Bike light for sister...

[Deathyak]

I have the akoray 106 and thats amazingly overly bright for a bike light. [don't get me wrong, I love that] Also 40-60 minutes is a bit short lol. When its blinking annoyingly I think I get 2 hours!

Anyways, my sister can't press the button on it. Also it costs $20 without batteries/charger. I'm kinda on a budget and she's a college kid. She's going to be riding to class a couple blocks for a year and then take her bike to grad school. I figured a light would be a good idea.

I prefer ordering from DX cause its summer and I have plenty of time on my hands lol. I'll find a mount there too. Budget ~$20.

Possible candidates I've found:
Ultrafire WF-501B
Ultrafire A1
Romi RC-N3

[links removed - DM51]http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9070

Comments? I don't care what it runs off of. I'm thinking Li-ion is probably best though (no memory effect).

Thanks!

 

[glockboy]

Get her a light that run off AA like UltraFire A10, CR-123 is not cheap.

 

[yellow]

no flashaholic = battery powered bike light that does not work when needed.

mount dynamo powered lights, front and back, the only useful light system on a "town-used" bike.
(You can mod them with led, there are plenty ideas in transportation/bike. Working even with very cheap side mounted dynos)

 

[hyperloop]

seeing as how she is just going to be riding a couple of blocks and i am assuming that this will be on roads or at least not on trails or anything like that, get her this light in fact get her 2!!

I bought this light for a friend who never came to collect it so i kept it for myself and use it on my bike now. Read the reviews on that light, the general opinion is that the light itself is ok but the mount isnt fantastic for off roads (at least that's what i get from the reviews).

I've used it on my MTB, the mount is alright for road use and the light is bright enough.

It runs on 4xAAA and comes in 2 modes changed by clicking on the rear of the light. 1st mode is on, and the brightness is probably as advertised around 50 lumens, tint is a nice cool white (more blue-ish).

2nd mode is strobe. The strobe is definitely fast enough to be noticed but not enough to be disorienting, maybe 4 blinks per second?

Havent done any runtime tests but mine are running on 4xGP 1000 mAh AAAs and havent been changed in months but then again, i dont get to go cycling as often as i should.

Lastly, the build of the light is, for its price point surprisingly sturdy, the rear clicky doesnt have to travel far to activate and mode changing doesnt require much strength. Get her 2, one to light the road and the other as a blinker. Hope this helps.

p.s. lemme know if you would like some beamshots and i will try to oblige.

EDIT: what was i thinking!?!?!?! EVERY self respecting flashaholic would want some beamshots :D

Picture below is of my room, distance to the corner about 5 metres or so (i usually prefer to underestimate) about 15 feet

same pic without flash

the bike light on flashlight mode, quite nice spill and wide hotspot

 

[Deathyak]

Lol if I turned the brightness of my akoray down I could get a couple hours out of it. I just don't. Then again, the strings on gel seats go all the way around the bottom. So I shoved 2 AAs in there in case.

I don't think she'd be to excited about the dynamo idea despite its practicality.

Think I'll go with that 1w genero. ~6-7 hours runtime at 170 mah draw, Alkalines should be fine in there.

@hyperloop
Because its really cheap, let me ask: think the reflector hole is large enough to put a cree underneath? (I don't want to try drilling out the reflector... I somehow melted the insides of a maglite with silicone spray lol)

Thanks

 

[hyperloop]

i wish i could answer your question but i'm totally technically handicapped, i just buy 'em and use 'em buddy. If you're going to try to substitute a cree in there, you're on your own. I made some halfhearted attempts to dismantle the head (there are 2 nicks where you can use tweezers or needle nosed pliers to unscrew it) but as i couldnt FIND my pliers or tweezers i gave up :D (gimme a break, it's 1 a.m. in singapore) but what i could and did do is take more pictures :D it's surprisingly bright for the price i paid and even if i don't use it as a primary light, i'd definitely use it as a blinker.

the diameter of the head is nearly, maybe 1mm less, than the diameter of my Surefire G2 if it helps, its definitely larger than any 1xAA light.

(above) disassembled light

(above) pic of the head

(above) pic with light on (duh)

(above) control

(above) pic of the light in use - distance about 25 feet


And just for you, i'm going to do a runtime test :D going to leave it on and see how long it runs, but will have to do that tomorrow when i wake up, cheers.

 

[Deathyak]

pics are really nice, seriously. :ooo: Thanks for that.

Pretty interested in that runtime. I think I'll get one for myself to leave on my bike. [Bike mount that'll fit my akoray is coming+weird led watch on the way] Still It'd be nice to have something that I can leave on there instead of constantly recharging.

BTW I found the answer on another forum: http://www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.18307~threadid.249968

apparently you have to file the new star a bit, but it nearly doubles the brightness. Also it fits in the reflector.

I'll get my sister one. I'm still thinking about a second for me to mod.

BTW, thanks for answering questions at 1 am. Its a lot better than I could do lol.

 

[hyperloop]

the light runs for at least 2 hours before dipping in output, i went out of the room at about the 2 hour mark and came back in at the 2.5 hour mark and the output was noticeably dimmer, wouldnt do as a bike light especially on really dark roads but could still function as a blinker.

Note that this test was on GP1000 (i mistakenly said they were 1000 mAh but on close reading of the cell its 970mAh), it will probably last longer on primaries

 

[Deathyak]

OK that sounds good. Runtime should be long enough where she shouldn't need to change those often.

Today though, our 7 year old laptop died. (No longer believes the cd drive, usb controller, sound card, battery monitor, or ethernet card exist anymore lol and the hard drive was buried inside) I was curious after watching Kipkay's video on repairing laptop batteries and inside I found 8 18650s.:D

I'll get one for my sister, maybe mod hers (and post pics if I do) and buy something that runs on 18650s. Know of any good ones?

 

[cjm.61]

Believe it or not, I use a Koehler-Bright Star Responder on my bike. I just strapped it to the frame above the front forks, and it works great. I use the four C-cell battery version, which is rated at 60,000 candlepower with a five hour burn time.

 

[underconstruction]

I have biked around the boston area for years for classes and work. There are some really bad drivers out there. I would consider something rather bright that flashes to avoid accidents as much as possible.

For a rear blinkie I recommend the planet bike super flash.

For the front I would recommend an 18650 powered light along with a mount. Something with a slow strobe would be great.

Right now I am using a tr-801 with a new driver that allows for a slow strobe. I have a MC-e light on the way to experiment for a day light flash.

For mounts these are good at KD - SKU: S006357

 

[tennisplyr3]

My advice for you is to find a light with a blinking mode (not strobe). Unless she's riding in pitch-black environments with no lights, she doesn't need anything that's overly bright. She only needs something to signal to people in front of her (pedestrians/cars). That way, she can save on batteries and get increased run time.

 

[Deathyak]

Seeing as she often looses her phone and is a bit accident prone with electronics I think it might be best to go with aaa instead of li-ion. Don't think she'd ever recharge them lol.

Theoretically speaking, 1 watt LED=6 volts*166mAh and alkaline aaa ~1150 mAh/166=6.9 hours. So with any kind of luck, it should last about 6 hours. Throw a r2 in which doesn't look [too] hard, and it should be about 100 lumens according to DX forums (however much cred you give those lol). Also this gives me an opportunity to try modding. :D

BTW, sorry but I don't like blinking. I just tested it with a webcam, and I already have my akoray set to low-high-4Hz strobe. I personally prefer slow strobe to blink because I think its more obvious.

Anywho, after a bit more research I was thinking about getting a tr801 for myself. With the stock driver does it give some kind of indication to battery level? I only kept 3 18650s and they're all unprotected.

 

[LightJaguar]

I would got for a 18650 based light. I personally use the 5 mode Solarforce L2 with the Fenix bike holder. Its a sweet combo and I also gave one of them to my brother for his bike.
If you can't afford an L2 then the 5 Mode Ultrafire C1 would probably be the next best choice. I think that they go for $20 at DX.
I would not go for anything cheaper because you it may end up breaking and in the process of saving a few dollars you will end up wasting money. The C1 has been one of my least problematic lights. I have not had problems at all with any of my L2s.
Also I think that your calculations are a bit off. I think that in order to get 100 lumens out of an R2 you will need to supply it with more then 166mA. I'm not sure what the Vf is but I don't think that it is 6 volts.

 

[hyperloop]

OK that sounds good. Runtime should be long enough where she shouldn't need to change those often.

Today though, our 7 year old laptop died. (No longer believes the cd drive, usb controller, sound card, battery monitor, or ethernet card exist anymore lol and the hard drive was buried inside) I was curious after watching Kipkay's video on repairing laptop batteries and inside I found 8 18650s.:D

I'll get one for my sister, maybe mod hers (and post pics if I do) and buy something that runs on 18650s. Know of any good ones?

lithium ions be dangerous especially if unprotected. Stick with AAAs, nimhs etc

 

[Deathyak]

ok its 166 mAh*6 volts or 332 mAh*3 volts. Does that sound a bit closer? It sounds approx. right from what I hear.

Still, for her I'd rather go with aaa because they're more common. Really doubting she'd ever recharge them.

I already use unprotected 14500s already. My flashlight has over-discharge protection and they're fine. From what I hear, as long as you're not discharging past ~2.75 volts the cells are fine right?

edit: no, more research says that the cells are most dangerous if overcharged. Seeing as my charger stops at 4.17, I'm suddenly glad that it does stop before 4.2. Then cells then drop down to about 4.11 volts anyways.

 

[Deathyak]

**BUMP/KICK**

lol necroposting!

alright well I ordered the 1w bike light and an r2 star.

I'll post some beam shots for before and after and one for my akoray and a standard mini maglight AA.

 

[Deathyak]

OK well my akoray's driver died so I can't use that for comparison. I melted the reflector and switch on the mini maglight so that's useless. Before and after's going to have to cut it.

Gonna make use of just every pic I can find anyways lol.

Light itself:

The aluminum tray unscrews. Use needle nosed pliers. Regular pliers won't fit. Inside, the LED is on a star. The silver tray simply screws in. Mine had yellow wires for both positive and negative :shakehead.

The star needs to be ground/filed down on the sides with wording. They're slightly too long. (preferably don't grind aluminum without a dust mask on...).

Here's a misc pic of the driver. Mine outputs .26 amps at 3.33v. Its 0.8658w. I guess that's close enough to 1w.

On to the mod. Negative control:

Yea, its black.

Positive control:

Before:

After with an R2:

Seems roughly 2x brighter. Note pics are on edge of counter.

Reflector was slightly off center so there's a dark "c" around the hotspot, and it flickers on alkalines. After the mod, there's a small gap between the head and the body, but there's an o-ring there, so it looks fine.

In amusing things, I wrote a review on DX, but they didn't post it. I did complain that it wasn't "flashaholic bright" and that it was really on-strobe (instead of high>strobe) with no mode memory (they claimed it did). They updated the description though! :naughty:

Even though my sister didn't get a bike after all, I'll keep it. For around $13 it def. seems worth it.

 

[Deathyak]

OKOKOKOKOK guys.... so. Yes, I really wish I had protected batteries. But now, I'm starting over.

I think that something's wrong with the driver on that bike light. I just got a free flashlight from harbor freight at one of their sales. Its 9 cheap-o LEDs drawing about .4 amps at 4.5v, yet under draw, closer to 3.2v. They're bright! Its brighter than this bike light mod. As a thrower, its really pretty dark. A bike light with no throw is not very useful...

My Akoray 106 is dead, so instead I'm getting the CR123 version (whenever DX gets around to sending me it... :sigh:), except with protected cells this time. I tried a new drive in it, but the driver came DOA, and you can't get an RMA for things you ordered months ago.

Eventually, I'm going to take that q5 and do an 18650 kit with it. After testing current with my really old 18650s (direct drive w/ digital multimeter) they can only output about .6-.7 amps. 600-700 mah is just not enough. I want a high mode with ~1 amp output. I'll probably keep them just for a backup (cause with electronics, I'm a packrat like that) but they should probably just be thrown out/recycled.