# Hmm. Wonder if this will be bright? w/ pics of course!



## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

Almost done building this 12 x Q5 light. A Maxflex will be running two strings of 6 Q5's in parallel...so 600ma per led. Here are some pics...

The driver and status light mounted...









Trimming the lens to fit...









Inside the body...









Assembled...









Font view, lens and leds loosely inserted for show...









Side view...









On the bike shots...

























Waiting for the remaining leds to come in. I'll post some beam shots when everything is wired up.


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## langen (May 21, 2005)

You are crazy. Or you can´t see very well


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## JYP (Mar 12, 2008)

AWESOME! can't wait for the beam shots.What size battery are you going to use?


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## jmitchell13 (Nov 20, 2005)

Wow, a little overkill woudn't you say? Kinda like taking a 12ga shotgun chipmunk hunting....


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*Overkill? No such thing!*

More the better I say. I'll be using a 14.4v 5200mah Li-ion battery. Should give about 2.5 hours at max (600ma per led). I've already made a bunch of the 3, 4, 6, and 7 led lights...so I thought I'd try a 12 This quad lens produces a narrow beam...so I I'm thinking 3 of them should throw far with enough side spill. Running the leds at 600ma should keep the heat down and maximize efficiency. We'll see I guess. Hopefully, the rest of the leds will be here in a week or 2.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

cytoe said:


> More the better I say. I'll be using a 14.4v 5200mah Li-ion battery. Should give about 2.5 hours at max (600ma per led). I've already made a bunch of the 3, 4, 6, and 7 led lights...so I thought I'd try a 12 This quad lens produces a narrow beam...so I I'm thinking 3 of them should throw far with enough side spill. Running the leds at 600ma should keep the heat down and maximize efficiency. We'll see I guess. Hopefully, the rest of the leds will be here in a week or 2.


Not that I know a whole bunch about drivers but...if the voltage drop across a Q-5 is 3.7volts and with 12 voltage drops that means the output voltage has to be..54.4 volts. The Maxflex2 output limit is 24 volts...Am I missing something here? :skep: Now if you ran two MF's in parallel driving 6 x Q-5 ea. ( in series ) that would work (?) @ 600ma per string that comes up to *1.2amps ( *total current drain on battery ). Does this make more since?


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## znomit (Dec 27, 2007)

Maxflex is 1.2A. Shared 600mA each through two strings of 6 LEDs at 21V total. Just shy of 2000lm.  

Nice setup. :thumbsup:


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## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

:thumbsup: Cytoe .
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: glad to see another :crazy: crazy at work.
You are going to make that Mflex work hard :thumbsup:


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

znomit said:


> Maxflex is 1.2A. Shared 600mA each through two strings of 6 LEDs at 21V total. Just shy of 2000lm.
> 
> Nice setup. :thumbsup:


Okay, bear with me.. I think I got it.  It's been a while since I studied parallel circuits. I had to draw it out for it to make sense to me. Is this right ? > The cumulative voltage drop with each series string is 21volts. Since the two strings are in parallel with the same total voltage drop per series, they are both run at a common or parallel 21 volts. This is no different then running two batteries of the same voltage in parallel hence the voltage is the same. I understand that the current was divided by the two separate loops so that part already made sense to me. Sheeeiiishhhh!!...trying to understand current controlled devices is a hassle. For a moment I thought I was going to have to get out the old books. Hopefully I got it right this time because by next year when the MC-E is released I might just try to join you DIY'ers with my first build. *Anyway, If I got right, someone let me know*.


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## langen (May 21, 2005)

What lenses are those?


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*lens...*

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1794


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## langen (May 21, 2005)

cytoe said:


> http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1794


Thanks! Do you have the diameter also? Kaidomain didn´t say..


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*Mr16...*

I think it's MR16 size...but I did have to shave the edge since the aluminum stock I used was only so big. Can't measure exactly anymore since I shaved all 3 lenses I have...


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## langen (May 21, 2005)

cytoe said:


> I think it's MR16 size...but I did have to shave the edge since the aluminum stock I used was only so big. Can't measure exactly anymore since I shaved all 3 lenses I have...


Thank you Sir!


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## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

Langen, I have the DX version of that optic and it is about 2 1/32" or about 52mm (I seem to have lost my metric ruler).

Edited to remove a possibly confusing comment.

I think it is this one (though at DX they say it is only 48.16mm):

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1915

I just re-measured with my metric ruler and it is just a shade over 50mm, maybe 50.5mm.


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*hmm. might have got the dx one...*

I order from both dx and kai, so I get it mixed sometimes. Thinking about it, I probably got the lens from DX. However, I think they are the same lens.


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*Leds are in Just waiting for the darkness*


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## Frs1661 (Jun 9, 2008)

:cornut:


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## TrickyRCAF (Jun 18, 2008)

Is it dark yet? I want to see how crazy those are!


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## BBW (Feb 25, 2004)

That's insane I run 7 LEDs (1 Lupine with 4 and a Dinotte with 3) and I don't use the one in the head on max (too much:crazy: )


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*Forgot to warn you...*

I suck at taking beam shots. I only have a point and shoot. Set it at +1 exposure...

Here's a reference shot:









Full power:









Turned off:









The beam is still very much a spot, w/ side spill. I think I'll like it since I can point it way down the trail and still have the side spill for close up. I can always put some shims between the light heads and the main body to point them away from each other to get a wider beam...but I'll wait on that till I get a test ride.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

cytoe, if you are out on the bike then turn those lights off and and you'll find that it is now dark and not daylight as it probably looks to you.

So can we have some pics please. Edit you posted pics as I typed, very nice indeed.


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## kmacon (Nov 15, 2006)

OK, I'm impressed. I don't know why, but I am.


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## Katzenjammer (Jun 12, 2007)

Why wouldn't it make more sense to have them in a horizontal line to get a wide swath rather than bunched up to produce death-ray bleach-out?


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*That's what I wanted...*

I'm not pointing the beam right in front of my tire... I wanted it to throw as far as possible w/ sidespill for close up. I'll point this way down the trail for high speed runs. Anyway, it's just one of many possible designs. I do have some that spread out more:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cytoe1/Dunebuggy2
http://picasaweb.google.com/cytoe1/DIYLights


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## j-rocket (May 19, 2005)

Awesome! I'll bet your neighbors hate you now. ;-)

J


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## txn (Oct 4, 2005)

Off Topic: How did the light with the blue heatsink turn out? Is that a CPU heatsink?


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## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

kmacon said:


> OK, I'm impressed. I don't know why, but I am.


I am impressed as well (and I know why) :thumbsup:


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*the blue light...*

:madman:

I somehow fried the Shark driver. After removing and examining it, I think the arctic silver layer was too thick, so the driver probably overheated. I'll probably replace the driver w/ the new blue Shark model (supposedly dissipates heat better). Wasn't total satisfied w/ the way the rear end turned out, so I may do something different there also.


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## MaximusHQ (Aug 6, 2007)

Awesome! Bet you won't outrun that light.


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## mtymxdh (Jan 14, 2005)

did that house exploded when you turned your death-ray at full power?


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## cytoe (Jan 20, 2004)

*couple more beam shots*

Got a test ride in w/ the light. WoW :eekster: I had her on low most of the time...it was enough...even for the fast downs. When I put her on high, I think I blinded some rabbits on the trail and almost ran one over. I didn't measure the current, but the maxflex at high is 600ma per led and I have the "low" set at UIB2 Duomode L3; I'd guess it's at 300-400ma.

Reference:









"Low"









High









"cool" thing was, on low, the light didn't even get warm


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## Frs1661 (Jun 9, 2008)

Intense. Nice work


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## The Squeaky Wheel (Dec 30, 2003)

So I rode with Cytoe the other night and he had this gem on display.

It made my Betty/Wilma combo seem like a penlight.

Sick job !!!! :thumbsup:


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## LyNx (Oct 26, 2004)

and at a fraction of the cost  Dude makes some swesome lights :thumbsup:



The Squeaky Wheel said:


> So I rode with Cytoe the other night and he had this gem on display.
> 
> It made my Betty/Wilma combo seem like a penlight.
> 
> Sick job !!!! :thumbsup:


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## NercracXxx (Apr 7, 2011)

iS there anyone who is willing to post how to instructions for a person who is super non techy? =D. You guys build such powerful systems and its a lot cheaper than the one's i see in stores. so expensive. =(


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## kmacon (Nov 15, 2006)

NercracXxx said:


> iS there anyone who is willing to post how to instructions for a person who is super non techy? =D. You guys build such powerful systems and its a lot cheaper than the one's i see in stores. so expensive. =(


Check out this site for good background info. DIY LED

Otherwise just read a lot of these threads. Everything you need to know is here.


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