Any electricians about?

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Timmayx
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Any electricians about?

Post by Timmayx »

As I'm hoping to take part in Dunwich Dynamo (and maybe Exmouth Exodous) next year, I need a good headlight, especially as my current one is barely adequate for being seen, let alone cycling down pitch black country roads.

Saw THIS on Instructables and was wondering about making a similar thing, except with super bright LED's.

Main question is how would I make a rechargeable light, using a mobile phone battery, to power these. Would I just be able to use the battery linked directly to the LED's, or would I need some sort of resistor in the circuit?

Also, I'd want to be able to take the light off and use a normal mobile phone charger to recharge the light. Would there be any problems charging the battery like this?

Another option would be to go THIS route, althought eh bulkiness/expense of batteries is a problem (I know there is at least one other person who has done this, but using an 18V drill batterypack running to a 15V bulb).
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by waspe414 »

Whether or not you need a resistor will depend on both the LED and the battery. I'm not sure if it's the voltage or the current (or both), but if you badly need a resistor in your circuit, your LED will be quick to tell you by blowing.

Regarding the battery: If you connected it to the LED via a wire, rather than directly, you could put a plug in it for easy removal. Depends if you want the battery solely dedicated to the light or not.

And I think Van is an electrician...
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by Timmayx »

Yeah the battery will just be for the light. Thinking of keeping it quite clean, so would have a recharge point on the casing to keep everything clean looking.
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Re: Any electricians about?

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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by Seraphim »

On a side note-you better get yourself a helmet before you start attempting too much night time bike riding-and possibly one of those garish orange reflecting vests. Good luck with the light!
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by Timmayx »

Those freelights look good, but I'm not sure how effective they would be, especially in country lanes. That and I don't like flashing headlights, a bright enough headlight will get you seen well enough on the lanes from my experience.

Reflctive jackets and the like can be annoying to other users in pitch black, I'd rather cover my bike in EL wire than use them in the country. Reflective stuff is great around town though, a lot more street lights to reflect off of.
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by NavyGator »

I had to ride back and forth to work in the dark a few years ago, 8.5 miles one way, I would've liked to have had either of those lights
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by wingzfan99 »

I know it's a 3-day bump, but I used to be an "electrician"... I was the electrical circuit designer for my school's Battlebots team. I used this tool once or twice to quickly figure out resistors for LED's, usually for power indicators and the like. I could go into all the math behind figuring out resistors on a parallel circuit, but I'm pretty sure this site would work for your situation:

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz
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Re: Any electricians about?

Post by Timmayx »

Tar much Wingz, I'll give it a look.
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