LED bicycle lights - an advantage

Hello, cyclists. Just got out of my car - 5 minutes ago, I was waiting to make a left turn, and among the oncoming headlights was a bluish one that caught my eye - LED headlight on a bike - from my long ago biking days, I know you've gotta get the drivers ATTENTION to keep them from running over you. I would've seen it on a dark street, but this one stood out against the background of car headlights, too. Back when, all we had were reflectors and leg lights. Hey! An LS leg-light - the advantage of a bright light with the the odd color and the bobbing motion.

RossB

Could been a short-arc HID (like the Light Cannon) too.
I have one of those on my electric wheelchair, and it definitely attracts attention.

You are correct, sir, now that I think upon it, because it was pretty darn bright. In any case a definite attention getter. Maybe one of the 5w cyan monsters would be more visible than an HID, since more and more cars have HID's now.

And, welcome back.

RossB

Ross,
I am working on that myself, I ride my recumbent to work and don't like to get run over. At this point, I have a minim*g with the Badboy500 1.25 watt Luxeon LED mounted to my helmet, it attracts attention! My 18-LED taillight blinds people and they avoid following me.
Later this week, the big cannon comes in... Elektrolumens 5 watt Cyan Luxeon LED in a 5D M*g to burn some retinas A few days after that, Elektrolumens 30mm optic to really turn the beam into a spot beam for really long throw. Should be the light I have been looking for. A piercing blue-green light beaming out in front of a recumbent bicycle should not be missed. If it is, the helmet mount Luxeon will be looking at drivers and when I pass, take a sniff at 18 LEDs driven by 6 volts for some eye candy.
I am getting there, if those above lights are not freaky enough, they do have these LED things that attach to the spokes and make pictures. I will be lit up like a Christmas tree!
The reason I got into LEDs in the first place is they are the only thing that held up while I was in Korea. The bulbs always blow at the worst time.

Interesting thread....

Let me ask this one - if one were to use a flashing/blinking LED light to get noticed/attract attention - what color should it be - specifically to use in normal nighttime or twilight traffic?

Thanks,

This visibility thing is near and dear to my heart. My bicycle days ended in 1974 when I got a real job and could buy a motorcycle...all the visibility issues of bicycles at much higher speed. Motorcycles, OTOH, lasted until 1989.

I'd try a flashing cyan job. On the end of a fiberglass whip for the recumbents, or on the helmet for the conventional two wheels.

RossB

(the cars didn't get me, just simple old age and spinal fragility)

Flashing blue seems to get my attention -

is that the reason police flashing lights are blue?

Guys...

See the "What the" on my sig line? Go ahead, click it and see what happens...



-YC

A robotic chicken?

Hey! I think there's a bicycle in there somewhere. Right next to the robotic chicken.

Hey, you can get a ticket if it's too close to Police Blue, can't you? I know a guy who got claimed to have gotten a ticket for putting blue LED mods into his windshield washer sprayers on his car.

(or maybe that's just a Massachusetts thing, like many other restrictions.)

I don't know what the laws are for bicycles around here, but certainly it is illegal on your automobiel to show anything to the front that isn't white or amber. Showing blue anyhwere is forbidden, as is showing red to the front. My guess is that it is the same for bicycles since most of the same rules apply.

This is for CA, of course.

Okay.....

Let's put this in two separate parts then -

To get attention/high visibility -

(1) bicycle lights in traffic -
then probably flashing white or amber - so I would guess a very blue-white (but has to be BRIGHT!) would actually be the most visible?
How about a yellow-green?

(2) general human vision (without law restrictions) -
what is the most visible attention getting color for a flashing light?
I am guessing (don't know for sure) that it may be blue - I think perhaps that's why police/emergency vehicles use flashing blue lights?

Or is it actually the the other way round?
ie: merely conditioned association on my part - that because police/emergency vehicles use them - that flashing blue gets my attention?

I make some PCBs which fit into the blog standard Vistalite-300 (310, super nebula, etc) housings. The board holds 6 'SuperFlux' LEDs and a boost converter to run them. They don't flash, but they are _bright_.

http://borealis.com/~winnie/LED_BOOST_VISTA/index.htm

I don't know if this is true or not, but I've been told that the laws about blue lights are specifically about lights mounted on _vehicles_, which includes the bicycle. However it _doesn't_ include the _person_ riding the bicycle. So a friend has some blue blinkies mounted on his clothing

I'm certain that blue gets attention, but I figure that you both want to get attention and be easily understood; I recommend white or amber on the front.

-Jon

Jonathan, what's the average runtime on a pair of AA's for your High Flux mod?

I get between 5 and 10 hours on a pair of 1800mAh NiMH AAs in my lights. Hard for me to give an exact number because I have several, each with different power settings

-Jon