Hi there - I bike to and from work nearly every day. Oftentimes I'll end up biking in the dark. My route takes me between multiple cities - so sometimes I'm on brightly lit streets, other times I'm in the middle of nowhere with no lighting whatsoever. I have a basic Cateye headlight that is enough as long as I'm alone - but cars passing by completely wash it out so that I completely lose sight of the road when I'm around cars.
I'm looking for something a whole lot more powerful. How much more powerful? I dunno - I was hoping you all might be able to suggest something.
I already have a power source figured out. It is approximately 250 Watt-hours at between 30 and 48 volts. Very low series resistance. I want this to last two hours - so that means I can burn 125W if needs be. I think that should be enough!
I should mention I'm an electrical engineer... so I'm planning on doing all the electronics myself. I've already mostly designed the battery management board that monitors/balances/protects my battery pack. I don't care if something requires ridiculously complicated/sophisticated electronics - I'm doing this project half because I need it, and half as a way of flexing my EE muscles.
My plan is for the brightness to be completely adjustable. I want this bad boy to get ridiculously bright - but I also want to be able to dim it down when around drivers so that they don't swerve into the road and hit me.
I'm also figuring I'll probably mill out the enclosure for it myself. I have the necessary equipment, and friends with the necessary skills that are willing to help me. I don't particularly care about weight - my bike's already a fairly hefty touring bike - and any weight I add means I just have to get that much more in shape
So - what sort of LEDs would you all suggest? How many lumens do you think I need, and what sort of color temperature should I be aiming for? What sort of optics should I be looking at? I see that DX sells some multiple emitter reflectors, but the Polymer Optics lenses look nice too.
Thanks a ton guys!
I'm looking for something a whole lot more powerful. How much more powerful? I dunno - I was hoping you all might be able to suggest something.
I already have a power source figured out. It is approximately 250 Watt-hours at between 30 and 48 volts. Very low series resistance. I want this to last two hours - so that means I can burn 125W if needs be. I think that should be enough!
I should mention I'm an electrical engineer... so I'm planning on doing all the electronics myself. I've already mostly designed the battery management board that monitors/balances/protects my battery pack. I don't care if something requires ridiculously complicated/sophisticated electronics - I'm doing this project half because I need it, and half as a way of flexing my EE muscles.
My plan is for the brightness to be completely adjustable. I want this bad boy to get ridiculously bright - but I also want to be able to dim it down when around drivers so that they don't swerve into the road and hit me.
I'm also figuring I'll probably mill out the enclosure for it myself. I have the necessary equipment, and friends with the necessary skills that are willing to help me. I don't particularly care about weight - my bike's already a fairly hefty touring bike - and any weight I add means I just have to get that much more in shape
So - what sort of LEDs would you all suggest? How many lumens do you think I need, and what sort of color temperature should I be aiming for? What sort of optics should I be looking at? I see that DX sells some multiple emitter reflectors, but the Polymer Optics lenses look nice too.
Thanks a ton guys!