Originally Posted by
derath
Also add to the engineering a good design. Almost all of the Homebrew 3 LED lights I have seen are huge ugly monstrocities. Not that I care about the looks per se, but they were all too large and clunky to effectively mount on my bike. Also consider, for example with the 600L, that it is custom designed with each LED on a separate circuit. That way any one can fail and you don't lose the entire light. Important if you are relying on the light to get you home.
By this, you mean they're wired in parallel? Custom designed parallel? Well, I guess they're trying to save a little money there... The controllers are getting cheaper than good batteries. Cheaper and lighter (but less efficient) to have three controllers instead of adding cells to account for series voltage drop. Yes, there are step-up current controllers, but they are more expensive and even less efficient than wiring up three cheapos side by side. Unless they designed a proprietary three-amp, three-output controller in house, but that would seem like an extravagant waste of money in a market flooded with so many varieties of ready made controllers selling for peanuts... Nah, Dinotte wouldn't throw money away like that!
Originally Posted by
derath
Add it all up? I will buy the commercial products.
-D
I thought about sending in my old 5-watt Dinotte for the upgrade. But, instead, I made two cree lights for the same cost and keep the outdated ten-month-old Dinotte as an emergency backup/relic. Maybe I'll knock out a triple just for fun sometime, but only if I can round up all the parts for under $40. Shouldn't be that hard.