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Not the world's brightest bike lights

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Adam Munich

Sat Oct 02 2010, 05:02PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

It's getting dark earlier (and colder), and my bike and I are hard to see at night. The only thing that tells people I'm there is the noise. SO... I had an SSCP7 that needed a home, and a Friday night with nothing to do. I ended up making a bicycle light. It turned out quite well IMO.

The SSCP7 is attached to a black anodized heat sink with a mixture of super glue and thermal paste. I put some thermal paste on the LED and pushed it on the heatsink. I then used a syringe full of CA glue to put a drop where the two meet. Capillary action did the rest. I use this method for attaching all sorts of things to heatsinks and it works quite well. The heatsink is convection cooled.

*PIC*

It took me 2 hours to figure out how to attach the lamp, and I tried everything from aluminum wire to strings. I ended up using some erector set parts I found in a junk box. It works really well, and holds up despite the large vibrations at high speeds. There are so many different uses for erector sets it's ridiculous. In fact one of the first artificial hearts was built with one.

*PIC*

The thing is powered by a 2Ah? 6V lead acid battery zip tied under the front fork. The SSCP7 is hooked to a 1A constant current driver, and that driver has 2 diodes in series to lower the voltage a little bit so it doesn't overheat. There is a 25 ohm rheostat in series with the driver to allow me to control the brightness from 50 lumens to 800 lumens.

*PIC*

Charging is accomplished by either the wall outlet or this solar panel I bought 6 years ago and never had a use for. Never throw things out. Ever.

It looks much better than I expected it to. Though it's not as good as a professional lamp, it's not like my bicycle is a Harley Davidson.

*PIC*

So that's what I did at 2AM last night. Next thing to do is a heated seat, paint the muffler dark red, and put on some studded tires with the winter approaching. (though I'm likely not going to bother with the tires)

EDIT, I just realized my camera takes really good pictures.

Coronafix

Sat Oct 02 2010, 08:05PM

Registered Member #160 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938

Nice work!! Now that's what I call a bike. :)

Adam Munich

Sat Oct 02 2010, 08:27PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Yeah I love those P7 leds. When pushed to 2.4A and adequately heatsinked I can get 1300 lumens from one. What I would really like to see though is a white phlatlight LED. Too bad they're $200. :/

Muttyfutty!

Mon Oct 04 2010, 01:16PM

Registered Member #2915 Joined: Fri Jun 11 2010, 10:41AM
Location: Malaysia!
Posts: 101

Nice work! that looks really professional!
Well done.
I wouldn't like to get caught in the rain with that though.

Maybe you could consider encasing the vital electronics in some sort of waterproof project box...

Adam Munich

Mon Oct 04 2010, 07:49PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Oh it already got rained on, hard. It still worked when wet though. The driver board isn't complex, and is only 3 linear current regulators in //; not much can go wrong there. The worst thing that could happen would be the rheostat's shaft rusting, but the insides would be fine. Nichrome wire doesn't rust, nor does the copper wiper.

IntraWinding

Wed Oct 06 2010, 01:47AM

Registered Member #2261 Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581

Nice. Did you add the engine to the bike too?
I haven't seen one of those before!

Adam Munich

Wed Oct 06 2010, 01:57AM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Yes, I added the engine; they sell kits online for about $120. There's better ones that don't vibrate as much, but this one is good enough. The vibration isn't like a jackhammer, more like the vibration in an x-box controller which isn't too bad. It gets about 20 miles to 1/3 a gallon of gas, and it's a LOT cheaper than car insurance. I'd rather have money than be broke with a nice car.

An interesting issue is at around 22mph the gastank falls in resonance with the motor and vibrates really loudly. Still haven't solved that problem yet.

Ken M.

Wed Oct 06 2010, 03:15AM

Registered Member #618 Joined: Sat Mar 31 2007, 04:15AM
Location: Us-Great Lakes
Posts: 628

Maybe place some foam padding between the tank and the bike frame, to dampen the vibrations, maybe.

Adam Munich

Thu Oct 07 2010, 03:04AM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Nah, somehow I need to change the resonant frequency of the gas tank. Not quite sure how to go about that though. It resonates at a higher RPM when full than empty.

Also I got around to testing the light at night today. Look like I'm going to have to put a reflector on it. A lot of the light is wasted.

GhostNull

Thu Oct 07 2010, 08:40AM

Registered Member #2648 Joined: Sun Jan 24 2010, 12:45PM
Location: Australia
Posts: 291

Stick a rod on it! That'll change the resonate frequency!

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