Upgrading Lightset - BLT Explorer + (4 light total)

Recently, I was given a working lightset, complete with manual, extra lights (2 more, total of 4), extra cables, bottle shaped battery, charger.
Unfortunately, it had not been used/touched for years, and as such, the battery does not hold a charge for long.

My original intention was to research and build a new battery for this system, so that I could wire and use all 4 lights on my bike.
Now I am also considering converting to LED, moving from 6V to 12V, etc.

I like the design of these lights, and think they will work really well with the setup of my bike.
My goal is to get a functioning bright light system, while keeping the costs as low as possible.
Most of all, I really like the idea of breathing life back into something, instead of just purchasing a new lightset.

Disclosure: I do not have any background in this sort of thing, but am confident that I will be able to learn how to do this.

As you can tell via my post count (this being post #1), clearly I have just joined this forum for the purpose of this project.

I will be researching within the forums, but I invite anyone who has experience/advice to point me in the right direction.
My goal here in this thread is to share what I have learned, which in turn could serve as a useful resource for future noobs who are considering similar projects.
I will take many pics and post them, as noobs such as myself love visual explanations.

hi Shikotee,

This is not uncommon, and you should be able to find a few threads of this sort. I don't recall any statistics, but it does seem like a lot of the projects don't get completed (or are still in progress??). Once you look at replacing the battery and doing a LED conversion, you're not that far from building a completely new light.

Converting to LED is a complicated task, as you need to add a heatsink for the LED, proper optics, some way of mounting these, and a current regulator (a.k.a. "driver").

Reworking the battery has its challenges too, since you'll probably use a different cell size and different chemistry, and need a new charger.

If you are looking for an excuse to hack things up and make stuff, then this is clearly the project for you!! If not, well, there are a lot of nice commercial bike lights on the market. Happy trails!

Also before starting buying the parts for your project, do the math. Few years ago it was impossible to buy 1000 lumen bike light for 100$, so we were making quite a lot of DIY projects where the costs of milling and parts were about 150$ - these days not so many...

It is possible that I might stick with halogen, and not do the lcd conversion.
This might be a more long term project. How complicated is the heat sink process?
Assuming that they must be small, is it possible to take one off a video card or motherboard (etc), and cut it so it would fit in the casing?

I also have another light system from another defunct company - The Phoenix Dual Nite Hawk Bicycle Lighting (also from BC Canada), which I might rewire with RCA so I could us the same battery.
I might try an LCD conversion with this.


Will soon post some pics...

Question - Is it OK to post scans of the 4 page manual? This could be useful to someone in the future who inherits this model.
BLT Light Systems is long defunct, though they were a division of Norco Products. Personally, I'm quite fond of the bold type warning at the bottom:
Warning: Don't carry your battery as carry-on luggage on plane trip.... it looks like a bomb on X-ray machine!

shikotee said:

Question - Is it OK to post scans of the 4 page manual? This could be useful to someone in the future who inherits this model.

Click to expand...

You could post a link to the manual.

Bill

Awesome. Will upload it and post a link here.

Since I am a new user, my posts need to be approved, so I can't edit my previous post until it is approved.

Here are the links to the 4 page manual:

http://tinypic.com/r/in9u7t/6
http://tinypic.com/r/iqjxjc/6
http://tinypic.com/r/wb3q4h/6
http://tinypic.com/r/wgt99s/6

The specs are on the last page.

After viewing some threads and projects, I am pretty certain (unless anyone could persuade me otherwise) that I am not going to convert the Explorer to LED.
What I will do is hunt around for some cool looking retro large bike light, and then come up with a way to convert it to LED. I think this would be a good way to learn the ropes - more room and flexibility.

If I were to go LED, I would also have to get a better switch system, as the one here offers only on and off (to my knowledge).
I like these analog switches - they are easy to use while winter riding and wearing gloves.

What I am wondering about is what are the benefits of converting to 12V? (from 6V)

Correct me if I am wrong, would I not have to simply use 12v MR11 bulbs, design a 12v battery pack (using RCA connectors), obtain a charger (that can use the female end of an rca connector)?
Or would I also have to change the part that the bulb slides into?

I do have a universal booster pack ac/dc charger with the following specs:

Model BHY41-13.5V-500mA
Input: CA 120 V AC 60Hz
Output: CC 13.5V DC 500mA

It is a charger that I have with my Motomaster Eliminator Powerbox powerpack.
All I would have to do is obtain/design a tip for female rca connection.

What I also need to consider is what 4 types of bulbs to use. Each light has its own on off switch, and the rca cables split their way to the single battery.
You can thus have them on in any configuration. The more you use, the more power is used.

What would people recommend in terms of a battery pack? I was thinking of going either AA or D sized NiMH's.
I had D in mind when I was considering building a 6V battery (5 11000mAH D's).
Doubling up on this would be more expensive, and the battery would be pretty heavy (which is not that big of a worry).
I was considering building 2 battery packs (10 AA 3000mAH in each), so that I could have a spare.

If anyone has some good suggestions of what to target in the battery and bulb dept, it would be much appreciated.