VICMAX A8 8X CREE XM-L2 LED Max input voltage?

Fabian

I have a VICMAX A8 Led bike light. It comes with a 8.4V 1A Li-ion smart charger to charge the battery pack.

Here is a web link for the light:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/VICMAX-A8-13000-lumen-8x-CREE-XM-L2-LED-Front-Head-Bike-Bicycle-Cycling-Lamp-light/32543657145.html

I abandon the battery pack and bought a dc-dc 24v-7.5v dc buck converter which I connect to my ebike 24v battery to power the Led light.

What I want to know is if its safe to power the light from 9V? as I was planning to buy a 24v-9v dc buck converter to use which would make the light much brighter.

Seeing that 9v is not far from the 8.4v output of the charger as when the battery pack is fully charge it reads 8.4v would the 9v cause any issues with the circuit or the led bulbs causing them to degrade faster or burn them out immediately or any other issues?

if not would it be safe to run it on the 9v constantly like with the 7.5v?

mike95490

LED's are a current device, not a voltage device.   Most "lights" have a internal driver to control the current.

Estragon

My understanding may be flawed (if so, constructive critics welcomed). At a higher voltage, the risk would be insulation within the light being insufficient to prevent an arc/short. 8.4v to 9v seems to me to be likely within a reasonably safe range though.

That said, some DC-DC converters are fixed output, and others proportional. If proportional, and the bike battery charges at say 29v, the light may see more like 11v.

Fabian

i test the 7.5v converter. It always read 7.5v

BB.

With LEDs, the actual explanation is more complex...

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are forward biased diodes. And they have highly variable "resistance". Depending on current and temperature, the "resistance" can either drop the light output by a bunch, or let so much current through (hot LEDs, the lower the threshold voltage), the LEDs overheat and fail.

Typically, for LEDs, you have a voltage source and some sort of "ballast" to control the current flow (1.0 amp, or whatever). That can be a simple resistor (wasted energy "heating" the resistor to limit current flow). Or, instead of a "voltage regulator", you use a "current regulator" instead (turns out that voltage and current switching power supply regulators are almost the same--Just a change to the feedback circuit).

So, when you have an 8.4 volt Li Iion battery bank (18650 cells, probably 4.2 volts maximum), you can either have a "simple" resistor circuit to limit current (and as the battery bank discharges/drops voltage, the resistor lets less current through)... Or you can use any number of different solutions (switching, buck switching regulator, etc.).

And, depending on the regulator type, that will set the acceptable input voltage.

If you want to hack your light... Here is a very good forum to browse through (lots of LED information and driver electronics):

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forum.php

-Bill

kc8adu

your xm-l2 led has a vf of around 3.2v.

so a 2s(8.4v) setup must use a buck driver.

i am guessing you have a light based on a common flashlight driver and many of those run up to 4s without issue.

a pic of the driver will help a lot.