vista lite bulb replacement

Upon further review...... I located my Vistalite owners manual and it says to use an MR11 bulb. I
did a search on google for "MR11" and there seems to be a number of sources for this bulb type. The
prices are far less than the $20 - $30 that other sources have.

Maybe that helps. I apologize for not being more thorough with my first post.

Jim

"jmk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill,

The good news is that these guys have them:

secure.gulf.netindex.cfmOpen ↗

The bad news is that they are $30.00!!! Where are you finding replacement bulbs for $20?

I corresponded with Vistalite several months ago, and I asked about their intentions to support
the Nightstick systems in the future. Their

response

Quoted message said:

was less than encouraging, and they indicated that they no longer support the product. The only
lights that Vistalite does support are the ones

that

Quoted message said:

contain batteries, the $20-ish products. Vistalite was acquired by Bell, IIRC. There may have been
a subsequent acquisition as well.

I'm planning an "exit strategy" and a possible move to Nightrider or whatever the Light du jour is
when my bulbs fry.

Good Luck, Jim

"bill.raley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:QGLS9.602243$WL3.178962@rwcrnsc54...

Quoted message said:

I have been told it is proprietary and so I am supposed to pay over $20

for

Quoted message said:

a freaking bulb? Is there any alternative? I will not buy a vista lite product anymore

if

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

there is not.

I am not familiar with the bulbs so maybe someone can suggest another

bulb

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

that will work in it? It is the nightstick version..

Thanks!

Bill-West Lafayette IN.

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Bicycle Garage Indy (Indianapolis). I am not sure where in the $20s it was, but between $20 and $30.
I believe it was something like $27.

Still way too much. VistaLite should consider that they have lost a customer that is ready to buy a
new lightset because they overprice their bulb.

Truth is, one of the two lights that I bought at Galyans Indianapolis NEVER worked and they did not
have a replacement. I never dreamed that a bulb would be so expensive.

The same bike shop can get the entire light fixture for less than $40 dollars. That includes the
bulb!!!!! Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out this scenario.

I will shop for a different light from a different company.

This is simply my opinion.

jmk said:

Upon further review...... I located my Vistalite owners manual and it says to use an MR11 bulb. I
did a search on google for "MR11" and there seems to be a number of sources for this bulb type.
The prices are far less than the $20 - $30 that other sources have.

Maybe that helps. I apologize for not being more thorough with my first post.

Jim

You can get MR-11 bulbs for less that bike specific ones from Vistalite or NiteRider, but the VL and
NR bulb are going to be brighter. They are "overvolted" bulbs, designed to be run around 5.2 volts
instead of 6V, thus when you put 6V into them, they put out more light. They are also likely to have
better optics for cycling than some of the more generic bulbs that often put out a very wide beam.

If you find a source of overvolted bulbs in narrow beam patterns for less than $20 please do post
the source. I'd be most interested.

Baird

Quoted message said:

"jmk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill,

The good news is that these guys have them:

secure.gulf.netindex.cfmOpen ↗

The bad news is that they are $30.00!!! Where are you finding replacement bulbs for $20?

I corresponded with Vistalite several months ago, and I asked about their intentions to support
the Nightstick systems in the future. Their

response

Quoted message said:

was less than encouraging, and they indicated that they no longer support the product. The only
lights that Vistalite does support are the ones

that

Quoted message said:

contain batteries, the $20-ish products. Vistalite was acquired by Bell, IIRC. There may have
been a subsequent acquisition as well.

I'm planning an "exit strategy" and a possible move to Nightrider or whatever the Light du jour
is when my bulbs fry.

Good Luck, Jim

"bill.raley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:QGLS9.602243$WL3.178962@rwcrnsc54...

Quoted message said:

I have been told it is proprietary and so I am supposed to pay over $20

for

Quoted message said:

a freaking bulb? Is there any alternative? I will not buy a vista lite product anymore

if

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

there is not.

I am not familiar with the bulbs so maybe someone can suggest another

bulb

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

that will work in it? It is the nightstick version..

Thanks!

Bill-West Lafayette IN.

Almost anything you find will be 12 volt system. The 5 volt ones are expensive and hard to find.

jmk said:

Upon further review...... I located my Vistalite owners manual and it says to use an MR11 bulb.

Baird Webel said:

You can get MR-11 bulbs for less that bike specific ones from Vistalite or NiteRider, but the VL
and NR bulb are going to be brighter. They are "overvolted" bulbs, designed to be run around 5.2
volts instead of 6V, thus when you put 6V into them, they put out more light.

Are you sure about this? If you want to overvolt, it seems more sensible to put one extra battery in
the pack, rather than commissioning custom bulbs.

Has anyone put a voltmeter on the output of a Vistalight Nightstick while it's running? Is it really
6.0 volts? Just curious.

Quoted message said:

They are also likely to have better optics for cycling than some of the more generic bulbs that
often put out a very wide beam.

For my homebuilt MR-11 unit, I just searched for a "spot" bulb, not a "flood." Of course, mine was
12 volts, so the search was much easier.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

"Frank Krygowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone put a voltmeter on the output of a Vistalight Nightstick while it's running? Is it
really 6.0 volts? Just curious.

I did this morning. It measured 6.3 volts.

Jim K jkruzit (AT) excite (DOT) com

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Frank Krygowski said:

Baird Webel said:

You can get MR-11 bulbs for less that bike specific ones from Vistalite or NiteRider, but the VL
and NR bulb are going to be brighter. They are "overvolted" bulbs, designed to be run around 5.2
volts instead of 6V, thus when you put 6V into them, they put out more light.

Are you sure about this? If you want to overvolt, it seems more sensible to put one extra battery
in the pack, rather than commissioning custom bulbs.

Yes, I am about as sure as I can be. The Nicad battery packs that come with VL 6V lighting heads are
definitely 5 cells at 1.2V per cell.

I agree with your sentiments, I wish they had just gone to a 6 cell battery; the only thing I can
figure is that they probably did this when they were wanting to continue using the cheap lead
acid batteries in with the lighting heads and these can't be raised to 7.2V as easily as the
Nicads or Nimh?

Baird

Bill in Indiana said:

Bicycle Garage Indy (Indianapolis). I am not sure where in the $20s it was, but between $20 and
$30. I believe it was something like $27.

Still way too much. VistaLite should consider that they have lost a customer that is ready to buy
a new lightset because they overprice their bulb.

Truth is, one of the two lights that I bought at Galyans Indianapolis NEVER worked and they did
not have a replacement. I never dreamed that a bulb would be so expensive.

The same bike shop can get the entire light fixture for less than $40 dollars. That includes the
bulb!!!!! Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out this scenario.

I will shop for a different light from a different company.

This is simply my opinion.

I would agree, but it isn't just VistaLite. I don't think you will find another company with much
cheaper bulbs. Most other companies make their 6V lights with MR-11 bulbs as well, so if you do find
cheaper bulbs from Niteriter or the like, you can usually use them in the VistaLite system. All my
VistaLite lighting heads have NR bulbs, but retail on these bulbs are around $20 as well. I got
lucky and found some in a closeout bin for $12.

Now if you want to really pay a lot for bulbs, buy an HID light.

VistaLite is out of the high powered light business in any case. Anything you find from them now are
simply close outs.

Baird

Baird Webel said:

Now if you want to really pay a lot for bulbs, buy an HID light.

Very true - but can they burn out? (Having no filament, operating by an arc discharge). (I really
don't know the answer - what would the failure mode be besides breakage?)

Regards,
--
Mark Janeba remove antispam phrase in address to reply

Bill Putnam said:

I have used a 6V 10W push in bulb in my old Union headlamp and found it to give more useful light
than 20W MR11 bulbs, and the Bisy and Lumotec headlamps have a better beam pattern than the Union.
There may be a concern with the higher wattage bulbs melting plastic parts in the
Bisy/Lumotec/Union headlamps, but I have never had any problem with this (most of my bike light
use is during cool/cold weather, however).

I just began playing with a 3" diameter Union headlamp, into which I inserted a halogen bulb from
Radio Shack. It's marked "Osram, 5.2V, .85A" (which is just 4.4 watts), and it cost just $4. The
light is very nice, and the beam pattern is such that it lights the road better than my 6 Watt
Vistalight 4xx series.

The actual voltage across the bulb is 5.8 Volts, when powered by my lead-acid six Volt battery. So
that's a bit overvolted too. I haven't used it enough to assess bulb life. I need to work out a
better mounting system than the temporary hose-clamp thing I've got for testing.

Quoted message said:

The Lumotec powered by a Schmidt hub generator with a 3W bulb, is adequate for my needs (urban
riding) anyway so I don't bother with all the expense and hassle of batteries anymore to get
marginally more light (at least compared to the 6 and 10 Watt MR11 systems).

Same here, although I don't have anything as expensive as the Schmidt. I sure like the idea of a
Schimdt, though.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

Mark Janeba said:

Baird Webel said:

Now if you want to really pay a lot for bulbs, buy an HID light.

Very true - but can they burn out? (Having no filament, operating by an arc discharge). (I really
don't know the answer - what would the failure mode be besides breakage?)

Regards,

I forget the technical explanation that I heard, something about the arc not lighting at start up.
Failure is apparently increased by on-off cycles, so HID should be turned on and left on. I've also
heard of a couple of HIDs that went bad from some moderately rough handling. I get the feeling that
HID is not the most robust technology, though I've had no problems myself. The $100+ for bulb
replacement increases my caution considerably.

Baird

Baird Webel said:

Frank Krygowski said:

Baird Webel said:

You can get MR-11 bulbs for less that bike specific ones from Vistalite or NiteRider, but the
VL and NR bulb are going to be brighter. They are "overvolted" bulbs, designed to be run around
5.2 volts instead of 6V, thus when you put 6V into them, they put out more light.

Are you sure about this? If you want to overvolt, it seems more sensible to put one extra
battery in the pack, rather than commissioning custom bulbs.

Yes, I am about as sure as I can be. The Nicad battery packs that come with VL 6V lighting heads
are definitely 5 cells at 1.2V per cell.

I agree with your sentiments, I wish they had just gone to a 6 cell battery; the only thing I can
figure is that they probably did this when they were wanting to continue using the cheap lead
acid batteries in with the lighting heads and these can't be raised to 7.2V as easily as the
Nicads or Nimh?

Hmmm. You may be right. Lead-acid cells are about 2 volts apiece, so going from 3 to 4 would get up
to 8 volts. That's enough overvoltage to _really_ shorten bulb life.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

jmk said:

"Frank Krygowski" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone put a voltmeter on the output of a Vistalight Nightstick while it's running? Is it
really 6.0 volts? Just curious.

I did this morning. It measured 6.3 volts.

Is that at the battery, or at the bulb? You may have some voltage drop in the wiring that
you missed.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

It was right on the battery.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Has anyone put a voltmeter on the output of a Vistalight Nightstick while it's running? Is it
really 6.0 volts? Just curious.

I did this morning. It measured 6.3 volts.

Is that at the battery, or at the bulb? You may have some voltage drop in the wiring that
you missed.

--
Frank Krygowski [email hidden]

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Ray Heindl said:

Baird Webel said:

I forget the technical explanation that I heard, something about the arc not lighting at start
up. Failure is apparently increased by on-off cycles, so HID should be turned on and left on.
I've also heard of a couple of HIDs that went bad from some moderately rough handling. I get the
feeling that HID is not the most robust technology, though I've had no problems myself. The $100+
for bulb replacement increases my caution considerably.

In principle, HID should be more robust than halogen because there's no filament to break.
However, there's often a long way from principle to reality. Starting tends to be hard on
discharge lamps, including HIDs and fluorescents. Also there's a lot more electronics in an HID,
including very high voltages, so there's more to fail besides the lamp. There are also various
chemical processes going on that can do nasty things to the inside of the lamp.

Are the bulbs replaceable by the user, or is the $100 also paying for a lot of labor? Or even for
a whole new fixture?

I'm not sure if it is just bulb or bulb+electronics, but my understanding is if you blow a bulb, the
replacement is about $100, and it is user replaceable.

Baird

Found MR11 6V 5w at Ace Hardware today. They were intended replacements for Christmas gadgets of
some sort. They were originally $3.99 but were HALF-PRICE.

I noticed the metal pins were ever-so slightly shorter than my original VL bulb, but tried it
anyway...and IT WORKS. The brand name was ""Sightsational Fiber Optics" The pins were ever so
slightly shorter but I tried them and they worked. ( I did tighten up the socket tab by slight
bending (squeezing it with a small knife) but I am not sure that it was necessary. Just like a
tight fit.)

They have a website www.FiberO.com

I cannot speak to the brighter bulb issue but this one is bright enough for
me. At $2.00 instead of $20 or $30, I will take lose the .8 watt and be happy!

Greenspeed Bill