Hello (Introduction)

Hello to all of CPF!!

I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. My Name is John, I am 28 and just now starting to educate myself about LED's. My ultimate end-goal is to build or purchase 2 LED lights that I can mount on my YZ450F (Dirtbike) to go on night rides and for emergencies. (I have already been through both and it SUCKS without any kind of light)

I am a newb and will have many questions, so I just want to get that out in the open. But I am also a quick learner and am absorbing knowledge very fast!! Thanking you all in advance for such a cool forum and and all of your help.

-JRlovecpf

:welcome:

I got news for you John, your "ultimate end-goal" is just the beginning....

:welcome:

Zendude said:

I got news for you John, your "ultimate end-goal" is just the beginning....

Click to expand...

LOL, I don't even remember what my first few "ultimate end-goals" even were ... :thinking:

Haha. I think one of mine was to not spend too much money. Pretty sure I did not meet that goal.

Oh, and welcome to CPF! You'll have a lot of fun here. :thumbsup:

LOL,

Thanks all for the warm welcome!!

@Zendude - LOL, I was afraid of that... or rather my GF was. I have a tendency to get into projects and blow them wildly out of control. But hey, it's more fun that way...(ie, whoa that was bright, but I wonder if I could make it brighter....)

Anyways, like I was saying before I want 2 lights I can mount on my handlebars on my dirtbike. I have been researching this for a couple of weeks now and found several potential 'maybes' from LED flashlights, to HID flashlights, to offroad LED lights.

I guess I am looking for the brightest option I can get for around $300. Anymore, and I may as well buy the Solstice from visionX. My hopes were that I would/could build or buy a better light for less $$ that buying the high dollar consumer options. I see there are MANY bicycle lights one can buy, but it seems that most of the higher end one cost around $400+ and again, I can buy the solstice lights for that much...

Is there any dirtbike riders on here that might be able to share some advice/experience with what I am trying to accomplish?

Requirements for my setup:

1. Long burn time, like 2+ hours
2. Extra batteries I can take with in case my 2 hour ride turns into a 4 or 6 hour ride.
3. Bright light.... I need to be able to see as far and wide as I can, especially when I'm out in the desert or woods, or going up or down a knarley hill....the more the better.
4. Easy mount/dismount options--I'd rather mount them on the fly then permanently mount them... it helps cut down on weight, and risk of damage in case I eat it somewhere.

^^ I'm sure there is more, but given that...what do you all think? Can it be done for my budget?

TYIA,
-JR

Welcome! CPF is an enjoyable place to hang out and learn. And oh, you can check out but you can never leave.

Welcome to CPF!!!
FWIW, I had a buddy at work who saw my Jetbeam Jet-III M and thought about mounting it in his 4-Wheeler fairing for a recessed headlight because it could handle up to 15v DC. He was going to try and hard wire it to a switch and get voltage from the alternator. He never did it but there may be someone on here who has.

Barry

BarryG said:

Welcome to CPF!!!
FWIW, I had a buddy at work who saw my Jetbeam Jet-III M and thought about mounting it in his 4-Wheeler fairing for a recessed headlight because it could handle up to 15v DC. He was going to try and hard wire it to a switch and get voltage from the alternator. He never did it but there may be someone on here who has.

Barry

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the other problem. My bike does not have an alternator. The lights I want to add need to be powered by batteries...:shakehead

I'm wide open for suggestions though, please keep em coming.

FWIW, I would look at something that can accept an 18650. It would give you the best balance between size and runtime.

Barry

The best advice I ever heard here is hide your wallet :welcome:

Hi Se77vN, you actually have a lot of options. Your bike does have an alternator, it's just low powered. I just recently upgraded my Husaberg alternator to 100 watts and added this light. :twothumbs

http://trailtech.net/yamaha-x2-hid-kits.html

I love it!! My friend has their 8" HID race light, but I like this one better.

You did not say what year your bike is but if the Trailtech people do not have the alternator upgrade parts you need, Google around a bit with your keywords and you will find the parts you need. Good luck and ride safe!

Look at getting yourself a Solarforce L2 and a Nailbender XP-G drop-in. 1hr40 runtime at almost 300 lumens from a single 18650. Neutral is better imo as it brings out colours better so you can distinguish whats coming towards you better. It'll have a nice floody beam but still throw a good way with a big hotspot. One of these will cost you altogether about $60-70, if you need more light, get two of them.

I use just one on the bars of my mountain bike and it is really great. It's actually overkill for almost any situation, even fast off-road downhill descents where I can reach up to 35-40mph it's sometimes more than I need. I'm sure you'll be hitting much faster speeds than that but I really can't say enough to recommend this set up to you.

Good luck finding exactly what you're after anyway.

:welcome:

Hello and welcome.

I just bought a bike and was browsing the 'bike lights' section of the shop. Wow! It is like 600 bucks for the cheapest one!

Crazy. Fortunately, you can get some very nice lighting options for much much cheaper after reading and doing some research.


As a new person here, I wanted to stay away from dropins and mods and stuff. It would be great to keep you on AAs instead of having to go to 18650s. These specialty batteries have great energy density, but require special chargers, care, and special ordering.


Ideally, I think you want to use XP-G emitters. These are the latest and most efficient. They will keep overall heat down and allow good runtime. There are emitters that are bigger but less efficienct (P7, SST-50, and MC-E). I'd stay away from those for now.



You kinda need to figure out what you think you can mount on the bike. Are you putting them along the boy-bar or attaching to handlebars? Would a 7 inch long light fit?

Both brands itp and romisen are good quality budget. Fenix is a step up and has the latest emitters.

http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_18&products_id=908
A 60 dollar fenix light with the latest emitter. 2xaa. 200 lumens for 2 hours.

http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_48&products_id=420
Cheap 25 dollar light with a decent emitter. use in 2xaa mode.

http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_19&products_id=375
Midrange itp 2xaa light. Programmable.


Hopefully bikers can jump in and tell you which lights will be durable enough to take the shaking without breaking the budget. Maybe there are some protips on how to stabilize the battery tube by using a stronger spring or loading some conductive material down in there to tighten the connection some.



For batteries, the gold standard is Sanyo Eneloop rechargable batteries. They dont lose their charge over time near as fast as standard ones and they are great for flashlights. Check amazon and try to get one of their packs that includes a charger if you dont already have an AA charger.

Good luck on your quest. I too am gathering information for building my own helmet light. My bike, KTM 250XCFw, has an alternator capable of powering a headlight which I have installed. It's great for slower riding but I will be in NM riding in the desert this October and want something that will be safe to ride with at higher speeds.

I have been eyeballing the Magicshine 900 and 1400 on DealExtreme. Modifying them to mount to my helmet would be easy enough. Charging them will be a problem though as we are camping primative style.

I would like to build my own light; I have five 9.6v RC battery packs that I could make use of. However, I have no electrical skills. I can solder, very poorly, and can follow instructions and use the search feature. That's all I've got going for me at this point.

My wife should not be apprised of this project either so I need to do it on the cheap.


Good luck and share any good info you find. Party