Bicycle Lighting

(ed) said:

In order to save some money and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics
catalog out there which would carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

Nowhere that would have all the items you need in one convenient location. Bulbs, sockets, batteries
are easy to come by. You'll have to make housings out of stuff you can find in harware stores.

There's lots of great information about these projects on the Web, including one guy from Australia
(fat old hippy, I think he calls himself). A Google search for "homebrew bicycle lighting" should
turn him up.

ed <[email hidden]> wrote:
: In order to save some money and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics
: catalog out there which would carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

Go to home depot and buy a large maglight flashlight. Buy some wire and a switch. Buy a 20 watt
halogen spot light in it's own housing.

Don't get a flood light! They work crappy.

The new halogen housing will fit in the maglight perfectly.

Shorten the maglight handle with a saw. Add a switch. Install the new Halogen light. Make a handle
bar mount to suit.

For power buy a 7 amp hour lead acid battery, and a smart charger for it.

Cars think I am a motorcycle in the dark.

I mount the battery to a rear rack using toe clip straps to secure it to the rack.

--------------------------------
Bob Masse' [email hidden]
--------------------------------

(ed) said:

In order to save some money and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics
catalog out there which would carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

for most you will have to make do with what you can find. bulbsource.netbulbsource.netOpen ↗ the mr11 bulbs
are what most bike lights use. I just made mine. it is a over volted system, it runs a 12v mr11 bulb
at 16 volts using a LVR cs.indiana.edulvr.htmlOpen ↗ (a bit out of date) it turns the
light on and off really fast (can't see it) and also keeps you from draining the battery too much. I
used two 9.6v rc battery packs and a good rc battery charger. the only bad part is I used my lights&
motion commuter housing and I melted the switch in it (G) but once I got past that I got a hello f a
lot of light for about 140.00

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices See
knight-toolworks.comknight-toolworks.comOpen ↗ For prices and ordering instructions.

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

Quoted message said:

In order to save some money and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics
catalog out there which would carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

Many places have those items however ...

This may not be what you want to hear, but it's been my experience that these type of projects end
up costing as much or more than just going out and buying off the shelf stuff. It's not only the
cost of the parts, but your time as well. If you want to do it for fun that's great, but don't
expect to save any money over store bought lighting.

I've fixed up, modified or made many things, including making guitars and restoring old cars.
Here is a formula to factor in cost that I use, and it always works: Figure out to the penny how
much all the parts will cost, then DOUBLE that figure, and that's how much it will actually cost
in the end (c:

If you want to do it for fun, then you'll have to start thinking in strange directions, and using
parts not intended for lighting applications. For example, one "trick" my friend uses for
rechargeable batteries for his bike, is to use Sony video camera battery packs. Very high watt hours
for the weight.

Try to find a good electronics store near you, nothing beats being able to pick something up in your
hand. You can try mouser.commouser.comOpen ↗ and digikey.comdigikey.comOpen ↗ I've gotten a lot of stuff from
them. This place has weird and sometimes useful items sciplus.comsciplus.comOpen ↗

C.Q.C.

Quoted message said:

This may not be what you want to hear, but it's been my experience that these type of projects end
up costing as much or more than just going out and buying off the shelf stuff. It's not only the
cost of the parts, but your time as well. If you want to do it for fun that's great, but don't
expect to save any money over store bought lighting.

I agree. my project was a bit of a pain. but I did not want just a normal light I wanted a lot of
light. I just could afford a HID so I had to make my own. cost so far using the light figure I had
about 140.00 and a couple three hours.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices See
knight-toolworks.comknight-toolworks.comOpen ↗ For prices and ordering instructions.

Quoted message said:

I mount the battery to a rear rack using toe clip straps to secure it to the rack.

You "retro" guys!

A _real_ cyclist would disassemble a Look A5.1 pedal and use the "clipless" mechanism to hold the
battery to the rack.

Unless it's a mountain bike, of course. Then substitute a Shimano M540 ATB pedal mechanism.

;-)

--
Frank Krygowski

Q. said:

This may not be what you want to hear, but it's been my experience that these type of projects end
up costing as much or more than just going out and buying off the shelf stuff. It's not only the
cost of the parts, but your time as well.

Like so many things, it depends; YMMV.

When I was younger and poorer, I did lots of "homemade" solutions. My life was more relaxed, I had
the time, and I didn't have the money, and I liked tinkering and learning how to do things. I'd
judge which jobs to do myself by estimating my time versus my cost savings. If I cleared $10 per
hour, it was worth it to me.

Nowadays, money isn't nearly so tight, but free time is much less. My priorities have changed.

Quoted message said:

If you want to do it for fun that's great, but don't expect to save any money over store bought
lighting.

It's quite easy to save money over store-bought rechargeable lights. I built a pretty elegant one
for about $10. Admittedly, I was given a couple 12 volt battery packs from hospital defibrillators.
But my scrap boxes have lots of stuff to work with.

Quoted message said:

... Figure out to the penny how much all the parts will cost, then DOUBLE that figure, and that's
how much it will actually cost in the end (c:

... and don't forget to multiply your best "work time" estimate by pi!

--
Frank Krygowski

frkrygowHALTSPAM <"frkrygowHALTSPAM"@cc.ysu.edu> wrote:
: [email hidden] wrote:

:> I mount the battery to a rear rack using toe clip straps to secure it to the rack.

: You "retro" guys!

: A _real_ cyclist would disassemble a Look A5.1 pedal and use the "clipless" mechanism to hold the
: battery to the rack.

: Unless it's a mountain bike, of course. Then substitute a Shimano M540 ATB pedal mechanism.

: ;-)

: --
: Frank Krygowski

Damn! That really is a good solution!

--------------------------------
Bob Masse' [email hidden]
--------------------------------

ed said:

In order to save some money ...

Buy a bicycle light, off the shelf. I recommend the Cat Eye HL-EL300, similar to this link but with
a white, translucent enclosure : cateye.comdetail.phpOpen ↗ It gets attention
even when aimed at the road 10 feet in front of me, lights up the road a little bit, and has held up
to some medium amounts of rain.

However, if you just want to learn what it's like to build a lighting system, or to get just the
right system for you, or you want to enhance what someone else has made incorrectly, then by all
means go for it! :-)

But the manufacturers get quantity discounts when ordering their parts, plus they mass produce their
lights so that gives them the advantage of economies of scale, over a homemade prototype.

Prototyping is always expensive compared to the manufactured item. So it is unlikely that you light
will be cheaper when compared to a substantially similar, manufactured light, but not impossible!
You might find some source cheaper than them.

Quoted message said:

and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics catalog out there which would
carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

You can get low quantity (onesys, twosys), electronic components from Radio Shack (
radioshack.comradioshack.comOpen ↗ ) under their "Parts, Tools & Wire" link. The also have project boxes that
you can drill holes in to use as your enclosure. But these are rectangular shapes, nothing curvey
and pretty like the Cat Eyes or Nightsuns.

Some cities have businesses that harvest electronic parts and sell them in low quantity to the
general public. That would depend on your town, weather or not one is available to you.

I recommend you use the new bright LEDs. They are much more electrically efficient, and have a much
longer life than halogen, but much cheaper than a HID. That HL-EL300 has a round spot beam with a
brightness much brighter than a single 6V halogen bulb, but much dimmer than an HID bulb. Although
that HL-EL300 uses some nice lenses to form the LEDs into a nice, round beam. But, figuring out how
to get a nice beam is part of the fun of these homemade prototypes, isn't it? :-)

--
__/_ _ _ _) /(- \/(- _) .
-----------------------------------------------------------

Steve Sanfratello <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

ed said:

In order to save some money ...

Buy a bicycle light, off the shelf. I recommend the Cat Eye HL-EL300, similar to this link but
with a white, translucent enclosure : cateye.comdetail.phpOpen ↗ It gets
attention even when aimed at the road 10 feet in front of me, lights up the road a little bit, and
has held up to some medium amounts of rain.

However, if you just want to learn what it's like to build a lighting system, or to get just the
right system for you, or you want to enhance what someone else has made incorrectly, then by all
means go for it! :-)

But the manufacturers get quantity discounts when ordering their parts, plus they mass produce
their lights so that gives them the advantage of economies of scale, over a homemade prototype.

Prototyping is always expensive compared to the manufactured item. So it is unlikely that you
light will be cheaper when compared to a substantially similar, manufactured light, but not
impossible! You might find some source cheaper than them.

Quoted message said:

and build my own lighting system, does anyone know of a electronics catalog out there which
would carry bulbs / light shells / switches, mounting clamps etc?

You can get low quantity (onesys, twosys), electronic components from Radio Shack (
radioshack.comradioshack.comOpen ↗ ) under their "Parts, Tools & Wire" link. The also have project boxes
that you can drill holes in to use as your enclosure. But these are rectangular shapes, nothing
curvey and pretty like the Cat Eyes or Nightsuns.

Some cities have businesses that harvest electronic parts and sell them in low quantity to the
general public. That would depend on your town, weather or not one is available to you.

I recommend you use the new bright LEDs. They are much more electrically efficient, and have a
much longer life than halogen, but much cheaper than a HID. That HL-EL300 has a round spot beam
with a brightness much brighter than a single 6V halogen bulb, but much dimmer than an HID bulb.
Although that HL-EL300 uses some nice lenses to form the LEDs into a nice, round beam. But,
figuring out how to get a nice beam is part of the fun of these homemade prototypes, isn't it? :-)

Quoted message said:

But these are rectangular shapes, nothing curvey and pretty like the Cat Eyes or Nightsuns.

PVC pipe and heat can help with the curvey shapes. See:
billcotton.combicycle electric.htmOpen ↗ AA NiMH seem to be advancing the fastest as
weight/Amp hours. I used Radio Shack's cell holder to make AA battery packs. 2 ten cells pack of
2000 mAh produces 4 amp hours at 1 pounds weight. The newest cells I aquired are 2250 mAh.

Steve Sanfratello said:

ed said:

In order to save some money ...

... However, if you just want to learn what it's like to build a lighting system, or to get just
the right system for you, or you want to enhance what someone else has made incorrectly, then by
all means go for it! :-)

But the manufacturers get quantity discounts when ordering their parts, plus they mass produce
their lights so that gives them the advantage of economies of scale, over a homemade prototype.

Prototyping is always expensive compared to the manufactured item. So it is unlikely that you
light will be cheaper when compared to a substantially similar, manufactured light, but not
impossible! You might find some source cheaper than them.

Actually, there are numerous websites that detail how people made rechargeable lighting sets for
much less than the typical retail prices. I did that, as mentioned, and mine would have beat retail
by a large margin even if my batteries weren't free.

This is what continues to astound me about rechargeable bike headlights. The profit margin _must_ be
significant; there is almost no other mass-produced technical item that can be homemade for less
than its retail cost. (Try building an ordinary flashlight, for comparison.)

You'd think they'd plow some of that profit back into optical design, which is sadly lacking in
those light sets - at least, for road riding.

But I guess enough customers think they need watts, watts and more watts. They don't realize what
they really need is illumination. And they don't realize that there's a difference.

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

Quoted message said:

This is what continues to astound me about rechargeable bike headlights. The profit margin _must_
be significant; there is almost no other mass-produced technical item that can be homemade for less
than its retail cost. (Try building an ordinary flashlight, for comparison.)

yep look at the chargers they are pathetic. L&M's 14 hour charger if I needed to replace it it would
cost me 50.00 I can get the same one at ratshack for about
12.00 their 3 hour smart charger is 100.00 I got a far better far more versatile RC battery charger
that is computer controlled for 49.00 off of ebay shipped. I can charger 4 to 10 cells with it
trickle or peak charge it at up to 6 amps.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices See
knight-toolworks.comknight-toolworks.comOpen ↗ For prices and ordering instructions.