How I Built My Own MTB Light

[BrewMaster]

Ok folks, I am getting ready to order some parts for my 3x Cree XR-E Q5 light build. I know Cree has come out with the R2 binned LEDs which are a tad brighter, but I am not going to spend the extra money on those. I am looking to buy most of my parts from Cutter in Australia. If anyone wants to buy parts with me to save on shipping, let me know.

Here's what I am buying from Cutter:

- 3 Cree XR-E Q5 LEDs on a star board ($9.02 USD each)
- 3 Ledil Square Lenses, two 7° and one 6°, ($3.44 USD each)

I will also be order a driver from Task LED;

- 1 bFlex driver ($30 + $5 flat shipping from Sunnyvale, CA)

I already have the 14.8 V / 4400 mAh battery and charger I need.

[tkblazer]

thanks for going ahead and doing the order... i'll pm you what i need

[Schecky]

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

http://wcbatteryrebuilders.com/

from this thread.

Originally Posted by Schecky

They have my light right now. I will post a report when it is done.

Update:
So my light rebuild had taken a while with no communication. I was pretty sure that meant bad news.
I finally received this late last week:
This is the situation with your bike light-

We received the new cells, and installed them in your light. We tried to charge the assembly, with your charger, but got nothing.

We took the new pack apart, and found ALL the new cells were fried! Couldn't figure out why.

So we sent for more cells. We installed the 2nd batch of cells. Before we tried charging this pack, we took a reading on your charger. Your charger is bad, and is not putting anything out.

So we charged the pack on our charger. We then installed the new pack and tried the light. Nothing!

We took this pack apart, and found that all these cells were fried also. Now we are pissed.

We started doing the CSI thing on your light, and found that the wiring harness is bad. The 2 wires were broke, and shorted together. This probably fried your charger, as well as 10 of our new cells.

We have already burnt up 50.00 worth of cells, and don't want to try any more.

So needless to say, your light has not been rebuilt. We have all the parts for you, and can show you the harness.

I suggest you buy a complete new assembly, this isn't worth the money it would cost to repair.

F!
Oh well. The light lived a good life.
FWIW - West Coast Battery Builders were great about the whole thing. I would not hesitate to recommend them. Really super folks.

Nonetheless, I am still without a light!
I'm going to be jumping on the homemade trail pretty quick. I'd love to use my existing trailrat housing/battery case if possible. I seem to remember an empty beer thread about someone doing this, but I can't find it.
I have an old Maglite and may go that route too.

[tkblazer]

sounds crappy chris, at least you have an option to build your own now.. i'm going to pick up the aluminum pieces tomorrow am

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

sounds crappy chris, at least you have an option to build your own now.. i'm going to pick up the aluminum pieces tomorrow am

Nam, are you going to cut pieces like this design? I have a band saw here at work and things are slow this week, so I could always play around with that too.

[tkblazer]

sammy,

i was going to cut some for myself... i can give you a stick if you wanna try it out..

[BrewMaster]

If anyone else wants to order, please PM me today. I will try to place the orders today if I can.

[Schecky]

I'd love to order but I have to do some more homework.
Thanks anyway.

[spookydave]

Ok, I've bucked up and have some stuff on the way from Cutter. Went a little different route.

Shipping Method: Economy Air
--------------------------
Product ID: cut651
Product Name: Cree XR-E Power Leds
Quantity: 4
Unit Price: $7.00
> LED Mounted on Single MCPCB : Star MCPCB (+$1.25)
> XR-E Flux and Cool to Neutral Tint Bin Selection : R2 Flux (WH Tint) Cold White (+$4.90)
> XLamp Price Break : 1-5
--------------------------
Product ID: cut688
Product Name: 10200 Carclo Lens Cree XR-E
Quantity: 2
Unit Price: $7.95
> Price Break : 1-25
--------------------------
Product ID: cut687
Product Name: 10199 Carclo Lens Cree XR-E
Quantity: 2
Unit Price: $7.95
> Price Break : 1-25

[tkblazer]

can't wait to see what kind of housing you build for your light dave...

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by spookydave

Ok, I've bucked up and have some stuff on the way from Cutter. Went a little different route.

Shipping Method: Economy Air
--------------------------
Product ID: cut651
Product Name: Cree XR-E Power Leds
Quantity: 4
Unit Price: $7.00
> LED Mounted on Single MCPCB : Star MCPCB (+$1.25)
> XR-E Flux and Cool to Neutral Tint Bin Selection : R2 Flux (WH Tint) Cold White (+$4.90)
> XLamp Price Break : 1-5
--------------------------
Product ID: cut688
Product Name: 10200 Carclo Lens Cree XR-E
Quantity: 2
Unit Price: $7.95
> Price Break : 1-25
--------------------------
Product ID: cut687
Product Name: 10199 Carclo Lens Cree XR-E
Quantity: 2
Unit Price: $7.95
> Price Break : 1-25

Dave, how many LEDs are you going to put in each light system? A 4 banger would be insanely bright but the battery to power it would be a bit heavy.

[spookydave]

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

Dave, how many LEDs are you going to put in each light system? A 4 banger would be insanely bright but the battery to power it would be a bit heavy.

I'm going to play around with some stuff. But right now the thought is to try all 4 leds on the bar. But I plan to use 2 Bflex drivers so really I am doing 2 two light systems. That way I can just run 2 or 4. Also I'll set up the drivers so the wide angle lights have 3 brightness settings and the spots have 2 settings.

That way I could just use 2 lights at a lower setting when climbing if I wanted to.

As long as I can get around the loop that's all the battery I'll need.

[BrewMaster]

Could you use the same battery to drive 4 and 2 LED configurations using the bFlex driver? I thought the voltage for 4 LEDs would be too high for 2 LEDs and as far as I understand it the bFlex only regulates current, not output voltage. I could be wrong on this though.

[spookydave]

sure as long as you wire 2 LED's in series and run them to one Bflex. And then wire the other 2 in series and hook them up to the other b flex driver.

At least that's my thinking.

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by spookydave

sure as long as you wire 2 LED's in series and run them to one Bflex. And then wire the other 2 in series and hook them up to the other b flex driver.

At least that's my thinking.

thats how i've seen it done, the person also used a Y cable to split the wiring from the battery to each light head.

[spookydave]

I'll have to looking to it a little more. I'll dig into it this weekend. Maybe I'll end up with buckpuck type of delios.
But no matter what I plan to get all of that stuff ordered on Monday. Drivers, connectors, cabling and such.

as far as weight goes I bet it will be lighter then what I use now.

My old nightrider digital deal with the 2 halogen bulbs weighs in at 2.25 pounds. I also have an old Night rider digital headtrip and don't know the weight on it. I'll bring it to work on Monday and toss it on the scale.

[BrewMaster]

Dave (or anyone else), if you order anything from Future Electronics, please let me know. If need to replace the lenses on my green light, but the lenses are about $3 and shipping and handling is $10. I'd like to share the shipping with someone if possible. I need 4 of these lenses. Thanks.

[ka0t1c07]

Cool, now Im able to have Baja light bars on my bike. 6-1000 Lums Led lights, one for rear, 2 fog leds, and turn signal leb blinkers.

[Rockinthecasbah]

dont forget the amber dust lamp

[92se-r]

To run the 6 chip one, you could use a switcher boost circuit, which does not really effect run time because these can be over 90% efficient. Your analogy about the candle does not hold true. You could run a standard say 14.4V battery with a boost dc-dc converter and then run to a constant current supply.

Also, according to the datasheet, it is not 1100 lumens. It is only 504 lumens. IMO, not worth the effort for the voltage. Current K2 w/ TFFC LED's are up to 180-200 lumens PER LED at 1A.

Originally Posted by Flat Broke

There are a couple good high output boost drivers out there that could be used. The only issue then is run time. The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long definitely holds true here. So you'd still be looking for a higher voltage battery solution and high mAh ratings to help keep things working for a desireable amount of time.

No doubt that having the ability to dial in 1000 lumens on your helmet and your bars would kick some serious arse. And you could defintely still build a 6die based light for FAR less than current HID and 500+lumen LED offerings from retail lighting providers.

Chris