Rural Roadie

I saw where that one has a plastic case, without water to keep it cool 20 watts is prolly the limit for bulb wattage. Be a shame to get the thing mounted just to see it have a melt down.

Could be an excelent light for a winter commuter.

jeff-o

Yeah, my parents have a pond light and it is only to be used under water. That's be cause of cooling. Of course, it's also a 60W halogen bulb in there, so I'm not surprised it needs some cooling.

Ritz

I canablized an aluminum Craftsman flashlight to make my housing, it dissapates the heat rather quickly. Peace, Ritz.

WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM

vrkelley

OK uncle. The Performance Flare lasted less than 2K miles (less than 6 mo')....the bracket is on it's last leg.. I ordered 2 strobes from Nordic. They supposedly run on 12 or 24V...guess I may have to step down the voltage to get 'em to run on my 18V setup.

bennyk

I have done this to make some seriously bright handheld lights. I did one 12v / 75w flashlight that lasted about 25 minutes. This was with an 18v DeWalt drill battery, so the light was well overpowered - any sudden shocks and it could have blown the lamp.

The good thing about these packs is that they are relatively small, and they come with a good charger.

I plan on making a quick 10-15w light with a 12v drill pack soon; I'll post the results when I get it done...
bk

truman

My thought, precisely

I definitely want the poop on this when you've done it...

vrkelley

People laugh at flashlights on bikes But those Craftman lights are superior. The housing tends to be waterproof and the components do well under the road vibrations.

Ritz

People may laugh at whatever they wish... but 'tis I with the 20 watt headlight and hour and a half burn time that laughs last!

WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM

vrkelley

Yeah! Yesterday, I tested my Firestorm drill battery's runtime (running that Craftman 18V -35W lightbulb) ...even after 6mo's of hard use, the runtime is still 2.5hrs...before it begins to dim...

Hopefully RainmanP's strobes won't drain too much. Havent figured out how to mount the front strobe so that it has good side viz...but has a low profile...

jharte

I've used this set up for quite a while. The lights are old Union 6V. They are a little big for my taste, but what the heck. They were cheap. One side is 3W, good enough for road riding. The other side is 6W.

The battery is 6V 5AHr. With the 3W (drawing 1/2amp/hr) it technically should get me 10 hours of light. Of course it won't. I can rely on 6-7 hours. Of course, the 3W isn't really very bright. It's adequate. The additional 6W helps in really dark areas.

SpecialKev

I just bought a ViewPoint (perfomanceBike) 6V 10W helmet mount light. Of course that was before I read the entire thread. But I still want to mount a rear Xeon(?) strobe.

I have two Lithium Ion Rechargeable Batteries 14.8 Volts ~ 4460mAh Capacity from a laptop. What parts do I need to use them as a power source for the strobe?

I am handy but do not know much about electronics. I can follow directions though

DCCommuter

That battery is way overkill for the strobe. The strobe draws about 140 mA so each battery would power it for about 32 hours.

I think the Velleman strobe -- the one that you can get from All Electronics for $9 that everyone uses (https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...-3A&type=store) -- can run on 9 volts. I'll check the data sheet when I get home. If that's the case, you can just hook it up to a rectangular 9V battery, using one of these: https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...-51&type=store. Red to red and black to black is all you need to know to hook it up. It should run for about 4 hours on an alkaline and about two hours on a rechargeable.

If it truly needs 12v, there isn't a quite so simple solution.

jeff-o

Regarding the laptop batteries... Are these the type normally used inside the laptop itself? If so, you might not be able to use them because you cannot charge them outside of the laptop.

Even if you can charge them (using the laptop as a big, expensive charger?) you'll still need a secure way of connecting the battery to your lights. And, you'll have to figure out some sort of waterproof housing for the batteries...

DCCommuter

Well, the datasheet didn't say, so I hooked it up to a 9v. There was no perceptible difference from 12v. So that's my recommendation, run it off a 9v, either alkaline or rechargeable. If you're dissatisfied with the run time, you can hook up two or three batteries in parallel -- the connectors are three for a dollar, you'll get three. It's still red to red, black to black. Then you just have to figure out how to attach this un-lovely thing to your bike.

For ten bucks you can't do better.

jeff-o

Be careful when you connect batteries in parallel. their terminal voltages must be within 0.3V of each other (I think) otherwise they'll try to force current into each other. This is more of a concern with non-rechargeable batteries.

SpecialKev

Thanks for testing this out. I will report back after I set this up.

Kevin

SpecialKev

I don't know much about this subject. Can you explain this in more detail and in a way that I can understand? Thanks.

Kevin

DCCommuter

You need to be more specific. Yours is post #870 on this thread. We cover a lot of ground here.

SharpT

What a wealth of information on this thread. I am planning to start commuting soon, 15 miles each way in the NoCal bay area. The following is my plan so far...

HOUSING

I have decided to venture into building my own custom lighting. I have ordered the Optronics QH-7CC from here: $22.92
https://www.nationalwholesaletools.co...OD&ProdID=2564

Here is Optronics webiste for various lamps - it appears the QH-8CC and QH-7CC use MR-16
https://www.optronicsinc.com/competition.htm (I think DCCommuter ordered the QH-8CC from JC)

I selected the QH-7CC because it was available from other sources with better info and model numbers, and they actually had photos of what I am getting, so I hope I am not surprised.

BULBS:

Before I order replacement bulbs I want to see if the QH-7CC comes with attached bulb lenses or not, or if I can get them off easily. Also check if there is a secondary housing lense. Then I could pop a couple of these 10W bulbs in. 2 for $9.98 including S&H

https://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...item=1&mitem=4

They will be flood I think, but will get me started. I can pick up a 20W MR16 narrow spot at HD, later. I have a Cateye 210, 5 LED (be seen/see a little) light already.

BATTERY

I'm still not set on SLA vs. NiMH.

Here is a 12V 4500mAh NiMH w/ smart charger for $49.99 +S&H.
https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1494

Of course I could get the (1.89"wide) 12V 4500mAh SLA w/smart charger for around $30+S&H https://www.zbattery.com/zbattery/hc1217w.html.

I like the narrow SLA, as it will probably look less geeky, although I am probably in the wrong thread for that.

Each of the above (SLA or NiMH) would fit in a frame bag. $5.99+S&H
https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...ype=&estoreid=

Problem is the SLA is 4# and with a 15 mile commute on a road bike, I think I will notice the extra weight. No? Only $25 more for NiMH, I will probably go with this.

Anyway, I am going to wait for the Optronics MR16 housings before I make my next move.

I'll keep everyone posted.

SharpT

DCCommuter

SharpT, you're well on your way to achieving geekiness.

I would go with the NiMH battery, I feel the weight of my SLA battery and it's half the size of yours. You may want to also consider getting a second charger for work, batteryspace has them pretty cheap. I like to run my lights in the daytime if it's raining and I charge at work if I run lights on the way in.

The Optronics web site is confusing and inaccurate -- and the vendors that sell them are no better. The lights I got didn't come with lenses, they just had bulbs with attached lenses. The QH-8CC doesn't seem to be available anywhere; what I got from JC Whitney was the fog light version, the QH-12IT. The only difference between the driving lights and the fog lights are that they fog lights come with yellow bulbs, which I discarded anyway because they were 50 watts.

I'm curious about the weight on the QH-7CC, whether the body is chromed plastic or solid metal.

The bulb you listed is not correct for these lights. The only 10 watt MR-16 I've been able to find is this one: https://www.sailboatstuff.com/lt_G4_MR11_MR16.html

To mount the Optronics light I like this bracket: https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename= . It meshes nicely with the bracket the light comes with. You can put each light on it's own bracket and mount them separately. I have them mounted together; what I did was cut about a 4" piece of 3/4" aluminum angle and drill three holes it. Each light attaches to one hole and the third hole goes to the bracket. I then painted it black for appearance sake.

Once you get geeked up, you may want to consider a 12v rear light as well. I have the popular yellow strobe and a red LED truck marker light wired in.

pitr

Ok I am going to give this a go but I have a handfull of questions.

Does anyone have the Luxon MR16 3W light from superbrightleds working in the optronics light shell?
If so, What are you useing to limit current/voltage, and what are you using for heat sinking?

Those bulbs are $30 bucks a pop, is there a cheaper way to go about it?

How many batteries can you fit into a water bottle if you are making your own pack? batteryspace has a 10 pack of 5000mAh C sized NiMH w/tabs on sale for $30 right now. If i can build a pack that will fit in a water bottle that will be fantastic because I have a 2 hour each way commute and still have to figure out a taillight option. Almost exactly 2lbs for 5Ah is a fair trade for me for that price. I already have a Maha C777PLUS-II charger (which i hightly recomend to anyone who plays with batteries much) that could charge a 12v pack as a unit so if i had to cut the bottle open and reseal it to make the pack that would be fine.

Can any of you compaire just a single 3W luxeon to something else in terms of brightness? What sort of real word run times could I expect from a 5Ah NiMH setup with that and an led tail light of some sort?

$30 5ah 2lb battery pack
$15 light housing pair (only use 1)
$30 3W luxeon bulb (must be a cheaper option)
$20 LED tail light of some sort (looking for something 2-3" in dia that I can mount on a reflecer mount, suggestions?)
$10 switches and connectors
---------
$105, reasonable if I and up with a headlight at least as bright as a 10W halogen and a nice taillight that can hopefully make my 4 hour round trip on a single charge.
(+$60 for the charger but I already had that for RC toys)

jharte

Pitr, I run a 6V, 3W halogen with a 5Ahr sealed LA battery. On full charge, the battery should run the 3W (draws about 1/2amp/hr) for about 10 hours. In the real world, it probably won't last quite that long.

I left for work this morning at 5am. 1 hour, 10 minutes to work in 49deg weather. Left the light on inside (by my work station) until 2pm. Still bright. I turned it off and plugged it in because I wanted to make sure it was bright enough to get me home.

I don't know for sure how long it will last but at 3W, drawing about 1/2amp/hr, you should get plenty of run time.

Adding an LED rear tail light will draw a little, but I wouldn't think it would be very much.

DCCommuter

These bulbs have built in current limiting. Heat-sinking is only required if they are totally enclosed. The optronics shell has cooling vents for a 50W halogen so I expect it would be OK.


Based on their website, I think you would be disappointed with the 3W for a bike light. They claim 52 lumens for a 25 degree beam. A 20W halogen with that beam would be about 1200 lumens. I'd love to hear different from someone who uses one.
I use two lights -- the $9 strobe from all electronics that is popular, and the model 1284R from here: https://www.led-r-us.com/smlights.shtml . They don't go on a reflector mount, but you're unlikely to find a 12V light that does.

With a 5Ah battery at 12V, you have 60 Watt hours of nominal capacity. I would derate that by 50% for real world capacity, so with a four hour runtime that gives you a budget of 7.5 watts. The taillight combo I recommend eats about 1.5 watts, so you have about 6 watts for the front.

SharpT

DCCommuter,

Thanks for the reply.

HOUSINGS:

Well my Optronics QH-7CC arrived today. $22.92 including S&H.

Housings are chrome plated steel. Weight is less than 1# for the 2 units, as it doesn't move my digital scale even 0.5#. I will get a more accurate weight later when I take all the parts to work for assembly.

There is no secondary lens covering, just the glass on the MR-16 bulb.

BULBS:

OK. So it looks like I'm down to choosing between harringtonlights.com 10W narrow flood MR-16 halogen ($15.84 total for 2), or the 10W sailboatstuff.com Xenon ($16.67 total for 2).

Cost is essentially the same, however, I would prefer the narrow flood and am not sure what the Xenon's are. However, Xenon should be a tad more efficient since they are cooler, and I like the statement on the website that the glass is "heavy-duty", but what is heavy-duty anyway?

No choice yet. Any comments?

SWITCH:

I found a 3-way (+ horn switch) motorcycle handlebar switch for a reasonable price available for local pickup. https://tinyurl.com/dduh5 $12.95+tax. So I can switch between 1x10W, and 2X10W. Not sure what I could use the horn switch for that's not too geeky.

BATTERY:

I've decided on the NiMH 12V 4500mAh w/charger from batteryspace.com for $49.99+S&H.

TAILLIGHT:

The Velleman amber strobe mentioned by DCCommuter on this forum looks appealing . I think I'll go with it. It will accompany my alkaline powered Cateye 5LED rear blinky.


SharpT

jeff-o

Regarding the 3W luxeon bulbs... I use a dual 3W luxeon setup, and I can tell you that these are very good for being seen, but will not light your path in the way you're expecting. Maybe my optics just aren't focused properly (too wide?) but the beam these two produce together can't even wash out the yellow glow of a streetlight. Without the streetlights on my commute to help with the lighting, I don't think I'd feel safe riding at full speed.

They are very good at illuminating street signs and pointing into driver's eyes, however.

I'm actually thinking of adding a high-beam to my light array for my morning commutes. I now leave my house long before the sun is up, so I need a bit more light. I'm considering a 10W halogen for this setup....