$10 homemade headlight runs on white wire

curious. when i put a 6volt light on the white wire the bike ran great but i had to make sure the light was off for the motor to start. you having the same issue?
 
bigbutterbean said:
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?
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There were 4 AA batteries (6 volts) per light. & I've had one of them going for about two years & the other for a year. I found that The screws work loose on the mounts & the original one that I modified for the taillight bounced across the pavement & broke the battery case. That's when I started experimenting with the white wire. I purchased a new one for the headlight and took the mounting pieces apart and then re-assembled it with JB Weld in all of the little nooks & crannies that the tiny little screws held together. I used the original clamp to attach it to the handlebars. I made a Y in the wire connection and ran one to the headlight and the other to the taillight. It works like a charm. The lights cost about $13.00 each shipped out of China. I just checked & it was 76 Leds & you'd have to adapt the mounts for what's available now but, this is the light. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...t=0&_odkw=76+LED+Bicycle+head+light&_osacat=0

.duh.
 
paul said:
curious. when i put a 6volt light on the white wire the bike ran great but i had to make sure the light was off for the motor to start. you having the same issue?
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Yeah, I checked that out. I figured if the engine wouldnt start with the light on, then it was probably drawing a bit too much power. engine starts the same with the light on or off. must be a good light to use. now I just need to get a fuse on it.
 
Here is a picture of mine, freshly installed. I will take more pictures in better lighting after I get the wiring done. I used the same flashlight that BBB used, cut it down to fit in a toothbrush tumbler I got from Target. I am in the process of looking for a vintage looking wood or leather box to sit on my rear rack for tools, and the battery will live in there. For now, I will just have the stock battery pack under my seat and running from a switch I epoxied next to my stock kill switch.

Headlight_garage.jpg


I am thinking of recessing the light more into the housing, maybe 1/2" or so...
 
I'm going to try to throw something similar together with an old headlight mount and some parts from dealextreme;

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mr16-1...urrent-regulated-led-driver-8-40v-input-13553

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/0-2w-1...ht-5050-smd-led-emitters-50-piece-pack-133089

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-p4-led-emitter-wd-1302

I just don't know if I should run it off the magneto, or off of the front-wheel friction generator I have? Either way it won't get used too much, but it'll be very nice when it does =)
 
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I'm not a fan of the whole "cram as many LEDs into a flashlight as you can" mentality. I've got a .25 watt Cree LED flashlight (It's an aluminium high-powered flashlight by Coleman). It's one single extremely bright LED, and it has a proper LED driver which is more efficient and can act as a regulator. The lights with a ton of LEDs usually just have a resistor for each LED, which hogs power.

Coleman 3AAA Ultra High Power Aluminum LED Flashlight
31PTCNjxZmL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
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Pilotgeek said:
I'm not a fan of the whole "cram as many LEDs into a flashlight as you can" mentality. I've got a .25 watt Cree LED flashlight (It's an aluminium high-powered flashlight by Coleman). It's one single extremely bright LED, and it has a proper LED driver which is more efficient and can act as a regulator. The lights with a ton of LEDs usually just have a resistor for each LED, which hogs power.
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I'm not either, I linked both the 50-pack and the CREE LED, but I'll probably use the CREE LED for that exact reason! I think .35 watts should be fine off the magneto, as long as it runs half-decent-- I probably won't be going top-speed at night anyway. =) five bucks for a driver and high-power LED is great if you already have a good housing.
 
The flashlight I'm using is rated for 140 Lumens, so really it's probably just slightly dimmer than the big bundle of LEDs flashlight you've got. The thing I like about the Cree LED is the low power draw. It also has a nice focused beam / cone of light. I'm betting it's more efficient in lumens per watt. I know they make higher wattage LEDs, but this seemed to be a good balance of price and power draw.
 
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xenodius said:
I'm not either, I linked both the 50-pack and the CREE LED, but I'll probably use the CREE LED for that exact reason! I think .35 watts should be fine off the magneto, as long as it runs half-decent-- I probably won't be going top-speed at night anyway. =) five bucks for a driver and high-power LED is great if you already have a good housing.
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Be sure you use a good heatsink! The single LED solutions are my favorite but they do get rather warm and can burn out without a heatsink. It's not as big of an issue with the low wattage (under 1W) ones, but the issue is still there.
 
havent been able to get over to my buddy's house to put a fuse on the light yet, so havent been using the light a lot except on test rides, just to make sure it still works, and it does. just been busy and been doing other stuff on the bike. added a shock fork and a neck with allen head bolts.
 
well, its a good thing this light has 50 led's. I blew one LED already. I dont know if it was due to vibration or voltage overload, but I guess it cant handle being used as a headlight either way. Im going to put it back on battery power for now. wonderful creations store on ebay has a headlight with a built in regulator. it is 2 super bright led's and is about 270 lumen. it is around $16 plus shipping. Im going to order that next month. This headlight basically started out to see how viable the white wire was as a power source for super bright lights. it gave me a positive result in knowing that the white wire can effectively power a headlight, which is great. I may still keep this headlight on the bike when I get the other headlight. that way, if I run out of gas, I will still have a useable headlight.
 
Bigbutterbean.
I don't think the 50 led that I saw pulled from 4 AA batteries. I blew one that had three batteries when I was experimenting with different lights. The 76 led light that I got on e-bay has given me no problems but it uses 4 AA batteries which = 6 volts.

.duh.
 
Dontwannawalk said:
Bigbutterbean.
I don't think the 50 led that I saw pulled from 4 AA batteries. I blew one that had three batteries when I was experimenting with different lights. The 76 led light that I got on e-bay has given me no problems but it uses 4 AA batteries which = 6 volts.

.duh.
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I dont know what 50 led light you saw, but the one I bought ran on 4 aa batteries. it came with 4 aa batteries in it right out of the package. so i know its a 6v light. but the one i saw on ebay has a built in regulator and is made for a 6v system. i actually tried switching my current light back to battery power, and it flickered a lot, so i hooked it back up to the white wire. i only have to wait a month to order my other light, and dont ride at night very often, so if this one blows in the mean time, oh well.
 
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