Newb question

  • Thread starter Thread starter **DONOTDELETE**
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LEDBE
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**DONOTDELETE**

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I am new to this forum and I am looking for some advice. I am wanting to build a lightweight and inexpensive white-light LED primary light-source for mountain biking. Has anyone here done something like this with moderate success? I am in the process of reviewing archive topics on this, but I have not found anything. Thank you in advance.
 
829, welcome to CPF
I don't think led (just ordinary led, that is) will give you enough light for mountain biking. True, you can put so many led together and get a very bright bike light but the amount of light will diminish rather rapidly. Led just does not have a long throw. It is better to use luxeon star and use collimating optics or reflector. This way, you will have a long throw and also bright light. While you can also use reflector for the leds, you will need at least tens of them to give the output as much as a luxeon star. Led is better for use as your bike's tail lamps rather than the head lamps.
 
It depends on what the light has to do. Make you visible to cars? LEDs are a good choice. Add some light to a known and already partially streetlit road? LEDs are still in the mix, but "inexpensive" might be a problem. Properly light a completely dark trail for high speed off road riding? I would go with high wattage halogen. 1 watt will get you seen. 3 - 5 watts will show you the way at moderate speed on the street. 10 watts works for high speed street riding or low speed/risk off road. Consider 20 watts and up for high speed mountain biking.

With that caution, if 5 watts will do the trick, you might want to work a light around one of the LED Supply PowerPuck Kits. Visit http://www.ledsupply.com/led-kits.html . No personal experience. I've been thinking about it myself.
 
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