Solar Powered Bike Light

In this DIY tutorial I will show you how to build a solar bike light. This is a very easy to do and quick build. The light will be built by modifying a solar garden walkway light. I will convert it into a solar powered bike light that charges its batteries during the day (when you're riding around in the sun) and can be turned on at night.

Figure 1 : Light mounted on my bike

1. Supplies

You will need:

1. A solar garden light (look for G15439 here )
2. LED Lamp, from a flashlight
3. Epoxy
   
4. Wire to connect circuits
   
5. Solder
6. Tools such as a drill, a knife and a screwdriver

Figure 2 : The tools and supplies

2. Disassemble the garden lamp

Aaaah yes, the fun and easy part. This should be easy for most people and come naturally to my readers. There are a couple of screws (ok, 3 screws to be exact) holding the two halves of the garden lights' electronic enclosure together. The plastic transparent dome pops off easily, just pull it.

Figure 3 : On the inside you'll find the electronics

3. Add the lamp

Using your soldering iron, detach the existing LED on the garden lamp by de-soldering the wires. Put this part away in your stuff-I'll-probably-use-in-the-future box.

Now you can solder your lamp on where the previous one was attached. Just be sure you have the polarity correct. Look at the leads of the first LED before you take it off!

You can cover the soldered connections in hot glue or epoxy after you are done.

Figure 4 : Try to do this more neat than I did

4. Make a hole to mount it on the bike

This bit depends on your bike's handlebars and where you want to put your light. I mounted my light (see Figure 1) on my handlebars by using a drill to expand one of the holes in the plastic solar panel holder. This enabled me mount the my light where my front reflector used to be.

Figure 5 : Drilling away

5. Cut and glue/epoxy the lamp to the solar charger

Here you should be cautious. Do not rush into the cutting. In this step I used a knife to enlarge the hole opposite of the mounting hole I drilled in the previous step.

I modified the lip of the lamp and glued it into the little notch of the solar plastic. Next, I epoxied it there to make it even stronger. I also added some of the epoxy to the wires to secure them and the other circuitry.

Figure 6 : Fitting before you cut is a good idea

6. Mount the light onto your bike

I mounted the whole contraption by removing my front reflector and just using the same screw and mounting plastic of the garden lamp.

Be sure to use a screwdriver to tighten (or loosen) things so that you can position the lamp to your liking.

Now that was easy. Have fun! Wear a helmet!

Figure 7 : Bike assembly

Figure 8 : Ready to go!