2 Nichia® Rigel LEDs putting out over 46 lumens!
Foreword,
The following article is about bike lights used to be seen NOT to illuminate any kind of off road path. Visibility was the number one concern in the making of these lights.
Don't get me wrong I'm a flashaholic, I've XP-Gs on the way for all kinds of mods. My beloved girlfriend needs a bike light and has been asking for one for a long time. She is NOT in any way interested in amazing output LEDs lights, she also has minimal interest in maintenance of any light emitting device
. I looked around for some LEDs to send off into the cold and wet most likely to their demise. One of the big issues as I see it with bike lights in the $20-$100 range is that the mounts to the bike are weak. In the middle of winter they become more brittle and prone to break. Bike lights also have a way of walking away on college campuses as well. For these reasons I've decided to make up a low cost decent performance light setup.
The plan is to mount the LED permanently to the handle bar area and place the battery box near. This was made with parts I had sitting around so the driver is not ideal but works. It is a micro puck I purchased a while ago from LEDsupply. The LEDs are from there as well, good for hobby lighting. I am still working on some type of weather resistant small enclosure for the batteries that I plan on mounting close to the headset. Any input for low cost enclosures would be appreciated as well as a switch that can live outside.
I still need to clean up the edges but I plan on leaving this as a low profile item so as to not attract attention to it's self. The epoxy is just 5 minute stuff from the hardware store. To make this beauty of a protective layer I wrapped the light in electrical tape and poured the pre mixed epoxy onto it then let it set. The mounting surface is just Aluminum stripping from the big box store, it makes a great "test area" for LED projects. Tips for doing this again (and I will be repeating this process for the rear red lamp) spend time on masking the area to be epoxied, this will make it less ugly and save sanding time. I'll post updates as this project goes forward. All comments are welcome.
Foreword,
The following article is about bike lights used to be seen NOT to illuminate any kind of off road path. Visibility was the number one concern in the making of these lights.
Don't get me wrong I'm a flashaholic, I've XP-Gs on the way for all kinds of mods. My beloved girlfriend needs a bike light and has been asking for one for a long time. She is NOT in any way interested in amazing output LEDs lights, she also has minimal interest in maintenance of any light emitting device
. I looked around for some LEDs to send off into the cold and wet most likely to their demise. One of the big issues as I see it with bike lights in the $20-$100 range is that the mounts to the bike are weak. In the middle of winter they become more brittle and prone to break. Bike lights also have a way of walking away on college campuses as well. For these reasons I've decided to make up a low cost decent performance light setup. The plan is to mount the LED permanently to the handle bar area and place the battery box near. This was made with parts I had sitting around so the driver is not ideal but works. It is a micro puck I purchased a while ago from LEDsupply. The LEDs are from there as well, good for hobby lighting. I am still working on some type of weather resistant small enclosure for the batteries that I plan on mounting close to the headset. Any input for low cost enclosures would be appreciated as well as a switch that can live outside.
I still need to clean up the edges but I plan on leaving this as a low profile item so as to not attract attention to it's self. The epoxy is just 5 minute stuff from the hardware store. To make this beauty of a protective layer I wrapped the light in electrical tape and poured the pre mixed epoxy onto it then let it set. The mounting surface is just Aluminum stripping from the big box store, it makes a great "test area" for LED projects. Tips for doing this again (and I will be repeating this process for the rear red lamp) spend time on masking the area to be epoxied, this will make it less ugly and save sanding time. I'll post updates as this project goes forward. All comments are welcome.
:shakehead
:laughing:
