Lights

In article <[email hidden]>, 7d7-1-
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

LotteBum said:

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and
model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running
and what type of battery and charger you run.

*clickety click* Let me see ...

I have a Shimano dynamo hub, connected to an LED front light. I *think*
it's a D'Lumotec Oval senso plus, but don't quote me on that - I had a
fasting cholesterol test this morning, so drove in rather than cycle on
an empty stomach.

This sort of setup means I don't have to worry about charging batteries,
which is just as well - the last light I used with batteries came with a
DC wall wart to act as a charger, and it ended up frying the batteries.
Not good. Plus the charge on the batteries was such that I could only be
sure of having light in *one* direction; it didn't last long enough to
keep the light going for the full ride in both directions.

Get some dynamo lights. You'll be glad you did.

(Two sources:
http://www.stkildacycles.com.au/
and
http://www.greenspeed.com.au/
that I know of. Greenspeed only seems to carry the bottle dynamos,
though, but you might want to try emailing them, perhaps. Naturally, the
hub dynamo will require a wheel built ...)

Ja ist das deutsche Nabendynamo gut

(Yes the German Nabendynamo is good ) ;-)

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:41:56 +1100

LotteBum said:

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and
model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running
and what type of battery and charger you run.

Schmidt SON dynamo hub. Lumotec Oval auto sensor LED 3w front light,
DToplight Stand rear light. Plus a cheapie red flasher that runs on
AAs. Used to have a cheapie fron 5LED light but it died and I never
bothered replacing it.

Don't bother with a charger, the rear flasher is very easy on AAs, so
I just whack new ones in every 3 months or so.

Zebee

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 02:56:57 GMT

Stuart Lamble said:

(Two sources:
http://www.stkildacycles.com.au/
and
http://www.greenspeed.com.au/
that I know of. Greenspeed only seems to carry the bottle dynamos,
though, but you might want to try emailing them, perhaps. Naturally, the
hub dynamo will require a wheel built ...)

Cheeky Monkey got my dynamo hub and front light.

Zebee

LotteBum said:

I'm keen to find out which are the best, most reliable lighths
available, hence I've started this thread.

I found this one online after reading an online review. I don't own
one, but 5000 candlepower is seriously bright for a AA powered light,
rivalling a low powered halogen. I have two lights on my bike, 15W
worth of halogen powered by a bottle battery and a self contained AAA
powered light with a 28 LED cluster which I got for $20 from eBay and
am very happy with. But if I were in the market for another light, the
Bike Planet/Insight 5000X looks like $40 well spent.

http://www.netti.com.au/products/planet_bike/insight_5000x.htm

Also available in a wall chargable version, though I wonder whether
just buying two 5000X's might be better value:

http://www.netti.com.au/products/planet_bike/insight_5000xr.htm

Travis

TimC said:

Are they as bright as car headlights? If not, they're not too bright.

That's a hard one to answer. I'd say about on par with weaker headlights, but being helmet mounted I don't feel they are really appropriate for the same reason you don't use high beam lights in a built up area. Bar mounted LED (2x 3W Luxeon or equiv.) would be my choice for commuting.

PS: Don't get a trailtech, they have a tendency to die prematurely and batteryspace won't honour the warranty.

--
Frank
[email hidden]
Drop DACKS to reply
"LotteBum" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm keen to find out which are the best, most reliable lighths
available, hence I've started this thread.

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and
model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running
and what type of battery and charger you run.

Currently I have a Marwi Nightpro Elite single beam. It was very
reliable until the charger melted. Kerry from Phantom chased it up for
me (despite not even having bought the light from him) and discovered
that the bike shop I had purchased the light from had bought it from a
wholesaler who supplied the light with an inferior charger. I ended up
getting a replacement charger from Cassons. Very impressed and good to
go.

Then recently, whilst on loan to Tam, before she had even used it, the
battery shorted (???) and got really hot.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a couple of new battery packs (thanks for the
recommendation, Mr Hughes) for the light, but if I need a new light in
the next 12 months, I'd like to first know which are the best and most
reliable lights.

So spill...

Lotte

--
LotteBum

I've got various lights for different purposes - night MTBing, road riding
(some to see with, some to be seen by), etc. My favourites are:

Road (to see with) - Cateye EL520 - Nice beam and bright enough for the dark
bits on cycle paths and roads. Rechargeable AAs last aaaages! The Powerbeam
lights from Torpedo 7 are also proving to be OK. They were cheap though, so
I didn't expect great performance. I always use a flashing light as well as
a steady one when riding in traffic.

Off road - I have a Cateye setup with 10 and 20 watt bulbs, operated
independantly. Vary good, with a good spread and decent run times. Wall-wart
charger though, so I set the charge up on a plug-in timer. I have a 6 volt,
10 watt bulb driven by a 7.2 volt radio-controlled car battery for my
helmet. Works very well and pretty cheap to make.

General - I recently bought a USE Enduro. [censored] that thing is bright!
3 light levels (bright, dimmer and dimmer again, but all bright enough for
good illumination) plus a flashing mode. Expensive though - around $700
(from memory). Can't praise it enough. Simple mounting, no battery packs and
very effective. arounbd 4 hours run time in lowest setting. Excellent.
Overkill for most road riding but terriffic in the bush.

I did consider hub dynamos and so-on but decided simple is best for me. Clip
on/clip off is good so I don't get lights nicked. Rechargeable is good for
economy. I don't need lots of bells and whistles, just lights that work.

my 2c worth...

me

Before the high powered 3 Watt LEDs came out, I built a 10 light level 2x10
watt lighting system powered by a 9.6v battery made from 8 1.2 V C cell
tagged recharchable Nicad cells mount nicely in a piece of 1" aluminium
tubing which hangs from the top tube by velcro. The 10 levels are 5 on 7,2
volts 100%, 50%, 20% on bulb 1, then 50% and 100% on bulb 2, then on 7.2 V
the same. Light level control is by a Lightbrain Twin Plus PCB which is a
stepped pulse width modulated controller, pushbutton control. Over the
top. I found battery life to be a problem, so replaced the first bulb with
a PCB and 12 pairs of two in series high intensity LEDs. battery life is
now about 4 hours. Batteries must have a overload circuit breaker - at over
3 amp hr things could get very hot!. See the pic on :

http://users.tpg.com.au/patnbob/Headlight.jpg
http://lasertagparts.com/lightbrain/index.htm
--
Bob C
"LotteBum" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm keen to find out which are the best, most reliable lighths
available, hence I've started this thread.

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and
model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running
and what type of battery and charger you run.

Currently I have a Marwi Nightpro Elite single beam. It was very
reliable until the charger melted. Kerry from Phantom chased it up for
me (despite not even having bought the light from him) and discovered
that the bike shop I had purchased the light from had bought it from a
wholesaler who supplied the light with an inferior charger. I ended up
getting a replacement charger from Cassons. Very impressed and good to
go.

Then recently, whilst on loan to Tam, before she had even used it, the
battery shorted (???) and got really hot.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a couple of new battery packs (thanks for the
recommendation, Mr Hughes) for the light, but if I need a new light in
the next 12 months, I'd like to first know which are the best and most
reliable lights.

So spill...

Lotte

--
LotteBum

LotteBum said:

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running and what type of battery and charger you run.

For commuting, I use a Shimano DH-3N71 3 Watt dynohub, hooked up to a Schmidt E6 headlight, with Philips 3W globe. On the back I use a Cateye TL-AU100 LED light, with integral BS compliant reflector. Is uber good.

For Audax, I use a home-brew 3W Luxeon headlight, with battery pack comprising eight Sony 2200mAh 18650 Li-ion cells wired 4p2s. A Luxdrive buckpuck regulates the 7.4V from the battery pack to drive the LED at either 700mA or 350mA, selectable by switch. Run-time is about 18-20 hours. I use a Cateye Micro 3W 4xAA headlight as a secondary light to comply with Audax rules. This provides 4 hours run time on a set of 4 lithium AAs. On the back I use a pair of Cateye TL-AU100 LED lights.

For an overview of the LED headlight, see http://www.littlefishbicycles.com/bikelight/

Both sets of lights are extremely reliable, and provide good amounts of light. The commuter lights have the advantage of being totally fuss-free, whilst the Audax lights are very light (as in not heavy light).

Regards,

Suzy

LotteBum said:

I'm keen to find out which are the best, most reliable lighths
available, hence I've started this thread.

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and
model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running
and what type of battery and charger you run.

Currently I have a Marwi Nightpro Elite single beam. It was very
reliable until the charger melted. Kerry from Phantom chased it up for
me (despite not even having bought the light from him) and discovered
that the bike shop I had purchased the light from had bought it from a
wholesaler who supplied the light with an inferior charger. I ended up
getting a replacement charger from Cassons. Very impressed and good to
go.

Then recently, whilst on loan to Tam, before she had even used it, the
battery shorted (???) and got really hot.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a couple of new battery packs (thanks for the
recommendation, Mr Hughes) for the light, but if I need a new light in
the next 12 months, I'd like to first know which are the best and most
reliable lights.

So spill...

Lotte

Oi, be fair - I did give you back TWO batteries, one of them
a demo of how to repair!

😉

T

suzyj said:

Both sets of lights are extremely reliable, and provide good amounts of light. The commuter lights have the advantage of being totally fuss-free, whilst the Audax lights are very light (as in not heavy light).

Just got a request to help test commuter bicycle lights as part of product review for a certain cycling org's members magazine. I suggested they should also do a future piece on DIY lighting systems, as they seem to be a neverending source of discussion on teh interwebs and elsewhere! :p

LotteBum said:

I'm keen to find out which are the best, most reliable lighths available, hence I've started this thread.

So tell me. What lights do you have? Be specific. What brand and model do you have? If home made, tell us what bulb(s) you're running and what type of battery and charger you run.

Currently I have a Marwi Nightpro Elite single beam. It was very reliable until the charger melted. Kerry from Phantom chased it up for me (despite not even having bought the light from him) and discovered that the bike shop I had purchased the light from had bought it from a wholesaler who supplied the light with an inferior charger. I ended up getting a replacement charger from Cassons. Very impressed and good to go.

Then recently, whilst on loan to Tam, before she had even used it, the battery shorted (???) and got really hot.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a couple of new battery packs (thanks for the recommendation, Mr Hughes) for the light, but if I need a new light in the next 12 months, I'd like to first know which are the best and most reliable lights.

So spill...

Lotte

NiteFlux Vision Sticks. I snapped up a few sets when I found them cheaply, so that when the family is away on the bikes we have enough to set up lights on all 4 bikes. We have a selection of 10w and 20w (or is it 15w) lamp heads and 2000mAh and 2500mAh NiMH stick format batteries. Plus chargers, handle bar and helmet mounts.

They have been good commuter, touring and off road lamps. 1 charger has become dodgy and cannot be relied upon to charge batts consistently. Other than that, all the bits are still functioning perfectly.

Looks like Niteflux is expanding into HID:
niteflux.comNiteFlux press release 161106.pdfOpen ↗

SteveA