2nd Life for Vistalight light
Do you also have a set of Vistalights that you're no longer using because they just don't give enough light output?
I put my set on my commuting bike, but got tired of the short run time with the 15W globe and the long charge time with the standard charger.
This is what I came up with in an attempt to solve these problems: http://test.nx-solutions.com/vistalight
The electronics is still a bit too big at the moment, but it was just for a proof of concept. The next version will just be a small box that will most likely be part of the cable.
I'm just posting this here to see if any more people are interested in this upgrade and to see if anyone can help me out with the problem I still have with it.
With the current lens and reflector setup I get a very widespread beam. As I use the light for commuting I would like to have a lens/reflector setup which next to this spread gives me a more concentrated beam of light right straight ahead. Does anyone here have a good idea? Or can someone maybe cut glas? In that case an original vistalight globe can be cut up and the lens and reflector reused.
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Nice work, good to see
Nice work, good to see others out there re using old gear rather than waisting it.
I have a set of vistas that I dont use due to the short run time and may be interested in doing the mod.
You can make it, Just go Faster...
That is awesome!
I have some Vista's too, they are still going pretty well after 7 years though I would like more light, especially off-road.
Perhaps changing the design of the reflector you are using to a more parabolic shape would result in a tighter beam?
vista lights
Hey Tiger, that is great news as I have mmm a set and a half but about 12 or more batteries (solo rider). I have thought about a new set of lights but cause I have so many batteries I will stay with the Vista and just improve the eyesite needed at night
Cables
Who out there may have a spare cable for my vistas, i have the Dual set, with optional helmet mount , but one of my cables is Fucked.
Please help
Jack
Maximum nerd kudos for the
Maximum nerd kudos for the electronics. I wish I had that kind of ingenuity. I'd be very interested in the mod if it became a little more user friendly in size and bike attachment. Definitely interested in the speed charger also.
Send us a message here if you want to get in touch.
"Make mine a blue one" said Mr Squirrell!
The charger is almost ready
The charger is almost ready to be put in a small case and then should be available to other people if they want one.
The original idea with the charger was to charge a battery in 1 hour, but this is not safe without measuring the temperature of the battery. That's why on most modern batteries you see at least 3 pins. That means I would have to change the connector on the batteries and add a temperature sensor. I chose not to and that's why it charges in 2.5 hour. Fastest that can be done safely under these restrictions.
The charger has an indicator that indicates fast charge. It will do that until it detects the battery is fully charged or the maximum time of 3 hours has been reached. It will then go into trickle charge to keep the battery fully charged for when you need it.
If any people are interested in the charger in what kind of package would you like it? A build it yourself kit to keep it really cheap or one that's completely build together. And will people have a 12V/1A mains adapter at home that they can use or should one be provided with it?
If there is sufficient interest I'll get some PCB's made up for it, but if it's only for a couple this is going to be too expensive.
Indeed the reflector needs
Indeed the reflector needs to be more round, but it's hard to create anything like that in a reproducible way from the reflector material I used. I've browsing on the internet and found this one: http://www.led-tech.de/en/High-Power-Supply/CREE-Optics/CREE-Power-Optic...
What kind of viewing angle would we need for MTB? At the price they indicate on that website it might not be all that important. For less than 10 bucks you can have them all and just try them out.
Optics
Hi DW
I have built 4 different versions of LED lights for mountain biking. Each time getting better LEDs as they become available.
I have tried 20, 12 and 6 degree optics and this my feeling on the way each performed:
20 was too broad
6 good light over a long distance, but was too tight on its own, there was just not enough light around the front wheel.
12 is a good compromise
I have combined two leds, one with 6 and 12 giving the best of both worlds.
Just buy the lens, I think you will not do the LED justice trying to make a reflector. I have bought my stuff from www.cutter.com.au in the past.
Some of the lenses, (eg the square one Cutter sells) allows you to change the lens without removing the mounting. So buy various lens types and swap them around until you find the right one. I think they are down to $5 each now.
Thanks for the info
Thanks for the info DavidB.
Great website. I see they even have complete modules for the constant current source as well. Do you also use one of theirs? Which different LEDs have you tried so far?
Drivers
I have used the little LuxDrive MicroPucks (500ma) for a double helmet light. 500ma is underdriven, but remember that the harder you drive an LED the less efficient it becomes (for example 2 LEDs at 500ma will be brighter than one LED at 1000ma). The other issue with this driver is that it will only take a battery with a maximum of 3v. Next time I muck around, I will buy an extra micropuck and see if it stands up to 3 x nimh batterys.
I have also used the Fatman driver for two of the lights. It is a personal favourite because you can feed it any voltage, as long as it is below the LED voltage and you can have a dimmer knob for increased run time when you don't need the brightness. Eg you can put 3 LEDs in series and drive it from a 6v battery.
The bFlex driver is also made by the same guy as the fatman. The bFlex is more conventional, and probably more suited to your single LED application because it requires the battery to be a higher voltage than the LED by a couple of volts.
Trivia: The fatman and bFlex was designed and manufactured by a guy in Silicon Valley, who was born, bred and educated in Western Australia.
The only thing I don't like about the Fatman and bFlex is they should be mounted to a heatsink, like the light body. Unfortunately as a bare assemble it needs to be mounted with a non-conductive, non capacitive, heat-conductive glue (Arctic-Alumina is good, Arctic-Silver is unsuitable). For this reason alone, I would choose one of the other drivers like the 3021 BuckPuck.
If you throw away your light head, you can make a new light head out of 25mm aluminium square box and use the Ledil Cree XR-E Optics which fit nearly perfectly inside the box. Check out http://myfwyc.org/bikeled/ConstructionSteps.html the design can be adapted for 1, 2, 3 leds, probably more if you are realy greedy!
I rode the 12 hour last year with a double on the head and a triple on the bars. More than enough light for me:)
Updated version
I finally got all the components together and found the time to build up the lights with the improved electronics and lens for the LED.
If you're interested in converting your Vista lights to LED as well then have a look over here how you can do it at a price less than a halogen globe at your LBS:
http://test.nx-solutions.com/vistalight/new.html
Awesome!
I must pull my finger out and make one. What did you end up using as the reflector/lens?