Garden spike light to Bicycle light

LEDBE
Sounds like a great idea for modding. Just take the housing and replace the rest.

rayman
 
I actually thought about adapting a garden light housing for bike use. If it's an MR16 standard halogen, then there are a number of LED optics that will fit, without the battery issues of 20w of halogen.

Fraen does an MR16 for SSC, Khatod (SSC and Cree), Ledil (SSC, Ostar, and Cree), probably others as well. There may even be a reflector or two if a single emitter appeals to you.

A 20-watt Halogen will give you maybe 500Lm depending on the bulb. With high-bin emitters, you could get that much light or more for well under 10 watts. The fab is not difficult, and you would gain control over beam pattern and spectrum.

Eamon
 
Ok thanks for the responses. I had a wander around the shops yesterday, and the garden lights are quite large but look good for modding. The one I looked at had is aluminium diecast maybe 150mm diameter with GU10 fitting. I wasn't sure if I could mount an optic, and LED there due to the depth of the unit.

Another option I was looking into was using some kind of metal tube product. Looked at salt & pepper shakers, flasks, biscuit tins, tooth brush holders and metal plumbing reducers / couplers / compression units.

Toothbrush holder http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-5426.aspx

Erm I don't know much about LED optics. What diameter are they normally 35mm ?

What size are the 'LED stars' ?
 
The determinant is usually the size(s) of the optic you use. Beyond that you're limited only by your imagination and thermal requirements. Mouse around the forums a bit and you'll find salt shakers, copper pipe, shower door track, converted flashlights, and all manner of other things. The garden lights have appeal because they're premade and most of them use standardized bulb dimensions. I've seen some much smaller than 150mm diameter.

Enjoy
Eamon
 
ash_dac said:
Erm I don't know much about LED optics. What diameter are they normally 35mm ?
Click to expand...

Single LED optics are usually around 24-26mm and Triple LED optics are normally around 50-60mm. There are many options out there though.

It makes more sense figure out your optics than the housing. I wonder if a garden light makes sense though, it seems like there are less expensive ways to get a metal cylinder.
 
Alex Wetmore said:
... I wonder if a garden light makes sense though, it seems like there are less expensive ways to get a metal cylinder.
Click to expand...

Sure, we've seen the elegant, tomato paste can homebrew Dinotte clone that is a free metal cylinder that even comes pre-grooved for the O-ring mounting system.

But a cheap (<$10) garden light can get you a toothed, tilt adjustment mechanism that threads onto a standardized pipe fitting (I forget if it's 5/8 or 3/4" or whatever), which might be the basis for an adjustable, solid mounting system (a common problem with homebrews). Actually, I'm not sure about the solid part since the parts were designed for stationary use rather than the heavy vibration environment on a bike.

It might also come with a glass shield to keep the road grit and rocks away from easily scratched acrylic optics.

If there were an MR16 form factor triple optic holder with replaceable, adjustable optics, that'd be a pretty darned good bike light homebrew platform for folks without metal fab. tools/skills.
 
Great minds and all that! Working on something like that right now in a couple of variations using spare parts, a pair of lights on sale, and SLA and NiMH batteries. One is a 12v 20W MR16, but also playing with a Light and Motion lamp. And finally, for fun, experimenting with the stock floody reflector and various high output 6v bi-pins. Great flood even without overdriving (using a 6v SLA), but I think I will keep the L&M Stella around.

These are fun, relatively low cost winter projects. I made my first lights several years ago and was hooked. Enjoy your project and don't be afraid to experiment. But be careful as well.
 
I think buying the garden light is not just for the cylinder but for the reflector. I want to build a couple lights but need the reflectors and glass.
 
Eugene said:
I think buying the garden light is not just for the cylinder but for the reflector. I want to build a couple lights but need the reflectors and glass.
Click to expand...

Most of the garden lights I've looked at use MR16 lamps, so you could get that just by buying an MR16 lamp for a couple of bucks (or using a burned out one from somebody's trash :) and chucking the halogen bulb attached to it, assuming you wanted to replace the halogen light source with LEDs.

But yeah, the glass and tool-free twist locking cap that holds it onto the body of your typical garden light means you don't have to fab your own end caps out of Delrin rod (where do I find that!??!) or whatever to fit a metal cylinder in an easily accessed way.
 
I've seen people on here with small lathes, someone needs to start a made to order reflector/ lense service. For example I have a spot I want to put a 3" diameter light, if I could get the reflector and lense I could make the rest.
 
Eugene said:
I've seen people on here with small lathes, someone needs to start a made to order reflector/ lense service. For example I have a spot I want to put a 3" diameter light, if I could get the reflector and lense I could make the rest.
Click to expand...

Three inches is kinda' big, but you might look here for reflectors, and possibly some lenses as well.
http://www.surplusshed.com/
http://www.rolyn.com/products.html
http://www.valleydesign.com/

Depending what you mean by "lenses", you can get tempered mineral glass watch crystals from ~12mm to 35mm+ in .1mm increments, sometimes larger. Thicknesses are .8mm to 2.5mm, depending on diameter. Cheap, too.
http://www.ofrei.com/thick-mineral-glass.htm
http://www.esslinger.com/flatmineralglass.aspx
http://www.gssupplies.com/mineral_glass.html


Eamon
 
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