Led lights for motorccyle

[jbwiden]

I have previously made two LED lights for my mountain bike.

The casing was a design found online and Ledil optics with cree XRE Q5 with my own micro-controller and UI.

But now I want something for my dirt bike.

I do not currently have the time to make more for the motorcycle but was thinking about something with the new ~700lumen LEDs. That would accept automotive 12v. Looking through dealextreme I found some interesting products like this. the only problem is I want as much throw as possible and that is a flood light. I really like the price but too bad it is flood.

So anybody have any Ideas for inexpensive LED's light setups for the bike. I want it to be run from the bikes electrical to save on cost and also so I do not have to worry about charging the batteries.

20-30 watts are what I am looking for to compliment the Halogen headlight.

I also would be ok with some assembly/soldering I really just do not want to make the housing again. Low price is key.

Thanks,
Jbwiden

 

[BrianMc]

High output, with efficacy, and throw is a difficult threesome to get.

High output means bigger dies (like the humongous one in the DX light link).

Big dies require large reflectors or optics to focus into narrower beams.

So a 4 die CREE MCE which in the highest output Bin is just over 750 lumens in the lab at max current of 700 mA, has no really narrow optics.
About 9.5 watts.

Same for reflectors for the SSC P7 which is nominally 900 lumens but 750 is more likely in a real world light at maximum 2.8 amp input. About 10.4 watts. Narrow medium beam is about as good as it gets.

Two CREE XP-G R5s at 1.5 A max current would be over 900 lumens in a lab and 750 in a light. The LXP lens (11 degree beam) Regina reflector (10 degree beam) will give a fairly decent throw. About 11 watts.

http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Optics+for+XP-C/E/G&pg=2

Three XP-G Rs at 1.0 A current would be over 1000 lumens and 800 in a light. About 10 watts.

Four XP-E R2s at 1.0 amp will give over 1000 lumens in the lab and maybe 800 in a light. With the Regina you will get a tighter beam than the XP-G will give. About 14 watts.

So a thrower light requires small separate dies so the optics aren't gigantic, but a single small die can't output enough light, so more light means more dies, which means several smaller LEDs and moderately large optics for them, fitted into a moderate sized body, and that will not be $30 light.

Depending on LED and optics choice plus shipping, and you exceed $30 with the two XPG's and lenses alone and a 1.5 A driver may be $35.

You don't care about weight s much on the motorbike, so you could do a three barrel Cu-lite of copper pipe:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=580785

The housing is easy to build of cheap pipe parts.I'd ditch the expensive 1.5 A driver and do a triple XP-G with the Cu-Lite design. Use a simple buckpuck to drive all three clustered together. You can even put a dimmer on it

http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Recom+Drivers

800+ lumens or in a 10 or 11 degree FWHM (Full Width Half Maximum) beam should be a help.

 

[jbwiden]

Thanks for the great input, the Culite design looks very appealing.

I guess it is a very similar style to the light I had made before. Run a few smaller leds with relatively large optics and one driver. But for this I really do not need to have dimming like I programmed in with the last set of lights I do not have to worry so much about conserving the battery.

I guess I had not realized the new dies are now a good bit bigger and would require larger optics.

On another note:

I found this lens-
http://www.ledil.fi/datasheets/DataSheet_Iris_MCE.pdf

It does not seem all that large and the FWHM is 11 degrees.

Or, am I missing something?

 

[BrianMc]

The Iris is suitable in terms of output. Many think it a bit large on a bike, but the only aspect of its size on a motorbike is the size of the plumbing parts needed. Look for the adapters that change pipe sizes like from 2" to a 1". The smaller diameter at the LED firewall means a shorter thermal path to the body. Copper means the heat will spread very well for and aft from there to be radiated. It appears to be 38 mm in diameter so you need a pipe od 1.5" ID or larger. There is also something to be said for redundancy, so maybe a pair of MCE's may be the ticket for you. About as easy to build two as one and the shipping costs are halved per light.

Beamshots of the Iris and LXP:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=530556&highlight=Iris+LXP+beamshot

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=575994&page=2

Beamshots of the Regina:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=592449&highlight=Ledil+Regina

If you are thinking a single MCE, then this may be of interest:

http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut968

That should have you on your way to one or more new lights!