KentS
Newly Enlightened
Wohoo,
I finally finished my little project. I wanted a bike light for the commute I do to work when I do not use my car two to three days a week. I wanted it bright enough for very dark, but paved, country roads. Possible to get dim enough for in-town use and finally with a battery time long enough for one charge a week to be enough. Since I will not use it off road I don't need very much flood.
My construction is two series connected CREE R2 WG from DX(http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943) and as heatsink/housing I use http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13741. The focusing optics is the one supplied with the bulb (20 degree) and for the other one a 10 degree (also DX). The 10 degree optics is angeled so that is throws it light a little bit ahead of the centre of the 20 degree one. The driver is a Luxdrive buckpuck 1000mA with an external potentiometer for continuous dimming from Cutter. The rest of the construction is some parts from a local hardware store, some furniture leg end caps and a synthetic wine-cork.
All in all I am pretty satisfied. The light is powerful indeed (these Luxdrives seems a lot better than the circuit boards from DX) and the heatsinking is awesome. The light gets warm almost at once inside and outside with the airflow it remains ice cold. The battery pack is a 12xAA cheap NiMH good for just under three hours (rated 2700mA). However, I measured the efficiency of the Luxdrive to 92% so I don't get out 2700mA at all from the batteries. The fact that global warming has not been at its most obvious lately in Sweden does affect especially NiMH as I understand it. I will try with 4*18650 LiIons as soon as I receive the battery holder, hopefully with closer to four hours as a result.
Some pictures. The light:
Mounted on a bike, with a two-fish:
Finally some beam shots. The hedge is 22 meters away.
Fenix P3D premium 100 at turbo (200lumens):
Aurora AK-P7-3. This light is claimed to be 900 lumens. Since a P7 C-bin is at most 800 i would say its more likely 700lumens - it is still one of the most powerful p7:s at DX. a lot of light, but it goes all over the place:
Finally my own creation:
I finally finished my little project. I wanted a bike light for the commute I do to work when I do not use my car two to three days a week. I wanted it bright enough for very dark, but paved, country roads. Possible to get dim enough for in-town use and finally with a battery time long enough for one charge a week to be enough. Since I will not use it off road I don't need very much flood.
My construction is two series connected CREE R2 WG from DX(http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943) and as heatsink/housing I use http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13741. The focusing optics is the one supplied with the bulb (20 degree) and for the other one a 10 degree (also DX). The 10 degree optics is angeled so that is throws it light a little bit ahead of the centre of the 20 degree one. The driver is a Luxdrive buckpuck 1000mA with an external potentiometer for continuous dimming from Cutter. The rest of the construction is some parts from a local hardware store, some furniture leg end caps and a synthetic wine-cork.
All in all I am pretty satisfied. The light is powerful indeed (these Luxdrives seems a lot better than the circuit boards from DX) and the heatsinking is awesome. The light gets warm almost at once inside and outside with the airflow it remains ice cold. The battery pack is a 12xAA cheap NiMH good for just under three hours (rated 2700mA). However, I measured the efficiency of the Luxdrive to 92% so I don't get out 2700mA at all from the batteries. The fact that global warming has not been at its most obvious lately in Sweden does affect especially NiMH as I understand it. I will try with 4*18650 LiIons as soon as I receive the battery holder, hopefully with closer to four hours as a result.
Some pictures. The light:
Mounted on a bike, with a two-fish:
Finally some beam shots. The hedge is 22 meters away.
Fenix P3D premium 100 at turbo (200lumens):
Aurora AK-P7-3. This light is claimed to be 900 lumens. Since a P7 C-bin is at most 800 i would say its more likely 700lumens - it is still one of the most powerful p7:s at DX. a lot of light, but it goes all over the place:
Finally my own creation:
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