Show us your bike light set-up

[cehowardGS]

Cool. What mount are you using for the helmet light?

I am using the same mount that I mount 26650 dia size lights on my bars. It is a two fish knock off that I got from DX. I usually get 5 at a time, and the price is under $2 each..

On the bottom part of the mount that clamps around the bars, I clip about 1/4 inch of rubber off each side. That way, it fits almost flush on the helmet.

[RI Chevy]

Thank you.

[mrfluffy]

I've been planning on throwing my designs into the ring, and finally got some time to take some photos. So here goes.



Aside from the outlandish paint job, I've tried to keep the setup compact and unassuming, with the added bonus that all the lights are either bolted, welded, or glued to the frame. So I can happily leave it locked up and not have to spend time detaching anything worth stealing. The power source is a 6v 27WH SLA battery contained in the black metal box where the water bottle used to be. I've been debating whether or not to go Lithium Ion, but can't be bothered building a new battery pack and charger at the moment.



The front light is a trusty P7 LED in a modified DX Ultrafire C2 head, powered by either a 3w or a 10w driver, which is situated under the saddle. There is a double throw switch under there which lets me select the power mode I require. I've installed a hood over the top of the light in order not to blind any oncoming cyclists on cycle paths.



The underneath of the hood is coated with glow in the dark powder, as I thought it might look good. However, it's pretty much invisible to everybody else.



The back light is a 1W red LED star inside a steel octagonal cap, filled with epoxy, and rounded off with reflective tape. Overkill, I know, but it makes me happy.



Aaaand it's bright.. Really bright. I did briefly think about driving it at 500ma, but then decided that anybody who found it too bright was definitely too close. The light does not have a flasher mode, but that was intentional as not all UK police are aware that flashing lights are now legal on the road (long story, don't ask)

I've hidden as much of the wiring inside the frame as I could, and most of the electronics are under the seat. The lights and battery can survive complete immersion in water up to a depth of at least 50cm (Testing that was fun!), and the electronics under the seat are as well protected as I can make them. Charging the battery is done via a socket under the rear of the saddle, which is the one part of the system I don't really like. Can anyone recommend a charging socket with a waterproof cap?

Runtime is about 2.5 hours on high, but that is running the front LED at the full 3A, so I should be getting near the rated output of the LED. Runtime on low is about 6+ hours. Charging is 9 hours from empty.

[jesterhead]

Hello everyone,

I've been reading threads here a for long time but today I signed up.
My first post here will be about my bike light set-up.

The front light consists of a 35W HID bulb as my primary light for complete darkness and two Cree Q5 as secondary light for

riding on the streets. Using the HID on the street would be too dangerous.
Back light is a low cost 350 mA red LED without reflector for a wide angle.
I also put two LED stripes on the frame (left and right side) to be seen from the side (for crossing streets etc).
All lights can be switched seperated or together.

Inside the bag attached to the frame is a 3S2P LiPo with 8Ah (~7Ah usable) or a 4S1P LiFePo4 with 3,3Ah.
A small cell voltage monitor warns from overdischarging.

My helmet light is a P7 with the full 10W and unfortunately ~4W for the driver (gets very hot, including the 2S1P Li-Ion...).
Here some pics:



HID bulb an the LEDs, its not completely finished yet:


Beamshot in absolute darkness (HID and LEDs on):


And here the helmet light, also not finished yet, but it works for testing:

[mrradlos]

Hello everyone,


The front light consists of a 35W HID bulb as my primary light for complete darkness and two Cree Q5 as secondary light for riding on the streets. Using the HID on the street would be too dangerous.


HID bulb an the LEDs, its not completely finished yet:



And here the helmet light, also not finished yet, but it works for testing:

Hey I like your lights.
Where did you get that HID lamp from? Is this a plastic reflector? Does the P7 with the big aspheric lens throw anywhere near as far as the HID?

[jesterhead]

Thanks!

The hid is from ebay. I bought a set for cars, it included two bulbs and two ballasts/controllers.
The hid housing is also from Ebay, reflector and glass is real glass, the housing itself is made of plastic.
It is designed for a h3 55w halogen bulb (means it can handle high temperatures). After modifying, the hid bulb fits too. The controller is in the frame bag.

The P7 light is a little experiment, first I used an aluminium reflector but the beam was too wide. Now there sits a 50mm lens from DX (without reflector but reflecting foil around the led). I didn't calculate anything, just mounted it and its great.

The hid allows me to see a wide area around the spot which throws ~ 150-200 metres (at this distance I can see other people). The P7 throws only about 30-50 metres and it's not so bright but it's enough to see what's behind a corner or left or right.

This is how the P7 throws (I'll take in the next days some pics outside):


And here are two pictures of the HID, both same exposure (5 sec, ISO 80, f 3,2). If you zoom in you'll see how far it throws. Coudln't test the maximum range yet because i didn't find a complete dark part of the bikeway that is straight and long enough.



lights on

[charlie_r]

Work in progress on my home built delta trike.


Headlight and turn signal bar:





The two outermost triples are amber turn signals, the next 2 sets in from there are low beam and high beam, the center is an amber strobe.


This is what the triple units look like unmounted:




These are populated by 1w LEDs.


The rear lights, soon to be replaced with 3 on light bars similar to the front, set vertically.





Center of the cargo bed is a red flasher, slaved with the front amber unit. Black rectangles on corners are 3mm LEDs in acrylic. Bare 1w units are red, for tail lamps.

The light system is powered by an 8AH SLA battery.


Cars give me plenty of room on the road, now that they can see me!

[Aquaflight]

Hey Bobblehat, or anyone else for that matter...

I really like your 'passive' lighting in post number 62 of this thread. I assume it is some type of reflective tape or paint. Can you tell me what it is and where you got it?

Thanks,
Aquaflight

[GlowBike]

Seems right for me to contribute to this thread, after all the free advice I've gotten here. I've built a couple of DIY halogen projects in the past, and upgraded to LED last year. This one's pretty simple, with a P60 drop-in flashlight module from CPF's own nailbender in an old TurboCat housing. The module fits in nice and snug, with a good thermal connection to the light head. Module is an XM-L driven at 2.8A, with 3 modes (100%, 40%, 5%). Batteries are 4200mAh NiMH SubCs recycled from my previous light project. On high it's just enough for my middle-aged eyes in the rain, and 100 minutes or so of runtime. Medium is good enough for dry conditions, and maybe 4 hours. Low is as bright as a lot of $30 blinkies in steady mode.



Being an XM-L, it casts a pretty broad beam for a bike light, so I've attached a shroud to provide a sharp top cutoff and limit how much I blind everyone else. It's cut out from a yellow plastic water bottle, and an unintended effect is that the reflection makes the whole front of the bike glow yellow. Another unintended effect was that it glowed bright enough to distract me, so one day at work I taped part of a tea-bag wrapper over it. Low-tech, indeed. Here's the beam.



The beam being as broad as it is, now that I'm upgrading my commuter bike to a dynamo hub I'm going to retire this unit to mountain-biking duty, for which it's perfect.

[Bobblehat]

Hey Bobblehat, or anyone else for that matter...

I really like your 'passive' lighting in post number 62 of this thread. I assume it is some type of reflective tape or paint. Can you tell me what it is and where you got it?

Thanks,
Aquaflight

Hi Aquaflight ..... black self-adhesive reflective vinyl tape off Ebay UK (other sellers and colours are available). Came in 50mm width and is easy to cut and apply with no bubbles under the film. Still looks good after about 4 years, with no peeling at the edges/corners .... in fact it seems to stay on better than some helicopter tape I have used. The stuff acts a bit like helicopter tape as its pretty tough.

It just happens to match the black of the Kraken, but I underestimated the amount I would use on the big 22" frame and had to order a second lot! I hope it stays on a long time as I have no ideal what would happen if I deliberately tried to peel it off!

It's not the dearest tape on the market but I can really recommend it ...... I'll try to find out if the seller is still in business ....but that'll have to be later when I'm at home.

Oh! I also grabbed a short length of red reflective tape that is now been put on any mudflap or lower portion of the mudguards on the bikes. Same make .... stays on well despite mud, puddles and rain.

[Aquaflight]

Thanks Bobblehat!

I have a Trek 8.5 DS and I really like the minimalist look of the frame. The idea of having black turn reflective at night really appeals to me.

Since pictures can sometimes be misleading, how reflective does it seem at night? Does it substantially enhance your visibility at night?

Would the reflective tape happen to be from here: http://www.brightthread.com/?

Thanks,
Aquaflight

[Bobblehat]

Thanks Bobblehat!

I have a Trek 8.5 DS and I really like the minimalist look of the frame. The idea of having black turn reflective at night really appeals to me.

Since pictures can sometimes be misleading, how reflective does it seem at night? Does it substantially enhance your visibility at night?

Would the reflective tape happen to be from here: http://www.brightthread.com/?

Thanks,
Aquaflight

The brightthread stuff looks similar, but I bought mine in a continuous 2 metre length x 50mm wide (needed more, bought more later!). The UK seller seems to have disappeared from EBay but I'll PM you a couple of links that look similar. At least it might give you something to search for in USA.

It definitely increases your night visibility to any driver of a vehicle that shines a light on you. I would guess that the animation I set up in #62 is a slight exaggeration of what it would look like with car headlights shining on it, as I used flash for the animation.

The main point is that many bike lights have limited side visibility so anything that enhances your side visibility is good. I was surprised how well black tape turns silvery-white at night.

I think the Trek looks matt black, so that might be hard to match with black reflective tape. The stuff I got (and most others) seems to be a slightly glossy deep black, but it should still look good on the Trek.

[Aquaflight]

Wow, thank you very much Bobblehat! I really appreciate your feedback!

I have ordered a couple of varieties of reflective tape from both the brightthread.com site and the 3M Scotchlite tape. I will post back here with results.

Indeed I really do want as much visibility as I can get. It sometimes annoys me when I see a biker with only a small blinking light. My mind first goes; "why is there this random blinking light in the middle of the dark???" then I realize, "...oh yeah! it's someone on a bike!" I want to be instantly identifiable by car drivers. This is only part of the package. I am planning on mounting 3 tail lights at different positions (one on seatpost, then rear bag, and rear rack) as well as a helmet light, front handlebar light, and the reflective tape. I actually don't plan on riding a lot on roads, but when I do encounter them I want to be as visible as possible.

Yes, the Trek 8.5 DS is a dark matte grey and black. It is very nice and discrete. I bet I can still get a nice effect going with the reflective tape though.

Thanks for the reply!
Aquaflight

[Rus 36]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * inside is Lux-RC (Cool White 6500K. 3UP CREE XP-G R5 1C. 1550mA. 139Lm/W. OD 20mm. DC 6.0V-9.9V and Narrow Frosted Rev.3 (FWHM: 20 XP-E; 24 XP-G))

[seanspotatobusiness]

Just minutes ago, I finally finished my Photon Generator Mk I. I converted an old carbide lantern to incorporate two XP-G LEDs. It's powered by a dynamo which charges five NiCd cells to maintain the light when I'm not moving. Click on the image for additional views. There is a rear light which cannot be seen here but it's not as interesting.



This project was planned two years ago but I only recently started. I have some more complicated circuit plans from that time which I may get around to testing out but I do hope that I don't encounter issues with this arrangement.

[spankone]

Nice retro setup. I'm still using my sparks. Chuffed to bits with them I love the fact they are multi use and not just bike lights.

I've recently brought the lupine QR bike mount for the Spark SD6 makes change the battery much simpler, and I've discovered the lezyne bike pump holder fits the ST6 perfectly. So I've trimmed it down and held it in place with one strip of Velcro. Simple, light and again easy to pop out to change battery's.

[fyrstormer]

I just got this setup finished tonight, after a few years of occasionally pondering how to improve the headlight I used to have:







It looks a little high when the bike is unweighted, but it droops to an acceptable angle when I'm riding.

As an added bonus, because the Solarforce L2M has a two-piece battery tube, if I want extra runtime I can add the tube extender and cram an 18650 or 2x18350s in there. The single cell should suffice for my normal half-hour rides, though.

[Antec]

I just got this setup finished tonight, after a few years of occasionally pondering how to improve the headlight I used to have:







It looks a little high when the bike is unweighted, but it droops to an acceptable angle when I'm riding.

As an added bonus, because the Solarforce L2M has a two-piece battery tube, if I want extra runtime I can add the tube extender and cram an 18650 or 2x18350s in there. The single cell should suffice for my normal half-hour rides, though.

Hi, may I know where you got that lens?

The one available at SForce eats up too much of the overall output.

[fyrstormer]

The diffuser is built into the Malkoff M60F drop-in. I don't know where Malkoff gets them from. In front of that is just a plain glass lense with anti-reflective coatings on both sides.

[Antec]

The diffuser is built into the Malkoff M60F drop-in. I don't know where Malkoff gets them from. In front of that is just a plain glass lense with anti-reflective coatings on both sides.

Browsed their site but could not find the model "M60F". They must continually change model codes after each run. I was hoping they had just the diffusion lens
for sale as an accessory but no such luck.

At least I know what to look for now. thanks

[pointedspider]

ima try that photobucket

[pointedspider]

how do I insert a pic?

[Antec]

how do I insert a pic?

In photobucket, COPY the direct link of the picture and paste it between these w/o the ""

"[IMG] [/IMG]"

[pointedspider]

where did you get that globe from? I have 2 LED mags and I want that!

[pointedspider]

thanks!

[fyrstormer]

Browsed their site but could not find the model "M60F". They must continually change model codes after each run. I was hoping they had just the diffusion lens
for sale as an accessory but no such luck.

At least I know what to look for now. thanks

The M60 series is discontinued. Oveready still sells them. Elzetta does too.

[Antec]

Found something a lot like the one you got but it needs some modding. Still it's less than $3 for 2 pcs lens. Hope it produces that giant spot like in your pic.

would have been a tough decision to buy the whole drop-in when all I need is the diffuser.

Intl-outdoor's DIY section.

[fyrstormer]

It wasn't a tough decision for me, partly because I didn't have a drop-in yet, and partly because I wanted something with good runtime and super-durable, so it wouldn't fail when it gets banged around. Malkoff was what came to mind when I thought of those requirements. I'm actually kinda happy I finally found a use for their products; I've never had any interest in a single-mode flashlight big enough to host a P60 drop-in, but a headlight doesn't need multiple modes.

[Antec]

Well, yes the drop-in looks superbly built. In my case, with three drop-ins on hand and one on the way, my paypal funds may be better utilized on other items.

One thing though, at Oveready, the M60F lists these specs:

• Cree XR-E LED
• Cool white Tint Beam
• Approximately 235 lumens

Yet by just looking at your indoor beamshot, I would have guessed the emitter to be an XM-L @500+ lumens. Could it just be the camera settings?

In any case, that is a fine choice as a bike light.

[fyrstormer]

It's definitely not 500 lumens. The rating is about right compared to what I've seen from other flashlights rated in the ~250 lumen range. The optic just spreads out the light very effectively and with minimal loss.

It would be cool to see what an XM-L version would look like, though. Given how floody the XM-L is anyway, using one in a diffused application seems like it would make the best use of the emitter's properties.

Yes, it does make a fine bike light. I liked it enough that I bought a second identical setup for my other bike. It would be nice if it had a bit more throw, but it has a useful amount of throw, and the spill is extremely useful for seeing and for being seen. I've noticed cars being much more cautious around me since I've started using it.