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Design History

 

 

 

Introduction:    It has been 1 year since I bought my first Edison Opto 5W LED in August of 2008.   The only thing that has not changed in the 1 year is the use of the Edison Opto MR16 lamp.   I am still impressed with the light it puts out and how efficient it is with the power. 

 

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I find the Edison Opto Lamps fits in a 50 mm HT sewer pipe!
Now all I need to do is find a mounting system.  One option is a reflector clamp with V brake semi-circle shims.

 

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Here is a cannibalized handle bar clamp from an old Aldi lamp.
On the first mtn bike ride the clamp flies apart!

 

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The biggest problem is the mounting. 

 

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A handle bar clamp made from a handle bar bag clamp.   Battery mounted external in water bottle.

 

 

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He I used a quick disconnect cannibalized from a dead Cateye Opticube HL
EL 300 glued on the sewer pipe. 
This can be used with the Cateye H31/32 Clamp system.

 

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I found a low cost 12V Li Ion battery on Ebay!  8 hour burn time?
Tubelight "torch" with integrated 4500 mah 12 Volt Li Ion battery.
A slot is cut by hand in the tube to adapt the Cateye H32 clamp.

 

 

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Possible housing designs for the tubelight torch. The "tubelight torch" idea is abandoned since the Li Ion battery was not reliable.

 

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Eureka!  The Cateye base for the H31/H32 is discovered on the now defunk SK lights website.
An epoxy/glass fiber adapter plate is fabricated to adapt the 52 mm diameter to the flat Cateye base.  

The "Tubelight" is now a practical solution!

 

 

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The Tubelight gets better;  the batteries are now under the handle bar stem. 

 

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I wanted to eliminate the HT sewer pipe and integrate the base system in the lamp itself.    I stumble upon Fimo looking for molding clay to make silicon casting forms for liquid epoxy castings.   Fimo is brittle and so is epoxy without glass fibers so I added glass fibers to the Fimo like I did with Epoxy.    Success!
Milliput and two part epoxy putty are discovered when I was  searching for other stuff on the Internet.   

Fimo "straight" prototype show here.   The Alien Eye has more curves, less material to fill and looks better. 

A LED shop informs me that Edison Opto has a Ultra-cool light.    Still brighter and draws the same current. 

 

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August 2009:  The Alien Eye!
The successful end of a 1 year development project!

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