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Guess this is one for trout
I have a set of old lumi halogen lights and a battery pack 13.2v and are they worth updating to a drop in Led conversion like the Cutter Cree MCE kit from cutter??
Or do I say sod it and get another XLM V2 from Smudge
anyone
Yes its worth doing. You will have to get the right kit to make sure the driver and voltage required match.
Bounced to the top as I'd like to do the same. Any links for people who do this work?
Here you go, [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/lumicycle-halogen-to-led-conversion-with-piccies-and-a-step-by-step-guide ]Knock yourself out.[/url]
Bit of an epic thread, but gives you an idea of what to do. I converted on of my Lumi cans and later did the HID to LEd conversion as well. A few of the parts you can no longer get, I'm sure there will be alternatives, and of course the leds are much more powerful from a few years back when this thread was started.
However stupid tho it sounds by the time you have bought the kit and somone a few drinks for fitting it it would have been cheaper to buy a smudgelight
My 2004 (I think) era lumi battery is way heavier than the lion one I use now, and that seems to be a large proportion of the cost of new systems so if you wanted to upgrade that you may as well just buy something completely new.
the V2 smudge light is ace( I bought one last week)it just seems to be a shame to waste the lumi's
But I do agree with the last 2 posts
To be honest, you could probably just get a new Magicshine light for not much more than it would cost to convert them, but there is a certain sense of satisfaction in converting your lights over to LED.
I converted mine using Black Cat Tech drivers, a 3LED Cutter XPG LED board and a heatsink that I had made.
I think that BCT has some drivers available; he popped up on an e-mail a week or so ago.
The LED boards come from cutter electronics and you'll have to find some kind of heatsink.
Is your battery in good nick? If not, then it might be worth just going for a Magicshine, but if it's OK then I'd go for the conversion.
save your money & eat more carrots 😀
hth 😉
I have the bits you need. Black at driver, triple lumi led and lens plus heat sink.
Duh, posted too quickly. Let me know if you want them....won't be expensive.....
Salad dodger, send me an email as I may be able to help you out with the battery & charger should you wish to convert your lights with Benz's bits. A nice flood optic on the bars would compliment the V2 nicely.
Nothing quite beats building your own lights, but as others have pointed out the cheap Chinese imports are killing this. It wasn't many years ago I was night riding using kitchen down lighters inside hair gel cans!
But please send me an email and I will see what I can do.
benz alas you have no addy in your profile
I'll drop you an email tomorrow if that works? Using iPad which I really have no idea how to send emails....daughter got it today and I am a technophobe....
Benz
I feel your pain 😳
Hey Andy,
i'm using an XPG triple equipped Lumi HID can i did last year. runing ( the LEDs )@ 1A on high IIRC. it's a good, useable spread of light with the cute narrow optic. well actually i have two, but one has the high vis ptfe end on it i use for commuting.
comparing by eye to the xml cheapies, the cheapies are very good, but i reckon i get a more useable spread of light from my converted units. the bastids tend to have a bright central spot with a wider, dimmer halo around, which i imagine does tend to focus the eye in one spot to some degree.
the later leds give more output, but i [i]think[/i] their biggest gains are at much higher current draws, which is ok if you can sink the generated heat, and also if your battery can take the stress of the higher discharge rate. i'm sure Trout/Luminous/Smudge can offer more insight here if i'm off the mark, but this is the impression i have.
is it worth doing yourself? only you really know. economically? probably not IMO. it is a satisfying thing to do though, and if you're happy with the Lumi 'system' then it's difficult to imagine binning a perfectly useful set of bits just because they're a bit dimmer than what you can get now. feels a bit wrong somehow. 😀
if i didn't have a light setup now i'd probably go for a set of exposures TBH, to get the 'no cables' thing. ultimate light output doesn't interest me greatly as they're all pretty bright now, but convenience does. i suppose it's pretty easy to say that when you have a setup that at least matches what others you ride with have! the setup i have is pretty handy. drop the bottle battery in, wind the cable around, and pop the lamp unit on. not bad. i can switch a light set from one bike to another in just a minute or two.
there are far better qualified on here to offer assistance but if i can help in any way then give me a shout. vortexracing was my inspiration. whole bunch of links found [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/calling-troutie-all-the-diyers ]from this link 'ere[/url]