I know what i want. But i dont want to ship somthing worth 20$ from the states to finland... and shiping a few housing is prety useless for me. I might as well soder the batt leads right to the bulbs leads and slap a switch in there... but i want a housing in witch i can change the bulbs... and i havnt found any out door ones yet.


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About the 55w light and Ah ratings. I think your right. So i might step down to <30w

Aha, you're in Finland! Ok, that's different. I suppose you could look for products shipped from elsewhere in Eurpoe, maybe the shipping costs would be lower. By all means, look for automobile fog and driving lights. These are available as after-market add-ons for cars. They come in losts of different styles, just make sure they use MR-16 or "H3" bulbs, which are both replaceable with lower-wattage bulbs.

How did you cut them off? I have a hacksaw, but that won't cut it. ;)

Dremel, with a fiberglass-reinforced cutting wheel.

It also helps to understand why batteries don't have the run time they are supposed to when you do the math. Whenever you calculate run-time of a battery, if you are trying to use a small battery to do a large battery's job, the math just won't work. You'll end up running out of power much faster than you expected. So the answer is, whenever that happens, get a larger battery or a smaller light (or whatever else you are trying to run from the battery.) With a battery that's larger for the job, the math will be much more accurate.

For example, if I can run a 20W light from a 5 ah battery for 2 hours, I might think I can run a 40W light on the same battery for 1 hour. But the draw is so heavy that the battery wimps out and quits at, say, 45 minutes or something.

That's why I like the energy-saver bulbs, they put out more light with less power used.

Thats what i wanted to do... but so far the lowest watt ive seen is 55. Im not looking hard nuff... im gona check some auto part stores and see if they have h3 bulbs rated at ~20w.

My geekiness
 

time for me to post my results. I used the information found here and at http://nordicgroup.us/s78/ to build my system. I found a set of driving lights at Wal-mart for $25 and ordered the Vector Pocket Power for a battery. I got a electrical box at Radioshack $5 and 3 led switches at autozone $15. Also at autozone was the 2" led behive tail light for $10. Using some aluminum 1"x1/4" stock that I had, I made a mount to attach to my aero bars. I found out that the tail light would fit nicely inside a paint can lid. I took the lid from a can of black paint that I had recently used and cut the sides down until it was just as deep as the light. Unscrewed the reflector that came with my bike and screwed the paint lid instead. Glued the light to the lid, and presto a nice looking tail light. A little wiring and cutting to fit the switches to the box and I was done. I replaced the 50watt bulbs that came stock in the lights with a 20 watt flood and a 20 watt spot. I used the rest of the aluminum stock to fabricate a battery holder after the water bottle cage that I was using to hold the batter broke. I really like the system but in the futuer would like to get a higher capacitance 13.2 V NiMH battery like this. I would also like to get the 20 watt phillips high efficiency bulbs like this and this. And now for the pictures. Click the link to get the larger image. http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike001.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike002.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike003.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike004.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike005.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike006.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike007.jpg http://www.geocities.com/nadandpeter.../tnBike008.jpg

Thank-you very much for sharing. That looks like a sweet commuter. Might I suggest putting your rear light on the end of the rack if possible? Also fenders. :p

DOUBLE POST ALERT

What kind of connectors do the Optronics lights have? How can they be attached to the universal 2-pin female battery chord?

Ug... came to the conclusion that whoever manages to fit mr16 bulbs in a 40mm pvc tube is either lying or they shrunk their bulbs. Mine just wont fit.

Going for option two, take baked bean can and some tinsnips... fashion metal casing.

Sorted.

I ended up just crimping the connections off the wires, twisting them, wrapped that in electrical tape, and then used heat shrink tubing. It works perfectly.

FYI for anyone thinking about overvolting, buy the metal optronics housing. I'm running 14.4 volts into a 35W MR16 and I melted, deshaped a few other housings but the Optronics metal driving lights are the best I've seen, I'm very happy with them and they're cheap and they got to me pretty quickly from JCWhitney.

Also, some advice... as far as the solux mr16 bulbs go, I would definitely recommend the 3500 or 4100k, they are PLENTLY white enough. The 4700k isn't neccessary and it also puts out less light.

OK, here you go, the first picture of my new lights! Pardon the over-exposed picture, it makes them look more intense than they actually are:

Trike Lights

More to come, with step-by-step instructions!

Thanks a lot for the pics Jeff-O.

Here's what I posted for my review at batteryspace.com, which any potential halogen DIY'er should look at IMHO:

This review is for the 14.4V 5 Ah NiMH Battery Pack + Smart Charger for DIY Dive Light / Bike light found here:

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=2302

I use this battery with a 12v 35W solux MR16 (3500K) halogen bulb for a do-it-yourself (DIY) halogen lighting bicycle night-commuting project. For less than $100 for everything you need, this is an ideal solution. I keep the battery in my waterproof rear pannier with the lead wire sticking out the side panel, wrapping around the top tube of my bike, and ultimately connecting to the housing’s cord, a neat and effective arrangement. Also, I have nothing but good things to say about the smart charger. Unless you are either doing trail / mountain riding or are on pitch black roads with no street lights, there is no need for HID. I say this from experience and I truly believe that this light is as bright as a 10W HID. I have ridden a bike with a niterider system and, although it is slightly lighter, it does not justify the cost difference to someone who does not race at night. If you race at night, maybe an HID would be a better bet, but the reason I went with this battery and light combination is because I get a very white, very bright light at this wattage that commands respect from cars, cyclists, and pedestrians alike while still allowing me to see the road for 25 feet in front of me. I would not want a light any brighter for my purposes. As it is, I have received comments and a complaint or two from people that let me know that my light is plenty bright. I’m trying to bike safely, I’m not out to prove anything. The light is comparable to a car’s lowbeams, but whiter.

If you want to set up a similar system, which I HIGHLY recommend, all you will need is a housing, a bulb, a mount, some electrical tape (optional), and a male universal two pin cord. Because I commute and do not worry about the difference between getting to work in 32 minutes as opposed to 30, the only thing I would change if I had wanted to save even more money would be to have used an SLA battery instead, which would weigh more than twice as much, but cost ¼ the price, effectively halving my total expenditures for the project. The SLA is a good option if you have panniers anyway.

It is very important to note to other enthusiasts trying a similar project that when overvolting this much, it is very important to predict and expect how much heat this will produce - tons. It is imperative that you use a metal housing, and I highly, highly recommend the metal QH-7cc Competition Series Optronics driving lights here: http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...966832/c-10101

At this voltage, the light will reach astronomical temperatures capable of burning you within seconds of it being on. However, if it is isolated and you’re biking it will be fine.

With this combination, I get a little less than 2 hours burn time, which is perfect for both trips on my 45 minute commute. One last thing is that if you are ordering parts from several different online stores for a DIY project, you should order from batteryspace.com first, as they took the longest to reach me (about 10 days). I'll try to get some pics up eventually.

My email address is [edited]

http://forums.batteryspace.com/forum...pic.php?t=5545

Thanks for that Neezy, but how do you rig up the battery in a waterproof container? Water bottle? Small rectangular frame bag? That was the only question I really had with the batter pack mentioned. In your post it says that it has a wire coming out of your waterproof pannier, doesn't that render it non-waterproof?

And also - the charger, it is based on temperature? How good is that?

The other problem is that site is ass when it comes to international shipping (read: to Canada), they use UPS which comes with ridiculous brokerage costs. I don't understand why they can't use another carrier like USPS?

The wire is shielded and waterproof. The battery itself can't get wet inside the pannier. The charger is based on an electrical detection system AS well as the temperature sensor. It's the best charger you can get for nimh batteries. Can't help you as far as shipping goes, although, I might have made my own using the same cells and chains, I would have saved a bit and as far as your concerns it would help because they are more widely available.

Is there a xenon strobe that can accept 14.4 Volts without breaking like, immediately? :D

Sure, if you shove a 7812 voltage regulator in between them... ;)

Neezy how many comments does your review need on batteryspace to get that award?

http://forums.batteryspace.com/forum...pic.php?t=5545

Just came across this on ebay- a mr16 housing with 3 X 3W led emitters inside:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MR16-LED-bulb-L-...QQcmdZViewItem

Seems like an interesting option for those folks who don't want to fabricate their own housing. Should fit into a stardard driving light or other mr16 enclosure.

Anyone know what kind of driver setup, if any, would be required for this light?

Nice find. It's a shame it only uses the "warm white" LEDs though, these are not as bright as the true white ones. It's powered from a straight 12V source, which is convenient.

i think they also have the brighter "cool white" led uints in the same config.

I was looking at this as a option for building a diy led light without having to fabricate my own housing. If these things can drop into mr16 driving lights, then all i'd need would be a 12V regulator & switch.

Looking at the specs the bulb is 60 degrees! I find 10 - 20 degrees works best for headlights.

Thread I started showing the mounting of my Optronics housings choices I'm looking at. Will be drilling and doing the final mounting later this week.

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=224309

My 15 year old Radio Shack burglar alarm strobe (daylight visible) takes anything from 5 volts to 15 volts. Higher voltage just makes it blink faster. I'd be happy to try 18 volts by wiring two 9 volt batteries together.

I'd love to have the cash to buy a couple of the under $20 strobes and keep running the voltage up until they blew.

Has anyone gone to the extent of designing their own enclosures in a CAD package, and getting them fabricated?

I'm tempted to give it a go. Something like the Dinotte enclosures but for MR16 or MR11 bulbs.