I'm seeing some cheap bike lights (Magic Shine Clones - like this one at WallBuys 50% the price shown off during their 1 hour Christmas promotion) and wondering if they would be any good to use as a mod-host. What are the drivers like in these? 17mm? 26mm? Odd-balls? Anyone have a photo of the insides of a typical one (single or even triple emitter)?
Thanks,
-Garry
See this thread.
Saw replacement drivers somewhere, but can't remember where. EDIT: Here is one from KD, but I know I saw one with an integrated switch just like the stock bike light drivers.
EDIT: Correct link is below and here.
Thanks Gary!
You meant this link to your photos breaking one down. (Fixing for future reference and for others.)
-Garry
I guess one question would be, will these operate on single li-ion voltage input (i.e. with a custom 2P battery pack)? Anyone try?
-Garry
with a 7135 driver it would. i have the zoomie version of these bike lights and the driver in mine is 21.75 mm in diameter. it also has high low strobe with no memory so you have to toggle through all the modes to get the one you want(sucks). dx has replacements but same thing, no mode memory.
i have the 1500 mA driver coming from dx if i cant figure out how to eliminate the blinky then custom 2p battery pack and 7135 driver for sure.
hope this helps
Yeah it dawned on me after I posted that the 2P pack would work AFTER a driver replacement. But I am still curious if it works as is so I could junk the included battery pack and go with my own simple parallel one.
-Garry
it would probably work but would go out of regulation and start dimming some way through the discharge curve. Exactly where would depend on the voltage overhead of the driver, but 0.5 to 1V is pretty common for buck drivers.
Why would you want to junk the included battery pack? You should get at least a year out of it and the capacity is ok.
the battery packs are sketchy at best. lots of info on them here and mtbr. that said mine runs about 3 hrs with a red xp-e at 2.1A(waay overdriven and hot!)
Yeah I saw the post from kevind43 over in the other thread with Hill's pics and also hear these junky. Just figured I'd go with two high quality cells in parallel to remedy the situation. I also don't know whether or not the chargers can be trusted.
-Garry
my charger hits 8.4v right on but not knowing what state of discharge the individual cells are and no way of balance charging them and being low quality cells to begin with ….probably wont last long.jmo
Gary, why not just mount an m10 and carry the spare 26650? Even from the stock keygos cells you get close on two hours on high, with decent 26650’s your definitely getting two hours, and a driver swap to give modes that suit is less than 20 minutes work….
Yeah, I keep going back and forth on bike light vs. flashlight and mount. I'll probably miss the 50% off sale anyway.
-Garry
if you’re going to be spending that much time and effort making it how you want, you might as well go with a torch + mount. None of those cheap Chinese bike lights are especially well made, so even if you do get one, take a backup or helmet light too, just in case you get stranded in the woods.
If it’s just a host you’re after, check out the Marwi light bodies on Hoffman amps website (EL34 on mtbr) - he sells the light bodies and heatsinks for pretty reasonable money. Or, for similar money, you can get an Easy2LED housing that fits 20mm optics that are really easy to work with and offer decent cooling. There are some decent options for DIYers without machine tools, enough not to waste your money on a Magicshine clone just to get the housing.
Whoops! Thanks Gary! I'll correct my link as well.
I don't know but I could try to rig up something this weekend to test it out.
I’ve run a Fenix E20 as my main light for the last few years. At the time my logic was that using AA cells that I could get replacements anywhere if I ran out of juice on a long ride. In 3 years I’ve never had to do this and I’ve only changed cells whilst out on a ride a handful of times. In general I loved the flexibility and that using a lock block mounting I could very quickly remove the light when locking up.
For the past couple of months I’ve been on an XM-L MS clone with a wide angle lens. In terms of light output there is just no comparison, but the extra wires and mountings can be a real pain. Fortunately my work has a bike shed so I don’t have to remove lights when I get to work but if I did I know that I’d be getting really fed up of hooking them up every time.
I ordered a second light last month to use with just the standard lens, to give me some extra throw. It’s now been 32 days since I ordered so I’ve just initiated trying to get my money back. The plan had been to build an uber battery pack to run both lights. Now that my second light is not going to happen I’m seriously reconsidering my plans. I still want to convert my current 2s2p pack to balanced charging and to get one of those micro battery monitors so I can check individual cell voltage on the go. However, for my second light I’m now thinking that a nice torch might be a lot easier and more flexible.
Points I’d say you need to consider:
1. What type of riding do you do and where?
2. How long are your rides?
3. Will you be having to remove lights on a regular basis?
4. Do you have existing chargers and batteries?
5. Do you need IPX8 or better levels of sealing against the elements?
The other thing is do you need Flashing modes? The flash on all the budget bike lights I’ve seen looks more like a tactical strobe which is about as much use to me as a fart in a spacesuit.
Is there links to the products you are talking about, sounds interesting!
here’s the parts list for the marwi stuff:
here’s the Easy2LED light body:
20mm
36mm (for triple XM-Ls!)
and just one of many Easy2LED light builds on mtbr (pats self on back)
there are lots of others though.
That light cost ~$100 all in, although you could save plenty of money with a DrJones or KD V2 driver and an existing charger/ batteries.