SlimAgainSoon

My long-awaited P-7 finally arrived, though I've yet to put it to use (been too light in the morning, and good daylight on the ride home).

It will get plenty of time in the morning dark once we spring forward next weekend. In the meantime, I engineered an easy helmet mount that has proven to work well.

I wanted a mount because I have been frustrated with the zip-tie method, which I use for two Fenix lights also on the helmet. Zip-ties did a great job of securing the lights, but they made it hard to get the batteries out for a recharge.

Since I would be changing the P-7's battery perhaps once a day, and possibly mid-ride, I didn't want that hassle. So I tried to find a way to mount the light up off the helmet, so I could easily unscrew the end cap and swap out the 18650.

With that in mind, I dug up an old handlebar mount that came with some kind of blinkie — Planet Bike, perhaps? It turns out that the part of the mount designed to clamp around the handlebar is a perfect fit for clamping around my Aurora light.

Excellent. Now I just needed to secure it to my helmet.

P-7 mount.jpg

I used my Dremel tool to grind off the little plastic wings (which formed a clip to hold the blinkie in place) to make it flat and smooth. Could have done the same with a sharp knife.

Then I lightly roughed up the top of the helmet with some steel wool and used epoxy to attach the mount.

P-7 on helmet.jpg

The good thing about this P-7 mount? It is adjustable. I can get the vertical angle of the beam just like I want it, and — here's the cool part — make adjustments on the fly. Or, I can tighten the nut on the mount and lock the angle in place.

Works great!

mijome07

Cool setup, but does it put any strain on your neck?

SlimAgainSoon

No strain -- that light weighs little. I was suprised. The Fenix lights don't weigh much, either, but the Aurora with the single battery is lightest of all.

jack002

Cool mount, nice work. I bet JB WELD was invovled here! Or it might of needed to. Good stuff.

SlimAgainSoon

I ran out of JB Weld last month! I used some no-name epoxy from Ace Hardware.

AEO

I see you put a reflector on the front... why not reflective tape?

SlimAgainSoon

I used a reflector because that's what I had handy. It came on a bike years ago.

I had put reflective tape on the back of my bike shoes ... but it hasn't lasted all that well.

I assumed a reflector on the front would do a better job than tape. And tape is kinda costly.

I put a small red reflector under my seat, to meet that requirement, but I couldn't bring myself to put a front reflector on the bars -- I'm trying to keep the bike clean.

So, I Fredded-up the helmet, as you can see.

Except for the small red reflector under my Brooks, there's nothing else on the bike -- The helmet carries the lights and the front reflector (I want reflectors in case I ever have to talk to Johnny Law about my meeting state requirements).

I've come to like helmet lighting — I can put the beam where I want it and flash drivers doing that "Should I, or shouldn't I?" game in driveways and side streets.

dclaryjr

I was inspired by your post to head out to the garage and rummage through my collection of left over mounting hardware. At first I tried reusing the mount for an old Niterider 6v system but I kept running into problems. But then I hit on this combination:



I have a large tube mount that fits through a helmet opening. It's very secure and doesn't interfere with the helmet fit at all. The second piece mates with it and can be adjusted to get the vertical just right. I have my Romisen in it because my P7 is on the handlebars, but this would have worked with the P7 as well.

Here you can see the components. The light is held in by a no-tools screw making it real easy to remove. The piece that is left over registers on the fred-o-meter but I don't think it pegs it. It's a good compromise solution.

Unknown Cyclist

I guess 'low profile' isn't part of this thread ?

AEO

well, the wide angle beam + low profile means that you have to mount the light forward, otherwise the beam gets cutoff at the bottom.
my helmet for example, low profile, but that's the only place I can mount the light and it suffers from having the beam cut off.

Unknown Cyclist

You could side mount it.

AEO

throws the helmet off to the side especially on the bumpy sections.
not that there are any sections on the side to get the mount to point it relatively forward.
new helmet would be an option.

RepWI

I am no engineer mind you, but I do not think I would want that, mounting post on top of my helmut and have an accident. Could it be pushed through a skull?

Unknown Cyclist

Seems very, very likely.

AEO

no, it might cut the scalp, but it takes more than just plastic to crack the skull.

what it can do is the light on the helmet can cause it to catch something and snap or damage the helmet or mount.

dclaryjr

I would say it's very unlikely. The one bad thing I could see is that one-inch section of foam that is covered by plastic will be a little harder than the adjoining foam if I were to hit on top. I imagine the flashlight and the mount would break off if anything.

I would like a little lower profile but this works out well since I'm on a recumbent and sitting back rather than hunched over.

dclaryjr

Yea, I'll make sure to put my helmet on AFTER I get out the garage!

jack002

Yeah, and avoid the low hanging branches!

Unknown Cyclist

SlimAgainSoon

With my epoxy-it-to-the-helmet mount, the flashlight and mount should go flying if I go down and hit anything.

The epoxy is holding it well, but not so well (I guess) to keep it in place if there is much contact, as would happen in even a light accident.

Unknown's battery integration -- very interesting.

Unknown Cyclist

Benefits are the batteries can be charged as a set on the helmet and weight distribution is good.

The helmet doesn't look like that anymore it's now the MK II with twin lights with higher outputs.

I've got another helmet which will be the MKIII but it's still at the design stage...if only P7s were throwers

AEO

the problem with cutting out the foam material of the helmet is; that point is weakened to impacts compared to the rest of the helmet.

in essence, it's headgear that lets you hold a light to it and not actually a protective helmet.
not that I want to get a helmet flame war started.

Unknown Cyclist

The foam is fairly thick at that point and the batteries are only recessed slightly.



I've added some more batteries to the other side and put on some brighter LED lamps that weigh less.

I've gone from 4 x AAA to 6 x AAA, but saved weight on the lamps. light output is several times what it was.

(it still weighs a lot less than a torch and mount)



Now onto the MKIII........

SlimAgainSoon

Hey, Unknown -- You should sell those. Nice setup.

Unknown Cyclist

Check out "Dynohub R2 Project & Custom Helmet Lighting" in my signature.

It's not a difficult build.