dual Cree Xr-E p4 bike light in cateye hl-500 housing

[ballsofcottonwool]

Just finished my lights tonight.

Parts

2 cree X-RE P4 leds on star mcpcb
2 6*25 degree carclo collimating lenses and 20mm lens holders
1 old cateye hl-500 bike light
2 22mm copper pipe end caps

assembly:

wires soldered onto the stars and fixed in place with some hot glue.
2 holes drilled in 22mm end caps to feed wires through.
glued the led stars to the inside of the pipe caps with Artic silver thermal adhesive.
wrapped the lens holders with a few layers of insulating tape so they are a nice snug fit in the pipe caps.
pushed the lenses into the pipe caps.
The two copper pipe caps are a perfect push fit into the original lens that came with the light..
solder the leads from the leds to the old bulb connections in the light.

The light is powered by 2 C cell alkaline batteries as found in the original light, at 3v the leds are undervolted so no problems with overheating.

 

[dom]

Welcome to CPF BOCW
Nice intro with a very neat mod
How do you find the beam?
I have noticed a lot of light loss using that type optic?

Cheers
Dom

 

[ballsofcottonwool]

Thanks, just tried it without the lenses and the light output is much better!

 

[msxtr]

Excellent work!!! could you put more photos of into of the light, please?.

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[diff_lock2]

I have noticed a lot of light loss using that type optic?

Cheers
Dom

You mean the 6x25 or just plastic lenses in general?

 

[dom]

You mean the 6x25 or just plastic lenses in general?

Optics are pretty good -it's just the oval type optics that seem to scatter alot of light in the process of changing the beam shape from round.

Cheers
Dom

 

[Buck]

Brilliant! :bow:

I still have one of those lame old Cateyes somewhere...I should copy you. Where did you get your Crees?

 

[ballsofcottonwool]

I hooked up my multimeter to see what current the LEDs were drawing from the batteries, 0.03 A or 30mA :mecry: Could be much brighter. Back to the drawing board. I fitted a 1000ma driver inside the case and 2.5mm female dc socket to the top of the light. Connected up a 9.6v Nicad HOLY COW that is bright! concerned about heat buildup within the casing i left it running with the 22mm end caps holding the LEDs on the worktop exposed to the air. HMmm its getting pretty hot.

Psssst pop

whoops one of the emitters blew up, the lens has cracked and detached from the emitter base. Guess i must have damaged it when i soldered it.

 

[ballsofcottonwool]

My camera battery is flat so I can't take or post any new pics.

I'll post some more pics when i get a new charger for my camera

 

[ballsofcottonwool]

Heres a photo of the Emitter after the lens came off. I tried it with the multimeter again today and it still works!

Heres a view inside the light showing how the 22mm copper end caps fit perfectly.

Having deduced that the LEDs are still working i reassembled the light only to find that it was the driver that has blown. I have built up a 3.6v battery pack from some old Nicads I had lying around, and rewired the light to run direct off the battery LEDs wired in parallel. Soon as the Batteries are charged up i'll post some beam shots.

 

[Chris D.]

I know this is an old thred, but I like what you've done with the HL-500.. I retrofitted mine for a 7.2v hologen setup with a remote battery pack..