I drilled into my Li-Ion packs!

[joe]

No joke :D

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/normal_batterypack_holes2.jpg

This is part of another IKEA (http://forums.segwaychat.com/showthread.php?p=142683&highlight=ikea#post142683) i2 pimping... IKEA sells LED sticks called DIODER and I implanted four of them into the spacers of the lithium packs.

They run at 12 volts, so I had to fit ten rechargeable batteries @ 1.2 volts somewhere... I found an ingenious place:

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/normal_aa_batteries.jpg

(This was for a test only, I bought rechargeable AA batteries with soldering tags and built a custom pack with heat shrink tube that fits 100% in the gearbox spacer.)

I added some switches and a charging connector:

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/normal_light_switches.jpg

Each stick features 9 RGB LEDs and a small electronic controls them. I can choose a fixed color (red, green, blue, yellow, turquoise, purple, white), cycling through these colors every second, or a very smooth transition from one color to the other. :D Here we go:

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/normal_underbody_lights_green.jpg

More pics in my user gallery (http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=98).

--
Johannes

[Socrates]

Hi Johannes,

it looks great! The way how this was made is a masterpiece of engeneering. I hope I will see it in Steyr.

Alex

[macgeek]

Bravo!!!!

Excellent job, and great "Pimp"

:)

Jonathan

[gbrandwood]

I'm jealous of all you guys pimping away. I'm struggling to get a handlebar bag on my seg! :rolleyes:

Joe, it looks great. But, I've got to ask, will it affect the cooling of the batteries?

[KSagal]

I think this is great! I wish I had thought to use a drill from the side!

As far as cooling, I don't think there would be much affect. I have hollowed out all those little walls that are about 1 inch apart on my batteries to install lights as well, and took each one out by hand...

With or without the LED Lights, I saw no percieveable difference. I did this on my e-167 last year, and was still monitoring heat at the time. The LEDs that I used generated very little heat. I think if there was some radiant cooling of the aluminum bottom of the base, it was not significantly affected...

Again, this is great! Good luck.

[SEGsby]

Mmm. Segway Tron.

Excellent.

SEGsby

[Dwarf84396]

What kind of a throw can you get underneath the machine? How well does this light up the pavement?

[snake1111]

i am not sure i got what you are doing. but i defenitly looking foward to see it steyr for a closer look :)

[joe]

I'll post some pictures "in action" at night when the rain stops. The 36 LEDs are bright enough for a "glowing pillow" at dawn or night, but they are invisible at daylight. They consume up to 420 mA (white), so the 3000 mAh batteries will easily outpace the Li-Ions. :)

There should be no heat problems at all. The LEDs stay cool and the holes are not for cooling the battery packs - at best for the motors, a little bit.

--
Johannes

[joe]

These pictures were taken almost at darkness, on grey concrete in front of a white painted wall, without flash. It's quite difficult to get the 'right' setting to demonstrate the effect...

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/thumb_ubl_green.jpg http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/thumb_ubl_purple.jpg http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/thumb_ubl_turquoise.jpg http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/thumb_ubl_white.jpg

The red stripe is NOT the standard reflective material but a self luminescent foil (http://forums.segwaychat.com/showthread.php?p=144290#post144290).

This is a picture taken with flash:

http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13972/normal_underbody_light_with_flash.jpg

Bigger photos:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=98

--
Johannes

[snake1111]

nice pimping!! i am sooo jealous.