Cyclaholic

Here's my membership application to the total geekyness club...

For a while now I've been running a homebrew light on my bike built around an MR16 plus a big 6 pound SLA battery, but after trying out a head mounted light I decided it was time to put my light system on a diet!

After much designing 'on the fly' i.e. while standing in the plumbing aisle of my local hardware shop I came up with this design. The front half of the bulb housing is a 50mm to 40mm drain pipe adapter (with the 40mm bit cut off), the rear half is a 50mm drain pipe vent. The rings are cut from 50m PVC drain pipe. The bulb fits so perfectly into the recess inside the front housing its like it was made for the job.

The bracket is cut from a piece of aluminum sheet, bent to shape, and secured to the helmet and light housing with double sided tape and cable ties.

The switch is a simple waterproof toggle mounted on an aluminum plate which is stuck to the helmet with double sided tape and a cable tie, the switch body and wiring sits inside the helmet's vent.

The battery hasn't arrived yet but it is a 14.8v 6.6Ah Li-Ion for about 3 hours run time on my 20w MR16. The battery is about 510 grams (18 ounces), the housing with MR16 bulb comes in at 77 grams (2.5 ounces) with the bracket, switch, switch and wiring there's about 100 grams (3.5 ounces).

The added weight on the helmet feels negligible, but in use the extra height from the handlebars to the helmet plus the ability to aim the light wherever I'm looking is fantastic. It seems to allow much further throw down the road.

Right now I'm carrying the 6 pound SLA battery in my backpack so I'm really looking forward to the arrival of the lighter battery.

NeezyDeezy

Now that's geeky.

vrkelley

Still working on ambient and day vis for the helmet. Found a tail light housing for the back of the helmet and it's so good, I'd like another. Can any one tell me which car uses this Tail light**********????

BUMM 327 K30018 Tail lights (they're super reflective and have a secondary housing for the actual light.

BMW?

Frankenbiker

I did an Internet search for "BUMM" and "327" and came up with Busch and Muller Toplight (under rearlights on their web site). These lights are made for bicycles. Is this the tail light you have?

vrkelley

FrankenBiker that's it!


https://www.bumm.de/index-e.html
TOPLIGHT
* with integral large reflector
* With bulb 6V/0,6W
* Tools are not required for bulb changing
* Available with plug or crimp connectors for current and mass
* With approval D and E

EDITED: Do not use this reflector on the back of the helmet.In an accident it could injure your spine. Back to the drawing board, seeking a flatter reflector that shows at the three angles like the one Franken found.

vrkelley

Also, I don't understand the reflector rating systems. Ex.
A
B
CH
D
E
F
GB
Z

comradehoser

vrkelley--

those seem like european country abbreviations to me, especially CH (Switzerland, I think), and GB (Great Britain).

edit: I looked at the site, I don't know what those are.

Meteo

Would it be difficult to modify a NiteRider NR50 with a 20watt MR11 bulb? Do I just simply replace the bulb and thats it? Or will there be some modifying involved?

cyccommute 

No modification needed as long as you are using an MR11. Save the heat shield off the old light (if it has one) and reinstall it on the new bulb.

Meteo

Thanks for the help..
another question: the NR50 uses 4 C batteries 1.5V each, so I need a 6V bulb correct? What if I put in a 12V bulb?

cyccommute 

Use 2 RC car packs from All-Battery. Wire them in series to get a 14.4 V pack. Charge it as a single unit and go have fun. Mine look like this:



I use a Dean Ultra Connector and just jump the wire so that everything is in series. I put them in a container I got from REI called a Rocket Cage



On the bike it looks veeery nice

Zero_Enigma

The rocket cage looks niiiice. Jsut a suggestion to improve here. Where you cut the opening for the wires to come out, why not line the edge with silicone or crazy glue a rubber edge liner then thicken the batter cable by wrapping a few layers of heat shrink or electircal tape (E-tape) and then push that part of the cable that you wrapped to make thicker into the silicone/rubber lined edge and you have a nice water resistance seal for when the weather gets wet.


Zero_Enigma

Zero_Enigma

BTW anyone know how to or ever built a 1W brake light? I was thinking of something like o===O===o on the back of the rack or chain stays. My idea goes up a set by having an on/off switch for that break light because when you're on the trails/bike paths you don't need the breaklight on. It's just a drain of power. When you're on the roads then you turn the switch on so when you brake you get a nice hot 1x1W or 1x3W or 1x5W (pending the LED you put in) to signal that you're slowing down. Helps in a visual aid as well but most poeple can tell when the speeds are slowing down but better safe then sorry.

The position of the brake light I was thinking of would be in the center of the rack.

cyccommute 

It's not really needed for my area...we just don't get that much wet weather. If I lived in the Pacific Northwest, I'd probably use a threaded cable fitting. The Dean connectors are also pretty weather resistant on their own, by the way.

sauerwald

Anybody played with one of these yet?

https://www.electronicproducts.com/Sh...4.may2007.html

Map tester

From the OSRAN website: Have to keep an eye on this--thanks for the tip.

kill.cactus

Just bought a pair of these: https://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...010204/c-10101

A review says they're equipped with wiring and switch, and also 50 watt MR16 bulbs.

ouch... 50 watts should be too much, so I'm planning on buying 20 or 35 watt bulbs and then replacing them.

I'm looking around for an SLA battery that is 12V 7Ah so I can get 2.5 hours of battery time.

I'll take pictures of the setup when I'm done!!


Ooh - I'll need to figure out how I'll mount them also. That'll be a challenge.

SharpT

Anyone tried any drop in MR16 LED bulbs.

Specifically I found one called MR16 45 watt Cree LED Bulb at:
https://www.theledlight.com/dcbulbs.html

Specs include:
Base: GX5.3
LED: one 3 watt Cree Chip LED Cool White
Lumen: 115 lumen
Watt Consumption: 3 watts
View Angle: 25°
Color Temp: 6000K
Power: 12v DC or AC

$36.

Seems too good to be true.

SharpT

BikeManDan

Seems to lack the great quality of the MR bulbs, the large reflector

115 lumen is still....so so when comparing to the cheap halogen solutions available. You'd be gaining a ton of runtime but losing a ton of brightness

Meteo

I just bought this 20W 6V MR11 bulb to replace the default 7.2W bulb on my niterider

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...4425&rd=1&rd=1

but the difference in brightness was not much if there was a difference at all. Is it because the bulb sucks? Did I buy the wrong bulb?

SharpT

I guess I am searching for the best lumens/watt/$ ratio. Need long run time, but want brightness at lowest cost. Weight is important as well as I will be carrying on some double century rides this year, so I am assuming NiMH.

Ordered a CREE 3.6W MR16 bulb -15 degree. When it arrives I'll compare to my 10W and 20W halogens and report back.

SharpT

NeezyDeezy

A few of us are running those. I've put some detailed information about what bulbs I've used with them, mounting information, etc all in this very thread. Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions.

diff_lock2

after reading some air zounds stories and some 12v horn stories, i searched for an air horn... And i found this vid.

After a few test horns, i ended up with my first air powered horn. The only problem is, i can't find a small trigger valve... but once i find one, im going to mount this on to my bike.

I used
some old pill bottle
a shrader valve from a tire (blow out)
1.5l Mt. Dew Bottle
a plastic pen (the body)
hot glue
and a female shrader valve from a broken compressor i found at school.
and a piece of black plastic bag plastic...

I'm not sure how high air zounds is pumped up to, but i pumped mine up to 40 psi for a test run.
The clipping noise is after the upload... some compression thing. its a steady toot though. Did not last as long as i wanted, and i need it louder!

SharpT

Results are in... purchased a

3 x 1 Watt 12V MR16 CREE XLamp XR-E WHITE 240 Lumen LED on ebay $22+tax+$5shipping
vs.
Xenon MR16 Watts: 10W Volts: 12V Amps: 0.830 P/N: 881210 from www.sailboatstuff.com $4.95+tax+shipping.

I have been using the 10W halogen/xenon bulb (30 degree) for a year and a half mostly for pre dawn commuting. No problems, but I was looking for a little more light and longer battery life both for commuting, and for long distance rides 200 miles+, where extended night time riding is common. The LED bulb states 3.6 Watts consumption, although I have not verified this. I am running this off a batteryspace NiMH 12V 4500mAh. So at 3.6W, I'll be looking at 15 hours max runtime. I am curious what happens as the voltage drops on an LED bulb? How do I know the battery is low?

The CREE 3x1 watt LED MR16 bulb at 15 degree was impressive, although I had to take a hammer to my optronics housing.. few strikes with a steel 12mm socket as a spacer to knock the ceramic MR16 socket holder back a millimeter or 2. YMMV. The LED MR16 bulb also has a protective glass cover held in place by 3 screws, which is needed with the Optronics lenseless holder. Only drawback I see is the "fins" on the bulb allow water to enter the housing. This could be sealed with some silicon, but I plan to leave it as is for now for air cooling. The housing is always pointing downward, so water should not collect.

Notice in the photos that the LED bulb has better vision outside the 15 degree range, even compared to the 30 degree 10W halogen. You can see more detail to the left of the board on the left side. In addition to that super bright focused spot.

CREE 3x1 watt LED 15 degree


10W halogen 30 degree


CREE 3x1 watt LED out of box


LED bulb in Optronics housing


SharpT

jeff-o

Well the CREE bulb LOOKS great, but I think I'd want a bit more light for commuting in the dark.