My Cree MC-E custom headlight

Forgot to post this! I built this setup a couple months back and its been running flawlessly since..and god damn is it bright.

The LED is a Cree MC-E mounted to a star board and thermally epoxied into a 1” copper cap from the hardware store which is “creatively” rigged onto a U-bolt. A 15 degree lens is installed; good light spread. I used some curved spacers from v-brake pads to allow the light to be pivoted and adjusted into position. These LEDs get hot, especially at full power, but so far the copper has done an excellent job as a heatsink. Simply riding the bike wicks away nearly all the heat.

The battery is a 14.8V 4400mAh lithium ion pack crammed into a water bottle. The whole thing is driven by a bFlex controller that controls the light output modes and regulates the power. It’s interfaced by the red weatherproof button seen above. There’s a small red LED (near the red lid) that the bFlex board is connected to that tells me when the battery is low and needs to be charged.

My first LED setup way back in 2007 was a trio of CREE XREs that I quite liked but I noticed one day cruising the information superhighway that LED technology had already come leaps and bounds in just the few short years since that build: I could now build a single LED setup that would match the brightness of the previous three and with less power consumed!

Costs: The LED ran me $25, the battery $80, the controller $30. Not a cheap build but Im going 3 years on the battery and controller now and I feel confident riding at night. When your bike is your only form of transportation like it is for me, the cost is worth it

Its a pretty easy little project and the payoff is nice, give it a try. Drop a comment if you have any questions or just, you know, want to comment, that’s cool too

15.Feb.10 Projects