Cycle Indicators -bargain?
- Thread starter JohnInStockie
- Start date
John
seems like a good idea and at a cracking price, if i had them i would still use hand signals for my intentions, and my opinion of other road users.
would be handy on the back of my trailer.
mike
seems like a good idea and at a cracking price, if i had them i would still use hand signals for my intentions, and my opinion of other road users.
would be handy on the back of my trailer.
mike
Heav-y
The first time I've seen shipping cost more than the item
Peter
If the parcel post is £9-50 they must be mighty heavy.
The first time I've seen shipping cost more than the item
Peter
I think they more bulky than heavy Pete. I am assuming that the vendor is just using the £9.50 postage as a standard cost as they seem to sell on items in bulk generally.
I imagine that they would be good for people who dont want to take their hands off the bike (like me in winter - brrr) and they'd also be good for extra visability. The downsides of course are the extra weight and the odd-ness of having indicators on your bike
I imagine that they would be good for people who dont want to take their hands off the bike (like me in winter - brrr) and they'd also be good for extra visability. The downsides of course are the extra weight and the odd-ness of having indicators on your bike
Bought them B-seen 101
Guess what, I just had to know if these were any good, and if they were, as the manufacturer seems to have gone out of business, I'd better ensure that I had a spare.
So I bought 3 for £7.99 each.
I only paid the 1 postage of £9.50, and they arrived extremely well packed.
Ive opened the box and I have to say, its a shame that the manufacturers didnt get a large retailer to stock them. They did have a couple of things against them though, the price (£90 RRP) which Im sure would have been brought down to earth when made Mandarin style, and the fact that retailers seem to want to look 'hip' by stocking mountain bikes and road racer accessories mainly so indicators are going a bit far for them.
Both the front and the rear units are about 7" long, 2.5" high and 1.5" deep in a smoked-glass looking plastic case, held together by 4 'plug-like' long flat head screws. Waterproofing looks a bit unsure, but they are well made from quality materials, however I think its that type of thin hard indicator material that if I dropped one it would crack easlily.
Fitting the units to the bike is easy, the rear goes in that place under the seat (which I think is a stupid place for rear lights to go), and the front unit goes right in the middle of the front bar, and sits up about 4 inches in the air which of course means that if your gonna turn the bike over, you have to remove the whole fitting. Both the front unit and the rear unit are quick release and the pack comes with a bum-bag to put them in when away from the bike.
The front unit has 4 big chunky buttons on it and a switch. These control the rear led mode, the front main beam, and all of the indicators wirelessly, and well as on/off for the whole device. Additionally the front light has a standard MR11 bulb in rated at 5W (might be worth swapping that for the led version of the MR11), which probably mean it will draw a bit much on the power side on the built in 'pack' of 5 AA rechargables in series with '5 VHAA 1500 6V - 1.5Ah NI-MH'. It appently gives off 80 lumens in a narrow beam (Q-Is this good or bad?) and when the battery runs flat, there are 2 white flashing leds that kick in to get you home.
The rear unit is quite odd. It doesnt have a rechargeable battery in, instead it has 5 Alkaline AA batteries in series in a 'pack', it says '5AA Mn-Al 6V nominal' on the pack. Also all of the light including the rear stop light are leds (you would have thought that it would have been easier to put the same rechargable battery in there really wouldnt you?).
All in all these are very simply made. I would assume most of the development went into the wireles control, rather than making the device robust-er and more efficient/easier to charge.
What would I say was a good price for these, £25-£35. If they could have made them for that, they probably would have sold a lot more.
I will add a further review whenI have tested them on the bike at night (which is the only time I plan to use them) but I can see that on a winter's night commuting home in the rain, mist or fog, these will be very useful as car drivers like to see indicators.
If anyone has any suggestions / improvements for changes to the batteries, casing or bulbs, please let me have them.
John
Guess what, I just had to know if these were any good, and if they were, as the manufacturer seems to have gone out of business, I'd better ensure that I had a spare.
So I bought 3 for £7.99 each.
I only paid the 1 postage of £9.50, and they arrived extremely well packed.
Ive opened the box and I have to say, its a shame that the manufacturers didnt get a large retailer to stock them. They did have a couple of things against them though, the price (£90 RRP) which Im sure would have been brought down to earth when made Mandarin style, and the fact that retailers seem to want to look 'hip' by stocking mountain bikes and road racer accessories mainly so indicators are going a bit far for them.
Both the front and the rear units are about 7" long, 2.5" high and 1.5" deep in a smoked-glass looking plastic case, held together by 4 'plug-like' long flat head screws. Waterproofing looks a bit unsure, but they are well made from quality materials, however I think its that type of thin hard indicator material that if I dropped one it would crack easlily.
Fitting the units to the bike is easy, the rear goes in that place under the seat (which I think is a stupid place for rear lights to go), and the front unit goes right in the middle of the front bar, and sits up about 4 inches in the air which of course means that if your gonna turn the bike over, you have to remove the whole fitting. Both the front unit and the rear unit are quick release and the pack comes with a bum-bag to put them in when away from the bike.
The front unit has 4 big chunky buttons on it and a switch. These control the rear led mode, the front main beam, and all of the indicators wirelessly, and well as on/off for the whole device. Additionally the front light has a standard MR11 bulb in rated at 5W (might be worth swapping that for the led version of the MR11), which probably mean it will draw a bit much on the power side on the built in 'pack' of 5 AA rechargables in series with '5 VHAA 1500 6V - 1.5Ah NI-MH'. It appently gives off 80 lumens in a narrow beam (Q-Is this good or bad?) and when the battery runs flat, there are 2 white flashing leds that kick in to get you home.
The rear unit is quite odd. It doesnt have a rechargeable battery in, instead it has 5 Alkaline AA batteries in series in a 'pack', it says '5AA Mn-Al 6V nominal' on the pack. Also all of the light including the rear stop light are leds (you would have thought that it would have been easier to put the same rechargable battery in there really wouldnt you?).
All in all these are very simply made. I would assume most of the development went into the wireles control, rather than making the device robust-er and more efficient/easier to charge.
What would I say was a good price for these, £25-£35. If they could have made them for that, they probably would have sold a lot more.
I will add a further review whenI have tested them on the bike at night (which is the only time I plan to use them) but I can see that on a winter's night commuting home in the rain, mist or fog, these will be very useful as car drivers like to see indicators.
If anyone has any suggestions / improvements for changes to the batteries, casing or bulbs, please let me have them.
John
Last edited:
Some Questions though...
1) Any ideas on how I would use that/wire it up a it looks like its meant for a cigarette socket. Should I try to remove this part and loog for wires, or buy the female cigarette socket?
2) Could I run both the front and the back from 1 of these, or should I buy 2?
3) Could I up the MR11 bulb to the 10W one increasing the lumens from 80 to 190?
Thanks V much.
John
Female cigarette adaptor sockets are a bit bulky John, so wiring direct, maybe via a small switch would be neater.
The indicated current capablility is usually at the lowest voltage, but you'd probably be ok with one of those adaptors for both front and rear.
That 10 watt bulb should work ok, but the current increase would drain the battery quicker of course. The other thing is the colour rendered. The coloured plastic lenses like those on rear lights tend to show through whiter and whiter as the light intensity is increased. The MR16 light colour could shine through the lens colour at 190 lumens. Look at what the camera sees on my Q bike to see what I mean about showing white through:
The indicated current capablility is usually at the lowest voltage, but you'd probably be ok with one of those adaptors for both front and rear.
That 10 watt bulb should work ok, but the current increase would drain the battery quicker of course. The other thing is the colour rendered. The coloured plastic lenses like those on rear lights tend to show through whiter and whiter as the light intensity is increased. The MR16 light colour could shine through the lens colour at 190 lumens. Look at what the camera sees on my Q bike to see what I mean about showing white through:
Flecc, I think it should be ok then as the rear ones are all leds, its just that front main light.
Sorry can I just triple check, if I buy the dc regulator and rewire it a little, then I could also change the MR11 Bulb to a 10W one AND have both the front and the rear running off'of my main battery (it says it will provide 1200ma would that be enough)?
Thanks
John
Sorry can I just triple check, if I buy the dc regulator and rewire it a little, then I could also change the MR11 Bulb to a 10W one AND have both the front and the rear running off'of my main battery (it says it will provide 1200ma would that be enough)?
Thanks
John
That would push it too far John. If you want to run that high output headlight, one of the adaptors would only just cover that, so you'd need a second one for the other unit. Watch out for the consumption though. Converters use power themselves to do their job, so the current drain will start mounting up. That item is ended on ebay so I can't check. Can you refresh me on the standard headlight unit ones wattage rating?
.
.
I'd stick with the standard setup John, which one adaptor can supply. If you changed to the 6v 10 watt one, that alone would need over 1600 mA, more than one of those adaptors are rated at, so the 10 watt MR16 would be starved of sufficient current, reducing it's light output, and the adaptor might overheat as well.
The effect on range could be severe as well. With 1.6 amps going to the headlamp alone, and your battery rated at 6.5 Ah, you can see it's quite a high proportion. Add the bit for the rear unit as well, plus whatever the adaptors themselves consumed in doing their job, and your battery could be drained too much.
.
The effect on range could be severe as well. With 1.6 amps going to the headlamp alone, and your battery rated at 6.5 Ah, you can see it's quite a high proportion. Add the bit for the rear unit as well, plus whatever the adaptors themselves consumed in doing their job, and your battery could be drained too much.
.
It would look really funny though, stopping because the mini-kettle is whistling behind you, 'Tea's ready'! lol
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