900 Lumens light with extended V range

[rhrast]

Newby needing information.

Found that the cheapest way to get some extra driving lights on my motorcycle is to
buy a pair of high power LED flashlights and do a cut and hack mod to mount them on
the bike. Nothing like the large manufacturing lots to bring the price down.
The 900 lumen units for the motorcycles run in the High $300 - 600 range,
which is absurd. Trying to keep the $$ down as there are too
many contentions around here about motorcycle expenditures.

BUT - most of these hi-powered LED flashlights have a very limited drive
V range, e.g., (3.5-4.5V).
A few however allow up to 16, 18 or 20V input.

Either I can put a couple of the lower V units in series on the output of a regulator,
say 9V, but of course this is extra headache and if one unit fails, they both fail;
as well as mismatching problems and so forth.

RE: the wide V range units, Anyone know what controllers these use?
And it would be presumed they have a buck converter or similar, certainly
no one today would resistively control current flow. :ironic:
Don't want to be wasting power, the Motorcycle alternator is working hard as it is.

How to find units which allow the wider V range as will be received when connected
to my 12V system?

----
Related question - the center core of the beam on these flashlights is not
as diffuse as I'd want. What would be a simple way of increasing diffusion?
An orange-peely glass on the front, gluing on a lens dimple, ...any thoughts.

Thanks for any help you can render.

 

[qwertyydude]

High power led's are blinding to oncoming traffic. You'll need some kind of projecting lens system to control the light simply out the led closer than the focal point to prevent the dies from projecting on the road in a narrow path. If you simply want more light you can always do what I did and install an HID kit on the motorcycle. Be sure to get the appropriate bulb though or then you'll still blind people. I'm sure your motorcycle can handle an extra 35 watt hid, or if you're willing to get a little creative you can always put in a heavy duty voltage regulator in place of your existing one like I did. Now I have an extra 75 watts of generating capability. easily enough to run another fog light and the regulator runs cooler.