Wiring up lights to ebike battery - any tips?

[pn_day]

Hi all,
I've had a search and can't find anything apart from 103Alex's incredibly complex and clever wiring of lights on his bike build.

I'm hoping to go with something much simpler for my first (36V) build. Detail of possible lights at base of this message

I was thinking of having a switch on the bars but having seen the complexities of Alex's build am now thinking switch in the bag with controller & battery is fine!

Can I take the feed after the S12S controller, so all lights are switched off when controller powered down?

Should I include a fuse? If so how does one do this? car fuses?

Any good sources of switches to use? I would like something along the lines of OFF (no lights), low (rear flashing only) and high (all lights on, Cree can be switched on/off directly by switch on rear of light). 3 separate switches would be fine if a 3 pole is a pain. Water resistant switch would be nice, but not a must.

Thanks again for all the help so far - I'd be stumped without this forum!

Lights:

• 3 12V flashing red LEDs on the rear in series:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200983992161
• + 1 or 2 solid red LEDs on rear running off 36Vhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310757301867?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=610212304833&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
• + 2 solid white LEDs on front running off 36Vhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261185677441?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
• + optionally my current dealextreme magicshine clone (Cree) running off a voltage transformer (needs 8.8V)

 

[Alan Quay]

I have built and installed lights a few times now.

My favoured approach is to install a £3 eBay dc-dc converter in an altoids tin, with a switch and 1a blade fuse on the primary side, and adjust to 12v . Then you can pull about 1-2 amps on the low voltage side.

I have also used handlebar switches. Just run in paralel with the switch in the altoids tin.

I have always fed mine from the battery side. On some controllers there is a signal back from the LCD panel, you could potentially utilise this. I dont know how much current can be pulled through it, but I guess an amp or so would be ok.

Hope that helps.

 

[tillson]

I had a set of lights running off two DC-DC converters (Click Here). I used two because I have a lot of lighting on the front, too much lighting on the front, so much lighting on the front that it upsets some people and they became agitated and excitable. I took the feed directly off the battery and through an inline cartridge type fuse. I put the DC-DC converters inside a small weatherproof (IP68) box with a power switch and "on indicator" LED on the side. I ran three inline "Jack" type power connectors (those that come with Magic Shine) lights out of the box so I could then use the standard plugs that come with the Cree lights to plug into my little power supply box. It kept things fairly standard so that I could plug whatever lights I liked into it.

It worked great for 18 months................and then......................one DC-DC converter failed..................and so did the motor on my bike (controller knackered I think) at the same time. The two incidents have to be linked, it's too much of a coincidence, so proceed with caution. I will not be doing this again, it's a single auxiliary lighting battery pack for me in future and one with reasonable capacity.

I can't recommend this rear light enough BIKERAY It is insanely bright and can't be missed, even in bright sunlight. It's expensive, but well made, weather proof and will get you noticed.

 

[Kramer]

With the proliferation of USB sockets on bottle batteries these days, can anyone recommend any lights that could be hooked up using the USB socket?

 

[Nick Langley]

OK I don't want to get involved in any home "home brew" lighting soultions.

I have a 6 mile daily commute on a Freego Eagle. I want to be able to hook-up an additional rear light to the huge battery I have under my saddle so that I can have something really eye catching in traffic.

Any products on the market that don't involve building from scratch?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

If you look down this forum, you'll find a thread "very bright very cheap light"
They cost under a fiver and connect straight to the battery. You just need to wire in a switch.

 

[Nick Langley]

If you look down this forum, you'll find a thread "very bright very cheap light"
They cost under a fiver and connect straight to the battery. You just need to wire in a switch.

 

[Nick Langley]

I don't want to appear dim but that thread, to me, seems to be more about front lights.

 

[drsolly]

I quite like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Flexible-Silicone-Bike-LED-Light-Set-Excellent-Brightness-Flash-Lamp-/371036289818?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item56637c7b1a


99p gets you a front light *and* a rear light. The front light isn't for you to see the road, it's for oncoming vehicles to see you, and it can be set to "flashing". The rear light is quite bright for a rear light, can be set to "flashing", and you can be seen from behind.

They're a silicone rubber-like casing, so you can attach it very quickly to pretty much any part of the bike. I suspect that the batteries ((lithium CR2032) don't last more than a few hours.

So I always carry a pair, even when I'm not expecting to be out after dark, they're so small and light. And when I am expecting to be out after dark, I carry a few (and a few spare batteries) so I can light up my front and rear like a Christmas tree.