In article <[email hidden]>, "Steven M. Scharf"
Quoted message said:
There are a lot of toy-like headlight and tail lights out there that will give people a false
sense of security. A 2.4W headlight is not going to cut it, unless perhaps it is an HID 2.4W
headlight!
Just for laffs, I bought one of those "toy" generator/headlight/taillight combos (from Canadian
Tire). The thing is surprisingly effective. 3W is 3W, after all.
I did forego the stock headlight, and instead mounted one of my U-100's. The weak link of the setup
is the mounting hardware -- some sort of tinplate-y, bendable bracket. I replaced it with some real
hardware purchased from the local community-based bike shop. And the generator housing is a durable
plastic, but that's all right. After all, it's not like a herd of buffaloes is going to stampede
over the durn thing. It has performed wonderfully through several Vancouver downpours. I did mount
the stock headlight on yet another bike, wired to a real Union generator. It works good, too. It has
a good lens, but the housing is cheap plastic.
All my generator setups use 2-conductor leads. It's much more dependable that way, than the
1-conductor thing with screws digging into paint.
Tonight I did another run with my generator/headlight setup, and it performed wonderfully, as usual.
I've got the U-100 headlight mounted on my left fork blade, as if it was a front-wheel "block"
generator setup, although the generator is really on the back wheel. It casts some light to the
sides, in a sort of sunset transom window effect -- long needles of illumination radiating in a
fan-like config. That serves to illuminate street signs, show where the dead squirrels are in the
road, and light up ppl on either sidewalk.
There's also a concentrated, fat, lonzenge-shaped spot in front, that readily shows what's in the
road ahead. With my li'l Cateye casting its spot slightly ahead & overlapping the headlight spot, I
can easily discern what I'm about to ride through. There's a bit of a knack to not over-riding the
spot, and peripherally seeing what's going on at the sides as well as up front, but it's not rocket
science. No more than keeping a straight line while shoulder-checking, anyways. One consideration is
using the spot to warn sidelong traffic at intersections that a cyclist is coming through. My setup
works very well for that, too -- especially when supplemented with the Cateye to lengthen the spot.
But it's very speed-dependent. Again, the trick is to not over-ride the spot.
Maybe those scattergun hi-wattage battery lights are good for ppl who don't have, and don't want to
acquire the skills to use real, optical, Fresnel-like headlights at night.
Quoted message said:The whole 2.4W headlight/0.6W taillight thing came about because of German law which required 3W.
There are, and have been for yonks, 6W units available, too. And generator output can be easily
tweeked by changing the size of the drivewheel. I like 'em as-is, because I've gotta deal with lots
of hills, and my ton o' bricks bike ain't exactly a kite. So the smallish, stock drivewheels still
give me lots of output when grunting it up the hump.
Quoted message said:Above all, get a good tail lamp, a Xenon strobe is incredibly bright, with average power of less
than 2W.
I've got a real good blinkie (cost me all of $20, and has a good reflector built-in), plus my 0.6W
taillight that tells ppl behind me that I'm stopping when it fades out. Oh yeah -- generator lights
have that natural semaphore effect, too. Pretty good, eh?
cheers, Tom
--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca
