Electric Scooter aux lights?

[mboni]

Hi folks,

I've got an electric motor bike/scooter that has rather poor headlights.

It came with a pair of 35w H4 Halogen bulbs, but I've upgraded to use the Philips H4 EcoBulb, which is drawing closer to 45w. But much of the problem is the beam pattern more than brightness, it's just a poor quality reflector. The low beam is too low (illuminates only directly in front of me), the high beam is too high (no illumination at all in front of me), but an H4 bulb can't adjust aim independently. The scooter is based on a cheap chinese frame, and the original headlights are lower quality than I'm used to.

Rather than try to tweak the headlights, I'd really like to add some auxiliary lights mounted on the front forks. I've got a set of 35w halogen MR16 MotoLights on a larger gas motorbike, and they do a good job of increasing the bike's visability as well as helping to illuminate the road. I'd like to do something similar to those, but less expensive and more efficient.

An important limitation: the electric scooter has a huge main battery pack, more than 4kWh at 72v, but it uses a DC/DC converter to produce 12v current for everything except the drive motor. That DC/DC converter has a pretty low wattage limit, so I can't go adding lots of extra lights. I've already converted the tail lights to LED, which gives me a little working wattage to play with, but I gotta keep it small.

I've found Trail-Tech makes a nice 13w HID lamp light that may be suitable, in a MR11 size. These supposedly put out 500 lumens, and aren't horribly expensive, but would add 26w constant draw and a much larger surge at startup. I don't know how long the HID startup lasts, or how much current it draws, but it seems like it could easily burn a fuse.

But I'm thinking I should be able to find an MR16 LED bulb (CREE?) with a tight spot beam (6 to 10 degrees or so) and put them into a cheap housing, and get some moderate brightness at a more reasonable cost.

I'm not looking to do any type of fabrication, I just want to combine some commercially available parts together and get something inexpensive and functional.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?

 

[John_Galt]

I think LED is your best bet. Could you just mount a flashlight on the handle bars, with some diffuser film on the lens, for up close lighting? Something along the lines of a Fenix LD20?

 

[mboni]

I think LED is your best bet. Could you just mount a flashlight on the handle bars, with some diffuser film on the lens, for up close lighting? Something along the lines of a Fenix LD20?

Unlike a bicycle, the handlebars aren't good: they've got a plastic housing over them, and there is a small windshield in front of them that is pretty much opaque. Mounting on the front forks is really the ideal location, and I've done it before on a different motorbike.

However, there are lots of good LED headlight kits that are aimed at bicycle riders, I bet there is something out there that I could use. I'd want one with a detachable/optional battery pack that runs at 12v, so I could just substitute the bike's power supply. And I'd want one that could mount on the fork, which is generally a much larger diameter than a typical bicycle handlebar. I've browsed a few bike headlight suppliers, and haven't found what I want yet, but I figure someone here might know of one.

Perhaps I should ask for this thread to be moved over to the Bicycle subforum, since I'm more likely to get answers from that crowd?

 

[John_Galt]

It might be worth a shot!

 

[hit4six]

But I'm thinking I should be able to find an MR16 LED bulb (CREE?) with a tight spot beam (6 to 10 degrees or so) and put them into a cheap housing, and get some moderate brightness at a more reasonable cost.

I'm not looking to do any type of fabrication, I just want to combine some commercially available parts together and get something inexpensive and functional.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?

Mr16 LED is less cost effective. You'll see on the bike forum that a cheap MCE of p7 torch from Dealextreme wired to an external battery is a popular choice when complete diy build is not an option. (500-600lumens?) If you plan to run off a 12v power source check that the driver can handle it, and go by user comments on DX, not just spec. Weight is less of an issue, so perhaps buying a 6v sla battery and charger is an option. You'll see li-ion batteries used on bikes.

Trail tech would work if they power up ok. I'd be surprised if start up is more than 4 amps each.

Check out Vision X 10w led. designed for 12v

And a 12v led bike light, head only - if you find one second hand, anything which runs off 11.1v li-ion or 12v nimh is a candidate. Cateye triple shot.


And beware that these lights could create harsh glare, they are designed for off road.

 

[LEDobsession]

However, there are lots of good LED headlight kits that are aimed at bicycle riders, I bet there is something out there that I could use. I'd want one with a detachable/optional battery pack that runs at 12v, so I could just substitute the bike's power supply. And I'd want one that could mount on the fork, which is generally a much larger diameter than a typical bicycle handlebar. I've browsed a few bike headlight suppliers, and haven't found what I want yet, but I figure someone here might know of one.

I dont know what the bicycle group here thinks of these but it might be worth a shot. I know they are expensive but check out Lupine Lighting Systems. Their Betty puts out 1500 lumens. Other than that, I know Vision X has their own little single LED headlamp aimed at 12v and puts out 700-900 lumens.

 

[mboni]

Hmm, the VisionX Solstice Solo 1100 looks very interesting. 10w, 800 lumens, comes in a 'euro' beam pattern, and $120 each. They look small and light enough to mount on the forks, and rugged enough to survive there.

The Lupine 'Tesla' head also looks interesting, but at about twice the price.

I think the 10w & 800 lumen mark is a good target for this application, since I'll be on-road. Anything that doesn't have a good beam cutoff and is very bright will clearly cause glare issues. I can aim the beam down a little bit, but the spill will probably be hitting other driver's eyes.