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I stock many of the parts used in these Bike lighting projects, on my web store. Here is the link to my web store page with bike lighting and P7 LED parts. Click here to go to my web store Click here to go back to the Main Bike lights page |
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I stock many of the parts used in these Bike lighting projects, on my web store. Here is the link to my web store page with bike lighting and P7 LED parts. Click here to go to my web store Click here to go back to the Main Bike lights page |
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Assembling a Marwi XML LED Bike Light This page shows how I assemble one of the Marwi XML multi mode LED Bike lights. |
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These are all the parts I am using to assemble the light below. All these parts are on my web store - see the web store link at the top of this page This page explains what each part is in the picture above I have more info on the Multi mode driver board on this page |
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Push the battery wire through the grommet. I use 3 feet of 18 gauge Red/Black Zip cord I go ahead at this point and put the Anderson PowerPole connector on the other end of the wire I use a small 1" inch piece of heat shrink at the connector for strain relief Trim the Black Battery negative wire 1/2" shorter than the Red Battery plus wire Strip the wire ends and Tin the wire ends with solder |
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The plastic housing has a metal rod that holds the switch in place Pull the metal rod off to the side and push the switch down into the housing Push the metal rod back into the housing to hold the switch in place  The switch has one large contact with a hole in it, and a smaller contact Trim the long switch contact off at the round hole, you don't need this contact to be very long. Both switch contacts end up being about the same length Sand, scrape or wire brush the switch contacts on the top so they are shiny copper Tin the switch contacts with solder Bend the larger switch contact down Bend the small contact up so it is horizontal to the ground or perpendicular with the yet to be installed heat sink Solder the Black Battery minus wire to the large bent down switch contact Push any extra wire length back through the grommet You can now glue the power cable in place if you like I like to put a few drops of the real thick Gorilla Super Glue around the wire and grommet to keep the wire in place This keeps the wire from spinning and from pulling on the parts inside The thick Gorilla glue does not run like very thin super glue does You could also use epoxy or some other type of glue if you like. |
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This page has more info on how this board works. Left: I don't remove the spring from the driver boards because it is way easier to solder wires to the spring. I add more solder to the base of the spring to make sure it is attached to the board good and strong Right: I use mode 3 on all my builds. You can jumper a Star to ground to select the mode you want to use I take a quick short cut and solder a blob across two legs of the TINY13A chip that selects mode 3 The two legs I jumper are shown above right |
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Add a short piece of 20 gauge solid core wire to the ground hole at the top of the board. I drill out the hole just a bit to be able to get a 20ga solid core wire in the hole. The wire is cut off on the spring side and sticks out about 1/4" on the other side This short solid core wire will be soldered to the small switch contact. Tip: Solder on a longer wire and then trim it down to size |
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Solder the driver board ground wire to the small switch contact Note that the switch contact was bent up earlier When you solder the board ground wire to the contact, the board will be parallel to the heat sink| Bend the Red battery plus wire around and solder it to the spring |
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Cut two LED hookup wires using 20ga Silicone wire Cut each wire (Red and Black) 2 inches long Strips both ends of both wires and tin the ends with solder The silicone wire is very supple with 90 tiny strands and so it is very easy to bend The silicone jacket wire tolerates very high temperatures It can be very difficult to use a stiff wire like Teflon when going through the heat sink to the XML Solder the Red LED plus wire to the spring Solder the Black LED minus wire to the board This part is tricky because the solder pad for the Black LED minus wire is very tiny I add a tiny bit of solder to the chip leg and solder pad I solder the Black LED minus wire right to the chip leg in a vertical position This is a fairly solid connection, but takes some skill It takes a very fine pointy tip on your soldering iron to do this correctly Click on the image above to see the larger image for better detail |
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Install the XML heat sink into the Marwi Bullet Housing Tap the heat sink down into the housing using a large diameter socket and a hammer. Look at the big black impact socket I am using It is almost the same diameter as the heat sink Make sure you keep the heat sink level as you tap it down. If one side is farther in than the other, work on the other side to get the heat sink level again. If you start off bad, tap the heat sink out from the other side and start again. Every housing has a tiny bit of difference in the inner diameter. Sometimes the heat sinks go in without much of a fight Sometimes you have to get out a big ass hammer like the one in the picture. If your housing is a bit small, you can sand the outside of the heat sink a tiny bit to get a better fit. Don't make the heat sink diameter too small or you will have to epoxy it in place. I have used this Thermal adhesive and had excellent results Arctic Silver Alumina AATA-5G Thermal Adhesive Don't pound the heat sink in the middle area where the XML will be mounted You may bend the heat sink and then it will not make good thermal contact with the XML When using my machined XML reflector, install the heat sink down as far as it will go The housing walls start to taper and you cannot push the heat sink down any further The picture above right shows how far down that is. If you are using some other type of optic/LED combo, you will have to determine how far down to press the heat sink See the section below about the gap I leave between the reflector rim and housing rim |
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Drill two 1/8" wire holes 180 degrees apart on the outside edges of the heat sink I stock 1/8" drill bits if you need one Drill from the front side where the XML is mounted The holes end up being very close to the inner wall when you flip the housing over and look at it from the back, driver side. Deburr the holes in case there are small bits of aluminum around the holes you drilled |
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XML Notes I don't screw the XML down to the heat sink The reflector holds the XML in place tight against the heat sink and so screws are not needed I have found most of the XML chips are not fixed in the dead center of the star You can look at the XML image below and see that the XML is not centered on the star My heat sink hole is larger than the outer diameter of the star so the XML has a bit of play if needed The XML itself is in the center of the reflector hole but, the outer star may not be in the center of the heat sink hole If you look at the XML image below, you can see two tiny electrical contacts on the right side Look at the red areas in the XML image below These contacts are connected to the solder contacts on the star I have been dabbing a tiny bit of clear finger nail polish around the XML perimeter and letting it dry This acts like an electrical insulator in case the tiny contacts of the XML somehow make contact with the rim of the hole in the reflector Or in case the silver area around the perimeter of the XML makes contact with the reflector I have not had this happen, but I consider it as a bit of extra insurance  |
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Install the XML Dab some Thermal heat sink grease down into the depression where the XML sits Clean two contacts on the XML where you will be soldering the Red LED plus and Black LED minus wires Tin the two contacts with a small dome of solder You do not need any more solder if you have small mounds on the XML and your wires are tinned with solder Above Left: Drop the xml down into the grease Spin it around so the wires enter the star like you see in the picture above left You want the wires to exit the XML star just like the picture You don't want the reflector sitting on top of the wire jacket The reason I am using Silicone wire becomes apparent now The Silicone wire does not pull on the driver board solder contacts You do not want added stress on the driver board LED wires, they may break off the board The wire has to leave the driver board and be bent in several directions Silicone wire does all of this very well Solder the wires to the XML Red is LED plus Black is LED minus Do not mound up big balls of solder when soldering the XML You do not want huge solder blobs that may short out on the back of the metal reflector Note that I use a 40 watt soldering iron to solder the XML wires The heat sink will suck the heat right out of the soldering iron tip A small 25 watt iron may not be able to handle this job correctly I use a small 25 watt iron to do all the other soldering except this job 40 watts works really well for this job Above Right: Drop the reflector down onto the XML Center the XML in the reflector hole The XML reflector is machined like a pyramid to give you more room between the wire tops and the reflector You should end up with a small gap between the reflector rim and the housing rim See the picture above right This gap is there on purpose so that the front bezel glass sits tightly against the reflector The reflector keeps the XML pushed up tight against the heat sink. There is a rubber O-ring between the bezel and the glass Things to consider if you are doing your own custom build If you screw down the bezel all the way and the glass is rattling, you need to figure out how to shim up this extra play. This is why I have a small gap engineered into my XML reflector/Heat sink build. The threads on the bezel are very deep, it will bottom out against the housing rim and will not go any further You can adjust the depth of your heat sink if you find that the glass is rattling I have also trimmed off front bezel threads on a lathe to make the screw on bezel less deep. The bezel will screw down further if you remove some threads Not the best solution, but it works |
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Here's a couple shots of a finished light The front bezel and glass are in place and I have attached the Marwi slide mount to the light The slide mount comes with a Marwi Helmet and Handlebar mount The slide mount is attached to the light with a Marwi mount kit The mount kit is a Nylon threaded rod, Two nylon nuts and two lock washers Using mode 3 on the driver board, this is how the driver and switch work on this light. Click the switch to turn on the light Tap the switch one time to change to the next mode The tapping is just a light tap without clicking the switch All you are doing is disconnecting the switch contacts briefly Each tap goes to the next mode, then the 3 modes start all over again When you click the switch agian, the light turns off The last mode you used is remembered by the driver board There are 3 modes of brightness in my build Low mode 1: This mode draws about 130 milliamps of current from the battery I find this mode very useful for just standing around in the dark or when regrouping on a ride Low mode 2: This mode draws about 800 milliamps of current from the battery I use this mode for long climbs It's perfect for when you don't need the light on full blast High mode: This mode draws up to 2800 milliamps from the battery I use this mode for high speeds and descents See the link at the top of this page to see all the other modes the driver board can do. |
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Here's a couple shots of my custom machined XML reflector You can find this on my web store Note the pyramid shaped area that has been machined Above Left: A stock reflector before and a machined reflector after Above Right: An XML is centered on the reflector hole and the heat sink is sitting on the XML This picture shows how much of a gap there is between the solder pads of the XML and the base of the reflector Note that this picture is distorted, the heat sink looks bent but it is not. |
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