Newb - Bike Light

[crackerkorean]

Wow im actually glad I found this site.
I have been doing some looking but need some help understanding some things.

I am looking to make two different bike lights.
I want a decent flood for the handle bars and a nice spot for the helmet.

I have seen some examples on here using the Cree XREs and the results are really nice.
I also found a 7W LED(American Bright LED) (3.3v @ 2.1A). It says intensity 210 (do they mean lumins?)

I was thinking about two of these in paraelle (sp) using a 3.6v 10A battery. That would give me about 2 hours of run time @ 4.2A

I was just going to use a resistor to drop the voltage or a simple voltage regulator.

Also it has a 30 degree viewing angle but I was thinking about getting lenses for it so that it would perform a little better. But I am not sure where to look for those.

My questions are as follows.
1. What does bucking an LED do as opposed to using a direction connect or regulating via a resistor or VR.
2. Any body have experience with American Bright LED 7w unit I mentioned above?
3. I also found an edison-opti 12V unit that is 135+ lumenns @ .3A Any experience with these?

Anyhelp is appreciated and thi is a great site.

 

[nein166]

Here are some nice builds I've seen. I don't have a bike myself but want to replace my car headlights
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=142791
http://myfwyc.org/bikeled/ConstructionSteps.html
AndyTieDye has a great bike Light Link Thread
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1965139

 

[crackerkorean]

I didnt realize I was beating a dead horse as much as I was.

Wow tons of info. I found niteriders (i think thats his SN) site very helpful and will be borrowing many ideas LOL

Now to see if I can find somebody local that can machine alu. I will be set.

 

[aljsk8]

dont forget my niterider clone!

with bling carbon fibre

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=166804

 

[crackerkorean]

Ok I still have some questions after reading through the posts.

I was thinking about running three LEDs in paraelle and using a 3.6v 10a battery. But I read some where that is not the thing to do.

Ok so if I run them in series I would need a higher voltage battery but less mA.

Also what is all this bucking thing?

I would like to have a dim and a bright setting on the light for dusk and dark conditions. How do I do this?

I am going to try to use a MAG light head as a housing, it looks really sharp.

Thanks in advance

 

[Gunner12]

You could make a cheap but bright light using two Dealextreme Cree drop-ins. Thread.

If you are still thinking about using the American Bright LED, I'd say change that to a Cree or a Seoul. About 210 lumen at about 3.7V and 1 amp.

Different settings can be made by using a resistor or a multi staged regulator board.

A buck circuit lowers the voltage of the batter to the voltage of whatever thing you are using. The above Cree drop-in has a buck circuit. It will take voltages from 3.7-9V and lower it to about 3.6V of the LED.

Direct drive means driving the LED with the batteries directly. The simplest but LED dims as the batteries die down. A boost circuit raises the voltage to the correct operating voltage for the LED.

This sounds similar to what you want to do.

 

[crackerkorean]

I really like that second link that you posted. I PMed him about how me made the enclosure.

What controller would I use if I want to have three different settings for brightness. Like 300 600 and 900mA.

I think I have decided on the seouls with different lenses depending on the light. Flood for the handlebars and spot for the helmet.

I would like to use the mag light housing with the mag light switch as the power switch. Would this be possible using one switch.