Matt_M

To drive a big, fast R/C truck at night, you have to be able to see a large area in front of the vehicle for the path to remain predictable. Small accent LEDs just don't work for this because they cannot focus and throw the light far out ahead, or mainly put out enough light in general. I decided not too long ago that I was going to fix that problem.

I began looking at the Baja 5T front bumper and coming up with some ideas. It wasn't long before I had a headlight setup in mind that made me quite anxious to build.

I knew that the headlight needed achieve a lot of light output. So I choose to use four CREE XR-E emitters (that's roughly 250 lumens x4). These are unlike standard little LED lights you would see somewhere like Radioshack. The XR-E puts out far more light and draws far higher current, while also being externally focused with a reflector assembly.

My main problem that I was concerned with was getting the whole assembly to mount and look good like the factory plastic light cups. I was afraid that the reflector assembly I was going to need to use for the lights was going to cause me to have to mount a few of the lights outside the center bumper tube, just due to the clearance I had available. When I tested one of the light heads I had and found that I could squeeze all four of them right in the center of the bumper, I was quite relieved.

What I did to build it:

Used a solid delrin plastic rectangular bar as the base to hold the lights together. Machined the bar down to length, and machined the side angles of the bar to match the factory Baja bumper tube angle.

End milled 4 holes through the bar. Tapped the holes through with threads so that the light heads could screw in.

Soldered 14ga lead wire to all four light head driver boards.

Screwed in light heads to plastic bar. O-rings used to seal out water.

Filled cavity on the backside around lead wires with black silicone to completely seal and support the power wires.

Connected all four lights to same power wires .

Notes:

Deans ultra plug will be used between light and battery.

Powered by 1S 5000mah small LiPo pack to run lights for roughly 1.5+ hours.

The 4 holes on the factory bumper for the light pods will be used to mount this light bar. It will be a strong attachment.

This first light is a working prototype so you can see how the light looks. I am going to change a few things to clean up and improve the design.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Now you just need camera on that thing.

ricerkid

My Feedback: (1)

Great work! i know who to ask to build me some lights if i get a truck

SyCo_VeNoM

No wonder those suckers are so bright I looked em up and saw most had 1Amp+ current draws a piece [:@]
Good job though making it look like it belonged

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

What type of battery are you using to power these? Where can one find these CREE emitters? Ithink this might be cool for my Flux!

SyCo_VeNoM

he said a 1s 5000mah battery
I saw em on ebay when I just looked for like $9-20 each
could maybe get slightly weaker ones from a flashlight

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

I missed that line. Thanks.

So, + or - 4v is all these need if they're wired in series? I'm not an electronics expert but the wires appear to be a parallel circuit, correct? Are those "fuse holder"looking devices full of capacitors or something? Bottom line, I would want to put a pair in the front bumper of my Flux.

Matt_M

You can buy any emitter off the net. Cree makes the good medium power emitters that don't need tons of power. Like XR-E, http://www.ledsupply.com/xrewht-l1.php

A super powerful emitter is a Luminous SST-90. One of them can draw 4 amps and put out 2000 lumens! http://cgi.ebay.com/Luminus-High-Pow...item4aa35bc9db

I have one I have tested and you would only need one to make an insane light if you were just doing this for a smaller truck. With my light set, I wanted scale looks and power.

You have to use a driver to power them, not just batteries. So you either need an adjustable driver, or a fixed driver at 1A or less for the XR-E. The driver power input range dictates the voltage from the battery you can apply.

You wire drivers in parallel off a battery always.

I'm using close to 4 amps, so you're not going to use a small flashlight battery for that. The only thing that makes sense is a 1S lipo of good capacity.

Look for a flashlight you like, take the head off of it and use the reflector and heatsink. Then replace the driver with your own as well as the emitter. You can make one hell of a custom light this way. I used a mill to machine the block.

To do it all you sort of need some knowledge of the light industry, or the unfamiliarity with the parts will be overwhelming to you. Candlepowerforums you can read at for a few weeks and then you may get an idea of the possibilities out there. There's so many possibilities out there I could never begin to explain them all.

I am planning on making a kit and making these available to Baja owners. I could make them for other vehicles if the bumper providing a mounting solution. The Baja is kind of special in that it comes with scale lights. I use the scale light holes on the bumper to mount the light block.

Andy, I actually did post these on the Baja forum, but the owner USABaja5 deleted my thread last night, said it was spam, lol, and then moved it today when I posted it in the build section. He manipulates that forum so people don't see products that compete with his little dinky light kit he sells. He deletes every post on there that talks crap about his Ram-tech lights, or any post he doesn't personally agree with for that matter. He's already deleted 4 posts out of my thread there today when someone asked if they were being sold, even though I had already paid for an advertisement license on the forum that allows me to talk about sales in any thread. The guy is nuts. I can actually post this on RCU without being afraid of getting banned just for talking about lights thank god.

GALAXY

That's very impressive.When I saw the title of the thread I thought "no way is it 1000 lumens".By looking at your pics,you have every bit of 1000 lumens and that is just incredible....great job on the looks and machining from a fellow machinist.

By comparison...I ride a mountain bike on trails at night with a Light & Motion Stella 120 on my helmet.It is 120 lumens,and plenty to speed through tight twisty singletrack at rather aggressive speeds.

Great work!

GALAXY

I missed your last paragraph Matt,wow that guy sounds like a lot of fun to deal with.