Honey I Shrunk the Tripple XM-L

[Goldigger]

Instead of design something new, I shrunk my tripple XML housing to accomodate a Ledil LXM RS, optic U2 bin XM-L and a Lflex..
I boiled it for 31 days and manged to get it small enough for a helmet light
A few pics
Main Body

Front Bezel

Comparison with the tripple


77grams excluding a remote switch

Ledil LXM RS optic

Rear end, Lumberg M8 and M6 gland for remote switch


Happy New Year...

[brad72]

I knew you were up to something as you were a little too quiet. Lovely job Jay, looks fantastic. Off to the ano tank now I guess for a splash of colour. The things you can do with a rotary table and a mill

I am impressed you are getting anything done with the new edition. Must have excellent time management

I got 3 lflex board the other day to play with so looks like we are all thinking along similar lines .

[Goldigger]

Cheers Brad,
I wish i had the energy tonight to put it through the ano tank.. Broken sleep from the little man keeping us awake at night is zapping me!
When i do have any spare time i cant be bothered to do anything, as im knackered...I've had to mill another tripple housing, so while i had the rotary table set up i milled the tripple and this mini version..


Can't make my mind up what color i ahould ano this light, my helmet is blue so maybe it should be blue..

Still need to knock up a mount and remote switch, they will both be out of delrin...

[walangkatapat]

Nice machine work!

[ecthelion]

Nice work! Perfectly matching in appearance, going to be interesting to hear how you like its output paired with the tripple.

[Goldigger]

Will 2 18650 in parrallel be able to provide enough current to the lflex, to run a single xm-l @3amps?

[Vancbiker]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Will 2 18650 in parrallel be able to provide enough current to the lflex, to run a single xm-l @3amps?

Yes, they should have no problem. How long is your power cable? Small gauge cable at 3A can cause a fair bit of voltage drop. Beautiful light BTW.

[JezV]

Aww, GD's made another cute li'l baby

[spartacus001]

I love that Industrial look.
Those cable connecters look great too.
Good job.

[Goldigger]

Originally Posted by Vancbiker

Yes, they should have no problem. How long is your power cable? Small gauge cable at 3A can cause a fair bit of voltage drop. Beautiful light BTW.

I checked the tech docs for the lumberg m8 connectors I use, but there's no mention of the guage wire used...just rated at 4 amps..ill have a stab at 22/24 gauge wire.

How long would you say is a good length to run the cable at?
I planned to put the battery pack in the top of my camel back.

Thanks..

I'll hopefully get it Anodised this weekend, for some reason my m5 taps say bottom on the little boxes, but there all taper!
So had to order another set so i can tap the hole properly for the mount..

[Ofroad'bent]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

I checked the tech docs for the lumberg m8 connectors I use, but there's no mention of the guage wire used...just rated at 4 amps..ill have a stab at 22/24 gauge wire.

How long would you say is a good length to run the cable at?
I planned to put the battery pack in the top of my camel back.

Thanks..

I'll hopefully get it Anodised this weekend, for some reason my m5 taps say bottom on the little boxes, but there all taper!
So had to order another set so i can tap the hole properly for the mount..

With such a tiny light, why don't you mount the batteries on the back of your helmet. You can keep the cable runs short this way. I found that it's well balanced so the weight's not a big issue.

[mattthemuppet]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Will 2 18650 in parrallel be able to provide enough current to the lflex, to run a single xm-l @3amps?

as long as you use decent Japanese cells (Panasonic, Sanyo etc), it should be fine. Avoid cheap Chinese *fire cells though, they can't provide the current.

I agree with Ofroad'bent - attach the battery to the back of your helmet. It'll weigh ~150g after waterproofing, which should balance out the light+mount at the front. I put mine on the webbing at the back, although I'd love to make some kind of battery quick release as I'm always swapping between my commuter light and my mtb light, both of which have the battery on the back. I've ridden with a helmet light for 10+ years and not having the battery in the camelbak is priceless, well worth the slight extra weight up top.

oh, beautiful looking light too

[Vancbiker]

Voltage drop calculator here.

OEM Power Supplies - Voltage Drop Calculator

I set my helmet cable length based on my battery being in my jersey pocket. It ends up being around 3.5 feet.

[Goldigger]

OfRoad & Matt do you have any pics of your helmet light setups?
I thought of putting the batteries on the rear...i might make a minimal housing for two 18650's out of some delrin, hopefully it wont weigh to much but will be water tight..

[brad72]

Originally Posted by Vancbiker

Voltage drop calculator here.

OEM Power Supplies - Voltage Drop Calculator

I set my helmet cable length based on my battery being in my jersey pocket. It ends up being around 3.5 feet.

Great calculator.

The biggest issue with the M8 connectors is that most of the only have a conductor size of 0.25mm² (24awg) so the max current capacity is only 3-4 amps so voltage drop is going to be around the 0.2-0.3volts if the cable is around 3 feet. Mount the battery on the helmet and drop is only getting 0.03v drop.

[Goldigger]

Originally Posted by brad72

Great calculator.

The biggest issue with the M8 connectors is that most of the only have a conductor size of 0.25mm² (24awg) so the max current capacity is only 3-4 amps so voltage drop is going to be around the 0.2-0.3volts if the cable is around 3 feet. Mount the battery on the helmet and drop is only getting 0.3v drop.

Correct me if im wrong but 0.2-0.3volts doesnt sound like anything to worry about?

[brad72]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

OfRoad & Matt do you have any pics of your helmet light setups?
I thought of putting the batteries on the rear...i might make a minimal housing for two 18650's out of some delrin, hopefully it wont weigh to much but will be water tight..

Hi Jay. I use the industrial 3M dual lock to mount my lights and batteries. This way if I hit a big branch the light and battery will get ripped off and not my head. The velcro is plastic, not fabric so it takes a lot of force to break it free.

In the picture below you can just see a 14,8v pack on the back of the helmet. It was held on with a cable tie through the heatshrink but now I use the dual lock. Weight wise I cannot tell is is there but since you are going to use only 2 cells if will not even be noticeable.

[brad72]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Correct me if im wrong but 0.2-0.3volts doesnt sound like anything to worry about?

I don't see a real problem but with the lflex since you are driving 1 led to 1 cell, adding your voltage drop the lflex might only be getting 3.9v. At 3A current the xml draws 3.5 volts so it will not stay in regulation when the li-ion cell gets down to it's nominal voltage of 3.7 volts (lflex getting 3.3v) ........it think

But put the pack on your helmet and voltage drop is only 0.03v so no problem at all (note typing error in post above from retarded typing angers)

[Vancbiker]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Correct me if im wrong but 0.2-0.3volts doesnt sound like anything to worry about?

It's not the end of the world for sure, but it is .75W of energy lost to the light. That is ~4% of your 2P battery's capacity.

[troutie-mtb]

Dont forget in the grand scheme of things that the Lflex is a linear driver and as such is burning off excess volts as heat anyways and most efficient when close to the leds voltage


Nice mini me light there Jay

[Ofroad'bent]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

OfRoad & Matt do you have any pics of your helmet light setups?
I thought of putting the batteries on the rear...i might make a minimal housing for two 18650's out of some delrin, hopefully it wont weigh to much but will be water tight..

Here's my set-up. The batteries are wrapped in shrink-wrap, the ends sealed with plasti-dip, so they're 100% waterproof. I bonded some velcro to the battery packs, and they are secured to the helmet with a stretchy velcro strap that came with a Planet Bike flasher.

The light mount is secured with 3M Dual-lock to the helmet, and also with a loop of Velcro One-wrap around it.



I leave this on the helmet all the time this season, and use my spare helmet for the rare daytime ride.

[mattthemuppet]

I'll take a pic of both my commuter set up and my mtb set up tomorrow before my night ride, although it looks a lot like brad's, with the battery vertically mounted on the back vents. A 2 cell I barely notice and the 3 cell is liveable (and easily worth not having the hassle of being tied to my camelbak).

[Ofroad'bent]

Scar has a nice simple set-up:


My green helmet is fairly rounded, so the battery didn't sit well vertically.

[scar]

Very nice looking light!


Yep, mounting the battery on the back of thel helmet is the way to go!

I can't believe it has been over 4 years now, but I would never go back. Actually, I think I was the very first one to do it. At the time, everyone was trying to out build each other with monster lights and I went the exact opposite direction, small and lightweight.

Here is the link to the original thread - http://forums.mtbr.com/apparel-prote...ed-354430.html Funny, not too many of the current regulars around back then, noticed msxtr was around back then

Industrial Strength Velcro is all I use




You should have no problems running a 2P battery configuration. I have been running a 2S2P configuration for my 4x XM-L bar light (2S2P) for quite a while now and have not seen any problems


Thanks Ofroad'bent, just saw your post as I was previewing mine


****

[Goldigger]

I have a ton of these velcro cable ties at home, they should be strong enough at holding everything on the helmet..


Cheers for the pics of your setups, helps me to see where your placing everything