blickblocks

What kind of battery life do you guys figure I'd get with a 12V 3W Luxeon LED plugged into a Vector Pocket Power? It seems like a simple and cheap solution for a bright and flexible light system.

ken cummings

Has anyone here done business with superbrightleds.com? They offer 1 and 3 watt Luxeon MR16 sized bulbs as well as other MR16 LED bulbs that use multiple LEDs to acheive lumen outputs in the same range. Using 30 bright white LEDs to get the same output as a 3 watt Luxeon might let them operate more efficiently.
I like efficiency. Again has anyone dealt with them and how was it?

I will stay with my 50 Watt MR16 halogen until I hear from you.

jeff-o

30 LEDs may operate slightly more efficiently than a single 3W Luxeon, but they'll take up a whole lot more space! I have a dual 3W Luxeon setup right now, and I like it. Beware though, the blue-white tinge of the light really does make it harder to see contrast in the road, compared to the yellowish light from a halogen.

I bought my Luxeons from Future Electronics, they were fine to deal with if you like the transaction to be completely robotic.

ken cummings

I went back to their site and read the given specs. The 30 white LED setup uses the same MR16 space as a 3 Watt Luxeon, costs about 2/3 as much and has barely half the power consumption. I will have a look at Future Electronics tho.

ADD: Seems just to sell discrete components. Still some of those array components go way past even a 3 or 5 watt single Luxeon emitter.

jeff-o

Ah, but the 3W luxeon can take up less space than an MR16 bulb.

I'm already brewing plans to use one of those lenses that combines three luxeon emitters into one beam. Three K2 emitters, for a total output of 360 lumens... cool! Though I have to admit, the pice for such a rig may be approaching some low-end HID systems.

ItsJustMe

I've been running my All Electronics xenon strobe for about a year now on my 14.4v BatterySpace NiMH bottle battery with no problems. 5 days a week for about 45 minutes one way all winter, and during rainstorms in the summer. Initial output voltage is about 16.6v. The same strobe ran for over a year on a 12V SLA on circuit with a 20W halogen before I moved to the 14.4V and HID from BatterySpace.

I like the Optronic housing you use, if my HID ever bites the dust I'll think about getting one of those instead of the plumbing fitting piece of ugly that I have as backup now.

cuda2k

Need a little assistance guys. My battery should be arriving tomorrow and am in need of a check on my wiring setup for these lights. I've purchased a single ON/OFF/ON toggle switch to control my dual 20W lights. Thing is I want the setup to be ONE LIGHT/OFF/BOTH LIGHTS. Its been a while since I've done my electro-physics class with batteries and such so I need a check on this wiring diagram.

Some how I think this is wrong...


edit: the more I look at this, yes, I'm pretty sure this won't work, and not sure if there's a way to make it work without additional circutry. Anyone know where I can get a small push on/off switch, perhaps about 1/2" round or so, body no more than about 3/4", and Waterproof?

jeff-o

Yup, it's wrong, both lights will turn on for both switch positions.

You should look for a double-throw (on-off-on), two pole switch. Right now you've got a double-throw, single pole switch.

SharpT

https://tinyurl.com/k2lk8

I use this switch, $12.95. It is a 3 way switch. I configured it for Off -- rear strobe plus headlight -- rear strobe.

It isn't waterproof, but I attach it to the seat post.

SharpT

savage24

Hello Everyone, This is my first post in this thread. I know next to nothing about this subject but I have some batteries some of you may be able to use. I work in facilities for a large investment company and we replace the back-up batteries in fire alarm panels, emergency generator control panels and other critical equipment every three years. So, I have about ten 12 volt, 7.0 amp. hr. batteries that are three years old. They have been in a climate controlled environment during that time. They are Power-Sonic model PS-1270 F2. You can get all the details at the manufacturers websight: https://www.power-sonic.com/ I don't know how long they will last, but we replace them while they are still good.

These batteries are free to anyone who can use them and can arrange to meet me to pick them up in/around Kansas City, Missouri. I may consider shipping them if you are willing to pay the shipping cost.

Bikehead

Hi all:

Someone sent me this website, for a headlight, that they found. Looks like you can get all the part at HomeDepot. Take a look.https://bike-recumbent.com/headlight.shtmlI'm in the process of building one. Will let you know how it works.
Will be using a 12v.7ah sla battery.


Bikehead
If gas was free,I would still ride my bike.

GlowBoy

No, but I have a similar 3W Luxeon MR16 from autolumination.com ($20), and commuted with it as my low beam most of last winter. Actually draws more like 4W, so almost certainly less efficient than one of the arrays of smaller LEDs. But even then, output is better than a 5W halogen, plenty of light for my low beam use. The claimed beam width is 100 degrees, but in practice it puts most of its light into about a 15 degree center area with much dimmer overspray amounting to about 100 degrees. In other words, quite well suited to bicycle use. I saw the superbrightleds.com version as well, but at least at that time it was twice the price.

kjmillig

If you live in the south, I found a 12v 8ah lead acid battery for $15 at Academy Sports and Outdoors. They sell it to run automatic deer feeders. Maybe overkill, but I'm planning on adding a 12v horn to my setup and know I won't run out of juice. And the battery fits sideways in my Lowe's tool box trunk perfectly. I drilled a small hole in the side of the box, ran the wires through, and sealed it with clear caulking. I secured the battery in the trunk with industrial strength, self adhesive Velcro. Stays put while riding and allows for removal for charging. I'll try to get some photos uploaded.

ken cummings

My system won't let me see your diagram. I sketched out what your layout might have been and added an adequately sized one way diode at the critical point in the circuit. Now when you hit the first ON juice will not flow to the second bulb. At the other ON both lamps light up. As Jeff-O says the proper switch can solve the problem.

cuda2k

Ken, thanks for the feedback. I'd also posted this problem over in Foo and we came up with the same result. Either a Diode, or a different switch. At this point, since my switch mounting situation has changed somewhat, I am going to just go with two individual switches for the lights. This way I have more options of light output depending on the situation.

Waiting now for BF'er Jsharr to get back from vacation so I can borrow his drill press to get the lights mounted. As soon as I get it all hooked up I'll post photos.

Becca

*DING* Now, why the heck didn't *I* think of that??? That's a teriffic idea!!

WorldPax

OK, so here's what I finally got together.


2 10w MR-16 narrow floods. Radio Shack project box encloses 2 switches and bulbs. Cut up an old tube and wrapped it around, it puts an outward pressure against the mounting screws so that they can be independently aimed by adjusting the screws, the rubber also provides some insulation from the heat I think. Power will be from a SLA 5 or 7ah, haven't decided yet.


Mounting will be off a reflector mount I had. The hardware store will provide the bolt tomorrow, but this pic shows me holding it up to the mount.


and here are the internals with the back removed.

I tested it out tonight after I got it all soldered up. Hooked it up to my car battery and WOW. I'm still thinking I might replace one of the 10's with a 20, but we'll see. I'm still weighing the output vs weight.

any questions?

nycballer0591

how much did it cost ? i think i might try that.

WorldPax

$4-5 for the box, $5 each for the bulbs, $3 each for the switches. So all in all under $20. I'm sure I could have sourced the bulbs and switches cheaper, but a few bucks wasn't worth my time shopping around. I'm thinking about doing a similar project, except smaller box and 1 35w. Or maybe a can jobbie, this stuff gets addictive.

nycballer0591

cool ty keep me posted on how long they last though with the battery u choose

Novakane 

I just picked up some 1 1/2" PVC pipe fittings, and a 20w MR16 halogen flood at Home Depot. Initial tests leave me thinking that I may actually be able to see where I'm going with this thing!
I'll be building the light and attaching it to a front reflector mount this week (pics will be taken of the project) but I've not totally nailed down my power supply for it yet and I've still got to get some silicon to glue the bulb in and waterproof the leads.

One question I have is this: What about running the lights from 9v batteries? One battery seems to light it up fairly well, although I'm certain it's not 100% brightness, it may be adequate. Would two 9v batteries in parallel be able to run a 20w MR16 for a decent amount of time? (12v - not sure if they're made otherwise)
What if you over-volted it at 18v with two 9v cells? Would that destroy a 20w flood?

jeff-o

Short answer: No. Invest in some 2700mAh NiMH rechargeable AA batteries (10 of them, to make 12V).

Novakane 

Erm, sorry I think I need some clarification.
Aren't AA batteries 1.5v? 8 of them in series would be 12v. 10 would be 15v - is that what you meant to say, or did you mean 8 of them?

Old Dirt Hill

So here's my new setup for the fall/winter of 2006-2007. Sorry for the crappy pictures, I used my phone here at work. I'll take some better ones tonight if anyone is interested in more details.

I used the Nashbar mini front rack (thanks GTCommuter!) and the rest of the stuff is from Home Depot. This setup is 100% waterproof, so I'm looking forward to using this in the rain as well as the snow. I'm currently housing the 4500mAh 13.2V battery in my pannier, which I may change to a seat post mount or something else...for now, the "in-the-pannier" setup works fine.

Please ignore the faux bar end shifters and brake levers...New equipment is on order to complete my conversion.

You can see last year's version on page 40 of this thread.

GTcommuter

Very cool ODH. Glad to see that rack being put to good use and not taking up room on my workbench.