I did wonder about that but it's easy to see how far they go with the clean line on the stanchions, and on my maddest of rides it doesn't go anywhere near....Lets hope you don't bottom your forks out
Need to ride harder Phill
The clean lines are the competition bar, if you hit the top you get a big cuddly toy. Then again you won't be able to see it as your lights will have flung off already..
I could always let some air out....Need to ride harder Phill
The clean lines are the competition bar, if you hit the top you get a big cuddly toy. Then again you won't be able to see it as your lights will have flung off already..
Slightly underwhelmed you didn't spot my punLet hope you don't bottom your forks out
LOL....Slightly underwhelmed you didn't spot my pun
Yes. I am also thinking about the effects of bright lights to on coming traffic in the rain. Its one thing to sell these things based on their lux per buck, but i wonder where the end users stand legally.
Maybe there should be a catagory of lighting refered to as 'off road' 'lighting, with an idea of what might be termed 'reasonable' lighting.
As most cities are preaty well light, it seems to me the real purpose of lighting is to be seen by other motorists without causing them momentary blindness.
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I spotted this on ebay with specs. It seems to be the same light at a much higher price, although they refer to a strobe mode which i can't figure out.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-led-head-light-super-white-e-bike-motor-bicycle-car-DIY-12W-Strobe-high-low-/151433937982?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item23422a843e
btw the included pictures will give you an idea of brightness.
Having seen these really bright lights whilst driving I would expect the user to be pulled up if spotted by the boys in blue simply because they are dazzling on coming traffic!
Now i am stuck with how to reduce the lighting for normal riding.
Judging by the ebay spec sheet, the leds are BrigeLux 45mil chip,
which means each led takes about 3v. Which suggest with a 12v input, that they are being wired in series.
If they were wired in parallel i could remove 1 or 2 leds from the circuit, however if i did that with them in series, it would mean too much voltage to the remaining leds. I could try using resistors to divide the input voltage but the light's controller is there to normalise the output voltage at 12v.
This means the only way to lower the brightness is to put some gaffer tape over the headlight. Talk about Heath Robinson.
Can anyone think of a less current wasting method of lowering the brightness on these beads?
Ajax, it isn't really a case of lowering the brightness, but more of a case of lowering the beam direction so as not to dazzle people.
Well this idea of beam is relative. There isn't that much of a beam so much as wide spread of light. see the pics in the ebay link. One of those pics shows the bike's light next to a car's.Ajax, it isn't really a case of lowering the brightness, but more of a case of lowering the beam direction so as not to dazzle people.
The cyclist compared to a driver sits quite high up, ditto those lights which when compared to a typical car's is that much higher up. Right in the face of the on coming driver. Think about it, everytime you twitch that handle bar you are redirecting that 'beam' , which is so unlike a car. I think this situation is pecular to ebikes which will runs these lights from the battery at much higher voltages.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-led-h...982?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item23422a843e
This isn't even a single 3w led bead, but four of them.
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If you can break into the 12v side of the circuit I would be tempted to fit one of these for $1 aud.Now i am stuck with how to reduce the lighting for normal riding.
Judging by the ebay spec sheet, the leds are BrigeLux 45mil chip,
which means each led takes about 3v. Which suggest with a 12v input, that they are being wired in series.
If they were wired in parallel i could remove 1 or 2 leds from the circuit, however if i did that with them in series, it would mean too much voltage to the remaining leds. I could try using resistors to divide the input voltage but the light's controller is there to normalise the output voltage at 12v.
This means the only way to lower the brightness is to put some gaffer tape over the headlight. Talk about Heath Robinson.
Can anyone think of a less current wasting method of lowering the brightness on these beads?
Specs are from a different Aussie seller but for the same device:
-Brand Single LED strip controller
-5 dynamic modes
-6 level speed
-8 level brightness
-Auto memorize function
-12V 12A Output up to 144 watts
-Easily change mode, speed and brightness by pressing 3 keys on its
ultra slim body
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-LED-Single-Color-Dimmer-Controller-12V-For-5050-3528-LED-Light-Strips-N-/261509061709?pt=AU_Boat_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ce3279c4d
Good find on the LEDs. The Bridgelux 4545 LEDs have a forward voltage of about 3.4V at maximum power according to the datasheets (which don't give a maximum luminous flux, strangely), and a maximum drive current of 700mA. Each LED therefore is just under 2.4 watts. Figure approximately 100 lumens per watt and they would be kicking out 240 lumens each, or 960 for the entire light.Now i am stuck with how to reduce the lighting for normal riding.
Judging by the ebay spec sheet, the leds are BrigeLux 45mil chip,
which means each led takes about 3v. Which suggest with a 12v input, that they are being wired in series.
If they were wired in parallel i could remove 1 or 2 leds from the circuit, however if i did that with them in series, it would mean too much voltage to the remaining leds. I could try using resistors to divide the input voltage but the light's controller is there to normalise the output voltage at 12v.
This means the only way to lower the brightness is to put some gaffer tape over the headlight. Talk about Heath Robinson.
Can anyone think of a less current wasting method of lowering the brightness on these beads?
LEDs aren't like halogen bulbs - they require very careful current driving, and so are (almost) never wired direct to batteries in this sort of application, even with resistors, but instead utilise an LED driver to control the current. You'd have to have a look at the LED star itself to see if they are wired in series or parallel and therefore presenting either a 13.6V 700mA load or a 3.4V 2.8A load.
Does the light not have any control button on it? Virtually all of these drivers have multiple modes.
Michael
Yes. I am also thinking about the effects of bright lights to on coming traffic in the rain. Its one thing to sell these things based on their lux per buck, but i wonder where the end users stand legally.
Maybe there should be a catagory of lighting refered to as 'off road' 'lighting, with an idea of what might be termed 'reasonable' lighting.
As most cities are preaty well light, it seems to me the real purpose of lighting is to be seen by other motorists without causing them momentary blindness.[/quo
I know people worry about how bright there lights are but I'm not one of them, the lights I run are 5000 lumens and darkness doesn't exist !! which is good for me as 5 miles of my 10 mile commute to work is through unlit country lanes and very dark and so called bright lights of 100 lumens are just not good enough and for me not worth having !! People sometimes shout about how bright they are (and I only use a 1/3 power when in town)but that just reassures me that everyone can see me? and I also put it on flashing during the day and its still very bright. BUT YOU CANT MISS ME. Below is the one I use and they are very good you can get them on ebay from 14.95 to 20.00 so god value.
Those lights are actually 2,000 emitter lumens (about 1,700 to 1,800 out the front) not 5,000. However they are still painfully bright. In effect you're cycling round with the equivalent of a car main beam on all the time. It may actually hinder safety because the light is so dazzling drivers won't be able to see anything else, like the curb or other cyclists.
Michael
If there is a button it will be in the heat shrinked package, which i have not opened. There is nothing like you would expect, if this were a controllable feature.
Good find, thanks I'll see if this can be worked into the lighting
controls.
A blink mode is better than a canstant beam if you just want
to be noticed by other road users. That said, a high intensity beam
that's also blinks, might not allow you to adjust to the brightness.
The dimmer part of this circuit would have to work too. At this
price i can afford to experiment.
Here's a uk source.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Ultra-Slim-Mini-LED-Controller-Dimmer-Single-Colour-3528-5050-Strip-Light-UK-/370979750489?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Night_Lights_Fairy_Lights&hash=item56601dc259
Hi d8veh - mine arrived yesterdayThe nights are drawing in, and soon people will be asking about the best lights. Here's a new one from Banggood for £12.41 including postage:
http://www.banggood.com/LED10-U_S-CREE-U2-Chip-10W-Motorcycle-Headlight-Motor-Lamps-HiLo-Beam-p-936965.html
It's much neater than their previous ones and looks to be waterproof too. It comes with various bracketry. I modified one to fix it to the fork crown. Apart from it's exceptionally bright light from the Cree U2 emitter, it's main advantage is that you can connect it to your bike's battery with a switch on one wire to turn it on and off.
I have a torch with three Cree T6 emitters. They both give out about the same amount of light, but the Banggood one has a brighter narrower middle. The spread of light away from the middle is about the same.
For those of you that have never tried a light with a Cree T6 emitter, you have to recalibrate your brain to understand the amount of light that comes out of these. Forget your bike shop, Aldi and Magic Shine lights. You wouldn't even know they're on when this one's around.
This is the LED10 light. There's also a LED 20 that I think has a bigger emitter (12w instead of 7w), and if that's not enough, there's the LED 100 and 200, which I believe run at higher current (10w and 15w) because they have an extra heatsink on the back.
Can I ask how you got it attached to the fork please ?
I chose this for my pedal cycle.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Cree-XML-XM-L-T6-LED-5200Lm-Bicycle-Bike-Lamp-HeadLamp-Head-Light-/400554413825?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item5d42e74f01
It is cheap. Comes with a charger. One and a half hours run time on max brightness. Three modes. LOW POWER,which is still quite bright for town use. HIGH POWER WHICH IS MEGA BRIGHT, for country lanes and tracks. STROBE which is flashing on high power. This mode would quickly do your head in. Does not cause dazzle on low power. Lamp mounts on handlebar by rubber strap, so easy to dip the whole lamp as required.
Only downside. On high power, tends to set fire to hedges, dogs and pedestrians.Very good value.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Cree-XML-XM-L-T6-LED-5200Lm-Bicycle-Bike-Lamp-HeadLamp-Head-Light-/400554413825?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item5d42e74f01
It is cheap. Comes with a charger. One and a half hours run time on max brightness. Three modes. LOW POWER,which is still quite bright for town use. HIGH POWER WHICH IS MEGA BRIGHT, for country lanes and tracks. STROBE which is flashing on high power. This mode would quickly do your head in. Does not cause dazzle on low power. Lamp mounts on handlebar by rubber strap, so easy to dip the whole lamp as required.
Only downside. On high power, tends to set fire to hedges, dogs and pedestrians.Very good value.
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Absolutely daft bike light.
If the cells will stand up to producing 3A per cell and the lamphead can dissipate 40W of heat then you'll be looking at pretty much bang on 4,000 lumens emitter output. More than a car's main beam headlights, both combined. Yes, low would be plenty in town!Michael
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