A bike light I built for my Helmet

[dhiris]

My self made helmet bike light
Different parts used. Li-ion batteries and copper plumbing caps, Seoul SSC P4 LEDs, reflectors, motor heat sinks, arctic silver epoxy, and Copper plate which can be bent to allow different light angles.

After installing the LEDs and wiring them up

Mounted light:

Rear close-up:

Light beam in a dark room. Took the picture on auto with no flash. ~400 lumen.

 

[Scoot]

Very innovative :thumbsup:

not to mention really cute... kind of reminds me of a movie I saw recently... what was it... oh yea... "Wallee" :naughty:

Nice job!!!

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

yeh i like that, .... pretty neat
hey your workshop and smart bench are waaaaay more upmarket than mine :thumbsup:

 

[Scoot]

I just showed it to my wife and thinks it's just adorable... she absolutely loves it

Looks like it could transfer heat away pretty well, even sitting still. Does it seem to do that very efficiently from your initial tests?

 

[dhiris]

I tested it using an IR thermometer in an air conditioned room at ~80 F and ran it for 15 minutes at 1 Ah which is the maximum for these LEDs and the driver. The temperature climbed to ~122 F at the area between the rear heat sink and the copper cap and then stayed there. The max junction temperature that these LEDs can take is 250 F.

Since I want over 3 hours out of the 2 batteries, I set it back to 700 mah and took it riding. It didn't even get warm to the touch and it was ~95 F outside.

The only slight problem I had with mounting the motor heat sinks is that they have a smaller diameter than the copper cap but that doesn't seem to be a problem especially after using arctic silver epoxy which creates a bigger thermal transfer area.

 

[yellow]

nice fins

(but if the glue ever comes loose - I am sure they are not needed when riding. Flowing air
is much more cooling than needed)

How did You fix the optics from the front? Is that hot glue?
By using snap-rings You could improve access to the inside

 

[pe2er]

The extended tupe on the right, is that a cooling air scoop???

 

[dhiris]

The fins are attached with Arctic Silver Epoxy. They're not going anywhere .

As for the optics, I used reflectors and to keep the dust out, there's a plastic cover made out of packaging plastic glued on with household glue which is water resistant but soft enough to remove and install new flashlight reflector covers I ordered. The reflectors are held in place using a piece of rubber band taped around the reflector. That creates a water tight seal.

 

[dhiris]

I made some upgrades to the light and here they are:

Upgraded the optics to reduce the beam to 80 degrees from 130

Upgraded the power switch

Since the new optics have a dome that sticks out a little, the light reflects off the blue heat sink.

The new beam and the light.

 

[dhiris]

Added a cable cover:

 

[Changchung]

Very nice job :thumbsup: Where you get this blue heat sink?

 

[Djedgar]

Would this be the heatsink you used? Looks similar but thinner and web site does not give dimensions.
http://www.redrockethobbies.com/E_Flite_Main_Motor_Heatsink_Blade_CP_p/eflh1132.htm?Click=30985

If not that heatsink, where did you find yours?

Thank you for posting your design. I love it.

 

[xiejol]

Where did the battery pack come from? Can you post some pics? Thanks.

 

[Linger]

xiejol, It looks like the battery pack is from Turboferret (cpf user based in UK)

dhiris, well done! It instantly reminded me of
http://sheldonbrown.com/eagle.html
a huge bike enthusiast.

What driver did you use, and where is it? (i can't see it in pictures)
Any issues with driver / switch being 2-3feet from emitters?
What is this new optic? My current helmet light is reflector and the spill is too wide while the spot is too bright. i'm looking for small optics. how do they work out for you?

I have a 3AA battery pack on the back of my bell bike helmet, works out well for me.

Best,
Linger