Modified front light

[gbb]

Just for fun, and cos i'm too impatient to find a decent housing, i modded a cheapo light to take a 3watt Luxeon Star
Self contained, and all the optics are mounted on a strip of ally, folded to fit into the old optics area (biggest i could to help maximise cooling). Thankfully, there was just enough room that way to get the driver in the heatsink area. It gets warm, but not too much.
Run time is 2.5 hours, and two of those batteries are old. It gives some real nice light about 10 feet in front and a nice bit of spill so you got periferal light as well.
Going to try a 2x 3W in the future, or maybe some Crees. this was just an experiment...

Its fiddly, but not technically very difficult..

 

[Twenty Inch]

I was in Maplins the other day, thinking to myself "I've learnt all I want to about maintaining my car, perhaps I should start getting interested in electrons 'n' stuff". This might be a good way to start. Like to post a job list and instructions?

Cheers, nice work BTW

 

[gbb]

Thanks Twenty...
The problem for me was getting something to hold 4x AA batteries and where and how to fix them. Not insurmountable problems by any means, but i just had an old cheapy light that solved it all in one. Space to fit everything was at a premium, so i had to make everything to fit.

Drilled 4 holes in the heatsink to accept the new optic.

Glued the Luxeon Star to the home made heatsink, which i'd made just big enough to go into the old optics area. You could screw it onto the heatsink, its cheaper than buying thermal epoxy, but i had access to some.
By some miracle, the driver just fitted alongside the optics mounted on the heatsink.

Mount the optic through its holes then melt the feet to fix them (soldering iron did this)

Solder it all together.

Fiddly fiddly fiddly ....

components used ..
LXHL-LW3C Luxeon Star 3 watt high dome
FHS-HNB1-LL01-H Luxeon Narrow Beam lens / holder
RCD-24-0.70 Recom Constant Current Driver. You probably wouldnt get one of these, its just what i had access to. Input voltage on this was 4.5 to 32 volts i think, 700ma output. Ebay would be a normal source of a constant current driver i guess.
A lump of alloy or copper as a heatsink. Ive shaped a computer heatsink before on a different job.

As i said before, its not technically difficult, but fiddly..and make sure you get all the connections right