Show us your bike light set-up

[zen bicycle]

i want the avid ultimates! oh yeah and that housing

No on the ultimates.

Check the sig line on the housing

[Goldigger]

It sucks at the moment, but its being improved as we speak





The battery is in a capsule, I sure as heck would not ride it in the way its depicted above

I think you should call it Jonny 5

[Goldigger]

I run one of these on my helmet. I dont see the use in a bar light while using this.

Hi Cracker..
What housing are they your using? Marwi conversions?

[Goldigger]

This is my new light no pic of it on the bike yet but I have named it the Lumen Liberator because it uses the spare lumens that dont get out of the optics to shine down near the front tyre .




Spec is 6 XPE leds on 10 mm square boards from cutters
2 narrow carclo 10 mm square optics 2 medium optics and 2 eliptical optics
powered by a 14.8 li ion 3600mah battery and a Maxflex driver board.

the all important beamshots .

first shot is with the bottom blanked off so just the optics shining forward



then the front blanked so only the bottom shining down near the wheel.



now with the lot opened up .



and a shot in the woods also





And as this is so new I have not finished the bar mounted one here is the work in progress now I have received a small batch from my local CNC machine shop

Hi Troutie,
Have you got any the housings for sale?

[trout]

Hi Troutie,
Have you got any the housings for sale?

Hi Goldigger.

Yes and no I had 5 made by a machine shop to see if there was any interest over here in the UK , and to be ready for when the XPGs become available
posted it up on our biking forum here and my inbox suddenly filled up with mails wanting one asap .
so I will need to get the machine shop to run off quite a few of the 5 I had made 1 is getting some XPEs in and staying bare ali the other 4 are going to the anodisers and are sold already .

So yes there will be some for sale soon . drop me an amail and I will add you to the interested list if you want one.

[crackerkorean]

Hi Cracker..
What housing are they your using? Marwi conversions?

These are ones I designed and had made for me.

[Illum]

I think you should call it Jonny 5

[1 what]

Hi Cemoi (Post # 22).
The 3mm LEDs were embeded up to the base in 3mm holes so they are literally part of the larger bar.. I used a smear of 2 pack epoxy around the base but they are a snug fit and probably would have stayed in without it. I use ordinary high speed metal drills, start at 1mm and go up 1mm at a time. There are plenty of articles re working acrylic on google. If you make something from it please let us know.

[Cemoi]

The 3mm LEDs were embeded up to the base in 3mm holes

Thanks. It's amazing how bright the result is, considering you used only 3mm LEDs. I'm considering doing the same using 5mm, or even 10mm LEDs.
I might want to try to embed the LEDs deeper into the rod: any idea about how the embedding depth would affect the "beam shape"?

Do you have pictures of the back of your device, showing the wiring and how it is attached to your bike?

[pepko]

http://mypicturehost.com/out.php/i57120_DSC7108.jpg

[Illum]

If I may ask peps...what sort of remote darkness do you live in?
That's incredible! Are they all used at once or used in succession because of [battery?] limitations?

[Goldigger]

If I may ask peps...what sort of remote darkness do you live in?
That's incredible! Are they all used at once or used in succession because of [battery?] limitations?

I think they have this much light so they can still wear their Oakleys at night time and still see where there going..

[1 what]

Hi Cemoi (post 39).
Photo of the back.

[Illum]

I think they have this much light so they can still wear their Oakleys at night time and still see where there going..

sure its oakleys? not a welder mask?

run that bike on a white sanded trail and you'll know what I mean
I can use the minimum light settings for those places

[slappomatt]

http://mypicturehost.com/out.php/i57120_DSC7108.jpg

you know the first step is admitting you have a problem....

[rooster cockburn]

Not everyone likes MR16 lamps, but I do. Make these from CNC housings specifically designed to take MR16's and canisters whose dimensions coincidentally facilitate the fitting of MR16 bulbs. Make you one if you want, match it to Smudges battery packs, or Lumi's.

[pepko]

Not everyone likes MR16 lamps, but I do. Make these from CNC housings specifically designed to take MR16's and canisters whose dimensions coincidentally facilitate the fitting of MR16 bulbs. Make you one if you want, match it to Smudges battery packs, or Lumi's.

it looks like my old bike setup :-)))

first 20+35W MR16 halogen
second 48 LED + 3x1W LED MR16

but it was too low ... i am using better lights now :-)))

[rooster cockburn]

Nice one Pepko. Great minds think alike. What's you opinion on he spotty LED in the left lamp? Never used one. LED gets used in town or on cant be bothered pedaling hard long climbs. Halogen (and LED) I've overvolted to 15.6v, nice and white on the Halogen and the LED doesn't complain on the extra voltage. Lumi fast charger does the job fine too.

BTW, what do you mean by "too low"

[rooster cockburn]

He He, now I see.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=214903

[pepko]

BTW, what do you mean by "too low"

20+35W halogen was only 800-1000lumens ... but i drive with 8000 lumens now :-)))

[rooster cockburn]

Awesome Pepko. Got some pics below of beamshots at 15.6v. The first is a 320 lumen cree at 45 deg. Looks poor but I can ride at normal speed with this. Pic doesn't do it justice. Says a lot for other pics. Next is a 20w 8deg, then 20w 36 deg followed by 30w 8 deg. All halogen shots are Philips Masterline ES.

[pepko]

Awesome Pepko. Got some pics below of beamshots at 15.6v. The first is a 320 lumen cree at 45 deg. Looks poor but I can ride at normal speed with this. Pic doesn't do it justice. Says a lot for other pics. Next is a 20w 8deg, then 20w 36 deg followed by 30w 8 deg. All halogen shots are Philips Masterline ES.

nice beamshots ... but too low for me ... one P7 or MC-E is better then MR16 halogen ...

[EFMax]

My off road set-up

Approx 2700 lumens

Wide, deep and seriously bright..

[chubbarificus]

sure its oakleys? not a welder mask?

run that bike on a white sanded trail and you'll know what I mean
I can use the minimum light settings for those places

wow if you took off all of those lights you would go 134w46534123543246mph faster

[BrianMc]

A Classic Twin Light Road Setup

The headlight designs and testing is in the design a road beam thread starting at post 186.

The tailight design is in the commuter tail light thread starting at post 83.

The ouput of the headlights and tailights and day and night videos are in the Radbot1000 thread starting at post 20.

Since the complete setup on the bike has not been shown in a single post, I thought it appropriate to do so here. Much cooler and a LOT less traffic riding at night.

The front lights, left is for bar, and now has a fresnel lens to civilize the beam for the road:


The 1 A beam shot with helmet light at helmet height, bar light at bar height, and camera at my eye height, placards every 25 yards:


Low beam on new randonneur bar:


The tailights:


Aimed the lights down from this picture, and the Planet Bike SuperFlashes (PBSFs) are now bacjk to back in front ot eh brake bridge:


Lights aimed about 5 degrees outboard so camera is almost outside right light's beam:



Off axis shows passive and side firing light from PBSF and Radbot (side output of one firing in pic):


'Scorched road' shows a bit under street lights, too, one led had shited in the light so patches are differnt. Fixed now.



I run the headlights at 0.5 A and the tailights with one old 12 V nominal NiMH Cygolite HID battery (about 4 Ahr now). Run time has not been tested from a full charge, both head lights failsafe at low voltage (Bflex drivers) and the only times that has occurred was with a partial charge. I plan a separate Li-Ion pack for the tailights that would have reserve to bring me home since the tailights draw about 0.8 amp.

[matthewm]

XC ride

[Matt King]

Simple, no DIY stuff here, but several iterations in, this is what I currently have...

Front: twin Magicshine 808's, Y splitter and extension following the rear brake cable.


Rear: twin "1/2 Watt" flashers. came from different brands but they're identical apart from the badging on one. Love these two side by side, they set up a nice "beat" pattern.


Pack on the back holds the battery. One of the 4x18650 packs is enough to give me at least 3 commutes (~60 minutes total) but I usually recharge after 2 to be sure. Reflective sidewall tyres.


Hoping one day to figure out a proper beam pattern, but with the twin front lights and a slight curve to the handlebar, there is a nice wide illumination. The right one is aimed a little lower to minimise traffic annoyance. Noone has flashed lights at me... yet... Cars generally stop pulling out in front of me ~100 metres away

[BrianMc]

Front: twin Magicshine 808's, ... Rear: twin "1/2 Watt" flashers. ... nice "beat" pattern. ...Hoping one day to figure out a proper beam pattern, ... No one has flashed lights at me... yet...

I searched for but could not find the pictures of one commuter's twin MJ-808s and a flashlight for near field that used black electrical tape across the top 25-30% of the MJ808s to reduce driver glare. No beam shots. Tape can be tested in a suitable location with a friend to hold the bike and with you walking toward the bike as if you are a driver, if it helps, then something a bit classier looking in a blind can be devised.

Paired 1/2 or 1 watt flashers are much more than double in effectiveness. If you use NiMH cells in the blinkies recharge on same schedule as the main battery to have the brightest tailights. Their output drops fast after 6-8 hours of flashing. They work, but not nearly as well (1/3 max output).

[Matt King]

I think I have run most of this winter without recharging the (NiMH) taillights... Still looks pretty damn bright, but hey, now that you've mentioned it...

Tape/shield on the front glass doesn't (in my playing) work very well, all it does is cut down the whole beam pattern's intensity. You would have to mount a shield some way in front of the lens for that to work, in which case you probably lose the scattered light.

One thing I have thought of is using a semi-circle of mirror in place of the front glass, and bounce the beam back into the parabolic reflector, from where it should eventually bounce out again. Then project the remaining semicircle of light through a lens. I tried this with some aluminium foil as a shield and a 50mm f/1.7 camera lens but the foil mirror tends to scatter the light a bit much and the camera lens projection wasn't brilliant (sorry for the pun).

[MiniMag_Crazy_Greg]

I feel ashamed about my set up now. Seeing everyone's great bike lights makes me want to add more lumens to my bike. I ride every night and feel that my dual purpose EDC (belt and bike carry) little Fenix P2D sitting in it's dedicated Two-Fish lock block just barely cuts the mustard, and now want more!!