How to make a flashlight beam road friendly?

[E1320]

@JonnyC

I love it when people create threads so that I don't have to ask the same question ;) I was thinking it would be great build an XM-L powered headlight for my motorcycle, but this would be the hardest part (not blinding someone who looks directly at the emitter). The housing is also another tough part.

I am currently working on just such a project for my Suzuki Bandit. It's a triple XML driven at 6 amps. PM if you are interested in learning more. I will post the build once the prototype is operational and mounted on my bike.

I am using the 55watt low/100watt high PIAA bulb cehowardGS linked at the moment. The problem with it is heat. I run my high beam during the day for visibility and it generates an incredible amount of heat. I am afraid it may melt the internals of the factory reflector or maybe even the wiring harness.

[JonnyC]

I love you E :) I have too many other projects right now, so I'll just wait until you are done with yours and are able to mass produce it ;)

[NightCrawl]

That thread over at CPF is amazing. Drawings, technical discussions, simulations etc. and in the end.. no solution. Really? Or did I miss anything?

[Techjunkie]

Here's some horizontal beam optics:

23mm

35mm

And here's some odd looking aspheric type lenses that I think are meant to do the same thing:

50mm

67mm

From the looks of the beamshots posted by owners, the smaller pastic LED optics work better than those glass lenses. I have the 35mm optics and they do what their supposed to, but I ended up not using them because they also diminish the brightness somewhat. (I was hoping they'd concentrate the light missing from a typical beam profile down into the bar-beam, but it's more like they just mask out that part of the traditional beam profile. What's left is probably not much different from or brighter than just masking off the front of a conventional light with strips of tape.)

[NiBi]

I just painted the upper half of my p60 lens with silver model paint.

works great for me .

[viktori]

@E1320

@JonnyC

I love it when people create threads so that I don't have to ask the same question ;) I was thinking it would be great build an XM-L powered headlight for my motorcycle, but this would be the hardest part (not blinding someone who looks directly at the emitter). The housing is also another tough part.

I am currently working on just such a project for my Suzuki Bandit. It's a triple XML driven at 6 amps. PM if you are interested in learning more. I will post the build once the prototype is operational and mounted on my bike.

I am using the 55watt low/100watt high PIAA bulb cehowardGS linked at the moment. The problem with it is heat. I run my high beam during the day for visibility and it generates an incredible amount of heat. I am afraid it may melt the internals of the factory reflector or maybe even the wiring harness.

Hey, E1320! Why don't you save us the trouble of PMing you individually and just post a few pics so we can get the idea of what you're doing about that? :)

I'm guessing anyone reading this thread is interested in your project.

Viktor

[viktori]

@NiBi

I just painted the upper half of my p60 lens with silver model paint.

works great for me .

Can you post some pictures of the painted lens and some beamshots?

[jacktheclipper]

@viktori

@NiBi

I just painted the upper half of my p60 lens with silver model paint.

works great for me .

Can you post some pictures of the painted lens and some beamshots?

I would like to see these as well .

[NiBi]

It was quick and dirty but functional I bought a dx pack of front lenses.