trout
Enlightened
This started out as a bike light using cheap and cheerfull parts
and has ended up being a real nice dog walking and rabbit chasing light .
now I know there are lots of very exotic lights built on here and am almost scared to post this one but plucked up the bottle .
the only tools used for this build were
Hacksaw / files / electric drill / allen key / screwdriver / and stanley knife/ 3mm and 4 mm thread taps
2 XPG leds and Ledil Regina reflectors give a pretty nice beam that throws a fair old distance .
I had some aluminium angle so that was used for the heatsink .cut to length to fit inside the hammond box .
care full positioning of the led stars and holes drilled and tapped but small bolts and nuts is as good if you have no taps
as this is a cheap and cheerfull build I have used Copper grease as the thermal compound
but a small tupe of real thermal compound is not expensive
The Regina Reflector has 2 location pins but the led stars to match I could not find so the pins had to be cut off , Easy job and cleaned up with a file .
You now need to get some holes drilled in the case to secure the leds and heat sink
this is where you need a little care for positioning and marking out of the holes
I did 2 x M3 and 1 x M4 all tapped the M4 is for a bar mount I have but may be better for a mount with 2 holes to stop it spinning round
I set the reginas level with the box edge
now a bit of soldering to add the pos and neg leads and connect the leds in series .
and put some insulating material under the screws to make sure they dont short on the solder pads
A bit more copper slip on the base of the heat sink and assemble
Battery I am using a 15 volt 1 amp hour Li PO pack from www.mtbbatteries.co.uk
it came with 2 pos and 2 neg leads already wired to it and a small .5 amp charger .
But you can fit in 1 double 18650 li ion pack also it will dim as the voltage drops and the driver goes out of regulation .
The battery went in next and is a perfect fit but some words of caution needed here .
this is a soft shelled battery and easily damaged which could be dangerous so be very carefull how you do this .
the rough edges of the hammond box needs filing smooth and I also put some dabs of silicon sealer around the battery to hold it in place .
the little Teapot driver needs mounting and a small heat sink was cut from spare ali from the angle .
and glued to the driver . this also moved the solder pads up to stop shorting on the case .
dont do what I nearly did and trim the wires too short which made it a begger to connect it all up .
simple job next to drill a couple of holes for the switch and charge socket .
I have used a standard 2.5 jack and coated it with silicon in an attempt to keep water out
and will also get a rubber booted switch .
the driver and its heatsink / mount was then glued to the back plate and all wired up .
I have gone for only one light level so here is my wiring diagram
check to see if it works
and now a little fiddly job is to install the reflectors ..
they need glueing in and I used the trusty silicon round the base and when that is set will reinforce with small blobs at the top too stop them wobbling .
you need a steady hand here to get the leds in the centre and then just leave it to set .
Last job when it has all cured is to use the remaining hammond end plate as a tempplate for a clear cover of some sort .
I have used some 1.5 mm polycarbonate for mine . sealed in with some silicon to keep the weather out .
a couple of beamshots in the woods
and has ended up being a real nice dog walking and rabbit chasing light .
now I know there are lots of very exotic lights built on here and am almost scared to post this one but plucked up the bottle .
the only tools used for this build were
Hacksaw / files / electric drill / allen key / screwdriver / and stanley knife/ 3mm and 4 mm thread taps
2 XPG leds and Ledil Regina reflectors give a pretty nice beam that throws a fair old distance .
I had some aluminium angle so that was used for the heatsink .cut to length to fit inside the hammond box .
care full positioning of the led stars and holes drilled and tapped but small bolts and nuts is as good if you have no taps
as this is a cheap and cheerfull build I have used Copper grease as the thermal compound
but a small tupe of real thermal compound is not expensive
The Regina Reflector has 2 location pins but the led stars to match I could not find so the pins had to be cut off , Easy job and cleaned up with a file .
You now need to get some holes drilled in the case to secure the leds and heat sink
this is where you need a little care for positioning and marking out of the holes
I did 2 x M3 and 1 x M4 all tapped the M4 is for a bar mount I have but may be better for a mount with 2 holes to stop it spinning round
I set the reginas level with the box edge
now a bit of soldering to add the pos and neg leads and connect the leds in series .
and put some insulating material under the screws to make sure they dont short on the solder pads
A bit more copper slip on the base of the heat sink and assemble
Battery I am using a 15 volt 1 amp hour Li PO pack from www.mtbbatteries.co.uk
it came with 2 pos and 2 neg leads already wired to it and a small .5 amp charger .
But you can fit in 1 double 18650 li ion pack also it will dim as the voltage drops and the driver goes out of regulation .
The battery went in next and is a perfect fit but some words of caution needed here .
this is a soft shelled battery and easily damaged which could be dangerous so be very carefull how you do this .
the rough edges of the hammond box needs filing smooth and I also put some dabs of silicon sealer around the battery to hold it in place .
the little Teapot driver needs mounting and a small heat sink was cut from spare ali from the angle .
and glued to the driver . this also moved the solder pads up to stop shorting on the case .
dont do what I nearly did and trim the wires too short which made it a begger to connect it all up .
simple job next to drill a couple of holes for the switch and charge socket .
I have used a standard 2.5 jack and coated it with silicon in an attempt to keep water out
and will also get a rubber booted switch .
the driver and its heatsink / mount was then glued to the back plate and all wired up .
I have gone for only one light level so here is my wiring diagram
check to see if it works
and now a little fiddly job is to install the reflectors ..
they need glueing in and I used the trusty silicon round the base and when that is set will reinforce with small blobs at the top too stop them wobbling .
you need a steady hand here to get the leds in the centre and then just leave it to set .
Last job when it has all cured is to use the remaining hammond end plate as a tempplate for a clear cover of some sort .
I have used some 1.5 mm polycarbonate for mine . sealed in with some silicon to keep the weather out .
a couple of beamshots in the woods
