Zebralight bike set up

[grego15]

Hey Mr Floppy, I think you should further consider the H600. Saw it mentioned once. It is a VERY floody light that puts out light very evenly. It is capable of up to 750 lumens, but also as low as 1 lumen.

Also noteworthy is the high capacity rechargeable battery. You prefer AA's but if you can avoid throwing away batteries after every bike ride, why wouldn't you? You should be able to get 3-4 30minute bike rides(@ 270 lumens) from one charged 18650. Much more convenient than popping in AA's all the time and cheaper. And better for the environment.

Please see this video for an in depth review and a comprehensive look at the light/beam in action at various distances. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0OQEkn8GxQ youtube has many other videos too. Good luck!

 

[Mr Floppy]

You prefer AA's but if you can avoid throwing away batteries after every bike ride, why wouldn't you?

Nah, Eneloops are cheap and I throw out dozens at a time ...

 

[TweakMDS]

I was just thinking of a similar setup and decided to be economical about it.

From a flashaholic point of view, I want both the H51w and the H502d. I don't ride my bike daily and have narrowly avoided multiple 40-euro fines for forgetting or misplacing my crappy LED lights in the past...
Since I started EDC-ing, it becomes realistic to combine the pleasant with the legal obligation to have proper bicycle lights.

Considering the two lights I have in mind, I think the h502d would be best suited as a tail light and the h51w as a headlight. Both are easily EDC-able whenever I'm out by bike somewhere.

In the Netherlands, legal restrictions are as follows:
- head light has to be white or yellow
- tail light has to be red
- both none-blinding
- no blinking/strobe/flickering
There's an additional rule about "approved" tail lights, but it doesn't appear to be anything substantial, so I opt to disregard any potential issues with that.

Tail light concepts (very vague so far):
Since the bikelight setup is only a secondary use of the ZL's I want, I don't want to get a dedicated red led-light, so I need some sort of red filter for the H502d, possibly something that also diffuses the light. Since I only intend to use it on low, I'll probably whip up some DiY tupperware-ish hack that I can permanently leave on my bike.

As for mounting: I'm currently considering either clipping the light directly to my bike, or permanently mounting a headlamp holder to my saddlebar. Should be fine eitherway, no showstoppers there.

Headlight:
A headlight is far simpler, I just need to mount it on the handlebars and angle it down to avoid blinding on higher modes. Running it on low is probably enough for visibility and meeting the legal requirements. If I find myself in poorly lit areas, I can always crank it up to high. I'm still leaving the option open to also mount different lights like my eagletac D25A on the front though. Not 100% clear, but tie-rips are probably going to be used.

The only issue I have so far is the ideal way to make a red filter / diffuser. I'm thinking of finding a red bottlecap (coca cola?) and just mounting that on the light with a rubber band so I can easily remove and attach it. Maybe a coke bottle cap eats too much light though, so might have to sand it down or use something else.
Any more durable or efficient solutions are very welcome

 

[Mr Floppy]

In the Netherlands, legal restrictions are as follows:
- head light has to be white or yellow
- tail light has to be red
- both none-blinding
- no blinking/strobe/flickering

Damn you Dutch are sensible. It varies from state to state here but basically your lights have to be visible at 200 metres either solid or blinking. Blinking lights are the most annoying to some drivers I find. It isn't policed well however (even some of the police don't know the regulations). Some people have lights you can barely see at 50 metres.

The only issue I have so far is the ideal way to make a red filter / diffuser. I'm thinking of finding a red bottlecap (coca cola?) and just mounting that on the light with a rubber band so I can easily remove and attach it. Maybe a coke bottle cap eats too much light though, so might have to sand it down or use something else.
Any more durable or efficient solutions are very welcome

Get a TwoFish Lock block or Bike block. Very easy to mount. I have a Fenix MC10. It has a flip down filter but unfortunately it is just plain transparent. It would have been great if Fenix made a red version but they didnt but I did have a red filter for a Fenix L2D. I popped the red filter out and glued it to the flip down filter.

 

[eh4]

Biased by what I've tried, but for me a relatively mild 1/2watt blinking red led has worked well. I actually rode plenty without any lights when I was growing up, I also got on the sidewalk at night before any car overtook me to make sure I didn't get smashed. Big difference with red flasher on rear.

When driving a car I see dimmer red flashers Just Fine, and give them a wide berth without being distracted.
Some of the brighter ones have.seemed like distracting overkill from my perspective as a driver.
Bright white light in front sounds like a great idea, front white Flasher is however a foolish requirement imo.

 

[TweakMDS]

Damn you Dutch are sensible. It varies from state to state here but basically your lights have to be visible at 200 metres either solid or blinking. Blinking lights are the most annoying to some drivers I find. It isn't policed well however (even some of the police don't know the regulations). Some people have lights you can barely see at 50 metres.

Hehe, well I just looked up some numbers: we own 1.1 bikes per person here, with 84% of the population owning at least one... the average dutch person rides 900 kilometers a year, so there have to be some standards with those numbers. Visibility is less of an issue because there are bicycle lanes or even separate bicycle roads literally everywhere.

The Lockblock seems like a great option. I'll see if I can find something similar in local shops and otherwise ebay them.

Bright white light in front sounds like a great idea, front white Flasher is however a foolish requirement imo.

Agreed. A headlamp in front works well without blinking. Also: the requirement is NONE-blinking. Having blinking lights on your bike is a 40 euro fine here, so I agree that it makes sense not to do that

 

[rambo180]

I was wondering about that but it's more to do with lighting up the road behind me or like someone else in this forum has done, lit up their backside. I did think about 2 reds just for visibility.



I do have a magicshine with the rear light but that's used for longer commutes and greater speeds.

why does one want to light up the road behind themselves. i ride at night, don't get it. cheers

 

[TweakMDS]

The main reason I can think off is better visibility from the side, as well as providing other traffic with a quick estimate of your speed and direction. If you'd have a regular flashlight with a red filter, or even something with a diffuser on the back of your bike, a car coming from the side, or diagonally from behind can barely see you, especially in the rain.

Imo, this is better addressed by using copious reflectors, both the white paint kind and the amber/red inversed pyramid kind. Those things reflect a car's own headlights extremely well from just about any angle and provide much more visibility than a tail light ever will.

 

[rambo180]

The main reason I can think off is better visibility from the side, as well as providing other traffic with a quick estimate of your speed and direction. If you'd have a regular flashlight with a red filter, or even something with a diffuser on the back of your bike, a car coming from the side, or diagonally from behind can barely see you, especially in the rain.

Imo, this is better addressed by using copious reflectors, both the white paint kind and the amber/red inversed pyramid kind. Those things reflect a car's own headlights extremely well from just about any angle and provide much more visibility than a tail light ever will.

Reflectors are a great addition to lights. Lots of bike back lights are rounded, cateye make some great 180 degree ones to enable vision from cars perpendicular to a bike.

Its still quite hard to tell how fast a flashing light is going though, lighting up the road would be much better, but many many more lumens and battery power required to make enough light for a car to see and make speed judgement.

 

[Mr Floppy]

Just got a new HL51w and went for ride last night. It is about as bright as my L2D Q5 and has a slightly bigger hotspot. As for the warmer tint, well it's hard to describe but things looked less grey. The asphalt didn't have that haze about it. Warm is good.