Now for what to some of you is surely the more interesting part of the system: the lights in operation.
Tail light mode:
Top light: Beehive marker light from
Super Bright Leds. Draws 85mA (haven't measured myself, but IIRC this light was tested by someone else in this thread and it measured up to specs.) Seems to produce a rear-weighted half-sphere of visibility - just about right IMHO.
Bottom light: 61 LED ST series Stop/Turn/Tail Light, also from SBL. Rated 60mA in tail light mode. Please note that this picture is taken from well outside of the visibility cone produced by this light.
On either side of the bottom light are 3" round red reflectors, bought from SBL because I was already placing the order. I would otherwise have walked into an auto parts store for these.
Image two - The Brake Light:
This image was taken using the camera in manual mode to force the same settings as the last image, as can be seen by the similar effect of the beehive light on the camera sensor. Please note again that the camera is well outside of the brake light cone of visibility, so the effect is not striking. In early twilight the 450mA brake light can throw a nice red wash on a wall 30' away from itself, covering a good six feet in diameter area. The tail light mode is no weakling either.
Battery: The system currently runs off the 13.2V 4500mAh NiMH pack I got when I purchased my HID headlight that I intend to phase out in the future as I can get better headlights. From a full charge and an ~55min runtime I measured 13.5V immediately after shutting down the system, so I think my battery is in fairly good shape even though it is a few years old, given the load I put to it. Not sure just how much I ran the brake light though.
All in all, I think the system is going well. I've certainly learned a few things, and found some things that could have been done better, but I think for what I have done the system I have now is quite good on the whole.
Future upgrades include: Aluminium brake light mount; better headlights (road beam pattern in particular; I don't think a light bright enough above horizon to get drivers to flash lights is a good idea); two headlights (road beam and round tight focus high beam with easy access switch); and others.
Comments are welcome.
Tor