm:

Multichip Bin : MCE4WT-A2-0000-000M01 Cool white, 430 min lumens, WH Tint
Multichip Bin : MCE4WT-A2-5C0-K0-0-00001 370 min Lumens Neutral White
Multichip Bin : MCE4WT-A2-6C0-J0-0-00001 Warm white, 320 min lumens, E6

Difference in brightness is 110lm for the warmest & coolest, thats the output of a nightrider minewt just there...everyone is different, some have to have the raw output, but for the OZ bush, lots of browns ect, I do prefer the warmer tints...but on the black road it may not matter much...

I think the key is to have a mix of tints, thus not to loose to much of your raw output, & for my ~1000lm dynamo light a 100lm here or there was no issue...

On the newer XPE triple light, cutter is looking in to getting some custom boards going with one LED that has a warmer tint, for future runs...

Best of both worlds for the bush...here in OZ anyway...

K

[ICUDoc]

PM sent!

[Brum]

Any updates on the housing?

[ktronik]

Sorry for the delay guys, got to get the cutter order out first, you guys are next so 2-3 weeks...

will be worth the wait, we have gone over-board to make it fully dunk proof, glad I did as I went for a swim in a river last night, err on my bike...

Working on a new dynamo circuit as well, more on that soon, my plan is to have battery & dynamo circuit fully dunk proof as well, so if I choose to go for another swim on a cold & rainy night, I won't short my electronics / battery...thus making it home to tell the tail...

you guy in NZ will get most use of this 'over-building', lots of rivers to cross on the AV MTB ride...

Best

Ktronik

[ktronik]

Here's a quick pic...this K-light kit is exclusive to Cutter electronics, this was the first run to be done...



K

[syc]

Its ironic that the clamp looks so huge compared to the light itself (which looks great!).

What is the news on the dyno circuit? Were you planning on just putting your basic tuned rectifier circuit in there? For 3 led's, a boost cap, bridge rectifier and smoothing cap is all you need down to something like 5kph, right?

[znomit]

Looks sweet!

[ktronik]

Its ironic that the clamp looks so huge compared to the light itself (which looks great!).

What is the news on the dyno circuit? Were you planning on just putting your basic tuned rectifier circuit in there? For 3 led's, a boost cap, bridge rectifier and smoothing cap is all you need down to something like 5kph, right?

Yes clamp is 31.8mm dia (ID) so does look larger than the older size...but light is small as well...

I have a new proto dyno version...sorry no pic for now but its along the lines of 'black betty' above, but custom made for the dyno...

more details as they come to hand.

K

[Brum]

Looks sweet!

Indeed! Any idea when the "proto" run will be available? Have the LEDs + optic laying around for quite some time now...

[ktronik]

Kit build order:





Solder wires to LEDs, make sure to also solder the series link.




Note the 3 holes for the optic posts to sit



The optic post clear the MCPCB & need to sit in the post holes of the housing or the front bezel will not do up correctly.



Adding thermal paste, push the LED MCPCB into place, you don't need heaps of paste, just enough for a thin layer & not enough for it to slop around in the housing & get on the optic



Add the optic, making sure that it is correctly seated into the optic post holes on the housing, this is very important as if it is not seated correctly, the front bezel will not do up fully



Add non-lubed o-ring



Add Lexan Lens



Add lightly lubed o-ring on top of lens, & push the thin lubed o-ring around the outside of the thread, lube bezel thread with thermal paste / grease & screw on, make sure that as you do so the final inside o-ring stays in place



You are now ready to move on to the rear section, might pay to test your connections are correct with your meter & the front bezel is correctly fastened



Build order of rear section



Solder the LED leads to the Bflex board, then insert the pre-wired Bflex driver, driver holder & o-ring into the housing, making sure the lubed o-ring sits in the slot provided




Heatshrink 2 layers of 3mm shrink to the driver lead



Add Lexan donut attached to the IP68 cable gland, making sure that it sits on top of the o-ring



Then screw on rear cap using heatsink paste / grease on thread & thin outer o-ring, as was done on the front



Trim the 2 remote wires to length




Heatshrink the other length of 3mm to the power lead




Before wiring plug, push over the 5mm heatshrink



Trim plug







Wire plug, it does not matter which way around either remote plugs are as they are not polarized




Twist plug & slip 5mm shrink over wires



Heatshrink 5mm



Heatshrink 8mm, long enough for the glue to come out of the ends, as this is 8mm dual wall glued 4:1 shrink



Heat shrink to bend



Wire Battery lead, remote lead & your ready to rock


K



Ktronik

[znomit]

Wow.
You've done your homework.

Optics easily swappable, I like that.

[StevelKnievel]

This is a fantastic build! You've put together a really well thought out package! Nice work.

[ktronik]

Wow.
You've done your homework.

Optics easily swappable, I like that.

Thank you, everything is swappable & future proof.

I must say the engineer has done a bang up job on the QC of the housing...everything butts up perfectly & threads are slickly smooth, so I am very happy all around

K

[ktronik]

This is a fantastic build! You've put together a really well thought out package! Nice work.

Thanks mate!! with all you guys making the super bright lights, I though I would stick to the medium bright LED bike lights...

With 2 on the bar, one wide & one narrow, then one on the helmet, it should be more than enough light for now...

K

[syc]

Looks amazingly clean! What a slick little light that's going to be.

[ktronik]

Looks amazingly clean! What a slick little light that's going to be.

thank you Syc!! Its a real team effort all round, with my engineer being the one that makes the final product look so nice!! I can't thank him enough!!

I so wish I could post pics of the new Dynamo version & other model's but I am bound by 'disclosure' contracts for now on all new models in the range...

K

[znomit]

I so wish I could post pics of the new Dynamo version & other model's but I am bound by 'disclosure' contracts for now on all new models in the range...

what if I give you some of this yummy popcorn?

[kinda666]

Where did you het the remote leads from? Have you made these yourself, and are they available to buy on there own??

[ktronik]

what if I give you some of this yummy popcorn?

yes popcorn helps...

[ktronik]

Where did you het the remote leads from? Have you made these yourself, and are they available to buy on there own??

Hey Kinda666,

Yes they are made by me, and are the 'race remote' (N.O type contact) they are not for switching power just for switching modes on the bflex...made to be as lite as possible for racing, but really you could use any N.O switch...we also have a CNC unit that fits the same switch in the works...

PM me if you need.

K

[Andres]

So on Cutter Electronics, are these the 'K-Light' kit they are now selling? (But with no picture)?

To make sure I've got this clear in my head, you have the triple LEDs pre-wired in series. So with the blfex, they Vf of the LEDs will be approx 3.7 x x3 = 11.1V. And you can set the bFlex to deliver constant current of 1000mA to the LEDs. So would need probably 4, 3.7V li-ion batteries in series to run it nicely, giving each LED 3.7V @1000mA each.

Might have to buy one of these, already have a bflex and one of turboferret's 4x18650 battery backs waiting to be used. Woudl just need the enclosure, optics and LEDs.

1 last question, if you wanted 2, you could just run them in parallel off the battery (obviously with half the run-time) correct?

[imageicon]

what a great little light ... truly a piece of art!

andres well i wouldnt run leds rated at a maximum 700 mah at a 1000... but else you are absolutely right you will need a 14.8v lithium pack to run this trough efficiently... 3s is just on the edge i recall the xpe leds have lower forward current 3.2v or around?? so thats 9.6 + 1v for the driver is 10.6 so when the current drop from your battery it will be underpowering the leds

[Andres]

Sounds good mate. I've been keen to make my own housing at my old man's workplace, but it keeps getting put off. For the price, the amount of thought that has gone into your product is phenomenal. I really like the 'upgradability' of it.

Look forward to them becoming available and will keep my eye on Cutter website (who are also a very good bunch of people to deal with).

[imageicon]

KTronik i belive your right if thermal properties are right they could probaly go at 1000 mah ...

I build a light with 6 xpe in it and by the looks it have quite smaller surface area than yours... standing still itll get too hot riding at speed it seem to be fine and riding slow it gets quite warm to the touch not alarmingly thou. and thats at 750. and i must say that is ALOT of light.