5W (white) Luxeon Star Bike Light

ElektroLumens

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I've been meaning to make a bike light using the one white Luxeon Star 5W I have, which is a sample from Lumileds. I finally got around to starting the project.

Here's a pic of the light. It is not finished yet:

5W_Bike_Light.1.jpg


Check out this web page for more details:

5W Bike Light

Wayne j
 

ElektroLumens

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[ QUOTE ]
PercaDan said:
Careful of those heat sinks, Wayne. You wouldn't want to run into those skewers in the event of a crash.

Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

I may not need the heat sinks. When I use a aluminum bracket attached to the aluminum handlebars, that should be enough heat sinking. It will probably warm up the handlebars? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If it is not attached to anything, probably just one of these huge heat sinks would be sufficient. I plan to make one of these bike lights with two 5W Luxeon Stars. Should be comparable to a 20 watt halogen bulb. It would use two different battery packs and voltage regulators. You can use either LED for extended use, or both at the same time for super bright light. I only have one 5W right now, so I decided to just use one in this concept proving prototype.

Wayne j
 

Rothrandir

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are you sure you have adaquate heatsinking? :rolleys:

or do you plan on mounting 10 more on the same heatsink? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

very nice! i'm sure the 30mm optics are great for biking.
 

Icebreak

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Thanks for the view of this prototype. It's stuff like this that allows a non-Modder to appreciate VS1s.

Someone else mentioned watching copper pipes progress to Blaster IIs. I enjoy watching the creative process.
 

ElektroLumens

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[ QUOTE ]
Icebreak said:
Thanks for the view of this prototype. It's stuff like this that allows a non-Modder to appreciate VS1s.

Someone else mentioned watching copper pipes progress to Blaster IIs. I enjoy watching the creative process.


[/ QUOTE ]

Here is one of the early 'CopperLux' flashlights. I sold a few on eBay and to some CPF members:

CopperLux.3.jpg


CopperLux Web Page

Here is the Blaster for comparison:

Blaster_II.12.jpg


Blaster Web Page


Wayne j
 

Gimpy00Wang

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Hehehe...some of us have carbon fiber handlebars... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

- G!mpy

[ QUOTE ]
ElektroLumens said:
[ QUOTE ]
PercaDan said:
Careful of those heat sinks, Wayne. You wouldn't want to run into those skewers in the event of a crash.

Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

I may not need the heat sinks. When I use a aluminum bracket attached to the aluminum handlebars, that should be enough heat sinking. It will probably warm up the handlebars? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If it is not attached to anything, probably just one of these huge heat sinks would be sufficient. I plan to make one of these bike lights with two 5W Luxeon Stars. Should be comparable to a 20 watt halogen bulb. It would use two different battery packs and voltage regulators. You can use either LED for extended use, or both at the same time for super bright light. I only have one 5W right now, so I decided to just use one in this concept proving prototype.

Wayne j

[/ QUOTE ]
 

Nerd

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Heh, carbon nanotubes if arranged in the correct pattern, would make a great heatsink too....
 

Nerd

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People will pay big money for anything that shaves weight off a bike. And not to forget the COOL factor.
 

Al_Havemann

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Yeah - there's that - I didn't think about that. It so happens I have a carbon bar (Easton), which goes into a carbon stem - which connects to a carbon fork, which is attached to a carbon frame (Trek 5200 road), which rides on (Head) carbon wheels. Not much of a heat sink, doesn't even get warm on a summer day in the sun.

The other thing to think about is that off-road riders usually want their light helmet mounted so it points where they're looking since the direction the handlebars are pointed and the direction the bike is actually going often bear little relation to one another. Besides, heads don't make good very good heat sinks either - not intentionally anyway.

By the way, nearly any bike headlight or commercial fixture that takes an MR11 bulb can take a Luxeon with 30mm optics with some fiddling to mount it. I made a helmet mounted light from an older Vistalight aluminum head I begged from a friend this weekend. It was designed to use an MR11 10w halogen bulb and the Luxeon 30mm optic fit perfectly. I used a 2000ma 7.2v NMIH race car battery I had. It works OK, though not as good as the 12v one I made because I don't have the current/voltage right so it's either too bright (too hot) or too dim (anybody know what I SHOULD use to get the best output?).

I really wish I were better at the electronics end of this. Maybe I should ask my cat, he probably understands it better than I do. I only have a couple of Luxeons and at the rate I'm going I'll probably toast at least one of them soon with my fiddling about.

Another thing; You might want to check out this link - they have all sorts of lenses - colored and clear for different needs, all are designed for MR11 bulbs so they should fit the30mm optic as well. Some of them might be useful.

http://eclecticlighting.homestead.com/optionallenses.html
 

Gimpy00Wang

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Being a mountain biker, I like to have two lights. A handlebar-mounted light and a helmet-mounted light. This way, when you pan your head, you still have your peripheral vision area (at least towards where you are riding) illuminated by the handlebar light.

- G!mpy
 

Illuminated

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Anyone have the Marwi Night Pro BULLite? Alum housing, 6V NiMH's inside, uses 5W MR11C lamp. Runs for close to 2-hours per charge.

I am dying to see if a BB700 + 5W LS + 30mm optic can be squeezed into the space of the MR11 lamp.

There is (or was) a pic of this light posted somewhere a few months ago...

John
 

Illuminated

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Wayne,

My apologies - didn't mean to stomp on this thread.

Your light is interesting, however, 12volts could be a lot of cells to have to carry.

I haven't seen a 5W + 30mm optics in person yet, so I don't have an idea of how well it would perform for a primary bike light. Can you give some idea or show a backyard beam shot? Sorry if you have elsewhere and I just haven't found it yet.

I would be interested in knowing if any of the Blaster housings could be shortened to use as just a 5W lamp housing (with switch) with an external battery.

John

John
 

PhotonBoy

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Regarding the Marwi light housing, I think too much weight is dedicated to the batteries, and not enough to reflector size. It's a design focused on the battery requirements for the inefficient filament based-bulbs.

With higher efficiency LEDs, you can make the reflector size much larger and the battery housing much smaller. Result: more light on the road, less weight on the bike. Sacrifice: probably none, since the battery run-times will likely be the same or better.
 

ElektroLumens

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[ QUOTE ]
ahavemann said:
Actually - this looks like a pretty good housing for a mod. here's a link

http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&ID=13645

How about it Wayne - think you could mod one of these for max brightness without cooking it?.

Al

[/ QUOTE ]

If it is constructed of aluminum, it would be a possibility.

This one does give me some ideas for a bike light based on a 5W and 30mm optics.

My thought is to use the battery bottle concept, running a wire to the light. I was counting on aluminum handlebars. I didn't realize carbon fiber handlebars and other components were prevalent. So the size of the light must be large enough, with adequate sinking for the 5W. So the big fins would be mandatory for sinking. So all the feedback here is very helpful.

Wayne j
 

ElektroLumens

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[ QUOTE ]
Illuminated said:
Wayne,

My apologies - didn't mean to stomp on this thread.

Your light is interesting, however, 12volts could be a lot of cells to have to carry.

I haven't seen a 5W + 30mm optics in person yet, so I don't have an idea of how well it would perform for a primary bike light. Can you give some idea or show a backyard beam shot? Sorry if you have elsewhere and I just haven't found it yet.

I would be interested in knowing if any of the Blaster housings could be shortened to use as just a 5W lamp housing (with switch) with an external battery.

John

John

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't there a water bottle battery with 12 volts? I've been told 6V and 12V are both common for bike light systems.

Wayne j
 

Gimpy00Wang

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You might not need to worry too much about a large mass of heatsink to cool the unit. Instead, optimally placed fins might disapate heat nicely due to air moving over them while riding. Kinda like how newer laptops use heatpipes to carry the heat away from the CPU to where the fans are... ideas...ideas...

- G!mpy

[ QUOTE ]
ElektroLumens said:
[ QUOTE ]
ahavemann said:
Actually - this looks like a pretty good housing for a mod. here's a link

http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&ID=13645

How about it Wayne - think you could mod one of these for max brightness without cooking it?.

Al

[/ QUOTE ]

If it is constructed of aluminum, it would be a possibility.

This one does give me some ideas for a bike light based on a 5W and 30mm optics.

My thought is to use the battery bottle concept, running a wire to the light. I was counting on aluminum handlebars. I didn't realize carbon fiber handlebars and other components were prevalent. So the size of the light must be large enough, with adequate sinking for the 5W. So the big fins would be mandatory for sinking. So all the feedback here is very helpful.

Wayne j

[/ QUOTE ]
 

Al_Havemann

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I don't think that would make any difference in this case. The bulb used in the light is an MR11 halogen and a 30mm luxeon optic fits perfectly in the opening after it's removed. Adding a reflector doesn't seem to make any real difference. I tried that with the 12v setup I'm using that's in a larger housing and found that I needed the optic to focus the beam and adding the reflector didn't do anything much at all except kill off some of the side spill.

The 12v light works good though, it's fine for 80% of my night riding and only fails on fast downhills when I have to kick in a 20w halogen to light up the distance, otherwise I just can't see far enough ahead.
Al
 
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