New here, with one I've made earlier

[Solo Rider]

Hi.

I've created a home made bike light using XR-E Q5s, as you can see, its a triple, and in conjunction with a BFlex, I think/hope I'm getting about 675 lumens from it.

While this light is plenty good enough to ride off road with, I have noticed that others are making lights with higher outputs.

I wonder if anyone here could point me in the direction of a good place to read and learn about MC-E LEDs and the XP-E LED. I've found them on cutter, but I'm not quite sure, in the case of the MC-E how people are wiring them up, or in the case of the XP-E, what the lumens are and what current people are running them on.

Any advise much appreciated.

Cheers

Solo.

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

Hi Solo, :welcome::wave:
thats a pretty neat build you got there :thumbsup:
the mc-e and xp-e are relatively new on the scene so there isn`t a massive amount of info re builds/output as yet
i can only suggest trawling through the last couple of pages here to glean any relevent info,
or maybe take a look on mtbr.com bike light forum,
........ clicky link

see you around!

 

[Solo Rider]

Hendo.

Hi, Thanks.

Yeah, I guessed by the way that my thread didn't exactly set the forum alight, that I'd be faced with yet more research. But, thats ok. As explained, I'm new here and there appears to be a lot to read, so I'm looking forward to doing so.

MTBR: Yes, I'll be looking on there soon.

In the meanwhile I have ordered a couple of optics and a Dia 10mm board mounted XP-E, just as a look-see. See if I can cramp a few into the same body.....

Cheers.

Solo.

 

[RGB_LED]

Hi Solo Rider, :welcome:. Your build looks great! Looks like you cut down an aluminum light... I like the rear of the light, simple button to activate the BFlex and the rubber seals around the switch and the power cord - really clean and professional. Kind of reminds me of the Dinotte lights. Did you machine the bracket or just simply take that off of another light?

Btw, are you using this light for commuting or off-roading? Just curious to hear how your heat dissipation is working... since a lot of lights have cooling fins and I don't see any in the pics.

Overall, great job!:thumbsup:

 

[Solo Rider]

RGB LED.

Thanks for your kind remarks, its good to get feedback.

Yeap, right 1st time, its the Tesco baton torch (I think its desciontinued now), cut down to size.

It just seems to suit the purpose, all ali, manageable size, cheap, I got my torches for just £8 which for the main ali body of a torch, is quite cheap I think. Then it was just a matter of cutting the thing down to size, etc.

My impression of the home-made light scene, at the moment, is that there are a few really tidy efforts out there, trout's lights for example have an almost comercial look now.....This is good as it prompts me to make the best finished light that I can.

I spotted the bar mount in my LBS and seeing as it has left/right adjustment and allows the user to simply slide the light off and take it with them, without decoupling the bar clamp itself, I just decided it was the one to go with.

Of course, this was only half the job and I needed a compatible fixing for the light unit itself. Initially I "fashioned" a couple of slides from 20mm sqr ali bar I bought from an Engineering merhcants. These worked well, but then I met someone whom I managed to talk into machining a few for me, in his workshop at home (for a nominal fee).
The machined slides look good, although I can't match the finish of the main torch body as it has a more steel-look coating.

Anyway, the slides are screwed to the main torch body and work as intended.

I've only used the light on the road so far, in the ambient air temps that we've been having in the UK during the evenings in February (cool to cold). There have been no heating issues at all so far and I do not anticiapte that there will be either.
However, I will be interested to test on summer nights just to see. I want know that I've created a light which can operate in the warmer ambient temps of a summer eve.

Although the torch does not have an cooling fins, there is a significant amount of physical material in the head and I guess this is what is keeping everything cool.

I guess I've not bothered with cooling fins as I'm not so keen on the look, but I admit that for those lights which have been designed to within a whisker of there minimum feasible weight, fins must be the way to go.

I'm really liking the BFlex and having two light levels. George of TaskLed is the man.

I've got some R2s on order with a few optics, I suspect that I may be able to fit a good hand full of these into the head.

I would like my next light to crack the 4 digit lumen barrier. A cluster of R2s may be the answer. I'm looking a both a bar light as shown above, with upwards of 5/6 R2 and a small helmet light with 4/5 R2s.
I've no idea how hot the R2 can get, so its all just experimental at the mo, well, once they arrive.

Cheers :twothumbs

Solo.