Originally Posted by pitr
Does anyone have the Luxon MR16 3W light from superbrightleds working in the optronics light shell?
If so, What are you useing to limit current/voltage, and what are you using for heat sinking?
These bulbs have built in current limiting. Heat-sinking is only required if they are totally enclosed. The optronics shell has cooling vents for a 50W halogen so I expect it would be OK.
Originally Posted by pitr
Can any of you compaire just a single 3W luxeon to something else in terms of brightness?
Based on their website, I think you would be disappointed with the 3W for a bike light. They claim 52 lumens for a 25 degree beam. A 20W halogen with that beam would be about 1200 lumens. I'd love to hear different from someone who uses one.
Originally Posted by pitr
$20 LED tail light of some sort (looking for something 2-3" in dia that I can mount on a reflecer mount, suggestions?)
I use two lights -- the $9 strobe from all electronics that is popular, and the model 1284R from here:
http://www.led-r-us.com/smlights.shtml . They don't go on a reflector mount, but you're unlikely to find a 12V light that does.
Originally Posted by pitr
What sort of real word run times could I expect from a 5Ah NiMH setup with that and an led tail light of some sort?... if I end up with a headlight at least as bright as a 10W halogen and a nice taillight that can hopefully make my 4 hour round trip on a single charge.
With a 5Ah battery at 12V, you have 60 Watt hours of nominal capacity. I would derate that by 50% for real world capacity, so with a four hour runtime that gives you a budget of 7.5 watts. The taillight combo I recommend eats about 1.5 watts, so you have about 6 watts for the front.