Originally Posted by
mechBgon
The BULL and similar strobeheads are designed to be wired to a vehicle's light system, and will produce full output on a range of input voltages (around 9 to 15 volts). In my case, I wired it to a 9.6-volt radio-controlled car battery first, but the connector wasn't very reliable, so then I switched to a DiNotte battery pack. I don't think I ever ran it dead, so I'm not sure how long it would run, but... a long time.
I have some comparison photos in this thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...cs-amp-remarks If you right-click the photo links and open them in new tabs, you can toggle back and forth. The BULL has a rippled beamspreader that puts out a wide rectangular beam.
Another problem with reflectors is that at closer ranges, the reflected light from the non-driver's-side headlight
isn't coming back towards the driver. It's coming back towards the passenger. So what happens when the driver's-side headlight is burned out...? Yeah, reflector effectiveness takes a plunge at closer ranges. Unfortunately there are a lot of cars in my area with only one working headlight.
Thanks for the reply, I thought it was a self contained battery system; I'm not going to mess around with a separate battery pack like what you described, it just isn't worth the hassle when I already have a rear lighting system so bright I get compliments from cops and drivers. It is cool though for someone, like yourself and others, that don't mind that kind of set up.
That is a good point about a headlight being out extremely limiting the effectiveness of reflectors. If you drive down a road at night that has cars parked on the street you get the same effect, very few car reflectors will reflect back anything worth noticing, so now people are expecting to be in a bike lane and a car passing them to their left be illuminated by only their reflectors...their don't work anywhere near as good as they think their working.
Great comparison shots by the way.