5-up Rebel with Ledil Penta-Optic

[BillyNoMates]

I thought I would share some details of my latest bike light project. I've been using my previous design (9xRebel in a 3x3 array with an assortment of ledil RES optics) for a while now and I have been pleased with the performance it provides.

Unfortunately, the appearance of the light is rubbish (due to a rushed case design) and it is a bit on the large size.

As a result, I've been working on a smaller design based on the Ledil RER-5-M optic. I've spent quite a bit of time milling the case out of aluminium solid bar on fairly rudimentary equipment in my garage, but I'm relatively pleased with the final result.

As with my previous design, I've used a custom driver based on the LTC3454 running each led at 750mA off a single LiPoly cell (6x2200mA in parallel) with a PIC microcontroller to implement the mode selection, battery monitor etc.

I've populated two LED boards, one with 80lm neutral white and one with 40lm red. The red one is really just for a laugh - it is way too bright to use as a tail light with the current driver current.

Here are some pictures:

I haven't got any outdoor beam shots yet, but here are a couple of indoor shots:

Dark:

White LEDs:

Red LEDs:

http://i688.photobuck

 

[ifor powell]

That looks realy nice and light for a lot of punch. How heavy?

The red must be insane....

Ifor

 

[BillyNoMates]

That looks realy nice and light for a lot of punch. How heavy?

The red must be insane....

Ifor

I'll measure the weight on the weekend. I'll try to do some outdoor shots too.

You are right about the red version - it is totally insane.

 

[BillyNoMates]

For those who are interested, I've measured the weights....

Assembled Body without heatsink 83g
Heatsink 60g
Quick Release Mount 29g
Battery Pack without carrier 339g

There is still some scope for reducing the weight further with a bit more time spent on the machining stages, however, this one is staying as it is for now. It works well and I'm happy with it.

 

[HarryN]

Hi, you are getting to be pretty handy with those rebels.

I assume those are the red/ orange (617nm) vs deeper red ones ?

Thanks

HarryN

 

[BillyNoMates]

I assume those are the red/ orange (617nm) vs deeper red ones ?

No these were the reds - 626nm. Looking back at the order history, I see these were the 30lm bins (they were cheap at £1 each), not the 40lm I appear to remember. That should still be close to 350lm at the 750mA drive level I'm using (no significant degradation at higher drives with these simple die).