Necessity is the mother of invention. Adverse situations often provide inspiration to people and a key to improving upon the day-to-day utilities is to subject them to not so usual circumstances.
Enough with the crap, here is a guide to improving upon the one thing that bothers you most about your bike. I’m referring to that puny, good for nothing 3-watt generator lamp that most of the companies mount at the head of your bikes. More often than not, I’m sure, you must have thought ‘this sucks.’ Well, Dan too thought so. That is why he embarked on a mission to change all this. Here a brief guide to making your own Halogen light that shines with all its might:
Components for building up a Halogen Bike light
• PVC cleanout adaptor - a 1 1/2′ PVC cleanout adaptor is required to mount the Lamp.
• PVC fitting headlamp enclosures - to complete the enclosure for the lamp.
• Mounting brackets - to mount the headlight in a desired position.
• 12v spot lamp - a common MR-16 sealed beam bulb is the heart of all your operations. Preferably use a 35 watt one for high beam and 20 watt for low beam.
• L.E.D.s, quartz halogen lamp, switch - six high intensity L.E.D.s are enough to make a good tail light and a simple switch will give you the desired control.
• Screws for holding the entire thing together and optional metallic silver finish in the form of a coat of silver paint.
• Battery - of course, the most important thing is to get a good quality battery to power your light. Simple lead-based batteries will do well for the sheer reason that they do not require too much maintenance. For charging you can use an automatic 15A/trickle charger that can be strapped right on to the side of the battery.
Assembling everything together
Once you have gathered all the components together, you must put together everything for a glossy light. Here is how:
• Fit in the halogen light in the PVC cleanout adapters and screw the PVC fitting headlamp enclosure right on top.
• Drill in screws to retain the lamps.
• Paint the sides of the PVC enclosure with silver color for a glossy finish.
• Drill two holes in the PVC caps, one for mounting and the other for switch.
• Wire in the light through these holes.
• Use the European style terminal blocks and trim them to get them to fit side by side on the pins of the halogen bulbs.
• Get the battery ready with an initial charge. The charger switch stays with the battery, neatly secured on the side of it with electrical tape.
• Prepare a neat battery carrier and place the charged battery in there.
• Drill in some holes on the reflector and put in the L.E.D.s wiring them in a parallel circuit.
• Use Ratcheting plumbing clamps (preferably three one for the headlight and two for the taillights.
• Mount the taillight at the rear farthest you can. This will prevent you from hitting them while paddling.
• Use an L bracket to mount the headlight at the required position.
• Place the switch at such a place that does not interfere with the breaks and shift cables.
There you have it, a step-by-step guide to creating a powerful lamp for your bike that will put even motorists at shame. With little luck you might be able to create one in about $100. So happy biking! Particularly at night!
