Really nice mods there in Post 72.
How do you like the Go Pro adapter with the additional heatsinking? Do you think it would transmit too much vibration mounted on a handlebar? Looks so cool on the silver helmet.
I don't know that the vibration is really any worse than using the standard o-ring mounts. I've yet to ride using the GoPro mount though. Work schedule screwed me out of riding last week and this week's ride was cancelled due to rain (local club rides on Tuesday nights). Not sure how much longer I'll have to be able to ride before snow hits (and stays around for the next 4 months).
-Garry
^
All the mounts I have have a cushion pad of some sort on both the handle bar and light side of the mount. I assumed such pads would negate the heat sinking and, therefore, not be used. Just seems like a lot of shock/vibration would be transmitted to the light.
Kind of a bummer you have such a short light riding season.
I love this thread. I’ve recently acquired a bike for commuting, via a friend that managed to almost literally ram into this deal, so I’m looking for a really nice bike light for him. He’s a bike (and bike light) aficionado so I’m thinking he will also love this thread.
Personally, since I’ll mostly be using my bike for commuting and city riding I’m likely to use Astrolux S1 and/or Convoy S2.
Do keep this thread fresh, please. I haven’t found a better bike light thread on BLF than this one.
Thanks for all your effort and extremely nice beamshots!
Thanks viktori! It is my plan to keep updating this thread. It's handy for my own records as well as having a source to link others to for information.
-Garry
Did a little mod to my 2-cell Fenix Bike Battery Case replacing the top springs with buttons from Mountain Electronics. I have already replaced the stock Fenix cable with the 20ga DX one (the stock Fenix cable has the opposite connector on it anyway). The buttons are too small to reach the pcb contacts (perhaps I could have just scraped away at the pcb), so I used pieces of copper under each button. Fairly easy to do and the bottom springs still provide plenty of tension on the battery (it was quite a bit of tension with both sets of springs).
Pics:
With two protected Sanyo 2,600mAh FM's:
BTW - these cases are no longer available.
A few more pics showing the other side of the pcb since I didn't post anything on the cable mod:
Stock:
Bottom Springs:
-Garry
Hi.
So I modded mine 872 with 219C and 2A in a LED.
Insane brightness, great colour (my first Nichia’s) but now I need better batterypack haha.
Mike
Went out with the local bike club last night for another night ride and had a blast. I got a few photos. I ran my modded NiteFighter BT40S on the bars and NiteFighter BT21 on the helmet. After learning from last week's ride that I didn't need to conserve battery so heavily I tried running high (not Turbo) more often on each light. The BT40S was powered by my custom 6-cell Xiaomi battery pack and my BT21 was powered by 2 LG MJ1's in my modded 2-cell Fenix case. I had plenty of battery power (surprising with the BT21 on only 2 cells). Our total ride was 2hrs 45mins (my longest yet). According to a member's "Strava" we were "rolling" for exactly 2hrs for 1,166 feet of elevation gain and rode 12.0 miles. I learned that once you crest a hill and start downhill you really don't have the opportunity to take your hand off the bars to change your light level! Many times I found myself speeding down a rocky descent unable to kick the light up from medium to high.
Map (highlighted to show what I believe was our route - we rode clockwise):
It's hard to see, but there are two overlooks (wooden decks) on the ridge top.
First overlook (two photos only lit up by my BT21 on my helmet):
Hard to see much at night:
Second overlook, lit up with my BT40S on Turbo and I'm shining my BT21 on Turbo from behind the camera toward my bike. This was after the 2hr mark, so the BT40S on Turbo wasn't outputting its max. (Pay no mind to the guy taking a leak in the right side of the photo 
).
I moved to a tree where I could hold my camera phone more still:
The view:
Here's the first overlook in the daytime and another view (found on Google).
-Garry
As a recreational cyclist I would like to say …If it is not on strava, it didnot happen! 
So I decided to build a 12v floodlight powered with a cigarette lighter cord and a magnetic mount to stick on my vehicle to light up the parking lot when I’m loading/unloading my bike & gear and getting things setup. I figured why not light up a good portion of the lot for others as well. So I started with one of these 6x XB-D “”18w Cree Off-Road Lights”:http://www.ebay.com/itm/151741916746?\_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT”, a 12v cigarette lighter extension cord, and a 25lb pull magnet (which Home Depot sells in the isle with nuts & bolts).
In stock form this light floods an area 30ft x 30ft fairly brightly, so I’d guess around 1,000 lumens. Pulls about 0.95A in stock form. The current sense resistor (R4 in the pic below, an R150) can be changed to boost current, however SS210 is only rated to 1.5A (datasheet here), no idea what the FET is rated for, and other components look weak as well, so I decided to play it safe and only boost to 1.5A draw.
Light:
Opens up rather easy:
“Polycarbonate” lens slides out:
Solid aluminum behind the pcb, but little thermal compound:
Driver circuit and emitters on same pcb:
Closeup of components:
Stock beam:
Replaced R4 with an R100:
Measured a consistent 1.56A now from a 12v power supply:
“Potted” the components:
Added the mount with magnet base:
This pic is before mods and prior to better mounting bolts (you can see the stock bolt hitting the base of the lightbody):
Sorry, no modded beamshots yet. Perhaps in the near future.
Thanks to wight, Gearshredder, and others for the help in this thread concerning the driver circuit.
-Garry
^
Very sweet. I need one.
Nicely done.
Garry,
Nice work!
Im actually toying with the idea of doing this but mounting it to the inside of my trunk. SO when I open the trunk I can flip the switch.
Did notice that you made no mention of modes, simply on/off I gather?
Yep, simply on/off. I also posted this over in the MTBR\DIY Lighting forum and I think in that thread I mentioned that I considered mounting lights on the underside of my trunk lid, but I wouldn’t have light while loading and unloading my bike to/from the rack (it’s a trunk mount rack). This also makes for a nice roadside emergency light.
-Garry
I ran some lumen calcs on some of my lights in my DIY integrating sphere. I feel fairly good about my numbers, though they need verified through the use of other “calibration lights” (I’m in process on that). Please do NOT take these numbers as solid figures! Also, the spreadsheet shows lumens out to one decimal place. They should probably be rounded to at least the nearest 10 lumens. Also remember that ANSI FL-1 standard is the value after 30 seconds.
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)
I like that my BT40S came in right about where I expected it. I had conservatively estimated output on Turbo to be 2000 lumens.
-Garry
Received one of these Ultrafire F88’s from GearBest, lighthead only for less than $9. Mine is four mode, L-M-H-Turbo without strobe.
Current draw on 2S2P pack (note: double the draw off the pack for estimated current to the LED):
Low-0.09A
Med-0.24A
High-0.47A
Turbo-0.78A
Some quick notes:
- No memory, always starts in Low
- Mount is plastic and screw hole does not go all the way in through the body (i.e. no water ingress)
-Good o-rings everywhere, should be very water resistant if not waterproof
-Glass Lens
-Plastic reflector which screws onto the pill
-Pill “floats” with no direct thermal contact to the body
-Can’t remove pill without destroying wiring to momentary switch (at least I couldn’t)
-Plastic mount cracked when tightened back on after removal
-My battery indicator no longer works after fiddling with trying to remove the pill.
-Very long “22ga” cable (74cm/29in) on the lighthead, MS type connector
Some Pics:
-Garry
So I needed to finish mowing my yard after sunset Saturday night and needed a bright floody light to use (since my mower headlight mod isn’t done). I chose my heavily modded BT40S which worked out great! (Except for the fact that I made the battery cabling quite short for this use.) I wore it on my head attached to one of those typical MagicShine style headbands. Picture shown is on Turbo with battery worn down a bit and taken with my cell phone. I didn’t mow using “Turbo” as it was way overkill. I ran on medium which was still getting quite hot and bumped it to low every now and then. For mowing I’d wish the tint were a little warmer in order to help distinguish cut from uncut. Fortunately in this case the grass was quite tall so it was easy to distinguish.
-Garry
Boy I haven’t updated this thread in a LONG time! I really need to catch up! For now I’ll post a link to the light I am currently reviewing on MTBR, the Zanflare B3. Design was based on parameters desired by mountain bikers on MTBR, but the custom build partnership was ended and Zanflare proceeded without us. As you’ll see in the review, this light isn’t the greatest; it has issues.
-Garry