Project Lights : Highpower LED Front and Rears

[fisha]

OK folks, all the parts are now on the desk and the rear light build has slowly begun. i've taken lots of pics and it'll take me a while to write it all up, but as a teaser, here are a few pictures....

This is front of the light... there is still a clear front panel to go on and will be bolt into place. The 2 optics are elliptical with a 25° horizontal and 5° vertical spread which is just right for a rear light...

this is the rear of the panel ... a plug for the supply, a 5mm indicator light and a large potentiometer for adjusting the brightness. This differs slightly from the front light setup in terms of the supply plug, but i'll come to that later.

lastly, having soldered on the LED's to the heatsink, i thought it would be cool to try out the light by running the LED's directly off the battery. Bear in mind, this is with the optics sitting on top of the LEDs, so the beam is being concentrated up towards the roof. ....

me thinks these are going to be bright....

 

[SimonGalgut]

Looking good !

I hope you don't ride in a group very often.

 

[fisha]

I'm hoping that the brightness will be controllable down to a reasonable glow similar to a normal rear light.

I do admit, the reality is that these are going to be whoppingly too bright, but in the absolute worst of conditions that may be no bad thing.

 

[BentMikey]

Looking good !

I hope you don't ride in a group very often.

You jest, but this is a serious problem for me when I'm on the 'bent riding in a group with upright bikes. I'm often at eye level of someone's searingly bright LD600 or LD1100. Oucheeee!

 

[fisha]

there is little that can be done about that though unfortunately ... under the seat is the most common place and on a similar level to more vehicle lights.