700-Lumen LED Bike Light

Equivalent light output of a 70-watt halogen bulb but only uses12-watts of power.
Beam shots show a building at night 100-ft away illuminated by this LED bike light.

Detailed Specs and Parts List are given at the end of Step 8.

Step 1: Building the Enclosure

Step 1: Enclosure
A. These are the parts needed for the enclosure and shown before cutting to size: Lexan MR10 plastic, 1/16-inch x 3/4-inch aluminum L-bracket, Hammond enclosure, heat sink.

B. Cut parts to size: 3/4-inch section from enclosure, aluminum back bezel, Lexan front bezel, heat sink slices.

Comments

[hanlin_y]

Nice work! I really want to make this.

For cell balancing, you can use 18650 battery holders. Perhaps glue two 2-cell holders back to back and wire them in series.

[mwarren_us]

Luis Leonardo's $88 Nova Star project on Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2037357107/the-nova-star or http://www.ibikesafe.com ) looks very much like this too.

[rprough]

The arctic silver thermal adhesive can be found on any computer supply website. www.xoxide.com for example. Just remember to get the adhesive and not the "paste" which is just for heat transfer properties that might be disassembled later.

[spaghettikid]

Hi, I have finished this bike light, but whilst assembling the battery/bottle part the wires snapped off the potentiometer, and there is no way of re-soldering them on, is there any specific type of pot i should get??

[nerbaneth]

Great design!

AAah! Don't insulate batteries! you want the batteries to loose heat quickly if necessary. This will shorten battery life.

[snowluck2345]

This isn't as powerful as a 70 watt halogen. Halogens are 20-40 lumens per watt.

[spaghettikid]

Where did you order your lenses and lens holders from, i cannot find anywhere that will only sell 3, they only accept big +50 orders.... ?

[spaghettikid]

Found it =] RS components did them in the end, but they didnt show up on google when i searched it =]

[spaghettikid]

Does it matter which way up the LED's go as long as the middle one is the opposite as the others?

[spaghettikid]

For the arctic silver adhesive which glue is it exactly because they have arctic silver of several types, arctic alumina of several types, the arctic alumina is much cheaper but will it still work?

[700lumenLED]

I used the premium arctic silver from LED Supply. Any good thermal adhesive should work or contact them for recommendations.

[spaghettikid]

Hello, great instructable, i am in the process of locating the parts and the hammond enclosure is the only part i am missing, could someone give the link to it as previous links given in comments have not been the right ones or are no longer available =] thanks

[700lumenLED]

Step 8 shows all the part numbers which should still be valid. Hammond enclosure is Newark Electronics part no. 1455B1202 in silver or black. Also see 'Final Note' at very end: you can buy a Magic Shine LED light for under $90, although GeoManGear is still working on a replacement battery. They had 3 failed batteries out of 20,000 which might even be acceptable by Six Sigma standards.

[spaghettikid]

(removed by author or community request)

[knektek]

I went to lidl yestorday and I had found 2 'D' sized rechargeable cells for £2.50! The best thing about them is that they hold 4700 mAH each!

[GENERALCHAOS]

... Nice and BEEFY power output im crazy about led lamps i always look for good idea like this good show

[johny875]

My fav place for part is http://www.chinazrh.com They ship world wide, free of charge Read the customer reviews to avoid getting lemons thou ;)

[Vspec]

Could this be used without the power supply? like maybe wiring it into a motorcycle stator?

[Simpson_jr]

Yes, it's possible, I was wondering whether you would need a 12 volt stator,  but according to the buck-puck specs they can handle an input of 5-32 volts _DC_.
Driving very slowly with a 6-volt stator (and no battery) might... give problems though. You might have to choose between a ticket for speeding or one for driving without light ;)

One can also ditch the buck-puck and just use a resistor. you'll need a resistor capable of dissipating a lot of power and you'll need to calculate the exact value in ohms. Just google LED-calculator to find one and enter the specs found in the datasheet of the LEDs used.  Most online calculators will  show you the schematic needed.

Most online LED calculators will start protesting that the amount of Milliamperes is very high (for a LED) or that the resistor must be capable to handle a very high wattage. That's because most of those calculators aren't written for high power leds (yet) although the outcome is correct.

I'd advice you to buy a resistor capable of handling 3-4 times the load. In most  electronics (not the extremely cheap stuff)  components used can handle at least twice the load of the design which  is indeed enough, but.... The resistor may still get very hot.

There are a few disadvantage to a set up without buck-puck, When your stator doesn't give a the same amount of volts at different RPMs, your lights will dim/brighten every time you shift gears. Although rated as an 12 volt stator it might... also generate more at  high RPMs which could ruin the LEDs.
A motorcycle with battery will give a more constant voltage and have less problems.  Anyway, measure what your stator (with or without battery) is capable of before building a resistor-set up.

The beauty of a buck-puck is that it delivers the exact amount of power to the LEDS whether the motor runs stationary or at 11000 RPM without having to know too much about electronics.

It is possible to drive leds in other ways as well, even quit cheap,  but those require a lot more knowledge about the components used.

[HellaCaj]

How nice of our friends in China to scour sites like this for their latest and greatest "inventions." Great work Lumen.

[bronxbomber]

The magicshine is sold out everywhere, it may be bright to specs but it is really the same as this one.  As the battery it uses is junk and goes out to battery heaven in less then a weeks time.  Now maybe if you buy just the head light and add this battery it should work great.  But this one looks more fun to build and can change led to high ones.  They do have 540 lum leds which should out perform that magic-hine and get a better batter for 80+ at the website above or build your own.  cheaper to build a battery then let them, you can save $10-30 on doing it yourself.

[bronxbomber]

Those wanting to know more info on the case this person used here they are
Length  Width  Height
4.72      2.82      .75 INCHES
120       71.2       19  MM
with a cost of            1-5      6-49   Quantity
1455C1202BK 9C  $11.02  $9.33 each
http://www.hammondmfg.com/1455V2.htm
Photo Gallary of sizes
http://www.hammondmfg.com/1455ptbla.htm

Was a pain to find but did now to find where to get it in stock or cheaper.  But since we now have the dimensions we can find something close to it.  Since it will be cut into parts when spend the 11.02 plus shipping.

List of where to buy in different countries
http://www.hammondmfg.com/dists.htm
cheper at
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Hammond/1455B1202BK/?qs=GM6gGTqOQCuRmNe%252bgxXacw%3d%3d for $9.99

This really wasn't hard to place when you did the instructions but I would have never learned to search the web this good.

[bronxbomber]

Those leds are being discontinued so a replacement can be found else where or oem site.

[chris2002rocklin]

I think you look for any old aluminum enclosure. Not to defend the poor (lack of) specific build list...try mouser.com to see, they have some but not sure about sizes.  

[curlyfry562]

nice Job. You gotta love Hammond enclosures.

[giesken]

 Great job, thx

[_Scratch_]

The (Department of energy?) is holding a contest for a company/person to make a light bulb to replace the 60watt bulb. it has to have at least 90 lumens PER watt.... quite a bit, if you create 2500 working copys of your product, and it wins, you will win 10 million US dollars. pretty cool....

[BRAVODOG]

Ok where do you get the Hammond enclosure ? is it a h/d one?

[pteranosaur]

modernBIKE.com has an adaptable bracket---go to Accessories-Lights-subheading Light mounts and Brackets---cygolite Handlebar bracket @ $14.95

[qwertyboy]

the second picture looks like a car ignition coil...

[pteranosaur]

Just think-if you were to use a chromed 'coil cover to mount the plastic bottle...

[nightmaresyndrome]

I'm a little confused about which buck puck to get...there isn't specifically a "1a"

http://www.ledsupply.com/buckpuck.php?gclid=CKPNzq7Y25wCFQJD5godm3iDJA

Could you be more specific about which one you got from the above page?? Does anyone else know? Theres no clear picture.

[700lumenLED]

The buckpuck driver I used is Part # 3023-D-E-1000P ('forgot to list).
http://ledsupply.com/03023-d-e-1000p.php
Thanks.

[Stephen87]

this is pretty awesome and it also gives me an idea of how to possibly make some fog lights for my truck although I am not sure how long they can be on constantly

[Simpson_jr]

LEDs have a life expectancy of 20.000 to 50.000 hours and you can keep them on constantly as long as that. LEDs like these do get quite hot though so a good heath sink is a must, just like the right buck-puck driver which ensures the LEDs won't get more energy as they can handle. Larger&smaller LEDs (in terms of power) are available, just as LED-drivers (Buck-puck isn't the only one), some of those can be dimmed. I've seen manufacturers started selling LED-Applications to light sport-stadiums recently, so the sky is the limit.

[Stephen87]

Awesome, Thanks for the info

[JZ Price]

The small LEDs last for 10 years. but the newer super bright ones are "over clocked" and don't last as long. But it isn't like they will just go out. A cool white LED will fade to a warm white (while the efficiency goes down). and go out. Different Brands over clock more than ever. OSRAM doesn't overclock at all. but Luxen overclocks a fair amount.

[camb00]

Cant the back of the led short out on the metal ?

[joejoerowley]

Not really. It is a ground/heatsink.

[static]

Stating the obvious. What is called the dim headlights on cars is actually low beam. Perhaps the ultimate would be to salvage the lens from a burned out motorcycle sealed beam, and use it as the starting point for LED bicycle head lamp. Some of the early automobiles actually physically "dipped" the headlamp automobiles, that too may be an option with LED bicycle headlamps.