RustyKipper
100 W
Hey all.
Thought I’d just share my headlight build for my extreme commuter. This was brought about by 2 reasons;
1. I hit a nasty pothole on an unlit road way out in the sticks that put me in hospital
2. I keep putingt the light batteries on charge for an hour when I get into work and then completely forget about them until 5.00!!!!
I have had a magic shine lamp on the bike for a couple of years which is pretty good (simply awesome in the forest) but it has no beam pattern so blinds everyone and the batteries are just awful, I’m lucky to get an hours use out of them.
So I bought a couple of cheap Chinese magic shine copies from Ebay,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-2000-Lm-Bicycle-Bike-light-HeadLight-Head-lamp-Rechargeable/172420908926?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3D6d36f06eeacb429bbc12d5d2785f87da%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D201392427186
they came with batteries, charger and a few mounts. For £12 they are not half bad, they have a decent beam that lights the road in front and they are not obnoxiously blinding to drivers. I figured I would fit 2 to give some redundancy and I have a bag mounted to the handlebars to carry my wet weather gear, the bag courses a bit of a blind spot if I only have one lamp, also having 2 lamps just look cool!
I wanted to run these lights from the main 36V battery pack, so purchased a couple of these step down switching regulator boards;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LM2596HVS-Voltage-Regulator-Board-6V-to-60V-INPUT-3V-to-30V-OUTPUT-New-Version/201392427186?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3D6d36f06eeacb429bbc12d5d2785f87da%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D201392427186
They are based on the LM2596HV switching regulator so should be good for 60V input and the built circuit board only cost £3.99 which is cheaper than I can build one for.
The bike gets used every day rain or shine and gets ridden through a lot of mud so I chose these ABS potting boxes and cable glands from RS Components;
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/potting-boxes/2250112/?searchTerm=225-0112&relevancy-data=636F3D3126696E3D4931384E525353746F636B4E756D6265724D504E266C753D656E266D6D3D6D61746368616C6C26706D3D5E283F69292852537C5253207C52532D293F5C647B337D285C73293F5B5C732D2F255C2E2C5D285C73293F5C647B332C347D2426706F3D313426736E3D592673743D52535F53544F434B5F4E554D4245522677633D4E4F4E45267573743D3232352D30313132267374613D3232353031313226
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-glands/4583969/
The circuit board needed a tiny amount if filing on both ends to fit the box.
I set the output of the regulator board to 8.2V to match the lights, soldered the wires on, tightened the glands and added a whole load of hot glue to stop the boards disintegrating from the vibrations.
I now have a pair of headlights that work extremely well up to about 25mph. I made up a third converter for the magic shine lamp, to save cutting the cable I bought an extension lead and wired one end into the converter, this means I can revert back to the original battery either at a later date or if my main battery fails in the back of beyond in the perpetual darkens of the UK winter commute I can at least have one working light to get me home safely. The magic shine now works as a main beam or I can set it to flash in the hours of twilight to be seen. The beauty is I no longer have to ration the amount of time I run the lights for, the homeward commute is about 45 minutes, and I no longer have to worry about forgetting to take the light battery off charge at work.
I also have a cool rear light made from 5 Ultra bright red leds build into the carbon rear mud flap, these are on when ever the motor controller is energised as a bit of extra safely.
View attachment 4
Thought I’d just share my headlight build for my extreme commuter. This was brought about by 2 reasons;
1. I hit a nasty pothole on an unlit road way out in the sticks that put me in hospital
2. I keep putingt the light batteries on charge for an hour when I get into work and then completely forget about them until 5.00!!!!
I have had a magic shine lamp on the bike for a couple of years which is pretty good (simply awesome in the forest) but it has no beam pattern so blinds everyone and the batteries are just awful, I’m lucky to get an hours use out of them.
So I bought a couple of cheap Chinese magic shine copies from Ebay,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-2000-Lm-Bicycle-Bike-light-HeadLight-Head-lamp-Rechargeable/172420908926?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3D6d36f06eeacb429bbc12d5d2785f87da%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D201392427186
they came with batteries, charger and a few mounts. For £12 they are not half bad, they have a decent beam that lights the road in front and they are not obnoxiously blinding to drivers. I figured I would fit 2 to give some redundancy and I have a bag mounted to the handlebars to carry my wet weather gear, the bag courses a bit of a blind spot if I only have one lamp, also having 2 lamps just look cool!
I wanted to run these lights from the main 36V battery pack, so purchased a couple of these step down switching regulator boards;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LM2596HVS-Voltage-Regulator-Board-6V-to-60V-INPUT-3V-to-30V-OUTPUT-New-Version/201392427186?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3D6d36f06eeacb429bbc12d5d2785f87da%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D201392427186
They are based on the LM2596HV switching regulator so should be good for 60V input and the built circuit board only cost £3.99 which is cheaper than I can build one for.
The bike gets used every day rain or shine and gets ridden through a lot of mud so I chose these ABS potting boxes and cable glands from RS Components;
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/potting-boxes/2250112/?searchTerm=225-0112&relevancy-data=636F3D3126696E3D4931384E525353746F636B4E756D6265724D504E266C753D656E266D6D3D6D61746368616C6C26706D3D5E283F69292852537C5253207C52532D293F5C647B337D285C73293F5B5C732D2F255C2E2C5D285C73293F5C647B332C347D2426706F3D313426736E3D592673743D52535F53544F434B5F4E554D4245522677633D4E4F4E45267573743D3232352D30313132267374613D3232353031313226
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-glands/4583969/
The circuit board needed a tiny amount if filing on both ends to fit the box.
I set the output of the regulator board to 8.2V to match the lights, soldered the wires on, tightened the glands and added a whole load of hot glue to stop the boards disintegrating from the vibrations.
I now have a pair of headlights that work extremely well up to about 25mph. I made up a third converter for the magic shine lamp, to save cutting the cable I bought an extension lead and wired one end into the converter, this means I can revert back to the original battery either at a later date or if my main battery fails in the back of beyond in the perpetual darkens of the UK winter commute I can at least have one working light to get me home safely. The magic shine now works as a main beam or I can set it to flash in the hours of twilight to be seen. The beauty is I no longer have to ration the amount of time I run the lights for, the homeward commute is about 45 minutes, and I no longer have to worry about forgetting to take the light battery off charge at work.
I also have a cool rear light made from 5 Ultra bright red leds build into the carbon rear mud flap, these are on when ever the motor controller is energised as a bit of extra safely.
View attachment 4
