Originally Posted by mjzraz
I rode the other morning with a guy who has the Luxeon 3 Watt "Vega" from Light and Motion. (@ $170)
I was impressed by it's ability to be seen and to see by. I wonder how to replicate this in a DIY light especially the flasher feature. I think I would use this flasher year round not only the winter season.
Maybe for real world darkness this type of light with a second 3 watt Luxeon or a Halogen would be a complete solution. What does a DIY guy use to regulate wattage and a timer for the flash in something like this? I am guessing some sort of board with a microprocessor. What are some resources for a budding DIY Electronics person?
You can get Luxeons from Future Electronics
http://www.futureelectronics.com/promos/lumileds/ and Luxdrives from LED Supply
http://www.ledsupply.com/led-drivers.html. The BuckPuck 3021-D-E series have a control pin that enables you to control the output from zero to full brightness with just a 5K pot. It also has a 5V reference output so you can add a simple multivibrator or 555 oscillator circuit to provide flashing with no external power supply needed. It can also power a PIC microcontroller.
Other good sources are Quickar
http://www.quickar.com/index.php and Batteryspace
http://www.batteryspace.com/. HTH