Author Topic: Hoverboard Headlight  (Read 2452 times)

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Offline MadScientist267

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Hoverboard Headlight
« on: September 20, 2019, 10:17:28 pm »
Well I thought I'd have to do a lot more tinkering to get a headlight to work on the T6... Until a wild hair led me to the clearance aisle at Wally world...

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11 bucks. Designed originally to go atop a skull...

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But with a little velcro cable management strap, it not only doesn't look silly like they do on people...

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It's functional!

Doesn't interfere with the swivel, and makes plenty of light even on low... Only thing I felt the urge to do was mask off the top of the lens, because it doesn't need to see anything more than what it does skimming along the ground... And should stay out of people's eyes ;)

Every once in a while something just works lol... This is one of them.
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Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2019, 07:50:03 pm »
Success..!

There's a window where it isn't great... When there's *just* enough light to compete with it... But in total darkness, I'd go as far as to say it's better than daylight in one way. It does a very good job revealing road contour... Along with anything that's on it.

The project was inspired by the combination of shorter days, my lunch break time, and a 3 mile trail I go ride on every day that weather otherwise permits. There are root heaving issues throughout that I can easily get over, but I need to know they are there lol.

This allows me to see every little defect because it's so low... The angle exaggerates all of it. Also, an unintended bonus because of the way it's mounted, and the natural movement of the platform (handle more accurately), it does indeed "look around corners" when I'm turning.

It has one Achilles heel... Lol.. Oncoming lights :o
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2019, 12:51:56 pm »
This thing works like a charm... I think the next modification I'll be making will be to change out the 3xAAA for a small "USB battery" so I can run it at full brightness without dumping cash into primary cells.

A test last night revealed that while low is adequate, high is better, if not *almost* too much lol... But I think after having gotten a taste of "high beam", I indeed prefer it, and a small lithium battery is certainly doable without any real headache to implement far as I can tell.

That said, riding out on that trail with this as the only light source anywhere nearby is kinda surreal hahaha... The effect is almost something you'd expect to see in a found footage horror flick lol

Either way I'm enjoying being able to extend out my ride time as the days get shorter... Now the heater... That may be a little more difficult  >X-D

Electric blanket? Lol
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Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2019, 01:53:00 am »
8343-0

My best attempt so far at capturing the eerie... Even a [rather shallow] stab at "pro mode" doesn't capture the essence... But at least you can see the bumps I have to beware ;)

Yes, I stood back and tweaked views until something got close... That said... Who's that in the bushes? :o

(Ok so I'm a month early)
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Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2019, 02:44:47 am »
USB battery dedicated to the task, add 5 bucks.

First I was thinking just get rid of the AAA set entirely, briefly considered a fallback scheme (since the USB simply pops out of existence, not great in the dark lol)... But space issues forced me to abandon the idea. Back to bypass, and it's flaky (logic control vs the auto-on sensing going on in the battery), but can be turned on with a little magic handshake lol...

Now it's cutting off "randomly", and I'm catching a whiff of "not so happy". Nothing seems excessively hot so I push on to see the deal... Ruled out cable disturbance, it was heat... Somehow.

Turns out the two key components in all this are closely matched for where it runs out of pedal, and as the LED heats up, draws more current, pushes the battery into shutdown.

Confirmed this by letting it get it's juice from a heftier port and the LED began to blue. Oops. Seems ok, we'll see.

Ok so told you that to tell you this...

The original battery box has the PWM and what not in it and so for that moment, had decided it was best to just connect the USB across the battery terminals and well... They also fight, as mentioned.

The heat indication with only 0.5V increase tells me they were relying purely on cell impedance to limit current, and that since it's piping 100% "PWM" on high, with no ballast, and I'm really only interested in running it on high, and there's a magic trick to turning it on?

Pfft. And the battery can handle turning it on and off and everything! Lol

I'm thinking I can ditch the box, throw a 1N4001 in series with it and go raw and probably be just fine. I may want a small bit of real resistance in there but I think the wiring being so thin helps there some. Don't need to lose much ;)

It'll also look a bit cleaner lol

Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline rossw

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2019, 06:23:24 am »
Since LEDs are basically current devices, perhaps a very simple PWM with its dutycycle controlled by a simple current measurement? Very low resistance sense so you're not wasting much power. Then, you can safely run it from a higher voltage, not waste power yet maintain a desirable light output...?

Offline Pete

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2019, 05:11:19 pm »
Hi Mad, well I wonder if you are overthinking the headlight?
Maybe it is easier to just put the headlight on your head where they are designed to fit, then use rechargeable batteries in it.
The whole issue with charging odd battery chemistries seems to make life very complicated.
But then I guess a mad scientist likes to solve complicated problems for the fun of it.
I hope that you are better at riding the hover board than some of the folk who post on youtube. They seem to try riding them indoors and come to much grief in the process.
Glad to hear you are having fun
Pete

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2019, 11:35:29 pm »
I ended up going with 2 diodes and a 1R resistor, because that's what I had on hand, but also because I was trying to keep it simple.

Yes, wearing the head light as a head light would have "worked", it fell short on a few levels.

One, I didn't want anything wearable on, as this is extra equipment to carry around with me, and sometimes I just want to hop on and go.

Second, I don't like "dizzy" light... It tracking my head would drive me insane, not sure how people use those things as intended lol.

Third, it would be a lot harder to control the beam when I'm coming up on someone on foot that's facing me. The way this is set up, it shines below head level at all times and other than the diffuse light from the lens, doesn't get in anyone's eyes.

Fourth is probably the most important... I wanted it down low to make the terrain more obvious, as the primary objective was to be able to avoid things that can throw me.

That said, yes I occasionally still find myself launched from it but the frequency has gone down significantly with experience. I have over 300 miles on it now, record for not being thrown holds 30 of those, so pretty decent track record considering the nature of the beast.

Rule number one for not getting tangled up by one of these things in a bad way is "Don't be an idiot" lol

Ignore that, and well, yep, there are Darwin awards to be had lol.

Here's a few pics of the more or less final product:

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Can't wait for next run on the trail ;D

Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline bj

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Re: Hoverboard Headlight
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2019, 05:04:46 am »
  Turned out neat and tidy
  I too have a few of those lights, none are used as intended.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj