Which bulb did you use, the 6500K or the 3500K warm white? That output looks fantastic!

Walt

It's extremely bright, and ridiculously cheap. Those last two pics are the 6500K bulbs, the first two are regular halogens.

For now I'm happy with dual MagicShine headlights and dual MagicShine taillights. I only get 1h runtime with this setup but that's enough for my commute and I carry two batteries. Those two MS headlights on HIGH make a really awesome Salmon Blaster at night :D

I picked up an everready XP8000, external laptop battery/charger on Woot. More then enough power to drive my three MR16 LEDS, but it has crappy connectors. THe 12V and 18V outputs use those crappy coax power connectors. And only work if everything is completely still. Any vibration will break the contact. Right now I've got the connector taped to one side which will work for a few minutes of riding then I have to stop and find a new sweet spot. I've tried three different connectors adding a bit of solder to a connector and even sodering a bit of wire to the side of the connector to make the fit tighter. No dice.

I'd love to open it up but it's sealed,and it looks like what might be screw heads are covered over and sealed. Everything else about this setup is pretty good, more then enough light and time, and a very low weight. But the unpredictable blackouts are very frustrating.

Anyone else try to use these for a light with better results?

GeneL: Haven't tried this, but you can try taking it to an electronics store and test mating connectors to see if you can find one that fits tight. If that doesn't work, or sounds too touch and go, you can also snip the cable off, and either solder a better one on (since you can solder battery tabs I see no reason you can't solder that connection live - but the risk is yours) or solder direct. The middle solution is probably the one I would pick in order to keep the battery and have a reliable connection.

Tor

P.S. I haven't forgotten about building my system. I got a different job than I thought I would, and haven't had to do much evening/night commuting, so the project got put on a slower track than I planned.

After another frustrating commute I decided to study the XP8000 a bit more. A magnifying glass and bright light showed that the 12 volt connector I was using appears damaged (this was a Woot purchase after all). The little gizmo at the bottom of the connctor that engages the ridge at the bottom of the plug is bent against the bottom. Preventing the plug from fully engaging. The 18 volt connector has no problem.

A ittle time with the soldering iron and I had an 18 volt adapter. A bit of research seems to indicate that MR16 LEDs are compatible with 12 volt AC. It seemed safe to assume that the lights would work at 18 volts DC, and be even brighter. So I hald my breadth and plugged in the 18 volt connector.

A short test ride seems to have solved my problem with vibration but tomorrows commute will tell.

Tor, the XP8000 is a seelf contained li-po battery pac with 12v 18v and 5v usb connectors. It uses a simple 18v charger, so I figure all the LI Po charging circuitry is build into the pac. I used it all summer as a travel charger for cell phone, mp3 player, and camera. But my real intention when I purchased it was for the bike light.

While I wouldn't think twice about breaking open and hacking a NiCd pack, I'm reluctant to mess with LiPo. Hence my frustration with the 12v connector.

Ah, yes. For some reason I didn't catch that it would have jacks, rather than female connectors on a lead. I should have known from your earlier post that you would probably have already snipped a wire to put on a better female connector. I probably wouldn't be concerned about messing with anything between the protection circuit and the outside world, but there probably isn't much space there to work with. Hope it goes well tomorrow.

Tor

Success! Lights on solid all the way. Finally, enough light to ride comfortably.

Front: Three MR16 LED's 6 5 and 3 Watts. XP8000 battery pack, mounted on a Rivendell "Dave's Rack" LED's mounted in 2" PVC pipe connectors. I used a dremel router bit in a drill press to machine a bit of a lip that the lights fit snugly into, with a bit of silicon caulk holding the lights in.

Rear: 2 Whelen TIR III flashers, I run one solid, and one flashing. 9.6 volt NiCd battery from RC plane. These are so bright that in the dark cars will swing into next lane.

Glad it is working. While I am not by any means an EE (and may be revealing a lack of knowledge here), I do have a few questions that might be worth considering.

First 12VAC is quite notably different from 18VDC (although I do agree that the peak voltage of the former is around 18V), and the latter has quite a bit more power than the former. If 12VDC is run through a diode bridge and capacitor I believe you will end up with something very much like 12VDC. Obviously you don't have instant death, so that indicates that 18VDC isn't terribly far out of tolerance.

Running the LEDs at 18VDC I would try to be aware of extra heat build-up, and reduced battery life from expected life for the battery. Of course you could just measure power consumption at 12VDC and 18VDC to see if there is a notable increase. Without a spec sheet permitting 18VDC operation, I would be inclined towards carrying a spare bulb in case one gets fried, although it looks like you already have two "spares" with you:)

Tor

Actually I am an EE which is probably why I'm having so much fun with this project.

The 12V AC spec implies (at least to me) that there is definitely some type of bridge and voltage regulator inside the bulb package. Remember that the actual physical diode will never have a voltage drop more then a few volts, so they have to control this somehow. A heat test showed that after 15 minutes in my garage the package was not noticeably warmer. LED's are primarily killed by heat, the reason that we're getting increasingly bright LED's is primarily better designs for heat dissipation. Since they're all rated for 10's of thousands of hours, a bike light that reduces the life span by as much as 90 percent is still good for the 100 hours or so I use it per year. It would be nice if one could get a schematic of whats inside but I'm not goning to hold my breath.

I'm kinda hoping the 3 watt bulb fails first so I have an excuse to buy another 6 watt.

The concern for battery life is real. But LIPO battery's are only good for a couple of hundred recharges in a year or maybe two any way, before they're at 75% capacity. I'm planning on Woot having the XP16000 on sale by then!

Thanks for your comments!!!

Naturally. I was thinking more along the lines of a linear regulator being used instead of a switching circuit somewhere early in the power handling. Of course if not sized to be only a very small drop this would seriously degrade efficiency, so it would seem unlikely to me that they would use such a thing.

Very much agreed. As indicated above, the heat I was wondering about would be rather significant, so the feel-it-with-the-hand test seems likely to be good enough.

On some other LED lights for area lighting I have some experience with (120 or 277VAC supply), the biggest lifespan issue they are having is with the driver circuitry, and the company has actually made the driver replaceable in at least some of their lights. I would expect this to be the source of reduced lifespan, especially as you aren't getting increased heat.

:)

Well, if you aren't getting increased heat in your bulbs, then I, with my somewhat limited knowledge, see no reason to expect any noticable shortening of battery life or lightset runtime per charge. Congratulations on good lights.


I meanwhile have ordered a few more parts to improve my setup, and will hopefully be putting the first stage together in a week or so.

Tor

I did it! I have finally put together what I am calling version 1.0 of my lights. Most of these images are a little dark, but you should be able to see the important bits.

First image:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180158

This shows the back assembly with the lights on it. I used some maple that I had lying around the shop for the mounting assembly, and attached it to my rack using wire strung over the cross struts on the rack, down through the maple, and twisted underneath. I don't recommend this mounting method, and I expect that version 1.01 will feature an improved mounting. You can also see in this image the grey electrical box I used for the rear connections. The lights are off in this picture.

Second image:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180159

This is a better image of the mounting, showing the maple runners and the wiring more clearly. You can also see the 4"x4" box for rear connections much better - about $7.50 at the BORG[1]. It is the one with no ports or knockouts for conduit. I drilled holes for the wires where I need them just large enough for the wire in question to slip through.

Inside the box (that I am not going to show you, on account of the mess it currently is) is the terminal strip to make the various connections (battery to fuse; fuse to main power; main power to front, beehive tail light, and main tail light; brake light power to brake; returns to battery).

Third image:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180162

Here is the front connections box. Not used much right now, but I have plans to fill it up. Right now it houses main power to brake switches and brake switches to back. Running between the boxes is a seven wire cable, which I have plans to fill, but haven't gotten to do so yet. The cable should be available by the foot at your local BORG for a little over fifty cents a foot.

Fourth image:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180163

This may be the most interesting bit in this system. Shown is the rear brake light switch. The switch used is the SPDT roller lever switch available at Radio Shack, and probably any electronics supplier better than Radio Shack.

I mounted it by drilling through my solid aluminium brake lever with a #47 bit and threading it to #3-48. I also threaded the mounting hole in the switch (if it wasn't designed for a #3 screw, I would be rather surprised) and used the only #3-48 machine screw I could get hold of to attach it. This is also repeated for the front brake.

More pictures (particularly of the lights on) in the next post.

Tor

[1]BORG = Big Orange Retail Giant = Home Depot

Now for what to some of you is surely the more interesting part of the system: the lights in operation.

Tail light mode:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180174

Top light: Beehive marker light from Super Bright Leds. Draws 85mA (haven't measured myself, but IIRC this light was tested by someone else in this thread and it measured up to specs.) Seems to produce a rear-weighted half-sphere of visibility - just about right IMHO.

Bottom light: 61 LED ST series Stop/Turn/Tail Light, also from SBL. Rated 60mA in tail light mode. Please note that this picture is taken from well outside of the visibility cone produced by this light.

On either side of the bottom light are 3" round red reflectors, bought from SBL because I was already placing the order. I would otherwise have walked into an auto parts store for these.

Image two - The Brake Light:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180175

This image was taken using the camera in manual mode to force the same settings as the last image, as can be seen by the similar effect of the beehive light on the camera sensor. Please note again that the camera is well outside of the brake light cone of visibility, so the effect is not striking. In early twilight the 450mA brake light can throw a nice red wash on a wall 30' away from itself, covering a good six feet in diameter area. The tail light mode is no weakling either.

Battery: The system currently runs off the 13.2V 4500mAh NiMH pack I got when I purchased my HID headlight that I intend to phase out in the future as I can get better headlights. From a full charge and an ~55min runtime I measured 13.5V immediately after shutting down the system, so I think my battery is in fairly good shape even though it is a few years old, given the load I put to it. Not sure just how much I ran the brake light though.

All in all, I think the system is going well. I've certainly learned a few things, and found some things that could have been done better, but I think for what I have done the system I have now is quite good on the whole.

Future upgrades include: Aluminium brake light mount; better headlights (road beam pattern in particular; I don't think a light bright enough above horizon to get drivers to flash lights is a good idea); two headlights (road beam and round tight focus high beam with easy access switch); and others.

Comments are welcome.

Tor

Where did you get your 6W, and how does the light output compare with the 3W?

The reason I ask is I just bought the 4x1W (claimed 360lum) MR16 from DealExtreme. Light output is several times that of an older 3W Luxeon MR16 that I've had for a few years, which is great. But it's still maybe 1/2 the total light output of my 20W EnergyAdvantage halogen overvolted at 14.4V, supposedly about 650lum -- and considerably less than half the on-center brightness, thanks to the LED's broader beam. Its output complements the 20W very nicely, but is still inadequate as a primary light for actual roadway illumination in dark, wet conditions.

Bottom line: still looking for an MR16 LED (if one exists) that is considerably brighter than the "360 lumen" 4W unit I just got from DealExtreme.

I've been thinking about a similar system, only using something other than wood to keep the weight down. My thought was that if my profile is much wider than a bicycle, it would be more likely to be respected by whatever is approaching from behind.

Seedsbelize: The profile may help, although then you would lose some of your ability to maneuver through tight spaces. I certainly feel the extra inches on my tail when I am parking my bike. Something wide also makes it difficult to lean your bike against a wall, which I do quite often. My setup is just under the width of my panniers, so that still works well. A wide setup will also have some aerodynamic drag (though I tend not to worry about that near so much as safe and useful) that you may want to consider. I suspect that the drag of a wider design would probably would be rather greater than using wood over a lighter material for the mount in a narrower design.

As for mounting materials, I don't consider wood an optimal material. I work with wood a lot, so I tend to have various pieces around, and it's easy to work. To do the job long term I would think aluminium bar stock would do a much better job on the whole, but that would have been an additional expense and been more difficult to install.

I definitely feel like I needn't worry about drivers being able to see me at night with the same lights they see on the backs of cars all the time. At twilight cars often really slow down to pass me when I am on the shoulder of the highway. When I need to take the lane for any reason I do flutter my brake light as cars approach, both to provide the signal, and because it is a signal when driving that the slow or stop is greater than usually expected and to take care.

I'll be very interested to see what you come up with and learn if you build some lights for yourself.

Tor

I was thinking of using it only for the trip home from town, through the countryside. That's where I encounter problems, day or night.

My system is finally wearing out, at least the headlights (12V, Optronics metal housings, MR16 bulbs, 10Ah NiMH), so time to upgrade/replace.

What is the brightest narrow beam LED in an MR16 base bulb out there?

Any other housing choices out there besides the metal Optronics? Needs to be as (or more) durable as the Optronics, which I've regularly patched and repaired but they're now used up and need to be replaced.

No M16 but if anyone wants M11 housings I have this stuff. (Specialized Fireball) works but NiCad batteries are shot. Free to a good home if you pay the shipping charges (would prefer to split it to two people if there is interest).

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...e_stuff001.jpg

neat way 2 b seen thats different
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...uestid=1350805 for the front fork...not the brightest, but just something different

Reworked the headlights on my setup this year. Two 6 watt narrow beam LEDS, and a 4 watt bulb. Each LED has it's own switch on the top of the switch box. I'm using a 14 V NiMH battery pack for normal use. But for the next couple of months will probably use an 18 volt LIPO pack and only use a couple of the bulbs. Rear lights are a pair of Whelen TIR III's. I usually run these with a 9 volt nicd. But they'll run fine on a 9 volt battery.

http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000500.JPG
The three MR16 bulbs mounted in PVC connectors.
http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000501.JPG
Battery case with switches. Power Pole connectors throughout.
http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000502.JPG
Dual Whelen TIR III's, I usually run the left one flashing and the right one steady.

I am starting to research a 6v dynamo system for my lwb recumbent and I'd like to know from those on the forum who have a 20" front wheel, what lights do you recommend considering lighting beam patterns are set up for 26" wheels?
I have a couple of Serfas model lights currently and an issue I have with them, mounted at the base of my handlebars is that the overspill from these lights is annoying; I try to have solid water bottles in my bottle cages on the handlebars in order to block the spill lighting as I look forward. I have considered taping some sort of lightshade around the top of the headlight, but haven't been bored enough to bother, just yet. I'm definitely ensuring any new lights I get do NOT have the extended clear lens around the light as this model does.

I was wondering of anyone has added LEDs to existing (battery style) LED taillights? I have a 5 LED Ikzi Light reflector/taillight - its an inexpensive, but for the (very low) price, I think its a nice, solidly built lamp with a decent sized reflector surface built in. The sides are completely clear and it has tons of room inside that seems as if it could be put to good use with additional LEDs. It already has 5 LEDs 3 face backwards, and two, one on each side face 90 degrees to the side. It does not blink, its a steady light. It has the two screws for mounting on a rear rack. Along the top rim, where the existing LEDs are, there is room for easily 4 or 6 more LEDs which is what I hope to do with some Phillips SuperFlux LEDs that I have, (decently bright) If I insert them along the top rim and get the spacing right, I think I can use the plastic optics, which is sort of a linear lens there - in the same manner as the LEDs that are in there now are doing. However, I dont want to attach them to the 2 AAs as the others are, as I would rather have them on a separate circuit that could run off of a dynamo.

Has anyone here done this kind of cheap reflector tail light additional LED retrofit?

The superflux LEDs are quite bright, considering their size. I think it could look very nice.

I also saw an idea recently that makes a lot of sense to me, brake lights..
Why not put microswitches in my brakes so that when I apply the brakes several additional LEDs are switched in? I also have a red 1 watt Luxeon Star I could use, but then I would worry about the heat since there is no ventilation inside the red plastic lamp. Of course, if it fits (just looking at it it looks as if it may) can attach the back of the luxeon to a small self adhesive heat sink (the kind that you can self-apply to hot PC components) and/or piece of aluminum or copper (an old penny?) or only use it as a brake light..

Is there some kind of national traffic car light spec for car or motorcycle lamps so that I can design my lamp additions to conform, sort of, to whatever visual language that is appropriate?

I just did a little experimenting with the Philips LED Bike light I got. Nice light on the whole, though perhaps not as bright as I would ideally like. The shaped beam is a sizable advantage, though, as I no longer have way too much light on my front panniers. More details on use as is can be found in thread http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...re!?p=13585851 . Here I will be including details for those who might wish to use one of these as a headlight withing a larger fancy system and don't mind risking voiding warranties.

Mounting: The stock mount clamps semi-perminently (though tool free) to the handlebar. From my reading the handlebar height mount is desirable to keep because the height affects the effectiveness of the beam shape. The clip on the light body is attached to the battery compartment with internal philips screws, so it should be possible to mount it to anything - with one caveat. The mount holes have a ~1" spacing, and the allen screw that keeps the battery cover closed is ~1/2" from the mount hole.

Construction: The case is solid metal (I think sold as, and feels like aluminium). I've dropped mine once from handlebar height to concrete with slight cosmetic damage.

Power: Comes with 4 NIMH AA batteries, and charges from USB (cable not supplied, but highly standard) or power cord they supply (mine, ordered from Europe, came with two pin plug, but adapter will accept 100-240V 50/60Hz, so no great difficulty there.)

As for internal power, the battery holder is marked 1.2-1.5V under each cell, and illuminated quite happily with alkaline batteries. I also attached an 800mA rated voltage regulator to it. At 6V, I was able to get it to run happily, except that the converter became too hot to touch after a few minutes. At 4.5V it ran well enough on low, but when I tried to switch it to high it complained of low battery and then switched back to low. I had to disconnect power to get it to return to high.

Unfortunately I can't give exact readings of power usage because the multimeter I'm traveling with only handles 200mA. The manual says that it should last 2 hours on high with the included 2450mAh NIMH, or 1225mA at 4.8V nominal yielding about 5.88W - a figure that fits my experience with the converter.

For obvious reasons, I can't test now, but I have seen a mention online that when running 6V external through the main circuitry, the high to low swap occurs by timer. I have seen another note saying that the battery monitor lights operate by timer, but the light will happily run while showing 0 bars. Seemed to have something to do with which version of the light was being used.

When the light was charging, it wouldn't turn on. There is room to slip a power cord in past the USB jack in the back of the light but you then wouldn't be able to able to close the rubber cover - an issue of varying significance. It should also be possible to drill a hole in the case for a wire to fit through, though I'm not sure there is all that much room between the battery holder and the case. The battery holder riveted to the main circuit board, so you'll need a drill and a soldering iron if you want to remove it neatly.

I have seen a suggestion that one could remove the original circuitry entirely and run the light off a b2flex (from www.taskled.com), and as a bonus get higher power out of the thing (1A through the LEDs instead of 800mA. This, however, is unsubstantiated, source forgotten (too lazy to hunt up now), internet reading). You're on your own there, though please post back if you try it.

All in all, I like it, though I would like to set up a symmetrical high beam on an easy switch for darker out of traffic situations.

Attached are pictures of the internals I figured I might as well take while I had it open. You are responsible for what your hands do.

Tor

Someone told me to post here. Here goes;

These shots are of the newest Lighting System:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1290.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1292.jpg

Note the amber marker light, can you see it?

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1288.jpg

I decided to build a Human Powered Vehicle back in the seventies (that's the nineteen hundreds to you young folks). Went through several renditions before I built this, the Type Ten.

I've never posted a picture of myself before, but here I am:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1278.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1263.jpg

The photo below is important, on account it shows the Yellow Chain-guard (Total Geekiness):
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1267.jpg

The Equipment which is not mounted to the bike is shown here, a red flag, road cones, and reflective vest:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1258.jpg

SPECIFICATIONS (ELECTRICAL):

The NFA Vehicles Type Ten has two twelve volt lead-acid batteries. The one on the left is 12v/7ah and the one on the right is 12v/12ah.
The Headlight came in a box:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/IMG_1252.jpg
and is a 12 volt LED version of the 20 watt Halogen MR-16.

The Tail Lights are made by Signal-Stat, but they were packaged in bags under the NAPA brand label, as their Part # 1050.

I do not have the part number of the amber marker lights, but I tell you they each have two LEDS.

The Front End of this Bike is like a Vehicle, it is mounted to the frame at the head tube, and it does NOT turn with the handlebars. Since the weight is not borne by the handlebars, the steering is much easier.

The Type Ten carries an Inverter which gives 120 volts, up to 140 watts.

There is a Five Band Radio inside the front Fairing, so NOAA Weather Radio is available at all times . Which is useful, say, if you are on a ride and you see storm clouds.

The Fairing is a Recycled Apple iMac computer case, now painted yellow, and has Shark Teeth painted on it. The Shark theme is further emphasized by the fiberglass Fin, which supports the seat of this bike.

In closing, I would like to ask anyone who has NOT seen this bike before, to reply (or email me) and say you have never seen this bike before. I think most people have seen this bike before, and I believe I may be wasting my time posting here, although I have never posted to this sticky thread before, I have posted it in other forums.

^I never saw a computer modern mounted on a bike before, that is awesome.

I think it's been quite a while since I've posted to this thread, probably not since before I switched from halogen to LEDs early last year.

The latest setup is pretty simple, with a P60 flashlight drop-in module mounted in an old TurboCat light head and held in by a lens cut from an old Petzl headlamp. The module fits PERFECTLY inside the light head when I screw down the cap, giving good thermal transfer.

Needs it too, because the module is an XM-L (from nailbender on candlepowerforums.com -- VERY high quality work) driven at 2.8A. Supposedly around 1000 lumens from the emitter, and probably 650-700 genuine OTF lumens. I got a 3-mode module, which has 5%, 40% and 100% settings. Even the 5% setting it puts out more light than a lot of the old-tech bike lights and flashlights. On 40% I find it enough for most night riding as long as it's dry out, and 100% is just enough for riding in the rain with my middle-aged eyes.

Batteries are 4 sub-C 4200mAh NiMH cells, recycled from the 14.4V pack I had batteryspace build me a few years ago, and mounted in a kids' water bottle. Good for about 100 minutes on high, 4 hours or so on medium and a whole lot of hours on low. Pushbutton switch is also from batteryspace, and the Andersen PowerPole connectors were prewired ones I bought off eBay. All told I probably have about $100 worth of parts in this thing.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=252058

Heatshrink and electrical tape on the connections look pretty ratty, but it's functional. I've also attached a shroud to provide a sharp top cutoff to the beam and avoid blinding everyone else. XM-Ls cast a pretty broad beam -- not as ridiculous as the MagicShine, but there's a lot of wasted light. The shroud is cut out of a yellow water bottle, and reflects enough light back down onto the bike to make it glow yellow. Wasn't intentional, but I think it helps conspicuity quite a bit. At first the glowing yellow shroud was hurting my own night vision, and one day at work I found a tea bag wrapper and taped it on so it doesn't catch my eye quite so much.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=252060

Because of the broad beam, I'm going to retire this unit to mountain-bike duty for which it's much better suited. My commuter bike is about to get upgraded to a dynohub, and I'll be doing a DIY project with that soon. Pics when it's done, or sometime thereafter.

Time for another update on my system.

The Phillips LBL I posted about earlier in the thread works quite well on high, though I wouldn't mind brighter. Just drilled a cable entry in it and stuck the guts of a USB car charger amazon link in the battery compartment. I desoldered the USB port board and the original power connectors, and then soldered my wires in their place. Beautiful tiny little creature once you get it apart properly. The light works great on the bench, though I haven't run it long. Haven't gotten to try it at night yet or take pictures.

Next on the list is to make a high beam. I've found a 920lm four LED board Luxeon Star and a 25mm 10 degree lens that I'm thinking might go very nicely in a piece of 1" copper pipe. Probably will wire it in two parallel sets and get their 1400mA controller and using a SP3T switch (off on on (hmmm... seems I've seen this, or at least on off on listed as SPDT)) to feed either one pair of LEDs or both in series. Should be about $70 all told, and have plenty of forward power to complement the LBL as my primary light.

This isn't set is stone, and I'm also eying some of the newer emitters, though they would probably require a more complicated setup. Anyone have other ideas for me to consider?

Tor

Well, I am on my way. I just ordered (to be delivered on production) a housing for the LED set I mentioned above. Available at the project page, you can get a better deal on a single housing if you are quick. (No connection to the project - except that I would kind of like the extra rear cap.) I'll post details when I finally get everything here and put together.

Tor