Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - LED versus HID

I have an old (5.5 years) NiteRider Firestorm HID light that still gets about 3+ hours on a charge but it is heavy and the wire from the battery to the light is a little short for my Trek Madone 4.7 58cm. The mount for the front water bottle is low enough that when I put the battery in it the cable is pulled taut with the bars straight. If I turn the bars to the left the cable is kind of pulled apart. For the time being I've taped a plastic block to the bottom of the battery so it sits about 1 inch higher but I'm beginning to think it may be time to get a new light. I'd prefer something lighter but I do like the light power of the Firestorm HID.

So, are there any LED system that come anywhere near the Firestorm HID in terms of light output? If it were possible to have comparable light output the LED would seem to have the advantage in lower electrical power consumption permitting a smaller/lighter battery. Also, a LiIon battery would tend to have both greater capacity and ligher weight.

A combination of lower power consumption with greater storage density of LiIon would seem to make such a light measureably lighter.

So, how well do the LED's fare against the HID's?


Thanks,

Brian

For the moment, loosen the "collet" where the cable emerges from the waterbottle battery, about 1-2 turns, and gently pull on the cable to see if there's some more cable left to play out (they are length-adjustable by design on many NR bottle batteries).

For road riding, the Light & Motion Seca 700 Race (an LED light) is pretty nice IMHO, although somewhat expensive. It has a fairly even beam pattern and acceptable throw. If you visit this review in Norwegian (http://terrengsykkel.no/index.php?id=2440), there is a beamshot of the Seca 700 at full power, along with a beamshot of the Light & Motion ARC HID, which certainly is more powerful than your Firestorm. I also posted my own review of the Seca 700 Ultra (http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=461341) (Ultra has a super-sized battery pack), which may be handy since it's in English ;)

I have an old (5.5 years) NiteRider Firestorm HID light that still gets about 3+ hours on a charge but it is heavy and the wire from the battery to the light is a little short for my Trek Madone 4.7 58cm. The mount for the front water bottle is low enough that when I put the battery in it the cable is pulled taut with the bars straight. If I turn the bars to the left the cable is kind of pulled apart. For the time being I've taped a plastic block to the bottom of the battery so it sits about 1 inch higher but I'm beginning to think it may be time to get a new light. I'd prefer something lighter but I do like the light power of the Firestorm HID.

So, are there any LED system that come anywhere near the Firestorm HID in terms of light output? If it were possible to have comparable light output the LED would seem to have the advantage in lower electrical power consumption permitting a smaller/lighter battery. Also, a LiIon battery would tend to have both greater capacity and ligher weight.

A combination of lower power consumption with greater storage density of LiIon would seem to make such a light measureably lighter.

So, how well do the LED's fare against the HID's?


Thanks,

Brian

Since you already have the light and it seems to work, there is really no reason to go changing just because LED is sexy now. Check with NiteRider (http://www.niterider.com/store_cables.shtml) for an extension cord. It's a much cheaper solution.

I purchased a new P7 flashlight using a single 18650 battery from DX. On high it's actually too bright for oncoming traffic, 50 minute run time. Medium at about 400 Lumen is still very bright but it's not too bad for traffic and I can see fine, about 2 hour run time. Low is about 150 Lumen and is fine on a dark MUP, 5+ hours run time. Mounting is easy with a bike flashlight clip. I got one with an orange peal reflector so it floods the roadway and provides a long range beam as well. I use it as a backup light for my dynamo light system as well as extra light when required.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/dsc00098.jpg

For the moment, loosen the "collet" where the cable emerges from the waterbottle battery, about 1-2 turns, and gently pull on the cable to see if there's some more cable left to play out (they are length-adjustable by design on many NR bottle batteries).

For road riding, the Light & Motion Seca 700 Race (an LED light) is pretty nice IMHO, although somewhat expensive. It has a fairly even beam pattern and acceptable throw. If you visit this review in Norwegian (http://terrengsykkel.no/index.php?id=2440), there is a beamshot of the Seca 700 at full power, along with a beamshot of the Light & Motion ARC HID, which certainly is more powerful than your Firestorm. I also posted my own review of the Seca 700 Ultra (http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=461341) (Ultra has a super-sized battery pack), which may be handy since it's in English ;)

Thanks, I'll look to see if I can pull about 1.5 inch from the bottle. If that work I'd be hard pressed to justify replacement as the battery is still getting me 3+ hours and the HID light is pretty decent. It is kind of heavy though...


Brian

you may be getting close to the bulb wearing out. starting it is what wears HID lights and 5 years if you use it daily is quite a bit. if you notice it takes longer to get going then it is wearing out.

Thanks, I'll look to see if I can pull about 1.5 inch from the bottle. If that work I'd be hard pressed to justify replacement as the battery is still getting me 3+ hours and the HID light is pretty decent. It is kind of heavy though...


Brian


not a good idea to try to yank some from the bottle


much better to grab a hunk of wire and splice some extra
into the cable itself, solder it up, wrap it up.

I have an old (5.5 years) NiteRider Firestorm HID light that still gets about 3+ hours on a charge but it is heavy and the wire from the battery to the light is a little short for my Trek Madone 4.7 58cm. The mount for the front water bottle is low enough that when I put the battery in it the cable is pulled taut with the bars straight. If I turn the bars to the left the cable is kind of pulled apart. For the time being I've taped a plastic block to the bottom of the battery so it sits about 1 inch higher but I'm beginning to think it may be time to get a new light. I'd prefer something lighter but I do like the light power of the Firestorm HID.


How about you mount the light on the underside of the bars, or on the stem or on the side of the head tube? That would give you more wire clearance.

How about you mount the light on the underside of the bars, or on the stem or on the side of the head tube? That would give you more wire clearance.

Actually mounting it was a problem as the original bar mount wasn't designed to handle 31.8mm bars like the Trek Madone 4.7 I now have. They sell a universal mount and that's what I now use. Yes, if you mounted it lower it would need less cable but then I'd have to jurry rig some sort of mount, AND, I'd be trying to blast the light through the gear change cables.

And before I yank any cable from the bottle I'll first see if there's cable to be yanked without putting putting strain on the wires inside the bottle.


Brian

not a good idea to try to yank some from the bottle

That's how NiteRider designed them (I had the NR FlameThrower with that feature), so checking to see if there's some cable left, gently, is fine. If you still have the owner's manual, it should mention this feature if your battery has it.


If you're curious about the P7 route, this Picasaweb gallery (http://picasaweb.google.com/terrengsykkel/Lyktetesten2008#) has beamshots of the MTE P7 alone, and with a second P7 (the one with the backlit handlebar is the dual-P7 shot), as well as the other lights in the review, and a few that were not. Keep in mind that runtime is not the strong suit of one-cell P7 flashlights, so if stopping to change batteries is not your thing, you're going to be using a low-power mode with brief spurts of full power.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I took the advise from a couple posters here and gave the bottle a closer look -- sure enough there was a nut at the base of the strain relief so I carefully unscrewed it, pulled it away from the bottle, and slowly pulled about 1.5 inch of cable before the inner wires began to show so I backed off a half inch, retightened the nut/ferrel and removed the taped on standoff I'd taped on the night before. The cable is now almost the perfect length so that at full lock on the steering the cable just come taut.

I just came back from a quick 12 mile test run and all was well except I think I'm going to need the thin rubber between the bar and mount afterall. During the ride I had to pull up on the light several times as it had slipped down without the runbber pad. I guess I'll have to glue the pad to the mount so it doesn't fall out.

Anyway, just wanted to thank the folks that recommended lengthening the cable -- it worked like a charm!

As to the concern that the bulb of this 5.5 year old light should be near it's demise ... well although it is 5.5 years old it has been hardly used for most of the last 4 years. If I get a good winter/spring out of it I'll be quite happy and by the looks of it that shouldn't be a problem.


Brian

cool :beer:

if you hardly used the light did you charge the cells sometimes?

if you hardly used the light did you charge the cells sometimes?

No, not really! There are different 'stories' as to the storage requirements with some saying to store fully charged and then recharge every 3 months or so. I recharged far less often than that as they were tucked away in a closet and untouched for extended periods of time.

When I first dug it out a couple weeks ago it would only run for about 30 minutes on a charge, but after a couple charge/discharge cycles the run time has gone up to over 3 hours. So, while the batteries may not have been stored with the 'ideal' method I have, I think, restored them to mid-life condition. Again, if they get me through this fall/winter/spring then I'll be happy and can plan to replace it if needed at that time.


Brian

about once a month is fine with Nimihs if they self discharge too much it will damage them. same if they are over charged.