Lighting for 14 hour race

[mikkowus]

Over the last 2 years I have done an all night, 14 hour 130 mile canoe race, The first time I did it I used a maglight and a nightrider trailrat combo. we used the maglight for continous use and the trailrat for the bad stuff. the maglight was approx 40 lumens and the nghtrider was around 190 lumens. As you can guess, for 8 hours it was a heavy and not a fun setup.


The next year I started this thread and got some good suggestions in the end a friend loaned us a cygolite TridenX LED Li-Ion X. It worked awesome. I find it a bit fishy though, I cant even find out what emitter it uses.

Im guessing some of you guys have great experience with lights. What sorts of lights would you suggest?

The light needs to last at least 7 hours, it needs to run continuously at 100-200 lumens and be able to jump to 400 lumens from time to time.

I am a student so my budget is limited to approx 150$

Some lights I have in mind are...
fenix tk40

that cygo tridenx I can get it for cost at 130$

A niterider at cost

Dare I think about a magicshine again with multiple battery packs?

Could someone buy me something like this for my birthday?

Do you guys have any other suggestions?

 

[mikkowus]

Lighting for a 14 hour all night race.

woops!

 

[SuperTrouper]

If you got by with a <200 lumen light before, how come you need a 400 lumen capable light this time?

 

[mikkowus]

Lighting for a 14 hour all night race.

repost! must of been tired

 

[DM51]

Re: Lighting for a 14 hour all night race.

You have cross-posted this identical thread in 3 sub-forums (all now merged here). Duplication of this kind just causes confusion and annoyance all round, and is not permitted. Please read Rule 9.

 

[Offroad'Bent]

Re: Lighting for a 14 hour all night race.

Given your small budget and need for hands-free, get a Fenix HP10 headlamp if you can find one. 120 lumens continuous for 7 hours on 4AAs, boost to 200 lumens for 3 minute intervals, and a narrow, punchy beam. Pretty waterproof too.
A Magicshine will probably drown.

Lots of great options out there in the bike light world (3X Cree R2 or R5 with multiple brightness settings) but not in your budget. The Cygo is in this range, so if you can get it in your budget it's a decent option.

 

[Roger Sully]

Have you taken a look at any of the EagleTac M-series lights?

Maximum 900 / 420 / 170 / 45 Lumen
Runtime 1.5 / 4.5 / 12.5 / 55 Hours

This just might fit the bill..OK it's a little over budget but I have seen them go for lesson the maketplace.
A little duct tape to attach it and you're golden! :laughing:

 

[SmurfTacular]

Re: Lighting for a 14 hour all night race.

Given your small budget and need for hands-free, get a Fenix HP10 headlamp if you can find one. 120 lumens continuous for 7 hours on 4AAs, boost to 200 lumens for 3 minute intervals, and a narrow, punchy beam. Pretty waterproof too.
A Magicshine will probably drown.

Lots of great options out there in the bike light world (3X Cree R2 or R5 with multiple brightness settings) but not in your budget. The Cygo is in this range, so if you can get it in your budget it's a decent option.

I like this suggestion. Hands free would be a great. And it has an extended runtime.

 

[chelboed]

You could go with a single Cree XP-G r5 and just have a few batteries on hand.

I built a 1" miniature single R5 with a Soshine 2s/2p RCR123a 800mAh battery. It gets 1.5hrs run time. If I bump it up to a pair of 26650 IMR's...it would still be helmet mount and you'd be looking at somewhere around 7-8hrs continuous. (approx) Probably within your budget, I think.

Just have 1 extra battery on hand and you'd have this much light:

From something this tiny:

Here's a battery size comparison...4cell 18650 vs 2x 26500 vs 2x18650:

 

[yazzur]

tI've done the Au Sable marathon a few times, the last couple of times I did it I used a cygolight and it worked fine. I build a 6+ volt battery pack (it normally runs 4.8 v.), and with 12 AA lithiums it lasted the full 9 hours. Spectators said it was one of the brightest lights in the race, and it even got dunked once with no problem.

Just put a switch on so you can turn it off when wake riding, since you'll annoy the lead boats stern paddler with the reflection off the lead boats bowman paddle blade if you don't.

Good luck in the race, what boat #?

Yaz

 

[mikkowus]

Hey, didn't see your post. Our boat number was 78. We got 9th. Thanks for the info. I probably would of done something similar if I had seen it.
A friend of mine used the same light you did but instead of using 12 AAs, he made a spare battery pack using 18650s. He cleaned it up and had no trouble with it either.

I ended up getting a Fenix TK45 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TGZHSW/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I used eneloop reachable batteries and it was great. I used standard maglight clips to mount it on the bow. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N9ER/?tag=cpf0b6-20

and used galvanized strapping simular to this

to make some buttons that I could smack with a paddle.
The setup looked like this

The flashlight itself was great. It had the perfect combo of spread and throw. there was no useless bright spot in the center. The dual buttons made it so I could turn it on and off without having to cycle through settings saving valuable time when riding in a pack. It being a flashlight made it so I could toss it away easy in the morning. The one thing I wish it had was a setting between 95 lumens and 312. 312 was far more than enough but I was afraid it wouldn't last ll night. 95 was a little low forcing me to jump it up and down. the 760 setting was awesome in the Mio dam cuts and other tight spots. I tested it and it literally had better throw than my cars headlights.

 

[yazzur]

Congrats on the really good finish. I'm just an old slow back marker, but for some of us, a finish is a victory.

The system you used is pretty similar to what everybody was using back in the day when we all used maglites for the race. Other then not having near the lumens of new lights, they worked fine. I still remember paddling over a mag sitting on the bottom in about 3 feet of water, shining straight up.

For next year I'm thinking about something with some elliptical beams if the fog comes out. A few years back it got down to 34 degrees, and the fog was so thick during the night you could only see about 20 feet.

Anyway, good luck next year if you come out here, I'll say hello before the race, cause I'll be way behind you on the river.

Yazzur