Just off the CNC - Update: It's Alve!

not sure why gz means - but It will probably still be 2-3 weeks before I have it fully built up.

CNC Machined from a 18" x 4" x 4" billet of 6061 Aluminum

I'm not sure I understand your question. The lenses will be attached to the mounting holes on the circuit board, positioned perfectly over the LEDs on the circuit board. On the front of the enclosure will be a piece of laser-cut Lexan with an aluminum bezel around the edge.

Ha! That would be great. It probably weighs more than your bike though :) Just the machined enclosure is a hair over 4 pounds, and that doesn't include circuit board, LEDs, lenses, screws, the lexan and aluminum bezel or the mounting brackets.. Plus, you'll need to supply it with about 20 AMPS at 12V :)

It would make an awesome bike light though!

Yeah, you're right. Please let us know when you've got the build complete. I would love your permission to link to it over at the mtbr forums DIY Light section. I think the biggest bar light I've seen over there is 10 LEDs, but they were pretty small ones, arranged 2x5.

I'll take two! One for the roof and one for the front bumper.

I'll keep this thread updated with my progress on the build. Right now, I have to finish the circuit board layout, get PCBs fabricated, build up the parts (LED's, microcontroller, Buck-Boost sections, etc.), debug, and then physically assemble the unit. Lots to do..

As for linking to another forum - Please feel free. I enjoy sharing my work and ideas.

PPtk

Picture not showing up - but I actually have considered selling these once I have the design working and debugged.. I'll keep you informed if I decide to do that..

PPtk

Yes please do. Idea of total costs?

Too early to say.. I haven't looked at the costs of anything in any type of quantity. The cost for this one is about a gazillion dollars :) It would be far more reasonable if I were building 20...

gz mean congratulations ...for the birth of your project, maybe is not the most appropriate adjective but my english is very poor sry xD

finally I got what mean the title, ty(read above xD)

mmh was really close to your answer... I think, ty xD

You do fantastic work. Can't wait to see the finished product :)

Thank You! That makes two of us :)

The vast majority of the reason I 'built my own' light like this is that I found the thermal charachteristics of most of the commercial stuff.. well.. terrible.

All of the big brands out there build their lights on an extruded aluminum frame. The problem with this is that, even when they do extrude heat sheading 'fins' into their frame - they face the wrong way! I don't drive sideways!

After a lot of reading, I found that most of the available stuff has serious heat problems. ALL of the lights have a small-print disclaimer about their brightness claims and it's all because of heat. They have to back off on driving the LED's because the whole assembly gets too hot.

So - 6 months later - here we are, and I've started building my own. Before I went down this road, I did plenty of thermal analysis, and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my results.

Here are two cut-plots of the steady-state temperature of the light. These temperatures assume that I am driving 24 XM-Ls at 3 Amps Each (240 Total Heat Watts), and they assume that its 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) in the ambient environment. They also take into account a light breeze (2 MPH) passing from front to back. The numbers would be far better with even a few more MPH of airflow. These are worst case scenario.

As you can see, I can easily drive all 24 emitters full-blast for as long as I want, even in 90 degree weather. The careful thermal design of this light is what allowed me to cram 240 watts of LEDs into a bar that is 15" long rather than 48" long.

Cut-Plot JUST behind where the actual LEDs are mounted. This is the hottest part of the entire light.
Also visible are the trails of cooler (but still quite warm) air as it passes through the fins at 2MPH.

Side view Cut-Plot through about the center of the enclosure. You can see one of the lenses and an entire fin.

Hope you're all enjoying my ramblings about this project. I really can't wait to get it lit up.

PPtk

Gonna need some beamshots of this baby! Looks fantastic!

-Garry

Interesting Pilot. You are so right about the heat sinking fins on lights. For bike lights, they usually face front to back so air is flowing over them. As a matter of fact, most bike lights get quite hot standing still because they were designed with air flow in mind. Here's an example you might find interesting. Troute started as a DIY guy.

wow

thermal analysis, and to an extent that very few, if any, manufactured lights get

that is one squared away flashaholic!

That is quite an impressive project!

Can you give us a list of software you used for this?

That's ok. It was just a picture of my old trail Jeep (XJ). But yeah, keep us posted if you do decide to make them for sale. I've been holding off installing any aux lights because nothing really struck my fancy. This looks like a winner!

Nice, thumbs up for figuring out the cooling!

Some serious driving, 24 XM-L´s at 3A :o

At least I would be satisfied even with a little less of current with that amount of emitters :D

Wow.

I wish there more threads like this. 24 XM-Ls . . . farking awesome.

farkFoy

Really great :)

Cant wait for the result!

Fritz