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Take a punt on MagicShine?
Someone gonna take a punt on this set of lights and tell us if they are carp or not?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149
Single SSC P7 with 4x18650 li-ion batteries. They quote 3hr burn time on full power (allegedly 900lm). Those numbers might be a bit optimistic but at this price it's worth a punt for someone surely? 
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There we go Rob I took the punt. I need another light for the commute duties anyway. Lets hope its as good as it sounds!!!
I will let you know when it arrives.
From what I've been able to find on forums, they seem to be you-get-what-you-pay-for.
They need some customisation to be reliable, like adding thermal past between the emitter and the heat sink, and proper sealing of the case.
A few comments and pictures of internals here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.p...
and here:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5720994&po...
and as Ktronic said they need to be modded to get anywhere near the claimed lumens and there appears to be some question about batteries and charger.
On the MTBR forums they are talking about modding them with some KD drivers to get better performance but the issue there is that KD gear is about as reliable as DE stuff, and talk to Hans about that.
All that said, if you're happy to tinker then it is a very cheap way to get a decent amount of light.
Thats seams a lot of light....my off the shelf Jaycar gimble globe which has three led's cost $60(you all have seen my borrocca tube light) is rated at 270 lumens.
Like others have stated, I look forward to Gav's report.
Gary, Rob, Craig, Ben, oldfart.....do you have any idea what your homemade lights are rated at in Lumens?
Pikey
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Light manufacturers advertising are Evil and must be seen to be believed
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I've been using a Single SSC P7 penlight touch from DX and it's been great. When I'm commuting I put in either low power or strobe (which is insane, can you cause epileptic fits in pedestrians?). Burn time on either of these modes is well over 1.5 hours, full power I think is closer to an hour but it only uses 1 cell so easy to swap. It is VERY bright for a single LED, nice and wide too.
This looks to be the same emitter and has to be worth a squirt at that cost.
with is around 1800 lumens from memory but appears less because of the very wide beam pattern. I haven't calculated the helmet light but can do that and will let you know.
That light will not give you 900 lumens. The led they use is rated by the manufacturer at "upto 900 lumens", not minimum. so in a test lab under perfect conditions they probably have a batch where a % thereof made that. As the linked threads would indicate there is serious questions over the lack of proper thermal treatment and as leds get hot they loose output.
Ktronic has estimated the output to be around 650 lumens but this is simply by eye in comparisons to his existing lights.
I'm sure that with time the guys on CPF will actually take measurements on these and report back about output and battery life.
Cree will be releasing a new LED, XP-G, "in the third quarter" of this year. Of late they have been behind on their forecast release dates but I have seen from the MTBR forums that this one looks like being ahead of schedule, this was from someone attending industry shows. The good thing about this new LED is that it is tested at 20% brighter than the brightest current XR-E led and runs 56% more efficiently. Oh yeah, it can also be powered at 1A as opposed to the current crop of XP-E leds which are only rated to 700mA. All this in a package the same size as the XP-E which means you can use one of Spowpups housings to build an absolute "kick ar$e" light. That of course is only my opinion but if I were you, I know what I'd be waiting for.
Yeah one LED will currently not do 900lm. I think our 6 XP-E setups do over 1000 lm at 700mA.
Well once I get my hands on one of these lights and then do a side by side test with ay-ups will let people know. following on from that I will be looking at upgrading the internal parts as need be. first and formost will be a new slug design and some sort of thermal contact media, any thoughts on what should be used?
A new thing to play with how exciting.
have a look at the MTBr forum linked by Whisperer. KTronic makes a few suggestions there.
Basically you need to apply some form of thermal paste between the slug and the housing, otherwise the housing does nothing but act like an oven. Jaycar sell thermal paste, it seems to work OK. The best choice would be Arctic Alumina Adhesive or paste.
Looking at that thread I don't like that the existing slug has a hole in it behind where the star sits. The star really wants as much contact area with the slug as is physically possible so that it helps draw the heat away from your led.
Yeah i was thinking the Slug will need a bit of a redesign. The biggest contact patch with the star and the outer casing then it should be sweet. I dont want to use epoxy straight away in case I want to mod it at a later time.
I will see what jaycar have.
Even if it gives 500-600lm of light that is still heaps of light as a commuter light. and at a very good price. (if it keeps working of course)
Wait and see now. And do a lot more readingabout DIY lights
We've ordered a bunch of these lights to try out.
Price will be similar to Deal Extreme but, we hope, with better service.
Should have them on the site week of June 7.
Thanks for your consideration.
GeoMan
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GeoMan Gear
http://www.geomangear.com
GPS, LED Light Systems, Gear
Yep, we ride too!
Well guys the light is here and by all accounts it is bright!!!! the out case warms up pretty quickly as well. I will be putting some contact paste in it over the next couple days then it will be good for a real trial run.
Anyway here are a couple of shots compared to my ayups...
Ayup Luxeon
Ayup Cree
magic shine half power
magic shine full power
Mate, if you were looking for your pump, there it is. In the middle of your lounge room...
These results will have the semi professional home made dudes pissed
you know who you are.
I'm off to buy a set
Pikey
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The Liver is Evil and must be punished
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Now the web site is down
based on Gavs excellent review mayby Ayup bought them out?
Pikey
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The Liver is Evil and must be punished
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they will always give a more accurate view.
There does seem to be alot of light which is great although there also appears to be a great deal more "spill"
Was this intended for bars or helmet?
Well I did a couple more trials outside last night and while there is more spill (good thing I say) there is also a very good spot light in the centre. This produces a very powerful throw this allows you to see some way down the road now. The distance light or lack of was the thing that annonyed me about Ayups, you always felt like you wanted to look further down the track. I think this light will fill that hole nicely.
I will be going to next weeks manly dam ride hopefully so I will get a chance to play with on the trail then.
The other thing I like about it a lot is the colour. the warmer colour produces a lot more shadow and it appears as though this will help prevent the washed out look that you get with most LEDs and HID. Still it will be hard to bet a halogen for this.
The Battery pack comes in a very simple casing, but it fits nicely in the ayup ones so not worried about that.
Oh yes the light also comes with a FIT inducing strobe at full power no less. it would be bad very bad indeed to use this flashing mode in traffic. I reckon it would cause a lot of accidents. I it pretty insane if you ask me.
particularly if the centre spot is much brighter than the spill. You're right about the colour as well, for a while alot of us DIYers where ordering all cool white leds in multiple builds, chasing the greatest output. Now that the individual LED die are getting so bright there are real benefits in choosing some of the warmer tints to mix and match, this gives much better colour rendition and as you say, improves shadowing which really helps with depth perception.
Nice work mate, don't forget the thermal paste
Did you set the camera to manual to take the pics, so all shots are taken with the same exposure?
The colour will probably reduce the glare from dust or fog also.
CG
I sure did put the camera on manual mode. they are all taken using the same setting. I have put thermal paste in it now and i am about to go home (all of 15min ride) I will see if it heats up(cools) a bit more now. what is the max working temp for this LED? trying to workout if it is cooling enough thats all.....
Well it has had its first test with thermal paste in it now.
It had a 5min warmup time sitting on my desk at work before I left for the ride home. In this time the whole light housing became very hot as in very hot to touch.
Ok so mounted it up on the bike and rode home. It is so much better than I expected. Some of the darker streets behind newtown were VERY well light up tonight something an ayup could never do. Street signs quite some distance away stood out like "dogs balls"
So once I got home I checked the heat coming from the housing and it was cool to the touch. It would appear as if the thermal paste is working wonders and the outer surface of the light is dissipating the heat nicely.
first impressions are good now lets see how it stands up to the test of time...
Is it a cree narrow beam in the shot above?
Sure looks like it. Like you, I also am left wanting when out on the trail using a narrow on the helmet and medium on the bars.
I'm always wanting more spill light to light up the general area but not wanting to lose the distance by going to a medium on the helmet.
What did it cost you landed in AUD btw?
W.
yea you are right it is the cree narrow beam and it costed $104 delivered (free shipping)
Pikey how could you doubt our home made lights
Here's 2 beam shots taken at the same exposure settings as Gav's. ISO 100, F2.8, 1/10s
Lowest setting:
Full power
The fact that the light body got hot to touch sitting on the desk indicates that, as you said, the thermal paste is doing its job, transferring the heat from the sink to the outer body. I would suggest you don't leave it at full power and stationary for long because excess heat will drastically shorten the Led life and output.
Its also really reassuring that it was cool at the end of the ride, this means there is sufficient surface are in the light body to cope with the heat produced by the LED.
Now for a word of warning which may sound a little stupid. I probably wouldn't use it for a commuter light on full. Us drivers are for the most part, stupid. we see a bright light and natural instinct tends to be to look at it. (that's the stupid part) At full power this might temporarily "blind" the driver that is coming towards you at 60km/hr. If you are going to use it then make sure it is pointed down.
For the money it certainly sounds like you've got a good deal.
And yes Ben, we all know yours is "brighter", we also know your arse looks better in those knicks
hi mate
i am thinking about buying the magic shine and shipping it to scotland. have you had any issues now that you have had the light for a while now?
i hope that you are out hitting the trails hard. in scotland it gets dark about 4 pm now winter has set in. i live in the out in the country so no street lights to aid any night riding of any kind. i'd be using the light regularly. Any help would be great.
peace.
owen.
Hi mate
I have just bought a magicshine and am keen to get some thermal paste on it to help with heat distribution.
I’m not very good with electrical stuff. Could you provide me with a few hints/tips on what to do? A dummies guide would be great!
Very much appreciated.
owen.
To open the light up unscrew the front ring on the light, remove the glass, reflector and small plastic washer thingy. undo the screw that hold the mounting bracket onto the light.
Now thread the cable through the small hole and the whole light asembly should come out the front.
now the thermal paste needs to go between the alloy backing plate and the out casing. put enough in there to ensure that the paste creates a contact path between the light asembly and the out casing. now put it all back together and it should be good to go.
http://youtu.be/1qGaPCZxToM
Great value for money.
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=pr...
can we go with lights soon they will be so bright we won't have to ride in the daytime & get sunburnt anymore lol
these work well on the bars...not a great long throw but they are very bright...the beams are quite broad angled and had no trouble riding around with these on low beam...if you had a narrower beam helmet light these would be great...the flashing mode is evil! it flashes on the brightest setting..which is very hard on the eyes...
when the lights are plugged in the green button lights up...
the charger comes with an American plug so you need a travel adaptor!
Seriously are they for real? Who would ride with that on their head? the first low branch you come across and you'll get dismounted pretty quickly.
So it's probably a roadie - that much light would help scare off the wallabies while descending the likes of Bobbin Head, Galston etc in the dark. In fact it would probably send nocturnal animals back to their beds......