Twin luxeon lights.

"Marty Wallace" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

Brace yourself for heaps of questions.....

What wattage Luxeons are they?
How much $ for Luxeons, Pucks, and Collumnators?
Why a twelve volt battery (don't they run on 3.6V?)
Have you got plans for improving the mounting of the lights?
How do the lights perform (ie, how good are the collumnators)?

I reckon you should get a piece of billet aluminium and machine it into an
asthetically pleasing shape that fits the Luxeons. This would also provide
a good heatsink effect. I would also buy a VistaLight mount from a bike
store to mount the light to the bike (looks pretty professional....see link
on my last lights)

http://www.users.tpg.com.au/adsl4xun/lights_7.htm

I am still toying with the idea of making a Luxeon Star lighting system so I
am keen to hear what you think of their performance.

Keep up the good work,

Gags

"Gags" <gags_44nospamatnospamtpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Marty Wallace" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

Brace yourself for heaps of questions.....

What wattage Luxeons are they?

5 watts each.

Quoted message said:

How much $ for Luxeons, Pucks, and Collumnators?

About $50 per LED, pucks are about $30, collimaters (?spelling) about $5.
Buy them from the US from Luxeon. Very fast postage.

Quoted message said:

Why a twelve volt battery (don't they run on 3.6V?)

They need greater than 8 volts.

Quoted message said:

Have you got plans for improving the mounting of the lights?

The method used is very simple and cheap, can be done with basic tools and
is available to anyone.

Quoted message said:

How do the lights perform (ie, how good are the collumnators)?

Very well, I've removed my 20 watt light, which is now redundant.

Quoted message said:

I reckon you should get a piece of billet aluminium and machine it into an
asthetically pleasing shape that fits the Luxeons. This would also

provide

Quoted message said:

a good heatsink effect. I would also buy a VistaLight mount from a bike
store to mount the light to the bike (looks pretty professional....see

link

Quoted message said:

on my last lights)

I like the KISS principle, (Keep it Simple Stupid). It's important to be
able to fix it in the dark on the side of the road if something does go
wrong.

Quoted message said:

http://www.users.tpg.com.au/adsl4xun/lights_7.htm

I am still toying with the idea of making a Luxeon Star lighting system so

I

Quoted message said:

am keen to hear what you think of their performance.

I need to add a second switch so I can switch one out when riding on easy
sections. Riding on the road only requires one light.
I also want to put a diode across the supply and fuse in series with the
supply so that if I accidently connect up the battery reverse polarity it
will short through the diode and blow the supply fuse. I discovered that if
you connect a puck up with reverse polarity it will kill it.

I'd also like bend the aluminum plate so that it forms a shade over the
light. I presently use a bit of taped on cardboard (not shown in the
photographs) to stop glare direct from the lights.

I'm also looking for lithium ion batterys but they are hard to find. Should
reduce battey weight by half.

Quoted message said:

Keep up the good work,

Gags

Marty

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 at 15:37 GMT, Marty (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"Gags" <gags_44nospamatnospamtpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Why a twelve volt battery (don't they run on 3.6V?)

They need greater than 8 volts.

The pucks regulate the output voltage to usually give a fixed
current. Switchmode, so efficient.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Have you got plans for improving the mounting of the lights?

The method used is very simple and cheap, can be done with basic tools and
is available to anyone.

Quoted message said:

How do the lights perform (ie, how good are the collumnators)?

Very well, I've removed my 20 watt light, which is now redundant.

Quoted message said:

http://www.users.tpg.com.au/adsl4xun/lights_7.htm

Jealous.

Quoted message said:

I'm also looking for lithium ion batterys but they are hard to find. Should
reduce battey weight by half.

Way jealous of both of you.

I ended up buying just a standard torch because I can't find the time
to make any of this, and the luxeons and my desired battery setup are
all slightly beyond my budget. I'll still probably end up buying tail
light replacement from Jaycar (cat num ZD0316), next time I go
in. Hook up a pot, a battery pack and an oscillator, it shouldn't come
to more than $50 for something that ought to be bright enough.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Experiments must be reproducible; they should all fail in the same way.

Marty Wallace said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

Hmm, ok some may think the housing/wiring may need additional styling - but we say *yum*! Top work, lovely result. 😉

Is it just me, or is *luxeon* a very sexy word? 🙂

"cfsmtb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Marty Wallace said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

Hmm, ok some may think the housing/wiring may need additional styling -
but we say *yum*! Top work, lovely result. 😉

Is it just me, or is *luxeon* a very sexy word? 🙂

--
cfsmtb

Luxeon is exciting because it's the light we've all been waiting for.

marty

Marty Wallace said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

I ran a single 3 watt luxeon in last weeks 1,200km Audax Great Southern Randonee.
The 3 watt is nice because it puts out a very useful amount of light and the LED only costs $19 compared to $50 for the 5 watt.
I made up a battery carrier from a [censored] smith 4 x c-cell holder ($1.96) so it carries three c- cell alkalines and incorporates a siwtch. Sewed up a canvas baggie to house the battery pack.
So for around $30 or so you can make a very nice long burn time light.
I ran one set of batteries for over 10 hours with only a slight dimming towards the end.
The Luxeon was on all the time and covered for the main Son Hub and 3 watt light on the steep hills (Lavers Hill, Otway Range) when speed got down around 9kmh.
I also rigged up a 1 watt mini luxeon as a helmet light for navigating and this also worked superbly using only the one set of 3 x AA batteries for the whole ride.
I Like Luxeons!
Pete

Marty said:

"Gags" <gags_44nospamatnospamtpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Marty Wallace" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've made up a bit of a web page for my lights.
They're a bit rough but work well and I'll tidy them up eventually.

http://www.hyperactive.oz.nf/Luxeon/twin_luxeon_headlights.htm

Marty

Brace yourself for heaps of questions.....

What wattage Luxeons are they?

5 watts each.

Quoted message said:

How much $ for Luxeons, Pucks, and Collumnators?

About $50 per LED, pucks are about $30, collimaters (?spelling) about $5.
Buy them from the US from Luxeon. Very fast postage.

Quoted message said:

Why a twelve volt battery (don't they run on 3.6V?)

They need greater than 8 volts.

Quoted message said:

Have you got plans for improving the mounting of the lights?

The method used is very simple and cheap, can be done with basic tools and
is available to anyone.

Quoted message said:

How do the lights perform (ie, how good are the collumnators)?

Very well, I've removed my 20 watt light, which is now redundant.

Quoted message said:

I reckon you should get a piece of billet aluminium and machine it into an
asthetically pleasing shape that fits the Luxeons. This would also

provide

Quoted message said:

a good heatsink effect. I would also buy a VistaLight mount from a bike
store to mount the light to the bike (looks pretty professional....see

link

Quoted message said:

on my last lights)

I like the KISS principle, (Keep it Simple Stupid). It's important to be
able to fix it in the dark on the side of the road if something does go
wrong.

Quoted message said:

http://www.users.tpg.com.au/adsl4xun/lights_7.htm

I am still toying with the idea of making a Luxeon Star lighting system so

I

Quoted message said:

am keen to hear what you think of their performance.

I need to add a second switch so I can switch one out when riding on easy
sections. Riding on the road only requires one light.
I also want to put a diode across the supply and fuse in series with the
supply so that if I accidently connect up the battery reverse polarity it
will short through the diode and blow the supply fuse. I discovered that if
you connect a puck up with reverse polarity it will kill it.

I'd also like bend the aluminum plate so that it forms a shade over the
light. I presently use a bit of taped on cardboard (not shown in the
photographs) to stop glare direct from the lights.

I'm also looking for lithium ion batterys but they are hard to find. Should
reduce battey weight by half.

Quoted message said:

Keep up the good work,

Gags

Marty

Lithium ion batteries are hard to come by because they need alot of
protection circuitry. For over-charge/over-discharge. I usually pull
apart a laptop battery and remove all the circuitry. Then I use a lab
power supply as the charger. Just set the correct voltage 4.1 volts per
cell (some cathode chems require 4.2) then set a realistic amp rate. I
set 1 amp for my 4 amp hour battery. If you every discharge the battery
below 3 volts per cell the charge with a really low current until
the voltage comes above 6 volts i.e 10 mA.

However Lithium polymer batteries are getting easier to find, thanks to
the RC model crowd using them. As the electrolyte is a polymer they
shouldn't explode as easily when mistreated. Although I have seen a
picture in an RC magazine of a subaru on fire because someone left the
Li-po batteries on charge to long. So if a you look to RC model shops
you maybe able to find some batteries or just order from the states.

Here are a few links to us sites:
http://www.powerstream.com/li-pol.htm
http://www.plantraco.com/hobbies/product-lpcells.html
http://www.robotcombat.com/marketplace_lipoly.html
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/thunderpower.htm

agamlem said:

Lithium ion batteries are hard to come by because they need
alot of protection circuitry. For over-charge/over-discharge.
I usually pull apart a laptop battery and remove all the
circuitry. Then I use a lab power supply as the charger.
Just set the correct voltage 4.1 volts per cell (some cathode
chems require 4.2) then set a realistic amp rate. I set 1 amp
for my 4 amp hour battery. If you every discharge the battery
below 3 volts per cell the charge with a really low current until
the voltage comes above 6 volts i.e 10 mA.

Most modern cells use a 4.2V charge voltage. For my GSR battery, I simply pulled apart a spare battery pack from a notebook to get eight 18650 cells, each rated at 3.7V, 2.23Ah. I wired these up 2 series, 4 parallel, for a 7.4V, 8.9Ah pack, that weighs just 350g. That was enough to power my 5W Vistalite headlight all night long, with a simple series low drop out regulator to power the globe at 6V.

After seeing Poiter's cool luxeon headlight, I'm now keen to replicate that, though with lithium-ion batteries. I imagine my little pack would be enough to run a 3W luxeon for close to 20 hours...

One warning though. Over-discharge of lithium ion cells can stuff them permanently. Over-charging can not only stuff them, but can even make them catch fire.

Regards,

Suzy

suzyj said:

agamlem said:

Lithium ion batteries are hard to come by because they need
alot of protection circuitry. For over-charge/over-discharge.
I usually pull apart a laptop battery and remove all the
circuitry. Then I use a lab power supply as the charger.
Just set the correct voltage 4.1 volts per cell (some cathode
chems require 4.2) then set a realistic amp rate. I set 1 amp
for my 4 amp hour battery. If you every discharge the battery
below 3 volts per cell the charge with a really low current until
the voltage comes above 6 volts i.e 10 mA.

Most modern cells use a 4.2V charge voltage. For my GSR battery, I
simply pulled apart a spare battery pack from a notebook to get eight
18650 cells, each rated at 3.7V, 2.23Ah. I wired these up 2 series, 4
parallel, for a 7.4V, 8.9Ah pack, that weighs just 350g. That was
enough to power my 5W Vistalite headlight all night long, with a simple
series low drop out regulator to power the globe at 6V.

After seeing Poiter's cool luxeon headlight, I'm now keen to replicate
that, though with lithium-ion batteries. I imagine my little pack
would be enough to run a 3W luxeon for close to 20 hours...

One warning though. Over-discharge of lithium ion cells can stuff them
permanently. Over-charging can not only stuff them, but can even make
them catch fire.

Regards,

Suzy

What regulator are you using?
I use a pwm circuit based around a 555 timer. I thought about getting
hi tec and using a microcontroller with an a-to-d to monitor the battery
and give various dimming levels. But it seemed like too much hassle. I
push my vista lights a bit harder at 7.2 volts (or sometimes more) since
they do it themselves for some models. They have 6 cells in their
batteries. I run a 10 watt head and a 15 on the bars. I like to hit
about 80-90% daylight speed of road.

agamlem said:

What regulator are you using?

It's a micrel MIC29302T, in a TO-220 package. This one is cool as it's adjustable, and also has a shutdown pin, which I may use to shut the thing down when the battery voltage drops below 6V. I figured that dropping from 7.4 to 6.0V with a series regulator gives me around 80% efficiency anyway, so the gains to be made by using a switching regulator are only modest.

Quoted message said:

I use a pwm circuit based around a 555 timer. I thought about getting
hi tec and using a microcontroller with an a-to-d to monitor the battery
and give various dimming levels. But it seemed like too much hassle.

So do you use a fixed duty cycle, or some sort of feedback loop to set the output power?

Quoted message said:

I push my vista lights a bit harder at 7.2 volts (or sometimes more)
since they do it themselves for some models. They have 6 cells in
their batteries. I run a 10 watt head and a 15 on the bars. I like to
hit about 80-90% daylight speed of road.

Mine are usually run from 5 sub-c NiMH cells, so 6V is the go. I reckon It's plenty bright enough, and I don't want to sacrifice bulb life, as they're expensive.

Regards,

Suzy