Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
No news is good news
For those of you who eagerly follow this blog (and I know there are one of you) I thought I'd post an update. Daylight savings is here, my light has been taken off the bike and aside from losing a bolt from my battery rack and having to do some on-the-road repairs, my only issues have been mechanical. Well, that and being swooped by magpies.
The mechanical problems consist of a knocking in the drive-train that we have so far been unable to cure. It is intermittent and every time Paul from Smith Cycles takes it all apart and puts it all back together again (3 different bottom brackets later) it goes away for 1-2 commutes only to return. Since it doesn't appear to have any effect on my ride we have decided to let it go until it becomes mittent (you know, the opposite of intermittent).
Winter went well, I managed to average 2 rides per across the whole winter and last week I rode 3.5 times, the half being me dropping the car in for a service then riding the rest of the way to work.
That is all for now,
Ciao.
The mechanical problems consist of a knocking in the drive-train that we have so far been unable to cure. It is intermittent and every time Paul from Smith Cycles takes it all apart and puts it all back together again (3 different bottom brackets later) it goes away for 1-2 commutes only to return. Since it doesn't appear to have any effect on my ride we have decided to let it go until it becomes mittent (you know, the opposite of intermittent).
Winter went well, I managed to average 2 rides per across the whole winter and last week I rode 3.5 times, the half being me dropping the car in for a service then riding the rest of the way to work.
That is all for now,
Ciao.
Monday, August 4, 2008
OT: XXXX it!
At the supermarket where I do my grocery shopping they have a line of what I call "impulse merchandise". You know the stuff, it hangs between shelves or on the ends of aisles and doesn't match the rest of the items. Part of this range of impulse merchandise includes an array of products that are all called, "XXXX it!" Replace XXXX with whatever verb goes with the item for sale. For example they had a basting brush in a packet and the label on the packet said "Baste it!". Another packet had a bag of clothes pegs, called "Peg it!" You get my drift. I am waiting for them to bring out a line of condoms, I wonder what they would label them with....
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Light photos
As promised, here are the photos.
1: The bike
The black box under the crossbar is the power supply.
2: Beam shot number 1
The bins in the picture are 15 metres away.
3: Beam shot number 3
In this picture the bins are 22 metres away and a little downhill and out of focus.
In my next post I will put up details of the power supply kit and what the modifications that were made to make it run off 40V.
1: The bike
The black box under the crossbar is the power supply.
2: Beam shot number 1
The bins in the picture are 15 metres away.
3: Beam shot number 3
In this picture the bins are 22 metres away and a little downhill and out of focus.
In my next post I will put up details of the power supply kit and what the modifications that were made to make it run off 40V.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Project light is complete
The light is now complete and installed on the bike with one test ride behind it. I was impressed with the performance, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. I had some serious switch problems, but appear to have overcome them for now.
First I tried one of these that was labelled as a sealed mini toggle switch. As you can see they appear to be rated at 250VAC 2A. I figured that 40VDC at 150 mA would be fine. It worked for a while, then right after I finished mounting everything on the bike for a test run the switch failed to on all the time, no matter what the position of the toggle. Then the action on the switch failed, it went all rubbery. I took it back to Jaycar, but by then the action had come good but the switch still always measured closed over one pair of terminals regardless of the position of the toggle.
I got another one and after only a couple of throws under load it developed the same problem. It was then that I noticed that what was printed on the side of the switch was “0.4 VA MAX” not "2A 250VAC” as pictured on the Jaycar site. I tried the convince the loser at Jaycar that the switch wasn’t what it purported to be, but no dice. He didn’t give me my money back. At that point I stopped giving a shit and just wanted a switch that would work.
So I grabbed 2 of these (or so I thought) I put the first one in and was going to try 10 cycles, but it failed in the same way after 5 cycles. I broke open the switch to see if it was fused closed, but it wasn’t. I also discovered how pathetically simple these switches are inside.
In looking at the second switch I had bought I found that it was SPDT, centre off, so I must have picked up one of these by mistake. I decided that maybe it was the frequency of cycling the switch that was causing the failures, so decided to put this one in and try 1 minute between cycles (i.e. 1 minute on, 1 minute off). I tried this 5 times with no failures and then left the light on for 10 minutes and off for 1 minute the back on again with no failures. So all is good for now.
We'll see what happens next week as a intend to ride as many days as weather permits. I will take some photos of the setup on the bike with some beam shots in my next post.
First I tried one of these that was labelled as a sealed mini toggle switch. As you can see they appear to be rated at 250VAC 2A. I figured that 40VDC at 150 mA would be fine. It worked for a while, then right after I finished mounting everything on the bike for a test run the switch failed to on all the time, no matter what the position of the toggle. Then the action on the switch failed, it went all rubbery. I took it back to Jaycar, but by then the action had come good but the switch still always measured closed over one pair of terminals regardless of the position of the toggle.
I got another one and after only a couple of throws under load it developed the same problem. It was then that I noticed that what was printed on the side of the switch was “0.4 VA MAX” not "2A 250VAC” as pictured on the Jaycar site. I tried the convince the loser at Jaycar that the switch wasn’t what it purported to be, but no dice. He didn’t give me my money back. At that point I stopped giving a shit and just wanted a switch that would work.
So I grabbed 2 of these (or so I thought) I put the first one in and was going to try 10 cycles, but it failed in the same way after 5 cycles. I broke open the switch to see if it was fused closed, but it wasn’t. I also discovered how pathetically simple these switches are inside.
In looking at the second switch I had bought I found that it was SPDT, centre off, so I must have picked up one of these by mistake. I decided that maybe it was the frequency of cycling the switch that was causing the failures, so decided to put this one in and try 1 minute between cycles (i.e. 1 minute on, 1 minute off). I tried this 5 times with no failures and then left the light on for 10 minutes and off for 1 minute the back on again with no failures. So all is good for now.
We'll see what happens next week as a intend to ride as many days as weather permits. I will take some photos of the setup on the bike with some beam shots in my next post.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Project light is nearing completion
I have only one step left to complete my light. It has been a long slow process. Since most of the materials are expensive or annoying to source, I have really been taking my time. Ironically riding to work has slowed my progress since it has made trips out at lunch not possible, but some rainy weather has meant I have driven in a few times and so had the chance to go buy some switches and screws etc.
My main concern has been attaching the heatsink to the cup. After much umming and ahhing I decided to go with simple self tapping screws. I bought some stainless steel ones (designed for sheet metal) because I figured they would be the strongest. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the cup on either side of the large hole which admits the LED, then I marked, punched and drilled the 2.5 mm holes recommended by the packaging for the self tappers. 4 screw head twisted off later, I enlarged the holes by half a mm to 3 mm and they tapped nicely. This made sense in the end since the recommended pilot hole size was for sheet metal, not solid aluminium.
Next I drilled a 5.5 mm hole in the side wall of the cup to admit the wires. On my next shopping trip I bought some switches, which the wire hole was the perfect size for. So I drilled another hole for it and then another 2 5.5 mm holes for the mounting bracket. One word of advice on working with stainless steel: Start with a small pilot hole, keep the drill speed low and the enlarge the hole with successively bigger bits.
The bracket I am using is a standard reflector bracket which Paul at Smith Cycles gave me for nothing, it is perfect.
Here is a photo of the cup all put together:
Here is another showing the heatsink, it looks a little like some weapon from a dodgy sci-fi movie.
My main concern has been attaching the heatsink to the cup. After much umming and ahhing I decided to go with simple self tapping screws. I bought some stainless steel ones (designed for sheet metal) because I figured they would be the strongest. I drilled two holes in the bottom of the cup on either side of the large hole which admits the LED, then I marked, punched and drilled the 2.5 mm holes recommended by the packaging for the self tappers. 4 screw head twisted off later, I enlarged the holes by half a mm to 3 mm and they tapped nicely. This made sense in the end since the recommended pilot hole size was for sheet metal, not solid aluminium.
Next I drilled a 5.5 mm hole in the side wall of the cup to admit the wires. On my next shopping trip I bought some switches, which the wire hole was the perfect size for. So I drilled another hole for it and then another 2 5.5 mm holes for the mounting bracket. One word of advice on working with stainless steel: Start with a small pilot hole, keep the drill speed low and the enlarge the hole with successively bigger bits.
The bracket I am using is a standard reflector bracket which Paul at Smith Cycles gave me for nothing, it is perfect.
Here is a photo of the cup all put together:
Here is another showing the heatsink, it looks a little like some weapon from a dodgy sci-fi movie.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
OT - Terrorism
I'm reading William Gibson's latest offering, "Spook Country" at the moment. I think he is my favourite author. Anyway, one of the characters has something to say about terrorism that I think sums up the situation the world finds itself in since the World Trade Centre terrorist attack.
"A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individuals morals are situational, that individual is without morals. If a nations laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation."
"Are you so scared of terrorism that you'll dismantle the structures that made America what it is?"
"If you are, you let the terrorist win. Because that is exactly, specifically, his goal, his only goal: to frighten you into surrendering the rule of law. That's why they call him 'terrorist'. He uses terrifying threats to induce you to degrade your own society."
"It's based on the same glitch in human psychology that allows people to believe they can win the lottery. Statistically, almost nobody ever wins the lottery. Statistically, terrorist attacks almost never happen."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
"A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individuals morals are situational, that individual is without morals. If a nations laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation."
"Are you so scared of terrorism that you'll dismantle the structures that made America what it is?"
"If you are, you let the terrorist win. Because that is exactly, specifically, his goal, his only goal: to frighten you into surrendering the rule of law. That's why they call him 'terrorist'. He uses terrifying threats to induce you to degrade your own society."
"It's based on the same glitch in human psychology that allows people to believe they can win the lottery. Statistically, almost nobody ever wins the lottery. Statistically, terrorist attacks almost never happen."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
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