Light recommendations?

"Steven M. Scharf" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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[email hidden] (Frank Krygowski) wrote in message
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MR-11 lamps are actually designed for showing off artwork in ritzy homes, not for lighting roads.
The light is only vaguely concentrated, and nowhere near the most-efficient rectangular beam that
all other headlights use.

You need to do some more research into the MR11 lamps. They come in a wide variety of beam
patterns, from wide angle flood to spot beams. They are as concentrated as you desire, or as
spread as you want. You must have seen an MR11 lamp in the wide flood beam pattern and
extrapolated that all MR11 lamps provide the same pattern.

Bad guess. I _know_ that even the spot beams are not "as concentrated as I desire." I have a
rechargeable headlight based on a spot MR-11 beam (rarely used, because of its inefficiencies), and
I've ridden quite a bit with other folks who used them. Also, as mentioned, I've run several "night
lighting workshops" for my club, where we compared lights. At one of those, we took the lights
indoors and shined them on a wall to compare beam patterns. It was there that we found that an MR-11
spot (12 watts, IIRC) was not as bright as a 6 watt Vistalight 400-series.

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The best generator light is the 12 volt 6W oval Lumotec lamp made by Busch and Muller, made for
use with the Dymotec S12 dynamo. A lighting system with this dynamo, the headlight, and the tail
light would cost over $300. ... Not everyone can afford the luxury of a high end dynamo system.

One of the major points I'm trying to make is that you don't _need_ to spend $300 to ride safely at
night! As long as it's got a halogen bulb, any ordinary 3-watt generator will give most people
plenty of light for normal road riding. Some generators are better than others (mostly in terms of
efficiency) but the great majority of them meet the rather stringent German standards. They work
fine. I know people that have spent no more than $25, brand new, and gotten a generator system
they're perfectly content with.

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It continues to amaze me that high-zoot cyclists, the type who drill holes in their spokes for
lightness ;-) are willing to haul extra battery weight around to make up for this waste, rather
than demanding simple lenses on their headlights!

You can't get much lighter or simpler than the MR11 and MR16 lamps with their high efficiency
reflectors.

<sigh> If you put a decent lens in front of the bulb, concentrating the light into a beam that
shined on the road (not the trees) you could use half the bulb wattage. For the same run time, you
could have half the battery weight.

Again, MR-11s are designed for spotlighting artwork, not for lighting roads. Apparently, you've
never shined your MR-11 "spot" beam at a blank wall, and compared its beam shape and efficiency with
that of even a $20 bike light. If you'd do this, I think you'd understand the point.

Until you take the time to examine beam shapes of true road lights - auto lights, motorcycle lights,
and efficient bike headlights - versus fuzzy-shaped MR-11 beams, we'll never progress in this
discussion. Therefore, I'm going to step out of it.

- Frank Krygowski

"Steven M. Scharf" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

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A xenon strobe draws 150mA max, and is far far brighter than even the best of the best LED
blinkers. Plus it costs $9 if you have a 12 volt system already. You can buy a Lightman Xenon
strobe blinker (AA cells) for $25.

southwestpublicsafety.comligbasbikstr.htmlOpen ↗

Even the old Belt Beacon was brighter than the LED blinkers and it was rock solid.

This morning I rode to work and there was someone in front of me with his "blinkie" on. The daytime
visibility was about 150-250' (he was riding faster than me). Contrast that with a xenon strobe,
which realistically has a daytime range of about 1000'. A xenon strobe is only marginally more
expensive than a blinkie, but they are not as widely marketed. I have a bunch of them on my web site
now. With a 12 volt system, the $9 strobes from All Electronics are great, totally sealed against
the elements too.

"nordicgroup.uss78Open ↗"

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

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In article said:

I have one and it is like an very bright automotive 3rd brake light. Can't miss it. Online
reviews complain that the battery door is not waterproof. I will smear a bit of clear silicone
over the battery door and any seams before riding in rain. Button is easy to press, which means
it can be turned on in a bike bag and run down the batteries.

I stow my blinkie in a little liquid candle tin, with a lid, when I'm not using it. That keeps the
button from accidentally getting pushed.

A little Scotch Tape around the lens & back goes a long way to hold it together. And Scotch tape
is easily removable if the light needs to be gotten into.

Maybe I /should/ silicone the durn thing permanently into it's mount, and just leave it there
forever. Y'know, I think I seriously will do just that. Thanx for the idea!

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

Quoted message said:

In article said:

I have one and it is like an very bright automotive 3rd brake light. Can't miss it. Online
reviews complain that the battery door is not waterproof. I will smear a bit of clear silicone
over the battery door and any seams before riding in rain. Button is easy to press, which means
it can be turned on in a bike bag and run down the batteries.

I stow my blinkie in a little liquid candle tin, with a lid, when I'm not using it. That keeps the
button from accidentally getting pushed.

A little Scotch Tape around the lens & back goes a long way to hold it together. And Scotch tape is
easily removable if the light needs to be gotten into.

What a wonderful design. It isn't waterproof so you have to seam seal it like a tent, it is easy to
accidentally turn it on, and you have to use tape to hold it together! Cateye really knows how to
build lights. However to be fair, I've not seen any of those LED blinkers that are very rugged,
they're so cheap you just chuck 'em and put on a new one.

Reminds me of an XMAS lights ride that my bike club has. Within the first ten minutes or so,
people's lights are falling off their bikes when they go over a bump, lenses are popping off the LED
blinkers, wires are coming off, dynamos need to be tightened onto the fork, etc. The Belt Beacon was
an amazing light, very efficient and very rugged.

OTOH, my sealed beam headlights and my tail light are both completely waterproof. The cost, with a
battery, was about $40, plus a little more for switches, wire, etc. If I didn't already have a
charger that would have added $18 or so. The only connector is to the battery so I can remove it
from the bike to charge it. All the other connections are permanent because connectors are a common
point of failure.

However, I have added sources for the 18 LED blinkers to my web site, since if you have to have a
blinkie, you may as well get the best one.

nordicgroup.uss78Open ↗

In article <[email hidden]>, "Steven M. Scharf"

Quoted message said:

OTOH, my sealed beam headlights and my tail light are both completely waterproof. The cost, with a
battery, was about $40, plus a little more for switches, wire, etc. If I didn't already have a
charger that would have added $18 or so. The only connector is to the battery so I can remove it
from the bike to charge it. All the other connections are permanent because connectors are a
common point of failure.

My blinkie is still goin' strong, thank you. No razzmatazz about batteries, wires, & connections. A
li'l bit of scotch tape keeps the lens on, yet the guts are still accessible. No sweat. It /does/
have a remarkably good reflector in it, and that was the selling point that induced my to buy it.
And my 0.6W generator taillight does pretty good, too. Yeah, it goes out when I stop, but the
blinkie doesn't.

BTW, how's the coffee promoting going? Maybe if we all get caffeinated enuff, our pupils will be so
dilated, we won't need all that much light :-)

cheers, Tom

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

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Steven M. Scharf"

Quoted message said:

OTOH, my sealed beam headlights and my tail light are both completely waterproof. The cost, with
a battery, was about $40, plus a little more for switches, wire, etc. If I didn't already have a
charger that would have added $18 or so. The only connector is to the battery so I can remove it
from the bike to charge it. All the other connections are permanent because connectors are a
common point of failure.

My blinkie is still goin' strong, thank you. No razzmatazz about batteries, wires, & connections.
A li'l bit of scotch tape keeps the lens on, yet the guts are still accessible. No sweat. It
/does/ have a remarkably good reflector in it,

It's just that bicycle accessories shouldn't need scotch tape to hold them together. If anything,
I'd expect CatEye to spec something better quality than those $2 LED blinkers. I was driving in San
Francisco last night about 10 p.m. and there was a poor bicyclist with just an LED blinker riding
south of Market street. It convinced me how useless a blinker is in areas with a lot of ambient
light. I encourage you to buy one of those Lightman strobes.

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BTW, how's the coffee promoting going? Maybe if we all get caffeinated enuff, our pupils will be
so dilated, we won't need all that much light :-)

Juan Valdez just sent me my monthly check.