Originally Posted by
chandltp
I have pretty poor night vision, especially when there is ambient light such as car headlights. Since I have a recumbent trike, I'm right at eye level for headlights, so that only makes the situation worse.
So I have a Supernova E3 Pro Dyno light that I got last year. It works fine on roads in familiar with and have little debris and traffic (headlights).
However, on a road ride the other night, I discovered I had a hard time seeing any roadside debris, so I found myself going very slowly. I had a small helmet light but it wasn't enough.
I really want a dyno light as I have aspirations to do all night rides (8-10 hours of darkness, depending on the time of year), but maybe that's not the right solution for my problem? Maybe I need more batteries and a high powered light?
Basically, I need something that's at least as bright as the low beam on a car, I think.
Suggestions?
Until I saw this post I never considered the problems of riding a recumbent bike at night. The low viewing angle would make seeing road debris much harder. Still there are many types of recumbent's and some are not as low as others. Yours is a trike, could you post a photo so we know what's being dealt with?
I've seen/heard of people who have made light mounts for their Rec. that attached to the seat and place the light over their heads. This sounds like a good idea to me. You could try a helmet mounted light but that is sometimes heavy and might not still be high enough.
Then there is this problem that you want 8-10 hrs of run time..
The only real way to get that is with a dynamo ( or dynamo assisted lamp ). I'll have to think on that a bit. Lamp heads designed for dynamo use tend to have beam patterns that are intended to have the lamp mounted lower on the bike. Then again I don't know really the height that is being dealt with or whether a dynamo lamp can even be mounted on a helmet..
Whatever you get the lamp will need some throw. There are torches that are battery powered that are bright enough to use as helmet lamps. Some of those have built in USB ports. With the right Dynamo set-up you could use the dynamo to recharge the battery *while in use. ( * not sure if the USB circuit would charge while in use though ) I have no idea how well that would work. It would depend on how much current is being supplied to run the torch. I doubt there are dynamos able to supply over 1A. This is why a dynamo specific lamp is likely the better way to go as long as you can find one with good throw/beam pattern when mounted high.