New LED Lighting...

[JohnInStockie]

It seems as if the LED is beginning to come into its own as a main beam lights finally reaching HID levels of lighting. 3 Lights that appear to have a lot of potential are :-

Dinotte 500L - 500 lumens (reviewed here)
Niterider TriNewt - 496 lumens
Use Enduro MaXx - 720 lumens (info here)

Now if we could just power these from the main battery (eh Haku? )....

Any views?

John

 

[Ian]

The nice thing about LED lighting is that it is relatively easy for DIYers to make products that compare well to those commercially available at what is literally a fraction of the price. The 34 LEDs in my headlamp and the components to make the flasher module cost under a fiver and the lamp is brighter than a £45 cateye LED unit. LED's, even the brightest ones, are so cheap that the manufacturers must be have huge profit margins compared to HID lighting which does use expensive components.

I'd recommend anyone who has any confidence with a soldering iron to have a go at making their own LED lights, the cost is so low that the financial risk is negligible.

 

[JohnInStockie]

Ian Do you think its possible to achieve 500 lumens via the diy method? Is it possible to get these bulbs cheaply? I intend to have my own little workshop area in the new shed I've ordered (16' x 8') along with room for a couple of bikes (so long as my wife doesnt fill it first).

 

[Ian]

We e-bikers have the huge advantage of already having a large battery and what a DIY lamp may lack in sophistication can be made up for by brute force.

The same LED's (or luxeons) as used in good quality lamps are readily available to the DIYer , the difference being that the comercial products use special optics to concentrate the beam and increase the luminous flux (lumens). Suitable lenses are available and could be used but a simpler approach is simply to use a very large number of LEDs, you'd probably need a couple of hundered or more to get anywhere near 500 lumens but as each LED can be as small as 3mm dia it is perfectly practical, just needing nimble fingers and patience to assemble.

The other difficulty is a suitable housing, one approach being to buy a cheap bike lamp and discard the contents. My LEDs are built into the dynamo type lamp fitted as standard, although I used 34 there is room for many more.

PS Just seen your edit John. 16' x 8' is some shed, even with a couple of bikes and other stuff it's still leaves ample space for a workshop area.

LED's are available cheaply in bulk on ebay, and while some Far Eastern suppliers quote unrealistic light outputs there products are generally OK.

 

[JohnInStockie]

@Ian

Ian, I found this link interesting, although to be honest a lot of it went over my head. Can you explain how one would use these to create a powerful front light? (is it within the skill range of a DIY'er?)

I must admit I dont understand how lumens are calculated. I would expect (probably erroneously) that it would be some form of measurement of the light output) but if the beam concentration increases the lumens then that cant be correct can it. I take it then it must be a measurement of brightness from a distance in some way?

 

[Ian]

Sorry John, I should have said concentrating the beam increases the candlepower (cd or mcd/1000), the lumens being fixed by the light source.

That link is to a variant of of high power LED often called a luxeon star. It is possible to make DIY lamps using these but they reqiure quite a high current supply, additional optics and need to be mounted on a metal plate to disipate the heat, and while a small number would give a very bright light it is easier to use a large number of conventional LEDs such as these.

 

[JohnInStockie]

Heres another interesting light, with upgrades to the technology as and when available. Good video of them driving a car over it