rear light

Katharine & Paul said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Quoted message said:

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!).

Part of the point of a flashing bike light is it makes it clear you
are a bicycle. Just make sure its a fast flasher with no appreciable
dark time, say a cateye EL-600, and change the batteries before you
notice the need, say monthly.

Katharine & Paul said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Does this sound like a dumb idea? Anyone tried it?

Tried what?
I have a 6W/20W truck incandescent solid light
A 15 (?) LED flasher (the jaycar mag base one)
Did have a 6" reflector (sissy bar one)
3" reflectors on reat pannier pocket strap
X-over safety vest.
Ride quieter route whenever possible.

Quoted message said:

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!). And hook that up to a
battery. Anyone know how much power they consume?

What Brand and model did you have in mind?
I could always trip down to SuperCheapauto/autobarn/etc/etc/etc and see.

Quoted message said:

I assume 12Volts will be required. Any tips on batteries to set it up???

Not neccessarily. Leds are usually less than/equal to 2 volts, so either

1) you wire each one up for reliability with is own resistor and burn
off 10/12 volts[1], or

2) you wire them in strings and thus loose a bunch/string when one fails.

The real problem is that the only 2V battery they make is kind heavy
(lead acid for solar arrays)

[1] Yer, you really need to limit the current through a led, but most
people find it easier just to calc the resistor to give the voltage.

Quoted message said:

"Katharine & Paul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Does this sound like a dumb idea? Anyone tried it?

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!). And hook that up to a
battery. Anyone know how much power they consume?

I assume 12Volts will be required. Any tips on batteries to set it up???

Saw this posted in another forum recently -
http://www.dinottelighting.com/DiNotte_Lighting_Ultra_Tail_Light.htm
I reckon that'd melt anything coming up behind... ;-)

In article <[email hidden]>,

OzCableguy said:

Saw this posted in another forum recently -
http://www.dinottelighting.com/DiNotte_Lighting_Ultra_Tail_Light.htm
I reckon that'd melt anything coming up behind... ;-)

Questions whether it's actually legal. It'll blind motorists.
--

OzCableguy said:

"Katharine & Paul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Does this sound like a dumb idea? Anyone tried it?

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!). And hook that up to a
battery. Anyone know how much power they consume?

I assume 12Volts will be required. Any tips on batteries to set it up???

Saw this posted in another forum recently -
http://www.dinottelighting.com/DiNotte_Lighting_Ultra_Tail_Light.htm
I reckon that'd melt anything coming up behind... ;-)

Holy [censored] - that thing is nuts!

I have and highly recommend the Cateye TL-LD1000
http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/280

Its really bright and since I replaced my old light cars give me a very
wide berth. You can get great deals for them on Ebay.

Or is that way too simple? 🙂

I suppose that is the thing also. Depth perception is not as good with a
flashing light. I would use a solid as well as a flashing light

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

Quoted message said:

Katharine & Paul said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Quoted message said:

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!).

Part of the point of a flashing bike light is it makes it clear you
are a bicycle. Just make sure its a fast flasher with no appreciable
dark time, say a cateye EL-600, and change the batteries before you
notice the need, say monthly.

Katharine & Paul said:

I suppose that is the thing also. Depth perception is not as good with a
flashing light. I would use a solid as well as a flashing light

The only study I've seen on this showed depth perception and motion
tracking to be a problem with about a 20% duty cycle. Lights that run 50%+
duty cycle don't seem to be a problem - I can easily judge location and
movement on a decent rear LED, but the front ones that flash once a second
are bloody hard to pick.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
A General Manager who was channeling Captain Bligh only without the
competent seamanship - Patrick R. Wade.

Aeek said:

Katharine & Paul said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Quoted message said:

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!).

Part of the point of a flashing bike light is it makes it clear you
are a bicycle. Just make sure its a fast flasher with no appreciable
dark time, say a cateye EL-600, and change the batteries before you
notice the need, say monthly.

The flashing frequency is set by law. I can't be bothered looking it up.

Friday

Katharine & Paul said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Does this sound like a dumb idea? Anyone tried it?

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!). And hook that up to a
battery. Anyone know how much power they consume?

I assume 12Volts will be required. Any tips on batteries to set it up???

Nah, why not go with conventional bicycle lights? Lightweight, reasonably budget priced and easier to find or charge batteries. I've got three rear lights, one on the pannier rack, one on seat post and another "emergency" flickie permanently araldited to the saddle rails. If you're still concerned about visability, get reflective tape or track down Sidelights, I've got a huge strip of orange reflective tape attached to the rear SKS guard, refer here, just ignore the slightly airborne cyclist .. 😉
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035538080@N01/112291312/

In aus.bicycle on 07 Sep 2006 11:52:17 GMT

Dave Hughes said:

The only study I've seen on this showed depth perception and motion
tracking to be a problem with about a 20% duty cycle. Lights that run 50%+
duty cycle don't seem to be a problem - I can easily judge location and
movement on a decent rear LED, but the front ones that flash once a second
are bloody hard to pick.

Definitely. I see them on my way home, most obviously on the Bridge.
See a bright flash, can't see much else, and can't really work out how
far away they are in the long interval between flashes.

And don't even think about the ones whose only front light is a fairly
feeble yellow flashing LED.

Zebee

I went to a very interesting presentation on Tuesday night by a group call Talsico on Human Error Reduction. One of the topics discussed was Attention Activators and what are the best ways of getting attention from humans. In order are:
1. Sound
2. Motion or change in pattern (i.e. flashing light!)
3. Colour
4. Shape
5. Text (this is very far down the list in grabbing attention)

I was out driving last night and it occured to me just how many lights there are on cars and around us on the streets especially in busy areas and a solid rear light isn't going to stand out much.

My feeling is flashing lights on the rear and a few of them at different heights (as sugested by others) is the most effective way of being noticed. I have the small LED lights on my helmet, white flashing at the front and red flashing at the back as well as a permanent light attached to my rack and another I slip onto the saddle bag. The batteries in them last some time even with daily use.

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 8 Sep 2006 07:36:44 +1000

SuzieB said:

I was out driving last night and it occured to me just how many lights
there are on cars and around us on the streets especially in busy areas
and a solid rear light isn't going to stand out much.

As long as the flashing light is large enough - that is not a single
LED unless that LED has serious optics like the German dynamo ones -
then I think it's fine for the rear but I prefer a solid light as
well.

For the front I think the light has to be powerful enough. I don't
think a 3 LED yellow flasher is enough to overcome the other lights
around the place.

Again I think it needs to be reinforced with a solid light. Give a
good point of reference.

Attracting notice isn't the only use of a light. Once someone has the
"something flashed" idea, they need to know what that something is,
and what to do about it.

They need to have an idea of where it is, how fast it is coming
towards them (or they towards it) and what it's likely to be doing.

Zebee

SuzieB said:

I went to a very interesting presentation on Tuesday night by a group
call Talsico on Human Error Reduction. One of the topics discussed was
Attention Activators and what are the best ways of getting attention
from humans. In order are:
1. Sound
2. Motion or change in pattern (i.e. flashing light!)
3. Colour
4. Shape
5. Text (this is very far down the list in grabbing attention)

I was out driving last night and it occured to me just how many lights
there are on cars and around us on the streets especially in busy areas
and a solid rear light isn't going to stand out much.

My feeling is flashing lights on the rear and a few of them at
different heights (as sugested by others) is the most effective way of
being noticed.

I,m sure thats exactly right. The eye is drawn to movement and change
much more than it is to light. Especially when there are many lights.
There is probably a reason aircraft have flashing strobes. 🙂
Otherwise there would be a lot of. "Look at that star.. is is venus?
Its awful big... FA@##....."

Dave

"Katharine & Paul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm a bit concerned about my rear visibility.

Does this sound like a dumb idea? Anyone tried it?

Get a truck LED tailight (a smaller one obviously!). And hook that up to a
battery. Anyone know how much power they consume?

I assume 12Volts will be required. Any tips on batteries to set it up???

If you use truck lights they will be 24 volts not 12V. You can buy ultra
bright bicycle leds that are specially made for cycling and use one on the
bike and a personal one for yourself, they are very effective. And they
comply with road safsty regs as well. Truck electrics are a little on the
big and heavy side to be toting around on a bike.
Cheers

On 2006-09-07, Zebee Johnstone (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 8 Sep 2006 07:36:44 +1000

SuzieB said:

I was out driving last night and it occured to me just how many lights
there are on cars and around us on the streets especially in busy areas
and a solid rear light isn't going to stand out much.

As long as the flashing light is large enough - that is not a single
LED unless that LED has serious optics like the German dynamo ones -
then I think it's fine for the rear but I prefer a solid light as
well.

Um Zebee, optics don't make a light brighter. Well, unless we are
talking about restricting their angle of usefulness -- not really a
good thing to do, as a previous person mentioned the passing car that
yelled "where's your lights?"

Of course, add to this the fact that not all LEDs are created equal.
Take the 5 leds that my boss had on his 1980's bike. Much much less
bright than each single LED I've got on my helmet.

Hey, am I in Dubbo?

I just passed a hotel called "double D". A front for another kind of
business?

--
TimC
Radioactive cats have 18 half-lives.

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 22 Sep 2006 05:35:37 GMT

TimC said:

On 2006-09-07, Zebee Johnstone (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As long as the flashing light is large enough - that is not a single
LED unless that LED has serious optics like the German dynamo ones -
then I think it's fine for the rear but I prefer a solid light as
well.

Um Zebee, optics don't make a light brighter. Well, unless we are
talking about restricting their angle of usefulness -- not really a
good thing to do, as a previous person mentioned the passing car that
yelled "where's your lights?"

It's not about brightness, it's about visibility. Good optics can
make a light more visible from more angles.

Zebee