Tail Lights for luggage rack mount - Several commercial products analyzed

[Martin]

During my trip to the Netherlands, I've bought a bunch of battery-operated LED tail lights that mount to a luggage rack. These are somewhat rare in Germany.
All of them feed on AA-cells (not AAA) which is just what I like.

Sure I took them all apart and put them on the test bench. The report is too much to stuff into a forum post, has tons of pictures, so I've instead put it onto this new page of my website. Enjoy.

PS: To be honest, one out of the above lights is from Germany and not from Holland. Guess which one.

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

so martin, what is first prize ?? :twothumbs

 

[Martin]

One PCB for my circuit no.12, let me know your shipping address !

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

A great review and very comprehensive indeed Martin
i can see you have taken a lot of time and trouble here
my main concern though when buying bicycle lights is waterproofness
do you consider this aspect?
maybe you are lucky and it doesn`t rain very often where you live
for the next test maybe see how long they live in a bucket of water lol

 

[Martin]

None of these lights is sealed but they are designed in a way that rain doesn't get onto critical components. It's not an issue, according to my experience. Not for the type of urban riding that they are made for.
The real problem with these things is that they shatter when abused. Or that someone pinches the batteries for his MP3 player..

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

Thank you for your kind offer but i have to decline i think
for it was a bit too easy .......this gave the game away maybe
"MADE IN GERMANY Busch+Müller"

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

Do they put salt and grit on the roads in winter in germany?
.... this is what wrecks all of my tail lights

 

[Martin]

Well, they increasingly move to putting up signs that no salt is being put for environmental reasons..
But still, there's some. And this wrecks the drivetrain, first of all. The tail light sits above the mudgard, on the end of the carrier and hence is not exposed to the water hurled up from the road.

If you like a tail light that really lasts if lots of salt water is thrown at it, you might like this water-hose-based design.

 

[Cemoi]

Thanks Martin for this great comparison.
Do you know which kind of LED is used in each model?
Some of them seem to be easily upgradable with Nichias.

 

[Martin]

There's no indication of the type of LED fitted but all tail lights have accessible components and are easy to mod.

Thanks Martin for this great comparison.
Do you know which kind of LED is used in each model?
Some of them seem to be easily upgradable with Nichias.

 

[Cemoi]

Could you please take a picture of all lights together, lit in a dark room?
This would allow a rough brightness comparison.

 

[Zero_Enigma]

so martin, what is first prize ?? :twothumbs

:laughing: Chu Chu is amused :twothumbs

 

[Martin]

Could you please take a picture of all lights together, lit in a dark room?
This would allow a rough brightness comparison.

The brightness depends on several factors:
1) The angle you look at them horizontally
2) The battery condition (elapsed runtime) and the type of regulation = the LED current. Unregulated lights are a lot brighter with fresh batteries.
3) The angle you look at them vertically

I'm not exaggerating there. The Busch & Mueller one for example isn't very bright right on axis, but a few degrees off it increases a lot. Moving to the side further, it has several hotspots. The cheaper lights tend to be more smooth while this is not necessarily an advantage.

For the comparison this means, a single shot is meaningless. I have to determine the radiation pattern 0 through 90 degrees for all lights first, repeat this for 1 or 2 other vertical angles, then measure the decline of brightness vs time for every light.
Eventually, it will be possible to know which light is best at which angle after how many hours of running. Looks like it is best visualized in a 3-dimensional chart.

Honestly, my 2008 calender doesn't allow that I go into that. Anyone ?