$10 homemade headlight runs on white wire

B

bigbutterbean

Active Member
50 led, 150 lumen aluminum flashlight purchased at home depot for $10, cut part of the handle off, connected white wire to light's positive terminal, and light is mounted. Light works, but going for a test ride after dark tonight to verify brightness. Will post pics after test ride.
 
Im gonna put a fuse on the white wire on monday, but this is my headlight hooked up to the white wire. not gonna use it anymore till i get the fuse on it though. dont want to risk blowing any bulbs, then all the work I put into it would go to waste.
 
so,what did it use for batteries?just curious.as in you wired it in place of 3 AA batteries?
might want to try this myself.
 
Wow! That is pretty darned bright! Could you do a beam shot from the rider's point of view?
Also, a fuse will not protect the LED's from over-volting and burning out. Only a voltage regulator can do that. A fuse will however prevent the mag from experiencing a dead short if the power wire to the headlight were to get somehow damaged and short to ground.
The fuse needs to be installed as close to the mag as possible. I would recommend a 2 amp fuse to start with.
 
I was gonna go with a 1amp inline fuse. it should protect the light, as in if the white wire overloads, the fuse will open the circuit. dont see why it wouldnt help.
 
In case anyone is wondering, this light does not rob spark as far as I can tell. went on a test ride during the day yesterday with light on, engine ran the same. will go for a longer night run after I get a fuse on it.
 
That sounds good, I don't need a headlight as much as I need flashing safety lights front and rear. Since led's take very little amperes to operate I may try to run two.
 
I did the same thing with two 72 led lights from China one in front & one modified in back with a red lens. Plenty bright at about 15 mph . No fuses, & can't see that it is drawing power from the engine. I put a Puch head on mine & don't take it over 30 mph so It might draw down the power if I was trying to get 40 plus out of it.

.duh.
 
Dontwannawalk said:
I did the same thing with two 72 led lights from China one in front & one modified in back with a red lens. Plenty bright at about 15 mph . No fuses, & can't see that it is drawing power from the engine. I put a Puch head on mine & don't take it over 30 mph so It might draw down the power if I was trying to get 40 plus out of it.

.duh.
Click to expand...


how many and what size batteries were the lights designed to run on originally, and how long have you been running these lights with no fuses?
 
I tried to get a shot of my headlight from the rider point of view, but my crappy camera on my phone wouldnt show the beam. it did pick up a street sign the light was reflecting off of, but it was too far away to even tell it was a street sign lol. it looked like a little tiny dot on the camera lol. sorry i dont have a better camera. I did ride around a bit to get a better idea of how bright the headlight is and how far it shines. the light doesnt have any focus, so it doesnt shine a beam very far, but it still reflects off traffic signs pretty far away. its definitely good enough for city riding. I dont really like to ride on dark roads at night anyway, and presently have no need to, so its a decent headlight for the money.
 
Trying to get "beam shots" from the rider's point of view is defo a challenge, unless you're lucky enough to catch a foggy night ofc lol

Another method that worked for me is to put the bike on it's stand, turn the bars to the side & catch the light splash on the ground - it still won't show quite as much light as there actually is, but it's a good way to demo beam pattern & spot size;


(12v 4w 440 lumen 30° spot LED BTW FYI ETC LOL)
 
it also takes me awhile to get to a spot that is dark enough, since I live in the city. there are streetlights just about everywhere, lol. I also dont like taking my phone with me because it is kinda bulky and im always afraid it will fall out of my pocket. I dont think I will be trying again, sorry. but thanks for the tips in case I do decide to try again.
 
Thanks for finding this flashlight! I picked one up the other day and it is nice and bright! I am putting mine inside of a stainless steel toothbrush tumbler that I got from Target, lol. I think it will look ok, we will see.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of trying to run it off of a 7.2V RC car battery pack, since I happen to have two of those going to waste. It lasted about 30 seconds, then poof. You can hear something pretty large rattling around inside of the housing now, so figured a capacitor got hot enough to melt its solder? So sticking with a 6V battery for now!

Since I plan on running a toolbox of some sort on my rear rack, the battery for it will live there. I am glad that the white wire is working out for you! I am not going to mess with it since my bike is finally running really well, but good to know it is an option dance1

Since I do not ride at night, my main use for this light will be added visibility on the road to cars. Like DRLs on cars, so the unfocused beam does not worry me too much.

Thanks again!
 
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