Solarforce with Cree R2 7090 XR-E LED (300Lumens) modded to take Li-Po batteries

[fyford]

Hi,

I have actually no idea what I am doing, but here's the plan:

To create a headlight for my helmet with a long burn time, light as possible with the capacity to run a max of 300lumens. So I have on order a Li-Po battery;1450mAh 7.4v 20C and a SolarForce torch claiming to push out 300 lumens on 2 CR123A's. My plan is to leave out the CR123A's and solder a connector in so I can connect the Li-Po. Might have to drill a small hole somewhere for the wire to run through for this. I will then use a twofish Lockblocks mount to stick it on my helmet

Has anybody tried something similar? Can anybody see a problem with this idea? I chose the battery based on the batteries used by the Ay-Up light systems.

Any advice will be appreciated

Cheers

F

 

[LukeA]

That will work fine. You could cut the body shorter (you could cut it off completely) and permamently seal it to reduce weight. Then switch it inline.

If I was doing this project, I think I'd remove the switch assembly (maybe reuse it as the inline switch?) and run the wire through the tailcap hole (maybe through a hole in the tailcap boot), then take the body out completely and epoxy the tailcap to the head.

Keep in mind that you won't get 300 lumens from a single-emitter setup, more like 250. That's not a huge difference to our eyes though, and 250lm is still a goodly amount of light.

The 20C-discharge capable battery is quite overkill for this project, but will work fine and be nice and light.

 

[fyford]

Hi LukeA, many thanks for this! Could you explain what you mean by a 20C-discharge battery? I just looked for something similar to what Ay-Up uses and found above battery on e-bay for 5 quid. Still need to figure out how I am going to charge it - Not that I am too bothered about the 250 - 300 lumen, but the torch states that it burns 300 lumen on a single emitter in it's highest setting as it uses the latest of the CREE bulbs, might just be E-Bay talk to get the torches sold I guess.