Let's build some Race Lights!

[Wayne]

We need a new set of lights for the upcoming ISR race. I thought it might be fun to share this project.

The goal is a lighter weight, portable set of lights that runs on a small hobby battery. No need to lug around big heavy set of lights and car battery! Keeping things simple, and make maintenance at a race a snap. Maximum brightness level for easy spotting is a must.

I started looking at some possible lights and I ended up ordering up a bunch of these:

Amazon.com

I wanted an LED spot light, not a flood and wanted pretty low wattage. Even though the listing for these claims 99 watts, they draw closer to 16 watts @12 volts. Perfect, nice low amperage (1.33), so a simple DC switch can work the lights, no need for a relay. Are the lightest bright enough? Yeah! Testing seems to suggest they are perfect.

For the switches I picked these:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/zf-electronics/KFB2DNA1BBB/2027293

They are rather weatherproof, they are DC rated for 10 amps, they are momentary, IP65 - Dust Tight, Water Resistant. I think they will be a good choice. Basically they were in stock, cheapish and appeared to be weatherproof-ish with a good DC amp rating. Still waiting for these to arrive.

I wanted something simple for the wiring. After all the wiring seems to cause more troubles with light sets than anything. They get stepped on, yanked, etc. They always seem to fail in the middle of a race. So I decided to use some Cat6 patch cables and RJ45 plugs:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=40888

(These come in colors, so we can do a little color coding for the plugs and lights)

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5379

The wires for these are pretty durable and flexible while also rather cheap, so an easy choice. We went with the 25 foot length as 14 would have been a bit on the short side. Full copper wire and gold plated connections should help with corrosion.

I hope to use some transparent covering film to give the 4 different light colors. Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. I imagine it may need a few layers to get right.

So that is the basics of the shopping list. Think the rest will be supplies we have on hand and some 3D printing for handles, light boxes and brackets etc.

I'm thinking of using a square layout for the 4 lights rather than a vertical alignment. Each light will have a "light box" it shines into. This will act as a sun shade and also hold the coloring films. I hope to get the box very dark when the light is off. The lights will be able to be clamped to a mounting pole or similar structure.

That is the rough scope of the project.

Probably start on the design aspect right now..

 

[Wayne]

Here is my first idea for the light mounts. Mounting on a piece of EMT tubing. Remove 8 screws and it all comes apart.

Not sure I love it.

 

[Chris]

I don't mind it... I think the lights need to be a little farther apart... Just my thought.

 

[Wayne]

They still get light boxes over the lights.. Think that will be the fun part to figure out.

We will test it out and can for sure spread the lights apart more if needed. I'm a little concerned with the wind hitting them and trying to twist them around.

 

[Wayne]

We played around a bit with coloring the lights and some flying film, and about 4 or 5 layers of translucent seems to do the trick. Decided to keep it simple and will just tape the solored film right onto the lights. So think the basic structure for the lights is done. See what the ISR bosses think of the layout.

 

[Wayne]

And a simple handle for the button with RJ45 port on the bottom.

Got the buttons in today - Seem pretty nice.

 

[gnichola]

@Wayne I am curious how the plugs will hold up. In my experience, the little tab on the end of the cables break and then a solid connection becomes difficult. Musician patch cables are super durable and make very solid connections. I am sur how long the cable needs to be, the only you listed was 25', is that how long they need to be? Another option would be a single MIDI cable. They make solid connections as well and have 5 wires (as long as you get the right ones). I am pretty sure this one has a full 5 wires. https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-MID-525-Cable-Serviceable-5-pin/dp/B000068NUT

 

[Wayne]

Interesting I had not considered that, but the price of those are much higher. We will see how the RJ45 holds up. I already have them and think they will be fine. Cheap enough to always have a spare.

 

[gnichola]

Of course, the $25 is for all the cable right, you only need one, 4 lights and a ground = 5 wires

 

[Wayne]

Nope - one for each button pusher.

 

[Wayne]

I was asked to spread the lights further apart, so I doubled the arm length and also changed up the RJ-45 keystone location to make things cleaner and easier.

Here is old vs new:

And the keystone location:

The round hole is where the wiring will exit and connect to the light. This way the RJ45 is on the bottom and should stay pretty dry. I figure a glob of silicone to seal the wire hole will do the trick. If it is looking like the longer arm is going to be wimpy, I can slip some carbon rod into the arms.

 

[zeo0nie1]

30 AWG seems kinda sketchy for this, no? Is there much of a voltage drop? Are you doing one light per twisted pair?

These might be overkill for the amount of LEDs you have, but they are common for outdoor LED installations:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806304797706.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.0.0.40bd3c78DTZ01R&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt

 

[Wayne]

The RJ45 has 8 conductors, I only need 2 of them, so will combine 4 and 4 of them with the 2 wires, thus distributing the huge 1.3 amp load across all terminals. I'm mostly doing this for redundancy should one contact not be very good. In POE situations you are passing a lot more power than this application. So think it will be fine.

 

[zeo0nie1]

I see. I thought you were using two wires per 1.3A@12V light over 25 feet. POE uses two or four pairs and is generally over something thicker than 30AWG, hence the alarm.

 

[Wayne]

Nope - one patch cable per switch/light combo.

Here is the new improved handle and light hood:

Think this is done.. I need to get to a home improvement center and see what cheap pole options they have. Trying to source something others can track down with ease incase someone else wants to print these up. Think the EMT is maybe a little to light duty.

 

[Wayne]

That handle was not very comfortable.. LOL Yet another designed and off to printing.

 

[Wayne]

The final button handle is a good comfortable fit. Only took 3 tries.