Bike Light - Need medium thrower with 18650, 2xAA, or 2xRCR132

[Xe54]

Hi:

I have a bike headlighting scheme in mind--two AA Fenix L1P/L1S (since I have these, don't need to buy) for low side lighting at about 30-45 degree angle. This is because I took a ride at night a few days ago with only a handheld 3W LedWave light, and I had to turn it into the direction I was going if I made a sharp turn. So a single forward light with fixed mounting I don't like because I can't see enough to the sides. I want to have a pair of side lights, and a center light.

For the center, it needs to kick out 120-200 lm, and not be too tight of a throw. For instance, I doubt I'd be happy with something like the Lumapower M1. (I have one at work, I should borrow it and test--hmm...)

It would be cool to use only 4xAA NiMH rechargeables to feed all 3 lights, but I don't think a Fenix L2D with 2xAA for the center will have enough throw, though the lumens and runtime are satisfactory. Thus, I think something with a larger reflector, compatible with 18650 or 2xRCR123 provided I can get at least 1hr runtime would be needed.

How does the throw on Fenix P3D compare to L2D?

Oh well, any other ideas are welcome. I think I'm going to buy a whole basket of flashlights for the new year, and see which ones are good for what. I've a Tiablo A9 on order...

 

[alfablue]

The only thing I can compare it with is my Dinotte 5w Ultra, but my Fenix L2D CE Q5 offers very good throw and spread (full width of a wide path at about 10m). I haven't used it for MTB yet, but on a completely unlit cycle path (old railway line) it is superb on its own even on High (rather than Turbo), and it gave me 4.5 hours on 2500mah NiMH's. I imagine that it would make an excellent solution with one or two others for all kinds of riding.

It easily outperforms the Dinotte in power and runtime, and was 1/3 of the cost.

 

[cave dave]

Put somethin on your helmet too. It makes a huge difference when looking to the side.

PT Apex or EOS are both good, even better if you solder in a new LED.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=170763

 

[Xe54]

The only thing I can compare it with is my Dinotte 5w Ultra, but my Fenix L2D CE Q5 offers very good throw and spread (full width of a wide path at about 10m). I haven't used it for MTB yet, but on a completely unlit cycle path (old railway line) it is superb on its own even on High (rather than Turbo), and it gave me 4.5 hours on 2500mah NiMH's. I imagine that it would make an excellent solution with one or two others for all kinds of riding.

It easily outperforms the Dinotte in power and runtime, and was 1/3 of the cost.

Ok, maybe the simple and inexpensive Fenix will be Ok. I have an L2S body I can try out, to see what the coverage looks like. Since the L2D puts out 2x of the lumens of my 3W LedWave, it's likely L2D will work.

But I'll keep looking at medium throwers too...

 

[pk2tmp]

What about a MiniMag 2AA with Terralux TLE-5 or TLE-5ex ?

I am riding on smal rural "road" (concrete) and these lights are for seing my way. (I have blinkers for signalling myself).

I am planning to use three (3) MiniMag but I can't decide witch Terralux to use: 5 or 5ex.

My main question being the risk that heat build up diminishes ligth output over a 75 minutes ride.

BatteryJunction.com ( www.batteryjunction.com/tle-5k2.html ) propose a new LED that stands better to heat build up ... (Elsewhere on CPF, there are also suggestions to add a whasher to help dissipate heat. I don't want to go into that direction.)

Up to now I tested 2 MiniMag with Kripton bulb + 1 MiniMag with TLE-5. Those 3 lights together aren't bad but more ligth would be a nice improvement specially when it's raining.

So TLE-5 or TLE-5ex ?
Thanks for you view / experience.

 

[waiwak]

I ride on the road and on a paved trail. I purchased four of the original version of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1995

(FYI, I did have to mod them with a wavy copper wire ring in the head to keep them from dimming)

My intention was, two for the bike, one for my truck with a 4-pack of lithium AA cells (just in case), and one for my camera bag, but I ended up using all four on my bike. They'll drain a rechargeable AA in about an hour, so keep that in mind.

Of all the lights I have seen on the trail, the only ones brighter than mine cost hundreds of dollars. I wouldn't mind having more light, but I can see far enough ahead - and all the way to my front tire - in order to clip along at 20mph without fear of running into or over anything I couldn't see in time.

I wouldn't want less light than this, though. I once went on a much longer ride in the dark than I'd brought batteries for, and had to conserve power by using only two lights at a time. As a result I had to ride much slower.

 

[greenLED]

This is because I took a ride at night a few days ago with only a handheld 3W LedWave light, and I had to turn it into the direction I was going if I made a sharp turn.

A common solution to that is mounting a light on your helmet, not adding more lights. That way you're not shining lights unnecessarily to oncoming traffic with your side lights. Like Cave Dave mentioned, the PT Eos is super easy to mod and works great on a helmet. There's a couple of people in town with Eos's on their helmets.

Yet another option would be to get yourself one of those wide angle optics for the lights you have. IIRC, they come in 12x50º (height x width beam spill) or something like that.

 

[UnderDaHill]

Use the lights you have on the bars to light up the area in front of your bike. Don't spread them too wide if your riding in traffic and don't want to blind oncoming drivers. If they are aimed fairly low, this should not be a problem anyways. Then put a Fenix L2D on your helmet to light up everything else as needed.

One of the other forum members mentioned that you need to match lights so that you don't over power one set of lights by forcing you eyes to adjust to the brighter light and making the dimmer lights almost useless.

So if your bar lights are not kicking out as much light as your helmet light, they might get washed out.