Originally Posted by wallace125
I commute an hour in NYC each night. My wife and I each have 2 Planet Bike Beamer 3 lights which work great in Blink mode. However, I have bought 5 Planet Bike rear red blinkers in the past year and they all dangerously have failed me. When I set them on blink mode, it takes maybe 10 blocks before they somehow switch to steady mode and then if I don't notice and quickly switch them back to blinking mode, they eventually just turn off.
Does anyone know how or why this happens?
Can anyone recommend an affordable and dependable $20 blinker for me?
I can personally attest to the fact that the Cateye LD1000 and the serfas/performance 9 led flasher
http://www.serfas.com/lights/TL-2000.shtml
both die at various times, due to losing connection to power at battery contacts. The perf lights are built cheap with terrible battery contacts. After X numbers of battery changes the contacts work lose and either short out to the circuit board or lose contact with battery. The cateye appears to be more sturdy but still loses contact (on 3 different type batteries), even when its nearly new.
Like one previous poster, i used vistalite eclipse flashers for years with no problem - however, they are weak LEDs compared to the newer ones used today. Although they don't look much better than the perf flashers, they did in fact never die during a ride.
I like the perf flashers (really bright, wide angle, cheap) but the eventual sporadic failures is a serious safety issue. My workaround solution is to use multiple rear flashers, and inspect them regularly during ride in case they need a gentle "whack" reactivation.
I have considered modifying 2-3 of these perf flashers with leads soldered directly to board, and running them off a common lithium battery. Also attaching them all to one mounting point with provision for battery mount. A little project for my collection of defective up perf flashers. I used to return them to Perf for replacement, but lately they haven't listed them on their website.
The PB superfllash is on my list for next taillight "trial".