Trail Tech HID light Setup?

[ou98dtbiggs]

I just got this light trying to decide if I should make it a helmet light or a handlebare mount. Any one ever make a set up for these things? http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1395

thanks


-Darren

[bunky]

Yeah, I "built" a trailtech light using a batteryspace.com battery. Only the one I built uses the 14.8V Li-ion. It is smaller, lighter and has a smart charger. See below.

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1398

It's only an extra 25 bucks.

It will:

(1) be brighter--but is still properly volted--I checked with Trailtech and the voltage regulator can handle 14.8V and the ballast on mine hasn't fried yet
(2) be lighter--by almost a lb.
(3) you can leave it charging all the time since the smart charger detects "open circuit" and just uses tops off the charge.

The kit shown above is a little cheaper than the component parts and you don't have to do any splicing/crimping.

I have mine as bar mounted and use a Lume lighting bar mount assembly

http://www.lumelighting.com/store/index.asp?prid=79

Yeah-it's expensive as an individual piece and I probably would not buy it for 39.00. You might ask around the group to see if anyboday has an extra they would part with for a 12pack of good beer.

You have to remove the Trailtech headmount by removing the doubleback tape. Then you can unbolt the allen screws. You only use the forward allent bolt hole on the light to mount the Lume bar mount assembly.

Any questions, email me

mdtinyk@yahoo.com


bunky

[bunky]

PS-- MAKE SURE YOU SPECIFY YOU WANT THE WIDE BEAM PATTERN. Mine is awesome-- no striation lines/ shadows and "bathes" the ground in light.

[rechsm]

Can anybody compare the performance of these lights to L&M or Cygolite or other competitors?

How's the overall durability, fit & finish, etc?

It seems that both batteryspace.com and trailtech.com have really nasty return policies. I hate spending this much online without being able to return it. Batteryspace.com doesn't look super legit to me.

Doesn't seem they're sold by the LBS's, and it's no use having store credit at a motorbike shop. Any ideas?

[darren]

Batteryspace, took my returns of a nicad battery no problem, make sure you phone them first. Also they took back a lithium battery battery setup as well. The biggest problem is that their batteries have some circuity on them and sometimes they it will not let the battery charge. Once the battery charges once it is ok, but the one Lithium I got wouldn't charge. I used the double sided lockgrip stuff and bought an extra marwi helmet mount and then fashoined a wooden bracket for the light if I know how to post pics I would post the pics of it.

-Darren

[bunky]

Since I got my batteryspace Li-Ion battery it will no longer charge properly. And I am scared of burning my house down. The reason I went with the Li-Ion in the first place was that you could set it on a "smart charger" and just forget about it. I had a tendency to leave my old Vista-Lite on the charger too long and ended up reducing the battery life dramatically by overcharging it once. I thought this would be a good solution.

Now that the batteryspace battery is kaput, I think your best bet is to just get a Lume. About 310 gets you the HID (extra 100 over a batterspace/trailtech rig, but dependable). NiMH is a lot more forgiving than Li-Ion and theirs does hav a smart charger. Plug it in and forget about it.

[medcina]

I thought about getting the Li-Ion battery pack like you but decided to stick with NiMH because of one reason alone: LiIon batteries put out more than the rated charge when fully charged and decrease in voltage as the battery discharges whereas NiMH always gives off the same voltage until it dies. LiIon is generally more resilient when it comes to charging and you don't have to be as careful not to overcharge (smart chargers are easier to make and cheaper for LiIon) but you do have to be careful not to overly discharge a LiIon battery or it will die (similar to a lead acid battery). I suspect this is why your LiIon battery is dead now. True the light has a cutoff that will shut down at a set voltage (10V? -- can't remember) but from the discussions I've read this cutoff is still too low for the LiIon and battery life is decreased if you run your light until it turns off consistently. Add to it that you bought a higher voltage LiIon and you have to be more careful. Yes it will run longer since the voltage is stepped down to 12V by the regulator (not sure what the max voltage the regulator can safely handle is) but draining it down until it shuts off will do more damage to a 14.8 V LiIon battery than it will a lower voltage one.

I simply bought the prepackaged NiMH kit and bought an AC timer from Home Depot. After each ride I plug the charger into the timer and set the time for 6-10 hours (depending on how long I rode) and it will charge the battery and shut off after that time without worry of overly charging the battery. Slightly overcharging the battery won't hurt it too much but leaving the charger plugged in for an extended period of time can which is why the timer is critical.

[bunky]

I simply bought the prepackaged NiMH kit and bought an AC timer from Home Depot.

Which AC timer did you buy? Is it a one shot charge period, or will it charge from say 2 pm to 10 pm every day?

[medcina]

I'm not sure of the brand but it's one of those that allows you to set various on and off times. I believe it will allow for up to 3 on and 3 off time settings. However, I usually just plug in the one off setting when I want it to turn off and manually flip the switch to on. That way it turns on when I switch it on and turns off at the time I set it.

[bikerRob]

7/29/05 >> As to what Mdtinyk said about his Li-Ion battery: Are you sure that the problem is with the battery and not with the charger? Because if the charger is not working the battery won't charge. One of the things I noticed about my Batteryspace.com Li-Ion charger is that it is all solid-state. There is no transformer...just electronic/digitial circuits. Digitial circuits are real sensitive to voltage surges. It would not be a good idea to leave it pluged in longer than you need to charge the light and I highly recommend a surge protector...you know like the one on your computer ( or get a smaller one at radio shack) The batteries do contain a PCB circuit built with-in the battery that will prevent over charge and discharge. Like Medcina said, I don't know how well these circuits really work. I do know that I had a problem with mine that for some reason fixed itself. If you have a voltage meter you should be able to tell if the charger is actually charging. If the PCB circuit on the battery is malfunctioning it could prevent the battery from charging or from discharging. When I held voltage probes up to my battery it showed that it was charged but when hooked up to a load ( a bulb ) it fail to operate. A couple of months later I did the same thing and the damn thing worked...go figure. Mdtinyk, if I were you I would return the charger and battery to batteryspace if you haven't had it too long. I'm pretty sure they have a return policy and a customer service e-mail somewhere. Why not see if they can help you? :confused:

[pepelkod]

7/29/05 >> As to what Mdtinyk said about his Li-Ion battery: Are you sure that the problem is with the battery and not with the charger? Because if the charger is not working the battery won't charge. One of the things I noticed about my Batteryspace.com Li-Ion charger is that it is all solid-state. There is no transformer...just electronic/digitial circuits. Digitial circuits are real sensitive to voltage surges. It would not be a good idea to leave it pluged in longer than you need to charge the light and I highly recommend a surge protector...you know like the one on your computer ( or get a smaller one at radio shack) The batteries do contain a PCB circuit built with-in the battery that will prevent over charge and discharge. Like Medcina said, I don't know how well these circuits really work. I do know that I had a problem with mine that for some reason fixed itself. If you have a voltage meter you should be able to tell if the charger is actually charging. If the PCB circuit on the battery is malfunctioning it could prevent the battery from charging or from discharging. When I held voltage probes up to my battery it showed that it was charged but when hooked up to a load ( a bulb ) it fail to operate. A couple of months later I did the same thing and the damn thing worked...go figure. Mdtinyk, if I were you I would return the charger and battery to batteryspace if you haven't had it too long. I'm pretty sure they have a return policy and a customer service e-mail somewhere. Why not see if they can help you? :confused:

I am considering getting the trailtech headlight with a 11.1v 4800mAh pack. Looking at the battery specs, it seems that the voltage at full discharge is 9.0v for the pack (3.0v per cell). The trailtech "controller" cuts the light off at 10v output. This would mean I do not get full discharge, hence I would not get the full 4800mAh. I really would like the Lion pack since it is 1/4 the weight and size of the NiMh pack.

I do realize that 11.1v *4800mAh is less total power (fewer watts hrs) than 14.8v * 4800mAh.

Any comments on using the 11.1v Lion packs?

Correction: On "batteryspace.com" they claim that the circut cuts out at 8.0v ....Hmm too low. Im not sure where I got the 10v cutout voltage.

[bikerRob]

I am considering getting the trailtech headlight with a 11.1v 4800mAh pack. Looking at the battery specs, it seems that the voltage at full discharge is 9.0v for the pack (3.0v per cell). The trailtech "controller" cuts the light off at 10v output. This would mean I do not get full discharge, hence I would not get the full 4800mAh. I really would like the Lion pack since it is 1/4 the weight and size of the NiMh pack.

I do realize that 11.1v *4800mAh is less total power (fewer watts hrs) than 14.8v * 4800mAh.

Any comments on using the 11.1v Lion packs?
Correction: On "batteryspace.com" they claim that the circut cuts out at 8.0v ....Hmm too low. Im not sure where I got the 10v cutout voltage.

12/17/05 >> I think I just spent the last hour looking at the Batteryspace.com web site so you owe me some green.. ;) Anyway, my take on this...on Li-ion batteries 11.1 volts 4000 mAh vs. 4800 mAh....The 4800 mAh one should give you the longer run time. As for all the questions about cut off voltages...just worry about the run time. Worrying about the tech side of the electronics is a little too much. It's been a while since I've visited the BatterySpace web site. It seems they now offer the Trail Tech HID lights pre-built with their own batteries. Some for as low as $200!...not bad. The pre-built sets are using a 10Watt HID bulb. They also still sell the 13 watt HID model and offer it with various mounting options that will work with your bike (helmet or handlebar )...not pretty but it should work.

It should be noted that the Batteryspace.com web site was warning people not to use the 14.8 volts Li-ion batteries with the trail tech lights without some sort of regulation device (voltage regulator ) or soft start switch. My take on this: Even though the Trail tech lights are rated at 12-14.8 volts, Li-ion batteries actually have a higher peak voltage than their normal rating. This is why the 11.1 Li-ion batteries work. A Li-ion battery rated at 14.8 volts might actually charge over 15 volts. That might be enough of a voltage surge to fry the internals of the HID without regulation. If you buy the 13 watt HID light you can buy it with the regulated cable set up. It does cost more but I'm sure the 13 watt set up is brighter than the 10 Watt. If you just want low $, bright light with light weight and no hassles, I'd go with one of the pre-built 10 watt, 4000 mAh models. Run time is listed about 4 hrs...larger battery 5.5hr or just buy a back up battery.

For the real skinny on the Trail tech lights talk to the people down on the Virginia MORE web site. They're the ones doing all the playing around with these things.. :p

[pepelkod]

I will try to put one together.

I talked to an EE friend and now understand the whole voltage cutoff, I think. The cells that the 11.1v packs are made of have a recommended cutoff of 3.0v. If you discharge beyond that it can ruin the battery. If you dont discharge down to that, you are not getting full use out of the battery. 3cells x 3.0v is 9.0v. (Two sets of 3 parallel == 6 cells total).

The electronics are claimed to cut out at 8.0v. This means that you could theorhetically be overusing the bats if you always run them down to where the electronics cut out...but the EE friend says it will be ok since it is close.

The problem with the higher voltage lion packs might have something to do with the "too much voltage" rob pointed out. In addition, though they use 4 batts in series making 12.0v recommended cutoff voltage. This means that when you use them down to 8.0v as the electronics allow, you are *way* overdischaring them! Hence the dead batt pack experience by the other poster.

So, I wil buy the light with the electronics, the 11.1v 4800mah lion pack and try it. I will post results and if it works well, I would be happy to help other people in building light sets. Note that I dont think that the building part is too complicated... Mostly figure out polarity and solder two wires. But selecting the right light/bat combo is complicated.

pepelkod

[bikerRob]

...(edited)..The electronics are claimed to cut out at 8.0v. This means that you could theorhetically be overusing the bats if you always run them down to where the electronics cut out...but the EE friend says it will be ok since it is close.
The problem with the higher voltage lion packs might have something to do with the "too much voltage" rob pointed out. In addition, though they use 4 batts in series making 12.0v recommended cutoff voltage. This means that when you use them down to 8.0v as the electronics allow, you are *way* overdischaring them! Hence the dead batt pack experience by the other poster. ...pepelkod

12/19/05 >> I spent a good portion of the early morning hours today perusing the Batteryspace.com web site. There is no need to worry about overly discharging the Batteryspace Li-ion batteries as all the models contain a PBC circuit chip that prevents the Batteries from overly charging or discharging. This is done to protect the batteries and make them last longer..( a good thing ). The BatterySpace web site is a little confusing because they offer so many choices. The BatterySpace site has caught on to the idea of over volting lights (for halogen use) and the stuff they sell reflects this idea. The problem with HID lights is the electronics for the ballast run on a select range of voltages...( 12-14.8 ). Apparently the 11.1 volt Li-ion batteries work fine because of their peak voltage ( 12.6 I believe ). Over-volting might also cause a problem with halogen systems that work with a digital circuit dimmer. The Li-ion batteries that are rated at 14.8 volts have a peak voltage of 16.8 volts, that is why B.S. warns about using them with HID lighting. As long as you use the regulated cable & light set up ( HID ) they sell for using the 14.8 volt battery you'll be fine. I only wish they sold the regulated cable set-up separately but they don't.

While at the BatterySpace web site I also noticed that they are selling pre-wired set-ups using halogen lights. Some how they must of gotten permission from Marwi to use their light systems because they are offering them with the B.S. batteries and are over-volting the systems for brightness. The prices on these systems are great! Oh I should also mention that they also sell a version of the Marwi HID system - pre-built with the B.S. batteries. Higher price but looks nice.
Last but not least, they also offer replacement bulbs ( halogen and HID ) at cut rate prices...halogen for $2.95...can't beat that with a stick. HID for like $75

[bunky]

For quite some time something has been wrong with my BS Battery or my TrailTech HID. I am trying to troubleshoot the problem. Could be the smart switch is shot. Could be the battery is dead. The smart charger doesn't change from Green to Red when I begin charging. I don't not know how to use a DMM.

Anybody know of a good Radio Shack where they'll figure out whether it is the battery, the charger or the light?

BTW_ the battery is too old to qualify for a warranty.

[bikerRob]

...(edited).. The problem with HID lights is the electronics for the ballast run on a select range of voltages...( 12-14.8 ). Apparently the 11.1 volt Li-ion batteries work fine because of their peak voltage ( 12.6 I believe ). Over-volting might also cause a problem with halogen systems that work with a digital circuit dimmer. The Li-ion batteries that are rated at 14.8 volts have a peak voltage of 16.8 volts, that is why B.S. warns about using them with HID lighting. As long as you use the regulated cable & light set up ( HID ) they sell for using the 14.8 volt battery you'll be fine. I only wish they sold the regulated cable set-up separately but they don't....

12/31/05 >> Well, well, well...it's seems I'm wrong. They actually do sell a regulated cable set up....YEAH!....This makes me so happy as it opens up a couple of nice possibilities with using the higher voltage Li-ion batteries. here's the link http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2306 :D :D

[pepelkod]

Ill get the pics on as soon as the moderator approves them

Ok, I got the trailtech HID. I got everything from batteryspace.com since I had to get the batt there and figured the price diff in the light was more than the extra shipping from trail-tech.

First, the parts.

I ordered the 4800mAh($72) lion. They sent the wrong one 4000mAh ($42). I decided that with the price/mAh ratio I would stick with the 4000 and get the diff of price back. Note that they are both 9.8oz (small light) packs, it is just that the 4800 uses higher cap cells.

The bat comes with a special charger....smart but NOT FAST!. I tested charging last night. Takes 8-9hrs to fully charge an empty 4000mAh pack. (Makes sense, 500mA charger on 4000mAh == 8hrs).

The light is 13w HID. It is a little bluer than I expected. I have a friend who has a cygolite hid (nimh version) and it is whiter. Comes with all electronics. Voltage reg and soft electronic switch.

Shrink wrap, solder. Negligble costs (under $5).

Some prices noted with a 7% discount. Used coupon code Battery007. If that does not work any more, look online for a discount code for batteryspace.

Battery 4000mAh $42.95. Confusion about what amount I will get back so I just list the price on website.
Light $136.25
Shipping $7.49
<B>Total$186.69</b>

You must either solder or crimp wire. It is easy.
Put big shrink wrap over whole cable, but leave it loose. Expose enough wire to solder. Put smaller and shorter pieces of shink wrap over wires.
Connect light-red(+) to battery white(+). Connect light-white(-) to battery black(-). (Note bat cable is coaxial so center is white(+) and shield is neg. They provied the shielded cable shrinkwrapped in black. I cut that out, so in my picture the silver is (-)). Solder or crimp with clampdown from HomeDepot or RadioSnack.
Pull the shrink wrap over and heat...electric stove works. Solder iron is ok. Dont touch the wrap with heating element. If you have no wrap, use electrical tape.

Performance. Using the 11.1v bat pack. The light has a voltage regulator. It keeps the input to balast below 15v. I don't think it brings the 11.1v up to 12v though. If I am correct, this means that the 11.1v is slightly dimmer than a higher voltage pack. I just felt safer using the lower voltage pack.

I compared to my friends cygolite. Both are 13w. His is NiMh with higher voltage. His is visibly brighter and has a slightly larger "hot-spot" center. I got the 12deg flood version. It make a big light ring but not extremely bright but useable all the way around. Sorry I dont have comparison pics, but I forgot.

Having said that, the TT is still very bright! It is much brighter than any of my previous lights such as the Vistalight code 25 pack.

It also lasts a long time! The little tiny 4000mAh pack lasted 4hrs and 10mins. How do I explain this?
13w drawing 11.1v should take 1.17 amps. Well lets assume that it was not drawing more current since it was slightly dimmer. At 13v (expected input) it would draw 1 amp. 4000mAh is 4Ah. 1A for 4hrs. But I gotta figure some internal losses. I guess the pack is very slightly more than 4000mAh. Great performance!

Also note that some battery packs improve after first few charge cycles (then decrease from there on). This was the first charge cycle.


Post PM if you have questions on hookup.

Summary:
GOOD:
Super cheap for HID. Cheaper than some halogens. Should be brighter than almost all halogens.
Long run time. Second battery with charger only $42!
BAD:
Some assembly.
Unknown reliability. As noted by earlier posters.
Slightly dimmer.


I intend to do away with the Batteryspace batt connector for the most part.

Currently it look like this

(HID)-------------(HIDMALE) (HIDFEMALE)----------(BAT_MALE) (BAT_FEMALE)-----(BAT)
To connect the bat to charger
(CHARGER)--------------(BAT_MALE) (BAT_FEMALE)------------(BAT).

The kit comes with a converter (BAT_FEMALE to HIDMALE).

So I will hookup the sys like this with only on connector between light and bat.
(HID)-----------(HIDMALE) (HIDFEMALE)---------------(BATT).
(CHARGER)------(BAT_FEMALE to HID_MALE) (HIDFEMALE)-------------(BAT)

It is more work, but will be nicer and less connections to fail, or misconnect.

[bikerRob]

...(edited)...The light is 13w HID. It is a little bluer than I expected. I have a friend who has a cygolite hid (nimh version) and it is whiter. Comes with all electronics. Voltage reg and soft electronic switch...

....Performance. Using the 11.1v bat pack. The light has a voltage regulator. It keeps the input to balast below 15v. I don't think it brings the 11.1v up to 12v though. If I am correct, this means that the 11.1v is slightly dimmer than a higher voltage pack. I just felt safer using the lower voltage pack.

I compared to my friends cygolite. Both are 13w. His is NiMh with higher voltage. His is visibly brighter and has a slightly larger "hot-spot" center. I got the 12deg flood version. It make a big light ring but not extremely bright but useable all the way around....
.... It also lasts a long time! The little tiny 4000mAh pack lasted 4hrs and 10mins. How do I explain this?
13w drawing 11.1v should take 1.17 amps. Well lets assume that it was not drawing more current since it was slightly dimmer. At 13v (expected input) it would draw 1 amp. 4000mAh is 4Ah. 1A for 4hrs. But I gotta figure some internal losses. I guess the pack is very slightly more than 4000mAh. Great performance!...

1/08/06 >> First, I want to thank you for your post as this gives me some insight into the Trail Tech lights. Interesting that the light is a little blue. This might be a side effect of the regulator. The thing about regulators is that there is a down side if the regulator is not adjustable. I have no idea what the voltage on the T.T. regulators is set at but I have a feeling that it's probably on the low side...somewhere around 12 volts. Seeing that the HID lamp is set to operate between 12 and 14.8 volts, I would think that operating the voltage at the higher end would probably make the light brighter and whiter. This is why your friends light is whiter. It probably uses the 13.2 volt NiMH battery (unregulated). Operating the Lamp with higher voltage should (charge) power the ballast more and provide a more intense arc voltage for the lamp..(speculation on my part)

*You might actually get a brighter, whiter light if you switched out to the 10 watt HID bulb and switched out the regulator/soft switch to just a regular (unregulated) on/off switch. *Doing this though would shorten your run time somewhat and you would probably notice a dimming of the lamp after a couple hrs. *Too bad Battery Space doesn't make a 12 volt Li-ion battery that peaks out at 15 volts cause if they did you could use it unregulated and it would work great with the HID systems. ( * Once again, educated speculation on my part. )

[pepelkod]

Some info about Lithium Ion batteries I learned from this experience (and from my EE friend).

1) They have a large deltaV/mAh remaining. What this means is that if you graphed voltage output as you used the battery it would decrease significantly from fully charged to empty. This phenomenon is not nearly as pronounced in NiMh batteries.

2) The individual cells are fixed voltage. All cells are 3.7 volts. I would think that they would have variability. Maybe it is the technology they use to produce them. Maybe it is a standard agreed upon by battery makers. Maybe only one major battery supplier makes all batteries. In any case this means that the only voltages availible are in multiples of 3.7 (hence the 11.1v pack). Next step up is 14.8v.

3) 11.1v is the average or middle voltage. If you read the specs the pack will range from 12.?v to 8v before the electronics cut it off. So the reason that I did not get the higher Lion pack is that a fully charged 14.8v pack would put out more than 15v at peak! I realize the regulator would prob take care of that, but it made me nervous. They state in several places that the light itself (post regulator I assume) should never take more than 15v.

4) NiMh is a better solution for maximum light and efficency with the type of regulators available. NiMh is heavier an only slightly cheaper. NiMh pack should have roughly twice as many charge cycles according to batteryspace. (1000 for NiMh vs 500 for LioN). At 500 cycles lion should still produce better than 80% capacity.

In summary, I took a minor hit in brightness (10% Im guessing) to get a major weight savings.

One other note which I did not mention in my previous post about the HID light itself. It is heavier than other HID lights. It is in a solid metal (aluminum?) container. Putting on the helmet adds a noticable weight. Just a note if your neck gets tired already, you might want to try a handlebar mount.

[pepelkod]

Not sure how to post these pics, so here are the links

Lights and cables.

http://www.more-mtb.org/galleries/showimage.php?i=431&goto=previous&c=

Battery showing connector.

http://www.more-mtb.org/galleries/showimage.php?i=432&goto=previous&c=

Cable with one of the two wires soldered.

http://www.more-mtb.org/galleries/showimage.php?i=433&goto=previous&c=

Comparison 5w halogen and 13w hid with 11.1v lion

http://www.more-mtb.org/galleries/showimage.php?i=434&goto=previous&c=

[f5000sl]

A few of us here in Richmond had a light building class using the same light under a different name and using parts from various sources around the net. The light works awesome and was a fun project with cycling buds drinking some home brew.

I highly recommend it.

For information, click on my site in my sig. and search for lights. All the parts and where to buy them are in a post. It costs about $200.00 per light.

[gaz]

pepelkod / various MORE folks...

This really does sound like a great little system, put together at a REALLY friggin' good price too. For those of us who don't already have a higher end HID system, it's something to definately consider. Heck, for under $200, I'd do it. The light building class that the Richmond chapter also sounded like a great idea.

pepelkod, how would you feel about doing a DC area version of what f5000sl did? Your step-by-step instructions are pretty concise and seem easy to follow, but it'd be an excuse for a drinking session (probably after soldering irons have been put carefully away!) and the folks interested who may not have the tools or the confidence to build these unsupervised can get themselves a decent lighting set.

[pepelkod]

I'd be happy to have a light build session. People could come with parts to be built or just come and watch so they can later go home and do it themselves.


Even cooler would be a night ride following for testing purposes.

I would need to do it on a weekend.

Lets have a show of interest and suggested times.

D

[gaz]

Hehe, can I be selfish and suggest end of Feb? I'm slammed for the next 3 weekends, and it'd give folks a chance to order up whatever parts are needed. Also, would need a location to do this, and maybe one person to volunteer to ensure we have enough supplies for anyone doing the build (shrink wrap, solder...)

[bunky]

I'd be happy to have a light build session. People could come with parts to be built or just come and watch so they can later go home and do it themselves.


Even cooler would be a night ride following for testing purposes.

I would need to do it on a weekend.

Lets have a show of interest and suggested times.

D
I would be into that. Can someone bring a multimeter?
I slapped one of these together last year and now am
having problems with it. Thinking it might be the
battery is shorted out.

If nothing else, folks can see what I put together.

[f5000sl]

The light building class was fun and pretty easy.
Since it was lead by someone who has built them a few times, it was even easier.

Tips:
~For most trail riding, I would go with a Flood light if you will only have one beam.
~Try to organize a group buy as to keep prices down with shipping.
~No soldering will need to be down, and make sure you use "water-proof" connectors for reliability.
~Get some Liquid Plastic from Lowe's to dip battery and wires in for a "pro" finish and to insure water-resilience.
Out of 5 lights purchased for the build class that night, 2 lights had really sticky bolts that stripped when trying to remove them as to use the mounting system.
----- The fix, use a dremel tool to put a notch in the bolt head so it can be removed with a flat-head screw driver. (This caused no harm to the unit).

If anyone has any real questions, feel free to email or PM Eric Cone of Richmond-MORE. He also goes by NeedMoreo2 on our forums at CyclingCentralVa.org.

[f5000sl]

Oh yeah, when cutting out the connector to the battery, its a coaxial cable so go slow when cutting into the first layer, pull back the cover and trim the outer strands and pull to the side.

Then cut through the rest of the way.

If you don't you may cause a short in the battery.

[DMarchy1]

I have many Multimeters, soldering Irons, Fluxless solder, leads, ect... I would love to do this build and some NIGHT RIDING/ Field Experimentation. Dave M.