Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Total Geekiness

neat way 2 b seen thats different
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Pilot-Automotive-Amber-LED-side-mark-set/_/N-25pw?itemIdentifier=201875&_requestid=1350805 for the front fork...not the brightest, but just something different

Reworked the headlights on my setup this year. Two 6 watt narrow beam LEDS, and a 4 watt bulb. Each LED has it's own switch on the top of the switch box. I'm using a 14 V NiMH battery pack for normal use. But for the next couple of months will probably use an 18 volt LIPO pack and only use a couple of the bulbs. Rear lights are a pair of Whelen TIR III's. I usually run these with a 9 volt nicd. But they'll run fine on a 9 volt battery.

http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000500.JPG
The three MR16 bulbs mounted in PVC connectors.
http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000501.JPG
Battery case with switches. Power Pole connectors throughout.
http://www.tekisp.com/~gene/pics11/medres/P1000502.JPG
Dual Whelen TIR III's, I usually run the left one flashing and the right one steady.

I am starting to research a 6v dynamo system for my lwb recumbent and I'd like to know from those on the forum who have a 20" front wheel, what lights do you recommend considering lighting beam patterns are set up for 26" wheels?
I have a couple of Serfas model lights currently and an issue I have with them, mounted at the base of my handlebars is that the overspill from these lights is annoying; I try to have solid water bottles in my bottle cages on the handlebars in order to block the spill lighting as I look forward. I have considered taping some sort of lightshade around the top of the headlight, but haven't been bored enough to bother, just yet. I'm definitely ensuring any new lights I get do NOT have the extended clear lens around the light as this model does.

I was wondering of anyone has added LEDs to existing (battery style) LED taillights? I have a 5 LED Ikzi Light reflector/taillight - its an inexpensive, but for the (very low) price, I think its a nice, solidly built lamp with a decent sized reflector surface built in. The sides are completely clear and it has tons of room inside that seems as if it could be put to good use with additional LEDs. It already has 5 LEDs 3 face backwards, and two, one on each side face 90 degrees to the side. It does not blink, its a steady light. It has the two screws for mounting on a rear rack. Along the top rim, where the existing LEDs are, there is room for easily 4 or 6 more LEDs which is what I hope to do with some Phillips SuperFlux LEDs that I have, (decently bright) If I insert them along the top rim and get the spacing right, I think I can use the plastic optics, which is sort of a linear lens there - in the same manner as the LEDs that are in there now are doing. However, I dont want to attach them to the 2 AAs as the others are, as I would rather have them on a separate circuit that could run off of a dynamo.

Has anyone here done this kind of cheap reflector tail light additional LED retrofit?

The superflux LEDs are quite bright, considering their size. I think it could look very nice.

I also saw an idea recently that makes a lot of sense to me, brake lights..
Why not put microswitches in my brakes so that when I apply the brakes several additional LEDs are switched in? I also have a red 1 watt Luxeon Star I could use, but then I would worry about the heat since there is no ventilation inside the red plastic lamp. Of course, if it fits (just looking at it it looks as if it may) can attach the back of the luxeon to a small self adhesive heat sink (the kind that you can self-apply to hot PC components) and/or piece of aluminum or copper (an old penny?) or only use it as a brake light..

Is there some kind of national traffic car light spec for car or motorcycle lamps so that I can design my lamp additions to conform, sort of, to whatever visual language that is appropriate?

I just did a little experimenting with the Philips LED Bike light I got. Nice light on the whole, though perhaps not as bright as I would ideally like. The shaped beam is a sizable advantage, though, as I no longer have way too much light on my front panniers. More details on use as is can be found in thread www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/777770-Oooo-Philips-SafeRide-headlights-in-US-online-store!?p=13585851 . Here I will be including details for those who might wish to use one of these as a headlight withing a larger fancy system and don't mind risking voiding warranties.

Mounting: The stock mount clamps semi-perminently (though tool free) to the handlebar. From my reading the handlebar height mount is desirable to keep because the height affects the effectiveness of the beam shape. The clip on the light body is attached to the battery compartment with internal philips screws, so it should be possible to mount it to anything - with one caveat. The mount holes have a ~1" spacing, and the allen screw that keeps the battery cover closed is ~1/2" from the mount hole.

Construction: The case is solid metal (I think sold as, and feels like aluminium). I've dropped mine once from handlebar height to concrete with slight cosmetic damage.

Power: Comes with 4 NIMH AA batteries, and charges from USB (cable not supplied, but highly standard) or power cord they supply (mine, ordered from Europe, came with two pin plug, but adapter will accept 100-240V 50/60Hz, so no great difficulty there.)

As for internal power, the battery holder is marked 1.2-1.5V under each cell, and illuminated quite happily with alkaline batteries. I also attached an 800mA rated voltage regulator to it. At 6V, I was able to get it to run happily, except that the converter became too hot to touch after a few minutes. At 4.5V it ran well enough on low, but when I tried to switch it to high it complained of low battery and then switched back to low. I had to disconnect power to get it to return to high.

Unfortunately I can't give exact readings of power usage because the multimeter I'm traveling with only handles 200mA. The manual says that it should last 2 hours on high with the included 2450mAh NIMH, or 1225mA at 4.8V nominal yielding about 5.88W - a figure that fits my experience with the converter.

For obvious reasons, I can't test now, but I have seen a mention online that when running 6V external through the main circuitry, the high to low swap occurs by timer. I have seen another note saying that the battery monitor lights operate by timer, but the light will happily run while showing 0 bars. Seemed to have something to do with which version of the light was being used.

When the light was charging, it wouldn't turn on. There is room to slip a power cord in past the USB jack in the back of the light but you then wouldn't be able to able to close the rubber cover - an issue of varying significance. It should also be possible to drill a hole in the case for a wire to fit through, though I'm not sure there is all that much room between the battery holder and the case. The battery holder riveted to the main circuit board, so you'll need a drill and a soldering iron if you want to remove it neatly.

I have seen a suggestion that one could remove the original circuitry entirely and run the light off a b2flex (from www.taskled.com), and as a bonus get higher power out of the thing (1A through the LEDs instead of 800mA. This, however, is unsubstantiated, source forgotten (too lazy to hunt up now), internet reading). You're on your own there, though please post back if you try it.

All in all, I like it, though I would like to set up a symmetrical high beam on an easy switch for darker out of traffic situations.

Attached are pictures of the internals I figured I might as well take while I had it open. You are responsible for what your hands do.

Tor

Someone told me to post here. Here goes;

These shots are of the newest Lighting System:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1290.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1292.jpg

Note the amber marker light, can you see it?

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1288.jpg

I decided to build a Human Powered Vehicle back in the seventies (that's the nineteen hundreds to you young folks). Went through several renditions before I built this, the Type Ten.

I've never posted a picture of myself before, but here I am:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1278.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1263.jpg

The photo below is important, on account it shows the Yellow Chain-guard (Total Geekiness):
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1267.jpg

The Equipment which is not mounted to the bike is shown here, a red flag, road cones, and reflective vest:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1258.jpg

SPECIFICATIONS (ELECTRICAL):

The NFA Vehicles Type Ten has two twelve volt lead-acid batteries. The one on the left is 12v/7ah and the one on the right is 12v/12ah.
The Headlight came in a box:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/hotbike/IMG_1252.jpg
and is a 12 volt LED version of the 20 watt Halogen MR-16.

The Tail Lights are made by Signal-Stat, but they were packaged in bags under the NAPA brand label, as their Part # 1050.

I do not have the part number of the amber marker lights, but I tell you they each have two LEDS.

The Front End of this Bike is like a Vehicle, it is mounted to the frame at the head tube, and it does NOT turn with the handlebars. Since the weight is not borne by the handlebars, the steering is much easier.

The Type Ten carries an Inverter which gives 120 volts, up to 140 watts.

There is a Five Band Radio inside the front Fairing, so NOAA Weather Radio is available at all times . Which is useful, say, if you are on a ride and you see storm clouds.

The Fairing is a Recycled Apple iMac computer case, now painted yellow, and has Shark Teeth painted on it. The Shark theme is further emphasized by the fiberglass Fin, which supports the seat of this bike.

In closing, I would like to ask anyone who has NOT seen this bike before, to reply (or email me) and say you have never seen this bike before. I think most people have seen this bike before, and I believe I may be wasting my time posting here, although I have never posted to this sticky thread before, I have posted it in other forums.

^I never saw a computer modern mounted on a bike before, that is awesome.

I think it's been quite a while since I've posted to this thread, probably not since before I switched from halogen to LEDs early last year.

The latest setup is pretty simple, with a P60 flashlight drop-in module mounted in an old TurboCat light head and held in by a lens cut from an old Petzl headlamp. The module fits PERFECTLY inside the light head when I screw down the cap, giving good thermal transfer.

Needs it too, because the module is an XM-L (from nailbender on candlepowerforums.com -- VERY high quality work) driven at 2.8A. Supposedly around 1000 lumens from the emitter, and probably 650-700 genuine OTF lumens. I got a 3-mode module, which has 5%, 40% and 100% settings. Even the 5% setting it puts out more light than a lot of the old-tech bike lights and flashlights. On 40% I find it enough for most night riding as long as it's dry out, and 100% is just enough for riding in the rain with my middle-aged eyes.

Batteries are 4 sub-C 4200mAh NiMH cells, recycled from the 14.4V pack I had batteryspace build me a few years ago, and mounted in a kids' water bottle. Good for about 100 minutes on high, 4 hours or so on medium and a whole lot of hours on low. Pushbutton switch is also from batteryspace, and the Andersen PowerPole connectors were prewired ones I bought off eBay. All told I probably have about $100 worth of parts in this thing.

252058

Heatshrink and electrical tape on the connections look pretty ratty, but it's functional. I've also attached a shroud to provide a sharp top cutoff to the beam and avoid blinding everyone else. XM-Ls cast a pretty broad beam -- not as ridiculous as the MagicShine, but there's a lot of wasted light. The shroud is cut out of a yellow water bottle, and reflects enough light back down onto the bike to make it glow yellow. Wasn't intentional, but I think it helps conspicuity quite a bit. At first the glowing yellow shroud was hurting my own night vision, and one day at work I found a tea bag wrapper and taped it on so it doesn't catch my eye quite so much.

252060

Because of the broad beam, I'm going to retire this unit to mountain-bike duty for which it's much better suited. My commuter bike is about to get upgraded to a dynohub, and I'll be doing a DIY project with that soon. Pics when it's done, or sometime thereafter.