The new pair of lights. The larger one has the driver circuit inside, the smaller is a slave.
So I finally started making something useful on my lathe. Making a bunch of bits of aluminum that stick together is great, but there is limited utility in useless bits of practice junk. I’m making housings to fit two asymmetric lenses I got from SuperNova a while back to replace my current headlight setup on my bike. Over the my trip up to Vancouver Island last month one of the Led’s died, and it’s causing the hub to vibrate much more than it should, which means there is something somewhere that isn’t right. It still works, kind of, but it isn’t a positive thing.
So, new light. Single unit w/ single mode switch. No electronics in steer tube/switch on top cap. Neat idea, but too many wires and having a toggle on the top cap doesn’t actually work that well. It gets switched on and off accidentally, and having the switch that accessible isn’t necessary. You need to switch the light on/off maybe once a day, and usually…I just leave it on.
This new system is a separated pair, a master/slave configuration. One light on each side of the wheel in the classic Schmidt E6 Duo style. The taillight is going to be a separate entity, which is a departure for me. On all of the other light systems I’ve made the taillight is part of the headlight circuit, one unit. I’m changing this so I can run a single wire to the taillight. AC power, not DC. That, and another feeling that I can’t put into words….hmm…
I found this post recently on the candlepower forums with a slightly modified version of pilom.com’s circuit 6, splitting the tuning cap’s to save on space. Having 4 smaller ones instead of 2 large ones. It’s a great idea I hadn’t thought of and does save a lot of space.
I’m using Cree XPG’s that SuperNova shipped me with the lenses. I think it’s the R5 bin of emitters, so 1500mA max.
Havn’t gotten it all wired up yet, I need to do some modifications to my rack and the current light mounting system. Drill some holes for wire routing and shorten the current light-arm and add another one on the other side of the tire. Now pictures.
All the parts lined up. From left to right: Front section of house, O-ring, Lens, LED, Backing plate/heat sink, Spacer/driver housing/Driver, Switch, Back portion of Housing
All the pieces from a different angle.
Driver slips inside of a pvc sleeve, which acts as an insulator and a spacer to pre-load to the lens/LED stack.
Lenses from Supernova, LED's are XPG's, mounting/heatsink backing plates are cut from a salvaged handicapped parking sign. The lens orients the LED with the three legs and holds it the correct distance from the lens to get the focal length correct.
How it all fits together.
The pre-load spacers.
