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DIY taillight questions

Old 10-09-08, 01:17 PM
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Does anyone have any ideas about the 2-wire controller? I searched on DX for 4-wire controllers and none of them seemed to have any modes, under $5 at least.
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Old 10-11-08, 11:22 AM
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I have everything but the cree, though the driver didn't come with any instructions. This is my best guess for the wiring, which I have doubts about after seeing all the ++ and -- connections on mrbubbles's diagram.
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Old 10-11-08, 02:15 PM
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As per post 21 the red and black wires on the driver connect to the led. Red to LED + black to LED - !
On the bottom of the driver the outer ring goes to battery neg, inner round pad goes to battery positive.
ie there are two separate circuits joined at the driver.

Make sure the LED is soldered in before you connect the battery.

Last edited by znomit; 10-11-08 at 02:22 PM. Reason: clarification
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Old 10-11-08, 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by degnaw
I have everything but the cree, though the driver didn't come with any instructions. This is my best guess for the wiring, which I have doubts about after seeing all the ++ and -- connections on mrbubbles's diagram.
Znomit explained it. The diagram I posted is corrected.
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Old 10-11-08, 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by znomit
As per post 21 the red and black wires on the driver connect to the led. Red to LED + black to LED - !
On the bottom of the driver the outer ring goes to battery neg, inner round pad goes to battery positive.
ie there are two separate circuits joined at the driver.

Make sure the LED is soldered in before you connect the battery.
Sorry - i thought you were referring to the outer and inner poles on the switch when you said that (I somehow missed the 'on the bottom' part). corrected, i hope, diagram below
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Old 10-11-08, 09:29 PM
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Old 10-16-08, 08:33 PM
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One final question about mounting - Does the LED have to be glued to a piece of metal using some sort of thermal paste or something, or is epoxy fine? And would any problem arise from gluing half the bottom of the driver?

On another note, DX says my LED shipped 3 days ago, but there's still no tracking number listed.
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Old 10-16-08, 09:18 PM
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Yes its best to use thermal epoxy. You can get away with normal thermal paste under the star and some epoxy around the outside.
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Old 10-21-08, 02:27 PM
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The LED came today and i soldered everything, but theres two problems (so far - haven't tried any extended runtimes yet)

1. The two flash modes only last a few seconds before it turns off - sometimes it comes back on 7-8 seconds later or so. Or maybe i just haven't figured out the modes yet (apparetly theres a 7s beacon), but it seems to do that for the 3rd AND 4th modes.
2. The switch got really hot after i switched through the modes twice - I think I might have melted something inside the switch cuz I melted some of the plastic when I was soldering. Since I have 5 switches, I'll probably replace that later. (Or right now)

Edit: correction - it jumps out of beacon mode too

Last edited by degnaw; 10-21-08 at 03:23 PM.
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Old 10-21-08, 03:13 PM
  #35  
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Ok more about the first problem - If I press the switch all the way in, it goes like this - off-high-off-low-off-slowstrobe-off-faststrobe-off-beacon-off-high and so on. If I press the button in slightly, if the light is already on it'll just jump to the next mode. High, Low, and Beacon modes work. If i'm in slow strobe, it strobes maybe 5 times or so and either switches automatically to fast strobe (after which it goes to beacon after another few flashes) or just goes straight to beacon mode. Fast strobe also switches to beacon after a few flashes. And this is after I replaced the switch.

another edit: I had it on high for a minute or so, and when i went to turn it off i got burned by the switch (then i noticed it was smoking).

Last edited by degnaw; 10-21-08 at 03:30 PM.
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Old 10-21-08, 08:12 PM
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The switch is not suppose to get hot, something is wrong. I put together two of these (different drivers and different setups) with no trouble whatsoever.

No wire is suppose to touch each other, especially the switch, the way it's wired, it's really easy to short it.
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Old 10-22-08, 01:00 PM
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I'm pretty sure the switch isn't shorting (i purposefully bent the center contact downwards), though I'm thinking it might be one of these two things:

1. Does solder tend to get hot when it conducts electricity, or is it designed to do that?
2. Do wires with more than one strand inside them work?
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Old 10-22-08, 03:07 PM
  #38  
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Sorry about yet another double post, but I removed the switch and now i'm switching it by momentarily compressing the battery holder spring. Now the controller is getting really hot after less than a minute on high - I'm assuming this isn't normal but I can't see any visible short. Could it be shorting even if there's no contact or solder between the two wires?
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Old 10-22-08, 03:28 PM
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Can't help you there, I don't know what you are doing wrong. When electricity conducts in wire (for that small amount), the wire isn't hot to touch at all, there just isn't enough conductivity between your skin and wire for 1 watt.
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Old 10-22-08, 07:25 PM
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Heat in a wire (or switch) is the result of more current passing through a circuit than the circuit is designed to handle. Excessive current draw in your simple circuit is likely caused by
a) faulty component, ie bad led or bad driver
b) faulty wiring, ie positive wire contacting ground at some point, either touching a wire or metal. LED + touching a grounded heat sink.
c) faulty design, ie you choose the incorrect driver, led combination
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