Rechargeable lights , any recommendations.....

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

Quoted message said:

Hiya all.

I have only been biking for about three months, and last night I went out

on

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my first night ride thru a local forest , with about 30 other riders.
I borrowed a set of lights of a local shop owner, and had the most amazing
time. Needless to say I want to do it again.
The thing is though that although I would love a set of the expensive

£200+

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lights, I really cannot see the point in spending hundreds on lights, when
my Rockhopper disc would cost the same as the lights..

I have been looking at variosu shops in the UK , at Cateye sets, Vista ,
Smart , etc etc...
I am looking to spend say between £40-60ish on a set.

Can anyone please recommend some lights in this range that would be
suitable, and if possible provide links for the lights too...

For me personally I love the cateye single light setup the cheapest one I
think it is anyway I did a post on increasing the runtime a while back so
you can get (for some extra weight) £200 runtime with perfectly adequate
brightness for 1/4 price I am looking into ultyra bright LED's to replace
the stock bulb now I might do a post on that sometime soon I will let you
know how I get on if I suceed in getting a adequate brightness out of the
LED setup I will MASSIVLY increase runtime and probablyt go back to the
original battery.

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I have purchased the new battery and I have acheived my goal better than
expected
I have Doubled the size and Weight of my bettery but I now have gained

(in

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theory at least) x 2.85714 runtime which now means basically

.9KG battery weigh = 2 hours runtime
1.8 Kg battery weight = just under 6 hours runtime

(assuming the batteries are of equal quality) and I still have the

original

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battery so if I ever go on a particulally long ride I can take this with

me

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as an ermergency backup) I have also Purchased a 5W bult so I can

effectivly

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run the thing at 1/2 power thus doubling the runtime again.

Anyone looking to do this upgrade the Maplin's Part numbers are as
follows

Battery UD 08 its the 6v 12Ah one but you can go for any in that range.

You

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could also fit a smaller battery if you take short rides and are
concerned
about weight/size commuting etc.
Bulb MR11 6v 5W Make sure you get the 35mm one.
Fuse's just in case you short it out while screwing around PC91.

I may even do some reasearch into the dynamo rechargeable one now because

Im

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bored and it seem's like a good idea.

I have justs tested this setup and I got about 5Hr's 10 Min's out of the
battery withouyt any charging whatsoever thats with the light on
contibuosly
on full beam so I think Ive managed to get pretty good runtime out of the
thing

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Neil said:

I would love a set of the expensive £200+
lights, I really cannot see the point in spending hundreds on lights, when
my Rockhopper disc would cost the same as the lights..

About the last thing in the world you ever want to cheap out on is the
lights. Especially now when halogens are getting so cheap relative to
HIDS.

Buck up and spend the money, lad. Unless you want to walk home in the
dark.

CC

I would love to spend a large amount of money on an more expensive set , but
when you have 4 young kids , all girls , and a high maintenance wife, its
kinda hard trying to find the funds to afford the more expensive stuff.
Added to the fact I have just started and also need lots of other equipment,
I just need something thats gonna do for the time being, which will allow me
to buy some of the other stuff I am gonna need.

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

Neil said:

I would love a set of the expensive £200+
lights, I really cannot see the point in spending hundreds on lights, when
my Rockhopper disc would cost the same as the lights..

About the last thing in the world you ever want to cheap out on is the
lights. Especially now when halogens are getting so cheap relative to
HIDS.

Buck up and spend the money, lad. Unless you want to walk home in the
dark.

CC

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

Quoted message said:

Hiya all.

I have only been biking for about three months, and last night I went out
on my first night ride thru a local forest , with about 30 other riders.
I borrowed a set of lights of a local shop owner, and had the most amazing
time. Needless to say I want to do it again.
The thing is though that although I would love a set of the expensive
£200+ lights, I really cannot see the point in spending hundreds on
lights, when my Rockhopper disc would cost the same as the lights..

I have been looking at variosu shops in the UK , at Cateye sets, Vista ,
Smart , etc etc...
I am looking to spend say between £40-60ish on a set.

Can anyone please recommend some lights in this range that would be
suitable, and if possible provide links for the lights too...

Many thanks , in advance.
Neil

Standard £20-£30 ultra bright LED lights (perhaps two) then rechargable
batteries. That what I've done. £16 for 16 AA NIMH 2500mah batteries, just
top up every couple of days. So can use LED flashing during the day also.

I have the top brightest LED cateyes (£45 and £30 RRP models think 500 and
1000)

The problem with rechargable halogen is run times and weight. Only 3 hours
in low power mode if you're lucky, and 1 hour in high power mode. You won't
be able to go far on that, unless the trail goes back to your car so
replace/recharge battery whilst you're doing it again with fresh set. You're
paying extra for a high end MTB only to load it down again with a heavy
battery pack. I would be worred about use lithium polymer it it gets damaged
also. So you've got lots of bulk on battery padding/protection.

Neil said:

I would love to spend a large amount of money on an more expensive set , but
when you have 4 young kids , all girls , and a high maintenance wife, its
kinda hard trying to find the funds to afford the more expensive stuff.

So ditch the wife & kids, duh. Or become "high maintenance" yourself.
Lots of options. 😉

gabrielle

Don't skimp on lights. I have an expensive Light & Motion HID light and
I commute (on the road) by bicycle with it all winter. I've had it for
four winters now and it has been a very good value. It keeps me safe.
When I do night rides off-road I can see where I'm going and I am safe
at speed. When I return to the road at the end of the trail cars can see
me, I can see them, and the battery is still going strong. The smart
charger keeps me from getting caught with a dead battery at a bad time.

I've had to get home with a dead light. No fun. I've been hit by a car
at night, when running a cheap light. No fun. Try fixing a flat or
descending a mountain with no light! No fun.

You won't be doing your family any favors if you get a cheap light and
get injured on a night ride because of it. Save up, scout for bargains
and maybe also watch for used, good light systems.

Morgan
--
Morgan Fletcher, [email hidden] Oakland, CA, USA

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

Quoted message said:

Don't skimp on lights. I have an expensive Light & Motion HID light and
I commute (on the road) by bicycle with it all winter. I've had it for
four winters now and it has been a very good value. It keeps me safe.
When I do night rides off-road I can see where I'm going and I am safe
at speed. When I return to the road at the end of the trail cars can see
me, I can see them, and the battery is still going strong. The smart
charger keeps me from getting caught with a dead battery at a bad time.

I've had to get home with a dead light. No fun. I've been hit by a car
at night, when running a cheap light. No fun. Try fixing a flat or
descending a mountain with no light! No fun.

You won't be doing your family any favors if you get a cheap light and
get injured on a night ride because of it. Save up, scout for bargains
and maybe also watch for used, good light systems.

Morgan
--
Morgan Fletcher, [email hidden] Oakland, CA, USA

you dont need expensive lights, most lbs's have some setup for u to look at,
there are plenty of mods u can do to get better battery life, good luck,
there are cheaper units that work good, when it starts to be more of a
regular thing, u might want to step up with more expensive gear. personally
i'd just sticky tape a couple of mini maglites to my bike i dont really care
about appeal.. lights on a bike during the day can get stolen and look [censored].

good luck 😄

Hi, well done on the night riding (where were you, im the in UK too and
never have anyone to night ride with lol). I'm running a set of
cygolite H30 i think, from a few years back - two 30w halogens from a
lead acid battery (heavy). I tried riding with lesser lights but you
just cant get any pace up unless you know the trail well. Theres an
easy way round it, i have also modified a smaller light set to hold one
of the spare 30w bulbs from the cygo setup, gets a bit hot but you can
keep an eye on it, and got some tagged NiMH batteries and made my own
pack up - same toy, decent price, but obviously you need to have some
knowledge of elecs and it wont look as pretty.

J

Nath said:

"Neil" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Standard £20-£30 ultra bright LED lights (perhaps two) then rechargable

batteries. That what I've done. £16 for 16 AA NIMH 2500mah batteries, just
top up every couple of days. So can use LED flashing during the day also.

LEDs just dont cut the mustard on a fast trail in my opinion, just dont
have th range. I have a few LED torches and head torches, one with 10
LEDs powered by D cells and its a fraction of the range of my halogen.

J

Nath said:

"Neil" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Standard £20-£30 ultra bright LED lights (perhaps two) then rechargable

batteries. That what I've done. £16 for 16 AA NIMH 2500mah batteries, just
top up every couple of days. So can use LED flashing during the day also.

LEDs just dont cut the mustard on a fast trail in my opinion, just dont
have th range. I have a few LED torches and head torches, one with 10
LEDs powered by D cells and its a fraction of the range of my halogen.

J

gabrielle wrote:
wife & kids, duh. Or become "high maintenance" yourself.

Quoted message said:

Lots of options. 😉

gabrielle

Couldnt agree more 😉 My missus knows she has to maintain herself if
shes gonna be high maintenance lol.

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

Nath said:

"Neil" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Standard £20-£30 ultra bright LED lights (perhaps two) then rechargable

batteries. That what I've done. £16 for 16 AA NIMH 2500mah batteries, just
top up every couple of days. So can use LED flashing during the day also.

LEDs just dont cut the mustard on a fast trail in my opinion, just dont
have th range. I have a few LED torches and head torches, one with 10
LEDs powered by D cells and its a fraction of the range of my halogen.

J
-------------
Yeah, but they're good because of the battery life. Useful as another set of
lights (if/when the main halogen battery goes flat) Many times the batteries
in the bulb lights went flat before reaching home, even when they're freshly
charged and in good condition. Until they design batteries that can power
high output halogens for 10+ hours that don't weigh a ton I guess have to
make do with what I have.

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

Nath said:

"Neil" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Standard £20-£30 ultra bright LED lights (perhaps two) then rechargable

batteries. That what I've done. £16 for 16 AA NIMH 2500mah batteries, just
top up every couple of days. So can use LED flashing during the day also.

LEDs just dont cut the mustard on a fast trail in my opinion, just dont
have th range. I have a few LED torches and head torches, one with 10
LEDs powered by D cells and its a fraction of the range of my halogen.

J
-------------
Yeah, but they're good because of the battery life. Useful as another set of
lights (if/when the main halogen battery goes flat) Many times the batteries
in the bulb lights went flat before reaching home, even when they're freshly
charged and in good condition. Until they design batteries that can power
high output halogens for 10+ hours that don't weigh a ton I guess have to
make do with what I have.

Unfortunately its a big trade off. The LED shape and lack of proper
lenses designed for the trick means they just cant output as much w/m2
as halogen, despite wasting far less energy. Id rather run short
runtimes and see where im going but its horses for courses.
My cygos lasted 3 hours on a mixture of 30w and 60w use for about 8
months, then the battery got tired and now last no more than 2 hours at
best, but thats just SLA batteries that cant deal with deep-cycling.
I've just bought in a batch of 50 LEDs and hooked up a micropro to
pulse them to 100ma, 10% duty cycle, 1ms pulse, so with any luck I'll
be having near the same brightness from that as from the halogens but
I'll have to make up my own lense/reflector setup first to fit into the
cygo main unit.

J

I am in Kent.
There was about 30 of us in all, men and women , flying thru a local forest
, it was quite something.

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

Quoted message said:

Hi, well done on the night riding (where were you, im the in UK too and
never have anyone to night ride with lol). I'm running a set of
cygolite H30 i think, from a few years back - two 30w halogens from a
lead acid battery (heavy). I tried riding with lesser lights but you
just cant get any pace up unless you know the trail well. Theres an
easy way round it, i have also modified a smaller light set to hold one
of the spare 30w bulbs from the cygo setup, gets a bit hot but you can
keep an eye on it, and got some tagged NiMH batteries and made my own
pack up - same toy, decent price, but obviously you need to have some
knowledge of elecs and it wont look as pretty.

J

I've been using Cygo Explorer lighting system since 99
every morning on my way to work.

Just bought a set of these ....
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/electron_15w_double_light_system.html
I paid only £33 delivered off ebay. Brand new.
Hopefully they should do me. NIMH battery , 15w lighting.. And apparently
changing the stock bulbs for different ones cheaply upgrades them to
somewhat better brighter system.
They will do for me I feel.
Thanks for all your help tho.
Rgds
Neil

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

Quoted message said:

I am in Kent.
There was about 30 of us in all, men and women , flying thru a local
forest , it was quite something.

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

Quoted message said:

Hi, well done on the night riding (where were you, im the in UK too and
never have anyone to night ride with lol). I'm running a set of
cygolite H30 i think, from a few years back - two 30w halogens from a
lead acid battery (heavy). I tried riding with lesser lights but you
just cant get any pace up unless you know the trail well. Theres an
easy way round it, i have also modified a smaller light set to hold one
of the spare 30w bulbs from the cygo setup, gets a bit hot but you can
keep an eye on it, and got some tagged NiMH batteries and made my own
pack up - same toy, decent price, but obviously you need to have some
knowledge of elecs and it wont look as pretty.

J

They'll do you fine mate, i wouldnt upgrade the bulbs unless you want
significantly reduced run-times. So long as you dont ride like a bat
out of hell you wont need upgrades anyway.
http://www.cygolite.com/light/products/9ExplorerGel.htm < those are
mine but mine uses twin 30's (i did the upgrade and saw the battery
suffer) But the bonus point is it uses the same bulb/reflector setup as
my bathroom lights that i can get for about 7$ a piece lol.

J