Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.mechBgon
05-19-06, 09:02 PM
So slvoid mentioned that DiNotte 3-watt Luxeon taillight and now I have LEDs on the brain. This led to much Googleing.
Exhibit A: BatterySpace 12-volt NiMH battery with charger (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=172) and a waterproof on/off switch (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2071) and a connector for the LED light (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2006).
http://www.batteryspace.com/ProductImages/laptop/CH-1540-UNC02.jpg
Exhibit B: some LED lights that might have potential as rear flashers for long-range visibility in daylight and in really bad conditions.
Nova BULL (http://12.152.68.2/video/Nova/bullled.htm), with three 1-watt LEDs and a 4-inch-wide enclosure. It has eight modes, which they demonstrate in the video clip on that page.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/strobeguy.safeshopper.com/images/b00e01qn.jpg
Whelen TIR3 (http://www.lshlights.net/catalog/1__led_grille_lights_whelen_tir3_super-led_3439187.htm), a similar item from Whelen. If you haven't guessed, both of these are made primarily for police cars :)
http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/4964770/TIR3-RED-REVISED.gif
Peterson Manufacturing "Pirhana" 4-inch triple-flash strobe (http://4statetrucks.com/details.aspx?iID=2479). This would have the advantage of being the biggest visual target.
http://4statetrucks.com/ItemImages/2479_1_b.jpg
I was out on the highway today, and stopped by a railing. The weather was overcast. I looked up the highway to the minimum range that I'd want to be noticed from in daylight. Then I flipped the bike around and walked up there. Using my ~1-meter stride to measure, it was something like 200 meters, a distance that the autos are covering in about 7 seconds.
When I looked back 200 meters at my bike, I could certainly see my three main LED taillights in the daylight (Cateye LD-1000 and two NiteRiders) but they are so small that they appear as basically point sources of light. So that's what is tempting me to try something bigger in size, and more output can't hurt either. Given worse conditions, like rain, dusk & fog, it would be nice to have a really gnarly primary rear flasher, so I'm giving this a serious consideration :)
The rest of the ride was in a rainstorm, a lightning storm actually. Due to the lightning striking all around me, I decided to take the short route home, which unfortunately is a 1.5-mile ascent on a curvy, heavily-used road with no shoulder in the places where you'd actually need one. At rush hour, on Friday. It was a little hairy under those conditions, and gave me some added incentive for this project.
Now, which light to get...
Exhibit A: BatterySpace 12-volt NiMH battery with charger (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=172) and a waterproof on/off switch (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2071) and a connector for the LED light (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2006).
http://www.batteryspace.com/ProductImages/laptop/CH-1540-UNC02.jpg
Exhibit B: some LED lights that might have potential as rear flashers for long-range visibility in daylight and in really bad conditions.
Nova BULL (http://12.152.68.2/video/Nova/bullled.htm), with three 1-watt LEDs and a 4-inch-wide enclosure. It has eight modes, which they demonstrate in the video clip on that page.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/strobeguy.safeshopper.com/images/b00e01qn.jpg
Whelen TIR3 (http://www.lshlights.net/catalog/1__led_grille_lights_whelen_tir3_super-led_3439187.htm), a similar item from Whelen. If you haven't guessed, both of these are made primarily for police cars :)
http://imagescommerce.bcentral.com/merchantfiles/4964770/TIR3-RED-REVISED.gif
Peterson Manufacturing "Pirhana" 4-inch triple-flash strobe (http://4statetrucks.com/details.aspx?iID=2479). This would have the advantage of being the biggest visual target.
http://4statetrucks.com/ItemImages/2479_1_b.jpg
I was out on the highway today, and stopped by a railing. The weather was overcast. I looked up the highway to the minimum range that I'd want to be noticed from in daylight. Then I flipped the bike around and walked up there. Using my ~1-meter stride to measure, it was something like 200 meters, a distance that the autos are covering in about 7 seconds.
When I looked back 200 meters at my bike, I could certainly see my three main LED taillights in the daylight (Cateye LD-1000 and two NiteRiders) but they are so small that they appear as basically point sources of light. So that's what is tempting me to try something bigger in size, and more output can't hurt either. Given worse conditions, like rain, dusk & fog, it would be nice to have a really gnarly primary rear flasher, so I'm giving this a serious consideration :)
The rest of the ride was in a rainstorm, a lightning storm actually. Due to the lightning striking all around me, I decided to take the short route home, which unfortunately is a 1.5-mile ascent on a curvy, heavily-used road with no shoulder in the places where you'd actually need one. At rush hour, on Friday. It was a little hairy under those conditions, and gave me some added incentive for this project.
Now, which light to get...