WARNING TO EVERYONE, YOU CANNOT USE THESE WITH SET CURRENT DRIVERS. YOU MUST USE DRIVERS WITH EASY OTF ADJUSTMENT. HALF TO FULL POWER IS AGONISING TO BE INFRONT OF AND WILL KILL CHILDREN INSTANTLY. TREAT LIKE A HIGH BEAM IN A CAR
I looked up many very expensive lights and the outputs arnt great, its another battery to charge and another thing to carry when you go in the shops.
So I built my own non detachable light to run from my motors battery back. It has two leds bolted onto a miniature security light housing. Each led is rated at 100w/3.2a at 35v. The epistar led chart says these make 5000 lumens at 1.3amps each. This is generally the current I run at for long runs on dark lanes.
My controller is a small pwm motor controller with variable potentiometer. If you put a switch in the pots wiper yellow wire this activates between 50% or fully variable control(ie 0-100%). If you put a break in the black pot wire it activates 100% or defaults back to fully variable (I dont recommend running over 2amp per led on a dual led setup or in warm countries due to heat issues). Heat seems to double every 800mah over 1300mah and light output only goes up 10 percent at a guess. I tried a constant current driver but again this seemed to double heat so I am sticking with pwm and putting up with noticable flicker in the first 3-5% of illumination.
In still air it starts to feel warm/hot but once your doing 15mph upwards it barely feels warm in cool night time air. I think 200w is a bit overkill and running one led might be better for long rides. But I knew I could fit 2 leds and know they run cooler and more efficient the less hard you drive them so I just had to try lol.
Slapped in some cpu grease and bolted them to the previously 10w led housing. I used a small knife sharpening stone to flatten and protrusions left behind from the old screws.
I then mounted my lenses. I only had one focusing reflector so only one led is directed forwards until I order another one. So one led is firing at about 140 degrees and one about 60 degrees. The lenses stopped the glass going back in which is a shame but I sealed everything with silicone and it has the added benefit of extending my cooling area mass so I can run max power without worrying.
4x35mm P clamps later
Its very light and very solid with no vibrations on a ride.
*I am getting round to the pvc battery jacket but cant feel my fingers in this weather, dont freak out.
No video or image seems to reflect the true brightness of this but heres a little video I did to test my new chinese cheap action camera at night. Here is a clip showing how to utilise the lights dimmer switch when drunk people stumble out of hedges. Dimming on acceleration is not normally as bad but freezing temps recently made my battery sag. I couldnt go down the bridal way due to boggy mud so heres some lanes action.
[youtube]Jxq1gLEI5s4[/youtube]
Taken with this $33 camera with Mp3 player and 1w led woo 1w I say
Heres my parts list
2x100w led at £12 each (the newest one has 45x45mil chips not 40x40mil like the old one)
10w led security light 12v or ac mains £11
Lenses/reflectors £5
pwm motor controller £5
Clamps £3.
So with one 100w led you get 5000-8000 lumens for £35 or with 2leds you get 10.000 to 16.000 lumens for just under £50. Its a choice between mental bright or a bit more mental bright. Once your eyes adjust the extra 100w isnt really noticed so if your on a budget just run 100w.
I run warm 3000-3500k colour temp leds. 3000k is a bit muddy orange and 3500k is just like the sun. Warm and doesnt piss people off on very low. I tried a 50w 5000k before and even on minimum everyone kept moaning as it looked nasty/harsh/piercing. The bright white gives you no contrast to the road and makes everything and everyone look washed out and grey. No good for pot hole spotting at 30mph.
My 10amp (supposedly) driver ran 1.9amps max into one 40x40mil led and more like 4amps into the pair. Its as if the led commands the limit to a degree, which I know leds arnt capable of hence needing a driver in the first place. So what Im saying is they arnt as easy to overdrive and blow up on pwm as I thought. Perhaps my multimeter shows the load wrong as it is pwm and maybe I am pushing more? Like measuring ac load on motors, the load is often faked by the power factor. I wonder if its effected my readings
www.rapidtables.com
Heres some links that may expire sooner or later
Led data sheet showing that you can run 2amps like me even if it gets a bit hot (full 3a up to 60 degrees maybe 1a at 100 degrees). I had some thermal switches rated at 60 and 80 degrees to make a warning light but as it doesnt get hot in cold night air I havnt bothered instaling them
100w led with newest big epistar 45X45mil chips (I think rated at 3watts each chip underdriven at 1watt) OH YEAH IF YOU ORDER FROM THIS GUY YOU MUST SPECIFY 3000K WARM OR HE MAY SEND YOU 5000K COLD. 5000K WILL GET YOU PULLED OVER EVEN ON 3% ILLUMINATION ITS NASTY
pwm controller and pot
security lamp (select ac and get a free driver for projects, 12v runs no driver?prob blow up)
lens
Heres a constant current boost converter that takes 5-32v input and makes it 12-35v output for leds and such. I ran this at about 2.5 amps and thought it was going to set fire to the led. You would need bigger heat sinks for this setup which is too bulky for my liking.
Final thoughts. I dont think pwm is really a form of current control its just on off on off at pretty much direct current. Direct current (a battery straight to an led) will blow it 9 times out of ten. I think perhaps I have got away with it by keeping in the 30v (33v motor resting) range, reducing possible ampage.
I am also running fairly thin doorbell wire and getting my main positive feed from my balance socket which also has a short length of 18awg to travel down. I suspect if you run 33v -35v on some nice cells with beefy wires you could get a melt down. Make sure you test the ampage with a voltmeter. Mine says 4a at 75% but the meter stops registering any gain after that. basic voltmeters cant deal with such high frequency pulses and will give you poor readings but its a good start.
So I have just observed heat, compared it to the stated ampage and not run it at 100% for longer than a few minutes at a time. I feel safe running 50-75% constantly. Just as a test I am upping the voltage to 11 life headway cells 35v this week and adding some extra heatsinks. This is mainly to avoid the dimming up the monster hills in the freezing cold. My batteries sag more than normal recently drawing 40amps (phase or battery i have no idea as I cant get infineon software to work on win7) and a teeny 10ah battery. Its not so bad in warmer weather.
If consistency is more your thing over full on sun beams I believe my old constant current blue driver will self adjust to the voltage you specify. So if you ask for 33v and your supply pack dips by 10v under load it will just temporarily trim it up for you instead of the led dimming or going off up that hill. Due to extra heat you would be stuck at 1-1.5amps max for long runs and no easy on the fly adjustments other than on off as a main beam. My 20ah battery didnt suffer like this so much and it was also stiffer prismatic cells.
*update on 11 lifepo4 cells. Multi meter shows almost 6 amps between driver and leds and is variable right to the end of pot travel. Dimming under acceleration up long hills seems to have gone. It doesnt seem to be that much brighter but may have raised the tint to 5% whiter. I would stick with 33v if you have a bigger pack capacity than my saggy 10ah headways or a smaller ampage motor so it limits the draw to 4a max to the led.
Ok I was pretty sure this would happen but my curiosity made me do it for the greater good. At 36v on a 90 percent charged 11 life cells I partially blew one of my leds at 6amps/ie full power pot interupted. The leds arnt matched in chip sizes and I had meant to check the draw into each one seperately but forgot. So my newer big chip led must have drawn more than the old small chip led and drew too much current.
Had I used two matched chips I dont think this would have happened but Now recommend a well matched/adjustable driver how ever many leds you run. Also keeping in the 30-33v mark seems to be safest after running like that for nearly a year previously. I will probably just slap the single led in the middle or use the partially blown one as a low beam.
The advert for my driver has been updated and it now says it can handle twice the power and voltage than it said when I ordered. They must have made a mistake and this probably didnt help as I thought it was 48v 10amp max. Being chinese amps then more like 5 amps. The cheap led may have just been bad but theres too many variables and my lack of proper procedures mean you cant point the finger really. Rip 100w led. I wonder if it will still draw 100w with only 50 chips lit up?
I looked up many very expensive lights and the outputs arnt great, its another battery to charge and another thing to carry when you go in the shops.
So I built my own non detachable light to run from my motors battery back. It has two leds bolted onto a miniature security light housing. Each led is rated at 100w/3.2a at 35v. The epistar led chart says these make 5000 lumens at 1.3amps each. This is generally the current I run at for long runs on dark lanes.
My controller is a small pwm motor controller with variable potentiometer. If you put a switch in the pots wiper yellow wire this activates between 50% or fully variable control(ie 0-100%). If you put a break in the black pot wire it activates 100% or defaults back to fully variable (I dont recommend running over 2amp per led on a dual led setup or in warm countries due to heat issues). Heat seems to double every 800mah over 1300mah and light output only goes up 10 percent at a guess. I tried a constant current driver but again this seemed to double heat so I am sticking with pwm and putting up with noticable flicker in the first 3-5% of illumination.
In still air it starts to feel warm/hot but once your doing 15mph upwards it barely feels warm in cool night time air. I think 200w is a bit overkill and running one led might be better for long rides. But I knew I could fit 2 leds and know they run cooler and more efficient the less hard you drive them so I just had to try lol.
Slapped in some cpu grease and bolted them to the previously 10w led housing. I used a small knife sharpening stone to flatten and protrusions left behind from the old screws.
I then mounted my lenses. I only had one focusing reflector so only one led is directed forwards until I order another one. So one led is firing at about 140 degrees and one about 60 degrees. The lenses stopped the glass going back in which is a shame but I sealed everything with silicone and it has the added benefit of extending my cooling area mass so I can run max power without worrying.
4x35mm P clamps later
Its very light and very solid with no vibrations on a ride.
*I am getting round to the pvc battery jacket but cant feel my fingers in this weather, dont freak out.
No video or image seems to reflect the true brightness of this but heres a little video I did to test my new chinese cheap action camera at night. Here is a clip showing how to utilise the lights dimmer switch when drunk people stumble out of hedges. Dimming on acceleration is not normally as bad but freezing temps recently made my battery sag. I couldnt go down the bridal way due to boggy mud so heres some lanes action.
[youtube]Jxq1gLEI5s4[/youtube]
Taken with this $33 camera with Mp3 player and 1w led woo 1w I say
Heres my parts list
2x100w led at £12 each (the newest one has 45x45mil chips not 40x40mil like the old one)
10w led security light 12v or ac mains £11
Lenses/reflectors £5
pwm motor controller £5
Clamps £3.
So with one 100w led you get 5000-8000 lumens for £35 or with 2leds you get 10.000 to 16.000 lumens for just under £50. Its a choice between mental bright or a bit more mental bright. Once your eyes adjust the extra 100w isnt really noticed so if your on a budget just run 100w.
I run warm 3000-3500k colour temp leds. 3000k is a bit muddy orange and 3500k is just like the sun. Warm and doesnt piss people off on very low. I tried a 50w 5000k before and even on minimum everyone kept moaning as it looked nasty/harsh/piercing. The bright white gives you no contrast to the road and makes everything and everyone look washed out and grey. No good for pot hole spotting at 30mph.
My 10amp (supposedly) driver ran 1.9amps max into one 40x40mil led and more like 4amps into the pair. Its as if the led commands the limit to a degree, which I know leds arnt capable of hence needing a driver in the first place. So what Im saying is they arnt as easy to overdrive and blow up on pwm as I thought. Perhaps my multimeter shows the load wrong as it is pwm and maybe I am pushing more? Like measuring ac load on motors, the load is often faked by the power factor. I wonder if its effected my readings
Watts to amps (A) conversion calculator
Electric power in Watts (W) to electric current in amps (A) calculator.
www.rapidtables.com
Heres some links that may expire sooner or later
Led data sheet showing that you can run 2amps like me even if it gets a bit hot (full 3a up to 60 degrees maybe 1a at 100 degrees). I had some thermal switches rated at 60 and 80 degrees to make a warning light but as it doesnt get hot in cold night air I havnt bothered instaling them
100w led with newest big epistar 45X45mil chips (I think rated at 3watts each chip underdriven at 1watt) OH YEAH IF YOU ORDER FROM THIS GUY YOU MUST SPECIFY 3000K WARM OR HE MAY SEND YOU 5000K COLD. 5000K WILL GET YOU PULLED OVER EVEN ON 3% ILLUMINATION ITS NASTY
pwm controller and pot
security lamp (select ac and get a free driver for projects, 12v runs no driver?prob blow up)
lens
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120956146908&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:AU:1123
Heres a constant current boost converter that takes 5-32v input and makes it 12-35v output for leds and such. I ran this at about 2.5 amps and thought it was going to set fire to the led. You would need bigger heat sinks for this setup which is too bulky for my liking.
Final thoughts. I dont think pwm is really a form of current control its just on off on off at pretty much direct current. Direct current (a battery straight to an led) will blow it 9 times out of ten. I think perhaps I have got away with it by keeping in the 30v (33v motor resting) range, reducing possible ampage.
I am also running fairly thin doorbell wire and getting my main positive feed from my balance socket which also has a short length of 18awg to travel down. I suspect if you run 33v -35v on some nice cells with beefy wires you could get a melt down. Make sure you test the ampage with a voltmeter. Mine says 4a at 75% but the meter stops registering any gain after that. basic voltmeters cant deal with such high frequency pulses and will give you poor readings but its a good start.
So I have just observed heat, compared it to the stated ampage and not run it at 100% for longer than a few minutes at a time. I feel safe running 50-75% constantly. Just as a test I am upping the voltage to 11 life headway cells 35v this week and adding some extra heatsinks. This is mainly to avoid the dimming up the monster hills in the freezing cold. My batteries sag more than normal recently drawing 40amps (phase or battery i have no idea as I cant get infineon software to work on win7) and a teeny 10ah battery. Its not so bad in warmer weather.
If consistency is more your thing over full on sun beams I believe my old constant current blue driver will self adjust to the voltage you specify. So if you ask for 33v and your supply pack dips by 10v under load it will just temporarily trim it up for you instead of the led dimming or going off up that hill. Due to extra heat you would be stuck at 1-1.5amps max for long runs and no easy on the fly adjustments other than on off as a main beam. My 20ah battery didnt suffer like this so much and it was also stiffer prismatic cells.
*update on 11 lifepo4 cells. Multi meter shows almost 6 amps between driver and leds and is variable right to the end of pot travel. Dimming under acceleration up long hills seems to have gone. It doesnt seem to be that much brighter but may have raised the tint to 5% whiter. I would stick with 33v if you have a bigger pack capacity than my saggy 10ah headways or a smaller ampage motor so it limits the draw to 4a max to the led.
Ok I was pretty sure this would happen but my curiosity made me do it for the greater good. At 36v on a 90 percent charged 11 life cells I partially blew one of my leds at 6amps/ie full power pot interupted. The leds arnt matched in chip sizes and I had meant to check the draw into each one seperately but forgot. So my newer big chip led must have drawn more than the old small chip led and drew too much current.
Had I used two matched chips I dont think this would have happened but Now recommend a well matched/adjustable driver how ever many leds you run. Also keeping in the 30-33v mark seems to be safest after running like that for nearly a year previously. I will probably just slap the single led in the middle or use the partially blown one as a low beam.
The advert for my driver has been updated and it now says it can handle twice the power and voltage than it said when I ordered. They must have made a mistake and this probably didnt help as I thought it was 48v 10amp max. Being chinese amps then more like 5 amps. The cheap led may have just been bad but theres too many variables and my lack of proper procedures mean you cant point the finger really. Rip 100w led. I wonder if it will still draw 100w with only 50 chips lit up?
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Even though I'm sure these are too bright I gotta get some. Same seller has them with the electronics to drive them too. They say AC 85V-265V for the driver board, but I'm going to take a shot with my 74V nominal DC. I just hope there's some way to trim them below half like the OP, so my housings with heat sinks I have will work. I'll definitely need some kind of reflector to point them higher without blinding anyone.
