10W Bike Light:

This was a quick project I built in late fall of 2018. I was not satisfied with the quality of the bike lights that I used last year, so I decided to built one based around a high power 10 Watt LED.

The LED is mounted to a heatsink with thermal glue. Even though LEDs are very efficient devices, high power ones generate a lot of heat which needs to be dissipated. In this configuration the LED is cooled by the cold air moving through the fins of the heatsink while I am biking.

The LED is connected to a constant current driver board, power switch and rechargeable battery as indicated in the image. Everything is waterproofed with electrical tape and heat shrink tubing.

Using the battery capacity, average time it takes to bike to school and the 1 Amp current draw of the system, I estimated a need to charge the battery every two weeks (10 school days).

Since the LED does not have a lens, it provides a very wide field of view (approximately 120 degrees) compared to most flashlights, which can only illuminate about 30 degrees.

In addition, the LED is about 50 times more powerful than a standard 5 mm led, and about 10 to 20 times more powerful than common flashlights I found on Amazon.