Philips LED bike light

[Matt King]

Can anyone explain the charge lighting on this unit? I had mine charging all day at work (8 hours maybe), which should have at least half charged it. It started with the first light pulsing, then the first light stayed on and the second light pulsed - I assume this was it indicating charging up.

But on the ride home it only lasted 20 minutes before switching to low power mode.

Now when I try to charge it, it quickly goes into blinking all three lights on about a 3 second interval. Does this indicate a problem? I might try it with some different batteries.

PS none of this is with the supplied charger as I don't have an adaptor. but it does the same with several other USB chargers.

 

[HakanC]

I don't want to spoil your experience with your new light,
but I don't recommend a initial charge in the light.

Instead I recommend a stand alone charger with individual charging channels,
and perhaps evan a Break-in charge cycle
The one I use is the MaHa MH-C9000
http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/viewitem.asp?idproduct=423

You can also get better batteries, I use the new 2500mAh Sanyo Eneloop XX
http://www.eneloop.info/products/batteries/eneloop-xx.html
I don't know if you can get those down-under, but here in europe they are available for a good price (compared to Sweden) at:
http://eu.nkon.nl/maha-powerex-sanyo-eneloop-chargers/maha-c9000-eneloop.html
€57.60 for the charger and 4 Eneloop XX


During daily use I would charge the batteries using the built in the charger, but once every 10 (or 20) charge cycles
I would remove the batteries and charge them in the MH-C9000 (perhaps a Refresh charge cycle)


/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[Matt King]

For the ignorant can you explain why please?

Eneloops can be found, and I have some similar low discharge cells but I'm yet to try them.

 

[HakanC]

Because I belive that it is beneficial to charge the batteries individually.



/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[Matt King]

The only AA charger I have is a fast one (2.0A for AAs). Topped up my Varta LSDs and put them in and the light showed up all three lights on the charging scale.

Topped up the Philips cells, only took about 15 minutes before the charger shut off, even though when charging in the lamp it was only blinking the second charge light when charging, and only showing the first light when operating (after about 15 hours of charging in the light)

Hopefully it's good to go now. I'm guessing to a point it doesn't matter if I run 2100mAh or 2450mAh cells as the light's timer circuit is apparently independent of actual battery capacity.

 

[HakanC]

I'm guessing to a point it doesn't matter if I run 2100mAh or 2450mAh cells as the light's timer circuit is apparently independent of actual battery capacity.

That is my experience too.
See my experiment were I replaced the batteries with a 5V DC-DC converter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...D-bike-light&p=3679045&viewfull=1#post3679045

 

[Matt King]

Can anyone explain the charge lighting on this unit? I had mine charging all day at work (8 hours maybe), which should have at least half charged it. It started with the first light pulsing, then the first light stayed on and the second light pulsed - I assume this was it indicating charging up.

But on the ride home it only lasted 20 minutes before switching to low power mode.

Now when I try to charge it, it quickly goes into blinking all three lights on about a 3 second interval. Does this indicate a problem? I might try it with some different batteries.

PS none of this is with the supplied charger as I don't have an adaptor. but it does the same with several other USB chargers.

I tried again with another set of batteries, similar thing - it lasted an hour happily, but when charging it went into blink mode and not all LEDs were lit when turned back on... Also I noted that the date stamp on it is 5210 which suggests it's not the 2012 model I paid for...

Have tried a full discharge and currently charging so we'll see how it goes.

 

[pdw]

I've just bought one of these lights, and I'm inspired to follow Hakan's lead and swap in a b2flex driver so that I can use my existing external battery, and get a little more power.

Having pulled the light apart, I can just about figure out how to do it (although I'd be interested to see some more photos of the above mod - particularly how you've reused the switch) but one question I have is why are there 4 connections to the LED board? I can see LED+ and LED-, but what are the other two for?

 

[Matt King]

See the pics linked in post #75 above. I suspect the extra wires are for thermal monitoring (looks like it says "NTC" = negative temperature coefficient?)

By the way, follow up to my previous post - mythird set of batteries (Energizer) worked a charm, charges properly now. The "blink" charge-fail indicator is an undocumented feature - very frustrating that the documentation doesn't cover stuff like this. Philips also didn't respond to my email inquiry. I found a similar undocumented feature on my Saferide rear light - when the batteries get low, there is a small green LED that comes on. Very nice to have!

 

[HakanC]

I can just about figure out how to do it (although I'd be interested to see some more photos of the above mod - particularly how you've reused the switch) but one question I have is why are there 4 connections to the LED board? I can see LED+ and LED-, but what are the other two for?

1st: What Matt King wrote is correct, AFIK

Regarding more photos, sorry but I don't have any more from my modification.

But here are two photos from someone else's modification.


How to connect the LEDs

And here is a photo of the PCB, that shows how to use the switch, and how to use the blue LEDs on top as STAT LEDs

(The author wrote that he used too thick wires)


/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[pdw]

(My previous reply seemed to get eaten by the new user moderation system)

Thanks for the replies. It occurred to me just after posting that it could be temperature sensor.

I assume that temperature isn't really an issue for these lights, even when run at 1A? The design of the light seems ideal for cooling, with the LEDs mounted directly on the large alu case.

 

[Norm]

(My previous reply seemed to get eaten by the new user moderation system)

You have no reply other than post #88. The current moderation system has been in place for a number of years.

Cheers Norm

 

[pdw]

I thought I'd share a few pics from my now converted LBL:

I didn't want to butcher the original PCB, and there wasn't enough room for the power socket so I decided to replace it completely.

I also decided to swap the mount for a Cateye one, as the Philips one is a bit bulky and is tricky to get the light on and off singlehanded.

Driver is a b2flex, powered by a 14.8V Lumicycle battery.

I'm very please with the end result - thanks for the inspiration to do this mod.

 

[Andrew38]

Hi pdw,
Have you tested what is your run-time on high after you have modified the light?
I'm trying to get about 6h on high rather than the disappointing 45min currently available.
HakanC mentioned that he expects 4-5hrs with the lflex and since your b2flex is more efficient, I was wondering if it would reach the 6h that I'm aiming for.
Thanks

 

[pdw]

I've not tested it, but my sums suggest that I should get 9.3 hours from my 4.4Ah battery. I think the battery is 8 x 18650. It's a few years old now, so probably wouldn't do 4.4Ah (if it ever did) but I'd expect to get 6 hours out of it comfortably.

b2flex driver should be 90% efficient with these voltages, so it'll draw 0.47A @ 14.8V which means that for 6 hours you'd need 2.8Ah batteries. You should be able to get that from 4 x 18650s these days.

 

[HakanC]

I thought I'd share a few pics from my now converted LBL

Nice looking modification.

Do you have any comments, since you have been using the light for a couple of weeks now?

HakanC mentioned that he expects 4-5hrs with the lflex

It is only a guesstimate, based on my 4,4AH battery and a 1A current, I have not used the light for such a long time.

 

[pdw]

Nice looking modification.

Do you have any comments, since you have been using the light for a couple of weeks now?

Thanks! I'm still very pleased with it. The extra light is worthwhile, and I've not had to worry about battery life at all. I only charge my battery once every few days, and I still haven't even had the "half full" light come on. I might increase the resistor value for the status LED - I set it for 20mA through each LED, but it's a little bright.

I use the Philips light in conjunction with a second light - an old Lumicycle halogen which was converted to a triple XPG running at 1A with an external switch which I use as a "full beam" light when there's no oncoming traffic. Despite the difference in power (around 1000 lumens from the XPG according to the datasheet), the Philip does at least as good a job of lighting up the road. Turning on the other light doesn't make a huge difference to how much road you can see, but does allow you to see a lot more outside of the patch of road that the Philips illuminates. The only "problem" is that doing this conversion inspired me to give the other light an upgrade so that's now a triple XM-L running at 1.5A

 

[GRAVELBIKE]

Hi pdw,
Have you tested what is your run-time on high after you have modified the light?
I'm trying to get about 6h on high rather than the disappointing 45min currently available.
HakanC mentioned that he expects 4-5hrs with the lflex and since your b2flex is more efficient, I was wondering if it would reach the 6h that I'm aiming for.
Thanks

Just curious, why not switch over to a dynamo-powered system? Philips does offer a version of the SafeRide that's generator-compatible.

 

[HakanC]

Just curious, why not switch over to a dynamo-powered system? Philips does offer a version of the SafeRide that's generator-compatible.

There is quite a difference between the battery powered 80 Lux Philips light and the 60 Lux dynamo light.

swhs has a lot more info about both lights, and many more, on his webpage:
Battery light: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te...fkapping/Philips_LED_bike_light/index_en.html
Dynamo light: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te...pen/Philips_saferide_led_dynamo/index_en.html

/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[GRAVELBIKE]

There is quite a difference between the battery powered 80 Lux Philips light and the 60 Lux dynamo light.

swhs has a lot more info about both lights, and many more, on his webpage:
Battery light: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te...fkapping/Philips_LED_bike_light/index_en.html
Dynamo light: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te...pen/Philips_saferide_led_dynamo/index_en.html

/Håkan
SWEDEN

Thank you for those links. I just spent some time comparing the beamshots, and it appears that the 60 lux version is a bit like the IQ Cyo (ong, somewhat rectangular beam). I've been testing the 80 lux (battery) SafeRide, and the high beam is really, really good (even on dirt roads/trails). I just wish the run time were a bit longer.