Anyone make their own dynohub-powered light out of P7's?
 

Don't know what I'm getting into, but I'm thinking of making my own out of pieces-intended-to-be-used-in-flashlights. I'm not really impressed with the price/performance of stuff that's available... I had a B&M that failed halfway into the winter, and starbike refuses to replace it or even respond to my e-mails.

My hub is unregulated, but the circuitry I'm planning on using does regulate.

Comments? Am I insane?

No, what you want is not P7, but Cree MC-E, XPE, XPG, XR-E or Seoul P4 leds.

P7 is 4 parallel connected led on one die. MC-E is the same but you are allowed the configuration of serial connection. Regulated circuitry is easy if you know what you're doing. See here. http://www.pilom.com/BicycleElectron...moCircuits.htm

Expected real world lumens range from 0 lumen up to 1000 lumens at 16mph, with the latest R4 XPG led. You can also customized your own beam shape.

Here's more reading for you.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=430051
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=413443

Don't forget to visit. candlepowerforums.com Plenty of info there.

:roflmao2:


Thanks for the info, I'll give it a whirl.

Prepackaged lights for cycling seem to be way behind the times. Not that I blame them, the pace of the fiber optics industry seems like light speed compared to the cycle industry and rightfully so, afterall, unlike cycling fiber optics is a very profitable business.

Although I haven't built any of my own lights yet, my impression is that the biggest "disadvantage" of doing so is that it's difficult to construct durable optics on par with what you get from prepackaged products. I put "disadvantage" in quotes because, frankly, I think it's a good thing to have extra light diffusing in all directions for safety reasons.

Maybe this website will be helpful:
http://pilom.com/BicycleElectronics/DynamoCircuits.htm