Low profile Helmet light with XPE leds (picture heavy)

[trout]

I have not seen anything happening with the cree XPE led and wondered why .

so I ordered a few to have a play with and see what they would be suitable for in the bike light world.

First impressions on opening the packet was dang they are small

I had not ordered any optics because I did not know what to go for and there was not a lot of info on these about so left them for a while .
I suppose wanting some one else to experiment .

I ran out of things to do so revisited the XPE s and had a look again to see if things had changed .
But no every one was doing MCE stuff me included
so I bit the bullet and ordered some optics , I went for the Carclo 10 mm square ones thinking the XPEs are on 10 mm boards so 10 mm optics .

Again these arrived and hell they are tiny how can something so tiny deal with all these lumens.

I had a look around and found some curtain track and it looked perfect to use as a mount for these as in the pic above ,
This sparked the idea for a helmet light with a low profile and much studying this configuration and showing it to my helmet followed.
I could not seem to figure a way to do the build so desided to start from scratch .

First off what sort of beam was I dealing with so I did a ceiling shot to find out
the tapes are 1 metre long and the distance is 2.2 metres
this is 1 XPE and optic

Not bad quite a spot it was it did not throw the light every where like the MCE optics .

so the helmet light was started from a block of aluminium and My hacksaw and mini mill .

I went for 6 XPE as they hit the sweet spot of the MaxFlex driver and my 14.8 li ion batteries .
and are still quite compact

The mounts for helmets seem to lift the light up higher so I went for a simple strap and put 2 slots for the strap

also to make it universal it can take a bar clamp bolted to the bottom

and here is where it is at the moment
no wiring yet and I am waiting for a switch and power socket .

I could not wait so cobbled up a power supply and driver for a test and beam shot


It was a full moon so quite a bit of ambient light
moonlight

now my 6 XPE helmet light @ 500 ma from a Nflex and 18 volt battery
Hi and Low to give an idea.

The bike is 35 metres away , the post 50 metres
the trees on the right 75 metres
and the trees at the back I have no idea but I am very impressed with this as a biking helmet light.

and on low

 

[znomit]

Troutie, thats your best work yet (and thats saying something).

Now anodise it black and put some red leds out the back.

 

[trout]

Troutie, thats your best work yet (and thats saying something).

Now anodise it black and put some red leds out the back.

Thanks Znomit I am rather pleased with this one .
I am supprised that there are`nt a few more XPE lights out there .

Good thinking there with the red leds plenty of room available
anodising this one is not possible but the mark 2 will be .


I would have thought the XPE would be right up your street for the tiny lights with big output.

 

[znomit]

I would have thought the XPE would be right up your street for the tiny lights with big output.

After my last failed 400 miler (only manage 260) I found I need to spend more time working on my legs and less time working on my lights :shrug:

Doing a single MC-E Boom SS with 3 die high beam, single die low beam(dyno of course) for a 300 mile ride in april, and slowly ledifying my Vespa.

 

[Tidra]

Good one, Trout,...

But you got to admit, you have too much time,... :twothumbs


LP
Iztok

 

[DaFABRICATA]

I likey!!!

Looks pretty bright to me!

Nice Job!:thumbsup:

I haven't seen very many people using these little guys.
I'd like to get my hands on some, but don't know where to get them other than cutter...and I hear shipping times aren't that great there.

 

[Dstar]

Hey Chris, I still can't believe how small these things are!!!

Steve

 

[trout]

A bit of an update on this project .
I have tidied it up a bit and had some CNCed

The housings are for sale and cutters are doing a kit to fit in which consists of
6 XPE R2 leds on boards
6 carclo 10 mm square optics
1 Maxflex 3

Kit here

details on the housing is here

 

[kuksul08]

Wow trout those are quite nice I must say, what do you do for a living? Some type of engineer or technician, or just enjoy doing this on the side?

What are the disadvantages/advantages of the XP-E's anyway... their output is similar to those of the XR-E, so why would anyone want to keep using the xr-e?

 

[dom]

Excellent Trout
You need to fix your links (they have an extra "http" in them).

In reply to kuksul08 - i think the XP-E hasn't taken off so well is because of the limited amount of optics available. Or no really tight beam ,ie 10deg or less.

Though with 6 of them is such a small space should counteract any lack of spot in Trouts application

Nice simple design -have you some mounting options you can show us?

Cheers
Dom

 

[trout]

Wow trout those are quite nice I must say, what do you do for a living? Some type of engineer or technician, or just enjoy doing this on the side?

What are the disadvantages/advantages of the XP-E's anyway... their output is similar to those of the XR-E, so why would anyone want to keep using the xr-e?

I am a carpet and flooring fitter / garden shed inventor/ mtbiker

The advantages for me were tiny size of the led and optics so I could get 6 in a small low profile housing.
there are some nice optics arriveing on the scene for these now .
and 3 of these gives a punchier beam than a MCE


Cheers Dom I have fixed the links

Good point on the mount , it is simply a velcro strap through the 2 slots on the base . a bit difficult to see in the picture against the velcro stuck to my helmet that was an experiment to see if it would hold and it was too wobbly

There is a bar mount option but I am waiting for some to be delivered so cant show that yet

 

[lumafist]

I`ve been lurking this thread since the start and I gotta hand it to you, this is an awesome looking light...!
I`m looking for a light to give a friend that rides ( I used to but have backinjury...) and this looks like it...!

What would be the total..?
The cutter site looks a bit confusing to me.....




Allso, do you do custom jobs...?

 

[trout]

I`ve been lurking this thread since the start and I gotta hand it to you, this is an awesome looking light...!
I`m looking for a light to give a friend that rides ( I used to but have backinjury...) and this looks like it...!

What would be the total..?
The cutter site looks a bit confusing to me.....




Allso, do you do custom jobs...?

Yes it is a little confusing .
you can do the build up for £120 or 140 euro
the kit from cutters is approx 70 euro shipped
the grey anodised housing is again approx 70 euro shipped

all you then need is a mom switch and power socket to match battery.
some AAA and Silicon and That is it


Yes I can do the odd custom build , but it is primarily a hobby that funds itself

loads of pics of stuff here

 

[piesoup]

Chris, that light is fantastic! :twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs

 

[lumafist]

Awesome..!
Thanks....!

 

[kombiman]

What battery pack range could be used?

Just unsure of the draw and how long it will last per a/hr and volts.

Nice work!

 

[trout]

What battery pack range could be used?

Just unsure of the draw and how long it will last per a/hr and volts.

Nice work!

Hi Kombiman :welcome:
recomended voltage is 14.4v li ion as it is boosting up to 19 volts and the maxflex is happy at this . @ full power the draw is .98a
so you will get good runtimes even if you used full power all the time
I only use full for the techy stuff and downhill and tend to dim it for the climbs .

 

[mikeh]

How hot does that get if you are not moving?
Looks like a lot of power in a small package.

 

[trout]

How hot does that get if you are not moving?
Looks like a lot of power in a small package.

Here is a time lapse photo sequence with the probe drilled in to the heat sink just behind the leds .
it shows the heat up to the maxflex tripping at 50 degrees .
and how a small draught from a desk fan brings the temp back down

this is the prototype and has not got as good thermal paths as the new one .

 

[John_Galt]

Wow! Those beram shots were from that little LED bar?!? Thats insane. I would love to have something like that for my quad, running off of the stator (I think thats what it's called, right?). No more headlamps for me, I'll take two.:twothumbs