Inspired by
KonradC and especially
nightrider, educated by
newbie and
SilverFox, I decided to build my own homemade bike light.
(Trying to make this post readable and informative only gives me greater appreciation for their efforts)
Summary:- 3x Cree XR-E, Ledil optics, 8x AA NiMH direct drive.
- Pretty bright, pretty simple, pretty cheap.
- Each emitter is angled to lay down an even swath of light.
From Newbie's and SilverFox's NiMH posts, I figured the I could direct drive 3x XR-E with 8x AA NiMH. I already had AA NiMH batteries and a charger, so this seemed like a good project to "get my feet wet". 1idjack
confirmed my thinking that this should work. My first test showed the current at 710 mA with freshly charged batteries.
I'm not done yet, but here is an "exploded" view of the pieces ready for final assembly.
Here is roughly how it will look like when assembled.
Perhaps this light's one claim to fame is that the emitters are mounted on a copper flat bar that serves several purposes;
- be an angled "riser" for the emitters
- allow space for wiring underneath the optic
- act as heatsink
I used a hacksaw to cut about half way through the bar and then bent to form a 7 degree angle (1/8" rise is about 7 degrees). This angle was to match the +/- 4 degree angle of the Ledil optics. Here is a closeup (turn your head sideways
).
The pieces are;
3x P3 Cree XR-E
2x +/-4 degree and 1x +/-9 degree Ledil optics
1" x 2" rectangle aluminum tube in cut in half
1/8" x 1/2" rectangle copper bar
24 AWG stranded wire
3/4" conduit hanger
1/8" x 1" aluminum bar
8x AA battery holder with "9V" connectors
"9v" wiring harness
Artic Alumina epoxy
heat shrink
In subsequent posts below, I'll go into;
- Design considerations
- Material/supplies selection
- Tool requirements
- Build process
- Things I would have done differently
I hope this inspires someone to either do their first homemade light or to further improve the design.
Dale
diybl
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