Lights

In article <[email hidden]>,

mark said:

A few weeks back I upgraded my lighting system with a Shimano hub generator,
a Busch & Müller halogen headlight, and a Cateye TL-LD1000 taillight, the
one with 10 LEDs.

I'm jealous :-)

....

Quoted message said:

The hub generator and headlight combo is really nice, BTW.

You have a gift for understatement :-)

Quoted message said:

A good part of my
commute is on well-paved but unlit roads and shared use paths. The battery
powered Cateye LED headlight that I had before was barely adequate to tell
other vehicle operators I was there, but the new setup actually lets me
maintain some speed and enjoy it.

Just out of curiosity, where on your bike do you have
your headlight mounted? I find lights mounted up on the
handlebar are too high to cast enough shadow to give some
objects in the road a 3-D appearance. I currently have
my own (generator powered) headlight mounted in the
traditional location of the fork brake-bolt. That seems
to be the sweet spot. I've also had it on the left fork
blade, which works fairly well too.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"mark" writes:
A few weeks back I upgraded my lighting system with a Shimano hub
generator,
a Busch & Müller halogen headlight, and a Cateye TL-LD1000 taillight, the
one with 10 LEDs.

I'm jealous :-)

I justified it to myself on the grounds that I very seldom finish work
before sunset, and the Schmidt hub generator was more suited to my tastes
than my budget (Schmidt = $200+, Shimano = $90).

Quoted message said:

...

Quoted message said:

The hub generator and headlight combo is really nice, BTW.

You have a gift for understatement :-)

When I win the lottery I'm upgrading to the Schmidt with an E6 secondary
light. First I'll have to start buying lottery tickets, though.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A good part of my
commute is on well-paved but unlit roads and shared use paths. The
battery
powered Cateye LED headlight that I had before was barely adequate to
tell
other vehicle operators I was there, but the new setup actually lets me
maintain some speed and enjoy it.

Just out of curiosity, where on your bike do you have
your headlight mounted? I find lights mounted up on the
handlebar are too high to cast enough shadow to give some
objects in the road a 3-D appearance. I currently have
my own (generator powered) headlight mounted in the
traditional location of the fork brake-bolt. That seems
to be the sweet spot. I've also had it on the left fork
blade, which works fairly well too.

My headlight is on the fork brake-bolt, works beautifully, I see no reason
to experiment with other locations.
--
mark

mark said:

A few weeks back I upgraded my lighting system with a Shimano hub generator,
a Busch & Müller halogen headlight, and a Cateye TL-LD1000 taillight, the
one with 10 LEDs. Last night I was cycling home just after midnight. As I
came off the bike path and stopped at a red light, a police car pulled up
alongside me. The officer told me that my lights were so bright that he
thought there was a motor vehicle on the bike path! Nice to know that I'm
getting some visibility in return for my investment.

The hub generator and headlight combo is really nice, BTW. A good part of my
commute is on well-paved but unlit roads and shared use paths. The battery
powered Cateye LED headlight that I had before was barely adequate to tell
other vehicle operators I was there, but the new setup actually lets me
maintain some speed and enjoy it.
--
mark

It must be the time of year to start thinking of lights. I now have 7hrs
worth of light in 2- 6V battery packs for my Cygo Lite.

My kid's RC car broke and I had these 2 battery pack laying around so I
figured I play around with the soldering iron and rig up a battery pack.
I hooked together 15 AA size Ni-cads and soldered on a radio shack end
that's the same as the original. I couldn't believe how well it worked.
3:45 before it died and the pack size is smaller than the original.

mark said:

A few weeks back I upgraded my lighting system with a Shimano hub generator,
a Busch & Müller halogen headlight, and a Cateye TL-LD1000 taillight, the
one with 10 LEDs. Last night I was cycling home just after midnight. As I
came off the bike path and stopped at a red light, a police car pulled up
alongside me. The officer told me that my lights were so bright that he
thought there was a motor vehicle on the bike path! Nice to know that I'm
getting some visibility in return for my investment.

Is that the Lumotec headlight?

mark said:

When I win the lottery I'm upgrading to the Schmidt with an E6 secondary

Me too. I could have a dynamite dynamo system on my commute bike for
only $500 or so. That's only about 167 gallons of gasoline!

"SMS" wrote

Quoted message said:

Is that the Lumotec headlight?

It is. It has the sensor that turns the light on when it gets dark, which
strikes me as really silly. It also has the standlight feature, which I
really like.
--
mark

SMS said:

I could have a dynamite dynamo system on my commute bike for
only $500 or so. That's only about 167 gallons of gasoline!

My excellent dynamo system cost me way less than $100, and that's with
two switchable headlamps plus a switchable taillamp. If I didn't enjoy
the experimenting, I could have done a simple system for about $40.

It's all in what you know, I guess!

- Frank Krygowski

Quoted message said:

SMS said:

I could have a dynamite dynamo system on my commute bike for
only $500 or so. That's only about 167 gallons of gasoline!

My excellent dynamo system cost me way less than $100, and that's with
two switchable headlamps plus a switchable taillamp. If I didn't enjoy
the experimenting, I could have done a simple system for about $40.

It's all in what you know, I guess!

A cheap chinese wal-mart level dynamo system (headlight, taillight, bottle
generator, wires) can be had for $8. Plenty effective, just heavy and
fragile.

Jasper

Chuck said:

My kid's RC car broke and I had these 2 battery pack laying around so I
figured I play around with the soldering iron and rig up a battery pack.
I hooked together 15 AA size Ni-cads and soldered on a radio shack end
that's the same as the original. I couldn't believe how well it worked.
3:45 before it died and the pack size is smaller than the original.

How do you plan on recharging a 15-nicd cell pack? Or d'you use those
battery holder things?

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

Chuck said:

My kid's RC car broke and I had these 2 battery pack laying around so I
figured I play around with the soldering iron and rig up a battery pack.
I hooked together 15 AA size Ni-cads and soldered on a radio shack end
that's the same as the original. I couldn't believe how well it worked.
3:45 before it died and the pack size is smaller than the original.

How do you plan on recharging a 15-nicd cell pack? Or d'you use those
battery holder things?

The Electrify Triton will charge up to 24 NiMH/NiCad batteries in
series. Having to separate packs and/or batteries in order to charge
them is a PITA.

Jasper Janssen said:

A cheap chinese wal-mart level dynamo system (headlight, taillight, bottle
generator, wires) can be had for $8. Plenty effective, just heavy and
fragile.

The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
limited amount of light that is available.

When you're commuting by bicycle, it's critical to have reliable
lighting, that is bright enough to see, and be seen. A hub generator and
the Lumotec headlamp are expensive, but well worth it for people that
don't want to bother with batteries.

The original poster was right about the inadequacy of LED lights.

SMS said:

Jasper Janssen said:

A cheap chinese wal-mart level dynamo system (headlight, taillight, bottle
generator, wires) can be had for $8. Plenty effective, just heavy and
fragile.

The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
limited amount of light that is available.

True. But they're sufficient, unless you want to go particularly fast.

Jasper

"Jasper Janssen" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

SMS said:

The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
limited amount of light that is available.

True. But they're sufficient, unless you want to go particularly fast.

Jasper

Not reliable, no over voltage protection, difficult to attach, lousy optics.
Just what are they sufficient for?
--
mark

mark said:

Not reliable, no over voltage protection, difficult to attach, lousy optics.
Just what are they sufficient for?

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

Chuck said:

My kid's RC car broke and I had these 2 battery pack laying around so I
figured I play around with the soldering iron and rig up a battery pack.
I hooked together 15 AA size Ni-cads and soldered on a radio shack end
that's the same as the original. I couldn't believe how well it worked.
3:45 before it died and the pack size is smaller than the original.

How do you plan on recharging a 15-nicd cell pack? Or d'you use those
battery holder things?

Jasper

I taped and soldered them together in a series-paralell circuit then
soldered on the same end that the Cygo light came with. I then cut a
water bottle to half size and put the pack in it just like the original,
only smaller. What I did was take 5 batteries in series and mounted 3
packs of those paralell. The original pack put out 6.5 volt and this one
puts out 6.2 volt and charges overnight with the original charger that
came with the light.

mark said:

"Jasper Janssen" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

SMS said:

The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
limited amount of light that is available.

True. But they're sufficient, unless you want to go particularly fast.

Quoted message said:

Not reliable, no over voltage protection, difficult to attach, lousy optics.
Just what are they sufficient for?

Actually, they are reliable, over voltage protection is unnecessary unless
you overdo the speed or use halogens, they're easy to attach, optics are
admittedly lousy, but good enough.

Sufficient for most people.

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

mark said:

"Jasper Janssen" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:22:39 GMT, SMS wrote:

>The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
>over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
>properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
>limited amount of light that is available.

True. But they're sufficient, unless you want to go particularly fast.

Quoted message said:

Not reliable, no over voltage protection, difficult to attach, lousy optics.
Just what are they sufficient for?

Actually, they are reliable, over voltage protection is unnecessary unless
you overdo the speed or use halogens, they're easy to attach, optics are
admittedly lousy, but good enough.

Sufficient for most people.

Wouldn't take much to add over-voltage protection, just need the right
sized voltage regulator put it between the generator and the light, and
voila, no more over voltages..... There might be room inside the light
for the chip, it needs three connections, INPUT (from the generator),
output (to the light) and ground (steel or aluminum bike frame usually).
Would be easy enough to take the chip, add a wire on each side, and a
screw to attach it, the ground terminal could be connected to the screw.

Small over voltages are probably okay, a 3V lamp with a 4V or 5V
regulator is probably as good as a 3V regulator. The regulator needs to
be able to handle a large over voltage, like 40V.

W

SMS said:

Jasper Janssen said:

How do you plan on recharging a 15-nicd cell pack? Or d'you use those
battery holder things?

The Electrify Triton will charge up to 24 NiMH/NiCad batteries in
series. Having to separate packs and/or batteries in order to charge
them is a PITA.

:-) Interesting that the guy who claims generator sets are too
expensive is recommending the Triton charger!

That charger _alone_ costs way over $100. And you still need to add
the cost of the batteries, lamp, etc.

- Frank Krygowski

mark said:

"Jasper Janssen" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

SMS said:

The el-cheapo dynamo systems are not reliable. They don't have
over-voltage protection on the lamps, they often are difficult to attack
properly, and the optics are not very good, so they waste a lot of the
limited amount of light that is available.

True. But they're sufficient, unless you want to go particularly fast.

Jasper

Not reliable, no over voltage protection, difficult to attach, lousy optics.
Just what are they sufficient for?

Actually, my experience is that SMS's complaints are generally
groundless. There may be terrible generator systems out there, but the
last time I had one on a bike was at least 15 years ago, and I got that
at a surplus store.

I've put cheap (i.e. less then $15) *-mart generators on a couple
friends' bikes, and they've worked well - one of them, for many years
now. Yes, the plastic generator bodies look suspicious, but they seem
to be holding up perfectly.

Difficult to attach? Any generator requires a _little_ mechanical
skill to attach and align with the wheel, but it's certainly no worse
than fixing a flat tire on a bike. A little electrical sense is needed
too, but it's less than, say, setting up your stereo. Admittedly, if
you can't do such things, you should stay away from generators - but
most cyclists can follow simple technical directions.

Overvoltage protection is not necessarily needed. Bike generators are
designed to be self regulating to a large degree. Contrary to some
people's belief, voltage does not rise endlessly with speed.

Now, those two units I installed came with ordinary vacuum bulbs. I
replaced them with halogen bulbs, and I worried, because halogens are
more sensitive to overvoltage. But I did not install any regulator
(see my other post about those things) yet the bulbs have been fine.
Admittedly, one of those was installed just a few months ago, but the
other is at least five years old.

Regarding the optics: That was, to me, the most pleasant surprise with
these headlights. The beam shape was very good, much better than I
anticipated. There is no problem with wasting light. Of course, I
don't know about other no-name-brand lamps. But given SMS's habit of
putting down generator lights, I suspect he doesn't really know either!

- Frank Krygowski