| Author | Message | ||
     Reepicheep |
Not solid enough to turn into a real topic yet, but I thought i would post some info on the quick board in case anyone wants to start playing. I bought 4 of these: http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19653 $6 for a 10 watt (900 lumen) LED that runs direct off of 12V. I am still seeing stars... the thing is freaking bright. Color wise, it is a lot like a neutral HID... no yellow, but not blue either. They are about the size of a penny, so bigger than I expected. They run pretty cool also, they recommend a heat sink for full power, but sitting here on my desk without a heatsink at low and full power for a minute or two at a time and it was warm but not hot. Not sure if the 12V max is a hard stop, or if a 13.8 volt "vehicle load" would cook them or not. Not sure what I am going to do with them. They are a bit big for a reversible high beam retrofit on the Uly (my original thought). I might use them to make cool strategic lighting in the house or garage somewhere, or maybe make some driving lights. For $6 each, they are a lot of fun. FWIW, that electronic goldmine boost converter is also very cool.. it won't step down, but it will step up any voltage source (like 3v) all the way up to 22 volts or something, and it has a very slick built in volt meter for both inputs and outputs. http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19747  | ||
| Preybird1 |
Nice i would use those for interior illumination of a vehicle. I have done a lot of lighting swaps in cars instrument clusters and the hvac controls. I have us SMD leds and wedge bases and a few others. I am still playing with component leds also. I like making lighted switches and such different colors. here are some smd leds.   here is a dash cluster i did on a nissan sentra. This one was very involved and complicated with The lcd info screen removal and the needles needing to put back where they came from. Here are some led bulbs.   Here is my tacoma i did last week.    HVAC controls  | ||
| Iamike |
I bought a couple of Kolpin Bullitt 10W LED lights. And yes, those suckers are bright. They did cost a bit more than $6 though. After getting flashed several times I cut 1/2 circle shades and glued them to the top half to cut down on the flare. (yes, the top half since LEDs send light straight out, unlike incandescents that reflect light). | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Interesting Mike, I'm looking for driving lights for my Uly. | ||
| Sifo |
So are these something that could be suitable for driving lights? Do they outshine typical headlights? I could see adding a hood that would cut glare to oncoming traffic, even making them suitable for low beams, but they would never be legal if a cop got wise. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I wonder how they would focus in a driving light housing? I suppose I'll have to pony up and try it! It's funny how different these are from filament bulbs. The old fashioned filament shot light out in all directions but these come out from a flat surface. Thanks for the heads up on these. finally! cheap enough to start screwing around with them. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
BTW Nice nano scope. That's on my short list too! | ||
| Ourdee |
Be nice to point a couple rearward on a circuit to flash one time when the brake is applied. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'm loving the Nano with the BenF software. Not the most durable hardware ever made, so I handle it carefully, but the size and price was sure right and with enough pecking it does a great job. I should just get a DSO quad (or whatever the newer one is). I got these LED modules because I had an order going in anyway for that boost regulator (which is so freaking cool). I figured 4 of them would make a nice high beam / low beam setup. Having them in hand, they would, but they are bigger than I expected, so instead of being something I could cobble together into an old bulb base, I would have to build an entire enclosure around them... at which point I really need a projector lens... so now the problem space moves from a replacement bulb to a replacement projector assembly. And it's not really a problem I am spending a lot of time on, I'm just playing. Though I am SORELY tempted to build a very souped up LiIon rechargable maglight.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
That would be cool Ourdee. And it would be easy, really easy, to set up a variety of patterns. I'm thinking of using them to make submerged aquarium lights right now. | ||
| Oldog |
Hey Reep, do you suppose those could be placed in a conventional reflector lamp housing ( aimed at the reflector ) and do a decent job of lighting the '08 1125 has an anemic charging system so if I could cut 50W out of the system loads and make it available for heated gear or other stuff win win ( presuming the regulator can take it ) | ||
| Reepicheep |
That was what I was thinking when I got them Jim... I was going to take an old bulb base, graft these on, and make an LED replacement. Two of these would be 1800 lumens, brighter than a normal bulb. They would still probably work that way, but they were bigger than I thought, so you would have to cut up an existing housing. There is also a heat dissipation issue, at full boogie they need cooling. So probably yet more cutting to get a big heat sink worked in somehow. I'm now in stalk mode for something that could be used for projectors. I was on Ebay this morning, they have some pretty cool "zoomable" flashlights with claimed 1800 lumen LED bulbs that would be interesting to take a hacksaw and some silicone sealant too and turn into projectors. If I could walk through a warehouse of them and handle them I might go for it, it would get expensive to keep buying them just to see if any look durable and water proof enough. So it's still just a thought at this point. I don't think we are far from a time when cheap drop in LED bulb replacements will appear... Meanwhile, you are at the top of the list for the next gen controller, which will only feed heat to the heaters when the bike has margin. Which will half solve that problem a different way... if your grips are getting too cold, your rev's are too low.  | ||
| Iamike |
I got the Kolpins from Motorcycle Superstore for $136/ea. I like the idea of converting an old type to these LEDs shown above. Here are some pics from my conversion. I had 55W fog lights but after about burning up the fuse link on my VFR I was looking for ways to reduce the load on the bike's systems. Here is the way it looks from the front. The left one doesn't have the shade and has much more flare.  This is the way they look on a cardboard. The shaded beam doesn't seem to be reduced on the lower half.  And this is a closeup of the light with the shade.  One guy told me he bought some from Mondo Moto that he likes and I see Northern Tool sells some too with oval beam patterns. I liked these because they were a little cheaper and relatively small. Also the reason the right (left) headlight looks brighter is because it has a Silverstar Ultra capsule and the other side is just a Silverstar. | ||
| Oldog |
Reep I believe that the Regulator is part of the problem, when I hit hi beam and the heated gear is active, the lights dim noticeably, I am considering the CE-605 regulator so the loads on the stator would be reduced VS always run at max or over loaded ( the lights flicker with out heated gear loads ) | ||
| Ducbsa |
Iamike, I looked on the Northern Tool site and couldn't find the lights. Can you give more detail? | ||
| Iamike |
Here they are: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_au to-suv-truck-accessories+automotive-work-lights+le d-automotive-work-lights_24? They have quite a few options. I stopped by their store in Minneapolis and they didn't have any there. The 5W ones aren't priced too bad compared to most others that I have seen. I might order a couple of those from goldmine and see if I can mount them in some old fog light housings that I have. Fabricating the heatsink to fit may be the biggest obstacle. | ||
| Reepicheep |
That would probably help if it isn't a shunt regulator. | ||
| Iamike |
I just looked at that Electronic Goldmine site. It could be dangerous with all those goodies. I haven't played with electronic gadgets for a long time. | ||
| Reepicheep |
No kidding about Electronic Goldmine being dangerous. It's like a walk through Mendelsons in Dayton Ohio. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Oh, if you are willing to cut up the foglights a little, I think these modules would work well. Screw two of them to a steel or aluminum bar or heatsink with some heat sink compound, and just epoxy that bar into the back of the housing. Headlight levels of power from an LED. I haven't tried running one at 13.8 "bike level" voltages yet. Don't know if that would blow it or not. So there may be a 12v regulator issue to work through as well. | ||
| Iamike |
Most of the LED lights that I have seen so far don't seem to use the lens to manipulate the light like incandescents do. Don't know if that is because the technology is young or the LED light output acts differently. I see the Vision X lights mention that they use pulse modulation to control the LEDs so full 12V may reduce the life. The ones that come with the battery pack and handlebar mounts would make fantastic bicycle lights. Mine are 350 lumen and 500. The 900 lumen ones would light up the road quite well. I have a pair of projector beam fog lights that I might have to experiment with. I like the wide flat beams of fog lights. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Plenty of PWM controllers cheap on ebay, that's not a bad idea. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Any idea of the manufacturer and part number of those LEDs? The website hasn't too much actual info. | ||
| Sifo |
I haven't tried running one at 13.8 "bike level" voltages yet. Don't know if that would blow it or not. Not sure how it scales from the lower power LED lights, but they typically hold up fairly well to being over driven a bit. It might shorten the life some, but they will still likely outlast the bike. They typically can be dimmed by reducing voltage, and they will pretty much peak in brightness at about the rated voltage. Over driving them does little for making them brighter after that. My guess is that with a good heat sink they will hold up OK. I've seen 1.5 volt LEDs run at 13.8 volt levels with good results. Most of the LED lights that I have seen so far don't seem to use the lens to manipulate the light like incandescents do. Don't know if that is because the technology is young or the LED light output acts differently. LEDs have less need for reflectors and lenses. The light emitter puts the light out in a specific direction with a specific beam angle. It's already focused if you have chosen an LED that is suitable to your application. I have a pair of projector beam fog lights that I might have to experiment with. I like the wide flat beams of fog lights. That would be something that could be done with the right lens. Might be tough finding a lens to do that though. It would be easier to simply block out the light you don't want like the lights Iamike posted. The obvious down side of that is that you lose the power of the light you are blocking. The LED in the original post has a beam angle of 140 degrees. That might be a bit wide for a headlight. Pretty easy to narrow it down though by simply blocking what you don't want. OTOH, one thing I don't like about driving at night is that when the bike is leaned over the pattern of normal headlights just don't shine into the turn at all. It makes night riding pretty exhilarating, but not really in a good way. Having driving lights like this that will be dimmed for oncoming traffic wouldn't be all bad. | ||
| Oldog |
the 605 is a switching regulator and disconnects the alt from the system I have a big chip led flashlight, this one has no reflector, but a fish eye lens like a projector lamp. That approach works well enough, I have wondered how a reflector works when the light source is a flat plane flush with it(reflector) kinda neat the hot spot is a projected image of the lighted chip surface on a white wall you can see the lead wires... the hot spot is keystone shaped... | ||
| Hughlysses |
Just when you thought an LED headlight would be the coolest thing ever: http://autos.yahoo.com/news/audi-r18-e-tron-quattr o--now-with-laser-headlights-013529261.html | ||
| Reepicheep |
No identifying information on the LED's or the packaging. | ||
| Torquehd |
So, if you were using LED's that have a range of 2 to 2.4 volts... I know you can put them in series in order to run them on 12VDC... but, the voltage on your bike varies from 13.6 to 14.5ish. I know my LED taillight has a few resistors, but no transistors. Anyone know how to figure out how to wire them for variable voltage as such? | ||
| Sifo |
Are you looking for a circuit that will actually adjust as the voltage varies between 13.6 and 14.5? If so, that's just overkill for real world use, just as there's no need for standard bulbs. Just make up a circuit for 14.5 volts and enjoy. If you are asking how to figure out that circuit, the internet can help with calculators like this one. http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz You do need the specs for you LEDs. The question marks in that calculator provides some "typical" values for common LEDs. | ||
| Torquehd |
i came across the formula for figuring out which resistor to use. It said to use the resistor with the closest ohm value to your equation, indicating that a little variance isn't that critical. |
