rwolff
Enlightened
Ideas needed - \"trouble light\" and bike lighting
Some newbie questions here. I'm looking at making "Mk. 2" versions of both my "trouble light" (for my car) and my bike lighting system. What I have in mind is as follows:
Trouble light:
12 volts (SLA that can be swapped out for a pair of "spring top" 6V batteries, or 4D->6V adapters, as a backup system). Charges continuously from my car's electrical system when the engine is running (one diode should do the trick), has a work light, an area light, and a warning flasher (555 astable driving an LED clearance light).
Issues:
I've seen some units with both a work light and a CFL area light (run off an SPDT centre-off switch, so only one can run at a time), but I was thinking of using LEDs for durability (no glass tube). If I can get enough brightness, I'd also like to go for LEDs on the worklight (my existing lamp burned out a bulb at an inopportune time). I haven't been able to find any references as to how many millicandles a standard 6V0.5A bulb/reflector combination generates, so that I can compare this to LED brightness. What is the equivalent brightness? Also, the closest SLA I can find (12V7AH) is slightly longer than a pair of spring-top batteries (hinged spacer bar?) Is it worthwhile to design the "trouble lamp" to be able to use disposables as a backup system, or should I just go with a separate light as a backup? Also, I've seen a reference here to 6V square SLAs at WalMart (presumably these are "drop-in" replacements for the "spring-top" batteries), but I haven't seen them on any of my trips to Wally World. These would be ideal for my purpose.
Existing trouble light:
Stock head unit (out-of-production) with work lamp and warning flasher. The battery pack is a 6V10AH SLA in a housing that's a "bolt-on" replacement for a disposable screw-terminal 6V battery. The mounting bracket incorporates a 6V charger to keep it "topped up" whenever the engine is running. Trouble spots on this, that I want to address, are the lack of an area light, use of ridiculously thin wires inside (have had to re-solder a couple where they broke), and the use of a hard-to-find flashing bulb for the warning flasher.
Bike lighting system:
This is for an as-yet-unbuilt Bentech. I'd want to go for a 12V all-LED system. Turn signals would have the LEDs laid out in an arrow pattern, driven off a dual 555 monostable/astable pair. LEDs for taillight would be installed in holes in a square reflector. Possible future enhancement (once parts are available in the surplus market) would be a methanol fuel cell to keep things charged up (although with an LED headlight, this would be "gilding the lily").
Existing bike light system:
12 volts. Conventional incandescent headlight in housing from my previous (generator) system. Taillight and rear turn signals are in an (out-of-production) Canadian Tire rear reflector/turn signal unit (4AA, manual flash) that I gutted and fitted with 3 bulbs. Front turn signals are in translucent 35mm film cans lined with amber cellophane and mounted on the front fender. Turn signals are driven by the dual 555 setup mentioned above.
Sources:
One thing I've seen is that high-brightness white LEDs are really expensive ($1.75 each at a local store, around a buck American each in quantity by mail order). An idea I had was to get a string of white LED Christmas lights and use the LEDs from it (70 lamps for $20) - from LED data I've seen, this would be running on the "safe" part of the exponential curve, so it probably doesn't have a ballast resistor. Has anyone tried this source?
Thanks for your input.
Some newbie questions here. I'm looking at making "Mk. 2" versions of both my "trouble light" (for my car) and my bike lighting system. What I have in mind is as follows:
Trouble light:
12 volts (SLA that can be swapped out for a pair of "spring top" 6V batteries, or 4D->6V adapters, as a backup system). Charges continuously from my car's electrical system when the engine is running (one diode should do the trick), has a work light, an area light, and a warning flasher (555 astable driving an LED clearance light).
Issues:
I've seen some units with both a work light and a CFL area light (run off an SPDT centre-off switch, so only one can run at a time), but I was thinking of using LEDs for durability (no glass tube). If I can get enough brightness, I'd also like to go for LEDs on the worklight (my existing lamp burned out a bulb at an inopportune time). I haven't been able to find any references as to how many millicandles a standard 6V0.5A bulb/reflector combination generates, so that I can compare this to LED brightness. What is the equivalent brightness? Also, the closest SLA I can find (12V7AH) is slightly longer than a pair of spring-top batteries (hinged spacer bar?) Is it worthwhile to design the "trouble lamp" to be able to use disposables as a backup system, or should I just go with a separate light as a backup? Also, I've seen a reference here to 6V square SLAs at WalMart (presumably these are "drop-in" replacements for the "spring-top" batteries), but I haven't seen them on any of my trips to Wally World. These would be ideal for my purpose.
Existing trouble light:
Stock head unit (out-of-production) with work lamp and warning flasher. The battery pack is a 6V10AH SLA in a housing that's a "bolt-on" replacement for a disposable screw-terminal 6V battery. The mounting bracket incorporates a 6V charger to keep it "topped up" whenever the engine is running. Trouble spots on this, that I want to address, are the lack of an area light, use of ridiculously thin wires inside (have had to re-solder a couple where they broke), and the use of a hard-to-find flashing bulb for the warning flasher.
Bike lighting system:
This is for an as-yet-unbuilt Bentech. I'd want to go for a 12V all-LED system. Turn signals would have the LEDs laid out in an arrow pattern, driven off a dual 555 monostable/astable pair. LEDs for taillight would be installed in holes in a square reflector. Possible future enhancement (once parts are available in the surplus market) would be a methanol fuel cell to keep things charged up (although with an LED headlight, this would be "gilding the lily").
Existing bike light system:
12 volts. Conventional incandescent headlight in housing from my previous (generator) system. Taillight and rear turn signals are in an (out-of-production) Canadian Tire rear reflector/turn signal unit (4AA, manual flash) that I gutted and fitted with 3 bulbs. Front turn signals are in translucent 35mm film cans lined with amber cellophane and mounted on the front fender. Turn signals are driven by the dual 555 setup mentioned above.
Sources:
One thing I've seen is that high-brightness white LEDs are really expensive ($1.75 each at a local store, around a buck American each in quantity by mail order). An idea I had was to get a string of white LED Christmas lights and use the LEDs from it (70 lamps for $20) - from LED data I've seen, this would be running on the "safe" part of the exponential curve, so it probably doesn't have a ballast resistor. Has anyone tried this source?
Thanks for your input.
