50W halogen with Lumicycle?

Pete Biggs said:

Might be a laugh to try a 50 watt bulb, or two!......

1. Could a Lumicycle halogen lamp unit and wiring, etc take the heat?

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

Some of these lamps won't need your existing casing ... but they are
pricey!
--
Warning: This user suffers from narcolepppppppppp
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ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

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

Quoted message said:

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

Some of these lamps won't need your existing casing ... but they are
pricey!

Hmm.. interesting site. I especially liked the picture of the bike with a
reflector bracket attached to the seatpost, about a third of the way down
the page 😉

Rich

Richard Bates said:

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

Apparently, this bicycle has a reflector bracket attached to the seat post:

http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/seatpostbracket.jpg

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hmm.. interesting site. I especially liked the picture of the bike
with a reflector bracket attached to the seatpost, about a third of
the way down the page 😉

Rich

And there's more!

Interesting site none the less, despite the distractions...

--
Brian

Simonb said:

Richard Bates said:

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

Apparently, this bicycle has a reflector bracket attached to the seat post:

http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/seatpostbracket.jpg

What kind of saddle is that? I've never seen one with the springs at the
front?

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

Quoted message said:

Might be a laugh to try a 50 watt bulb, or two!......

1. Could a Lumicycle halogen lamp unit and wiring, etc take the heat?

The lamp unit would get seriously hot. I would hazard a guess that it
may get hot enough to melt the solder contacts on the switches. You
may be ok if it's a particularly cold day and you ride fast enough for
plenty of windchill!

Quoted message said:

2. Could the Li-ion battery take the drain without damage?

Shouldn't be a problem but you might be best checking specs from
Lumicycle.

Quoted message said:

(Nevermind about run time, this wouldn't be for serious use).

~PB

But I think the question really is why do you need 50W? It'd really
just be less runtime for no practical advantage. I suppose it would
warm your hands on cold days.

Spence

Spencer Rook said:

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

Quoted message said:

Might be a laugh to try a 50 watt bulb, or two!......

1. Could a Lumicycle halogen lamp unit and wiring, etc take the
heat?

The lamp unit would get seriously hot. I would hazard a guess that it
may get hot enough to melt the solder contacts on the switches. You
may be ok if it's a particularly cold day and you ride fast enough for
plenty of windchill!

Quoted message said:

2. Could the Li-ion battery take the drain without damage?

Shouldn't be a problem but you might be best checking specs from
Lumicycle.

Quoted message said:

(Nevermind about run time, this wouldn't be for serious use).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Quoted message said:

But I think the question really is why do you need 50W? It'd really
just be less runtime for no practical advantage. I suppose it would
warm your hands on cold days.

I thought I'd make it clear that I don't *need* 50W. I think it'd be fun
to see what it's like, that's all, and they only cost two quid. However,
I do need powerful lights for riding down unlit roads at high speed: 35W
would probably be the maximum I'd use for regular use, though.

Thanks for the opinions anyway.

cheers
~PB

Vincent Wilcox said:

Simonb said:

Richard Bates said:

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

Apparently, this bicycle has a reflector bracket attached to the seat post:

http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/seatpostbracket.jpg

What kind of saddle is that? I've never seen one with the springs at the
front?

It's what may get caught in the springs that concerns me.

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

Quoted message said:

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hmm.. interesting site. I especially liked the picture of the bike
with a reflector bracket attached to the seatpost, about a third of
the way down the page 😉

Rich

Quoted message said:

And there's more!

Mmm.. oh yes, so there is! I didn't have time to scroll that far down this
morning 🙂

Rich

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

Quoted message said:

http://nordicgroup.us/s78/#Watts%20Versus%20Lumens in the section
titled MR16 Lamp Based Headlamps

He's really got it in for dynamos, hasn't he!

(executive summary - "dynamos are really dreadfully unsafe because they're
not bright enough". Note no comment on light optics...).

cheers,
clive

Spencer Rook said:

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote...

Quoted message said:

Might be a laugh to try a 50 watt bulb, or two!......

1. Could a Lumicycle halogen lamp unit and wiring, etc take the heat?

The lamp unit would get seriously hot. I would hazard a guess that it
may get hot enough to melt the solder contacts on the switches. You
may be ok if it's a particularly cold day and you ride fast enough for
plenty of windchill!

I doubt it wll get that far - the thermal path to the switch is along
the wires (in which case you'll be melting the insulation and more at
risk of shorts), or along the reflector, then back along teh case (a
long and tortuous path, with a particularly high SA/V ratio.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Could the Li-ion battery take the drain without damage?

4A? Some Li-ions can certainly take it. You'd need to find out the
specs of the lumi battery. You could put two in parallel (which is
what you do if you're running high power motors from li-ion
batteries).

Assuming you find that the battery can take it, try it and see. The
rest of teh components are cheap and relatively easy to replace, or
likley to make much smoke or pong before becoming irreparably damaged.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Ian Smith said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

1. Could a Lumicycle halogen lamp unit and wiring, etc take the
heat?

The lamp unit would get seriously hot. I would hazard a guess that
it may get hot enough to melt the solder contacts on the switches.
You may be ok if it's a particularly cold day and you ride fast
enough for plenty of windchill!

I doubt it wll get that far - the thermal path to the switch is along
the wires (in which case you'll be melting the insulation and more at
risk of shorts), or along the reflector, then back along teh case (a
long and tortuous path, with a particularly high SA/V ratio.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Could the Li-ion battery take the drain without damage?

4A? Some Li-ions can certainly take it. You'd need to find out the
specs of the lumi battery. You could put two in parallel (which is
what you do if you're running high power motors from li-ion
batteries).

Actually, Lumicycle mention using two 35W lamps so I suppose one 50W would
be ok for the battery (4.4Ah).

Quoted message said:

Assuming you find that the battery can take it, try it and see. The
rest of teh components are cheap and relatively easy to replace, or
likley to make much smoke or pong before becoming irreparably damaged.

Thanks Ian.

~PB

in message <[email hidden]>, Pete Biggs

(') said:

Spencer Rook said:

But I think the question really is why do you need 50W? It'd really
just be less runtime for no practical advantage. I suppose it would
warm your hands on cold days.

I thought I'd make it clear that I don't *need* 50W. I think it'd be
fun
to see what it's like, that's all, and they only cost two quid.
However, I do need powerful lights for riding down unlit roads at high
speed: 35W would probably be the maximum I'd use for regular use,
though.

What is going on here? I've seen several similar opinions on this group
in the past few days. I used to use a dynamo with a bulb of some 3 or
so watts; it was fine for high speed road use. Last night I was up in
the forest with my lumicycles, and without really thinking about it,
whenever we came off a single track section onto fire road, I was
flipping my 20 watt light off - because frankly on unlit, unmetalled
fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10 watts is fine,
for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like as good as they
were 40 years ago.

Is it simply because younger people and/or urban people are so used to
so much light pollution that they can't see in the dark?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
"This young man has not the faintest idea how socialists think and does
not begin to understand the mentality of the party he has been elected
to lead. He is quite simply a liberal"
-- Ken Coates MEP (Lab) of Tony Blair

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote:

: fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10 watts is fine,
: for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like as good as they
: were 40 years ago.

Doubt it. 12W works fine for me for road riding on unlight lanes
(averaging 18-19mph or so).

The 35W thing isn't that people's sight has got worse, it's just that
now one can have a light that will let one descend at daylight speeds
while before one would have reduced the speed.

I used to use a simple 2.4W halogen on dark lanes. It worked, but

a) I was a lot slower then
b) Cars didn't dip their lights like they do with brighter lights
c) My expectations of what I can do at night in terms of speed have
increased

c) is the key.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Blogs are neither necessary nor sufficient for evil to triumph.
They're just what we call an enabling technology" - Danny O'Brien

Simon Brooke said:

Quoted message said:

I thought I'd make it clear that I don't *need* 50W. I think it'd be
fun
to see what it's like, that's all, and they only cost two quid.
However, I do need powerful lights for riding down unlit roads at
high speed: 35W would probably be the maximum I'd use for regular
use, though.

What is going on here? I've seen several similar opinions on this
group in the past few days. I used to use a dynamo with a bulb of
some 3 or so watts; it was fine for high speed road use.

This is like the argument against 9-speed cassettes: "3 gears were more
than enough when I was a boy", etc. It's missing the point.....

Quoted message said:

Last night I
was up in the forest with my lumicycles, and without really thinking
about it, whenever we came off a single track section onto fire road,
I was flipping my 20 watt light off - because frankly on unlit,
unmetalled fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10
watts is fine, for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like
as good as they were 40 years ago.

Is it simply because younger people and/or urban people are so used to
so much light pollution that they can't see in the dark?

At risk of being pedantic, no-one can see in the dark. I /can/ see with
less than 5W at 30 mph but I want more power to enjoy unfamiliar narrow
twisty unlit lanes at 20-40mph, even more, with increased safety. I need
to be able see the corners in good time and I need to see the road surface
clearly, in good time. A pothole could finish me off. It's a simple case
of : the more power, the better (until run time is compromised too much).

Also, bright lights are useful in London to illuminate the [censored] road
surface at high speed: something that the street lamps don't always
manage.

Perhaps you are happy seeing only a short distance ahead or your eyes are
sharper than mine. I think my eyesight is average but I like to have lots
of reaction time. The further forwards I can have a spot pointed, the
happier I am -- that requires lots of power.

So far I'm doing pretty well with just 5 and 12W spots, but fancy treating
myself to more wattage for the novelty, as much as anything else. It took
me many years to get round to buying these kind of lights, so now I
eventually have them, I'll have some fun! I might not bother with the 50W
afterall but I am ordering various other bulbs (cheaply) to try. Keep an
eye on eBay for the surplus.

~PB

in message <[email hidden]>, Arthur Clune

(') said:

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote:

: fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10 watts is
: fine, for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like as good
: as they were 40 years ago.

Doubt it. 12W works fine for me for road riding on unlight lanes
(averaging 18-19mph or so).

The 35W thing isn't that people's sight has got worse, it's just that
now one can have a light that will let one descend at daylight speeds
while before one would have reduced the speed.

I used to use a simple 2.4W halogen on dark lanes. It worked, but

a) I was a lot slower then
b) Cars didn't dip their lights like they do with brighter lights
c) My expectations of what I can do at night in terms of speed have
increased

c) is the key.

Well, it may be for you. I don't believe I've ever reduced speed at
night for lack of light, and I certainly wasn't last night.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Das Internet is nicht fuer gefingerclicken und giffengrabben... Ist
nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das mausklicken sichtseeren
keepen das bandwit-spewin hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und
watchen das cursorblinken. -- quoted from the jargon file

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Arthur Clune

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10 watts is
fine, for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like as good
as they were 40 years ago.

Doubt it. 12W works fine for me for road riding on unlight lanes
(averaging 18-19mph or so).

The 35W thing isn't that people's sight has got worse, it's just that
now one can have a light that will let one descend at daylight speeds
while before one would have reduced the speed.

I used to use a simple 2.4W halogen on dark lanes. It worked, but

a) I was a lot slower then
b) Cars didn't dip their lights like they do with brighter lights
c) My expectations of what I can do at night in terms of speed have
increased

c) is the key.

Well, it may be for you. I don't believe I've ever reduced speed at
night for lack of light, and I certainly wasn't last night.

Good for you. I doubt every one else has such sharp eyes/brain or
bravery.

~PB

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Well, it may be for you. I don't believe I've ever reduced speed at
: night for lack of light, and I certainly wasn't last night.

You said you found 10W fine for "up to 30mph". I do a lot more than
that downhill in daylight (I do just under 50 on a regular basis).
I couldn't do that on 10W. Mind, I adjust my routes so that my 12W
is fine, but I can see that if I lived where that wasn't possible
(steep hills) I'd have more fun with a really big light that would
let me decend at speed.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Blogs are neither necessary nor sufficient for evil to triumph.
They're just what we call an enabling technology" - Danny O'Brien

in message <[email hidden]>, Pete Biggs

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

What is going on here? I've seen several similar opinions on this
group in the past few days. I used to use a dynamo with a bulb of
some 3 or so watts; it was fine for high speed road use.

This is like the argument against 9-speed cassettes: "3 gears were
more
than enough when I was a boy", etc. It's missing the point.....

Quoted message said:

Last night I
was up in the forest with my lumicycles, and without really thinking
about it, whenever we came off a single track section onto fire road,
I was flipping my 20 watt light off - because frankly on unlit,
unmetalled fire-road at speeds up to about thirty miles per hour 10
watts is fine, for my eyes anyway. And my eyes aren't anything like
as good as they were 40 years ago.

Is it simply because younger people and/or urban people are so used
to so much light pollution that they can't see in the dark?

At risk of being pedantic, no-one can see in the dark.

At risk of being pedantic, it's never dark out of doors. Even on the
cloudiest night there's some light around; in any case in most parts of
the United Kingdom there's huge amounts of light pollution. Human eyes
react quite slowly to very poor light conditions, but they do react.

Quoted message said:

I /can/ see
with less than 5W at 30 mph but I want more power to enjoy unfamiliar
narrow
twisty unlit lanes at 20-40mph, even more, with increased safety. I
need to be able see the corners in good time and I need to see the
road surface
clearly, in good time. A pothole could finish me off. It's a simple
case of : the more power, the better (until run time is compromised
too much).

I actually don't agree. Lighting of vehicles (including pedal cycles) is
currently an arms race and everyone will lose. We damage each others'
night vision with dazzle, and that is at least part of why we're having
these problems. In the meantime we have so many bright lights burning
at night, so much stray light and scatter, that many children have
never seen the Milky Way.

The real answer is the less power, used effectively, the better.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

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