Rode this morning for the first time with the 54 LED taillight on bright. A cyclist I have seen numerous times on my commute, who has always blown by me, pulled up beside me and commented that that was one heck of a taillight. I guess it makes an impression.
FWIW, I allowed the battery to run down to see how much run time I got. With a 35W halogen headlight, ~3 amps, and the .61-.62 amp taillight I got about 1 hr 25 min run time on my 7 AH battery. A new battery might do better. The battery was a takeout from an emergency light system or security system that, having been replaced in normal preventive maintenance schedule.
Here is a pic of 3 taillight options. The two horizontal lights on the left are on a bracket on my primary commuter. They are two 8-LED truck/trailer marker lights with reflective lenses. I have previously posted a pick of these lights with flash to demonstrate the reflectivity. Cost either $5 or $7 each. The draw about .035 amp each or .07 amp total. The small round light between them is not mounted on the bike but just hung in place for comparison. It is a NiteRider LED taillight shown here in steady mode. Quite bright; cost about $60. The large round light on the right is the 54 LED truck brake/turn/tail light in bright mode. Cost about $25, plus $5 bracket. The NiteRider and the large brake light seem about equal here in brightness, but the 54 LED is far more visible in practice due to overwhelming numbers. It draws .62-.62 amps. I like both homemade setups. I will be putting the small NiteRider light on one of my road bikes for early morning group rides.
Edited to correct the approximate price of the red 54-LED light.
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If it ain't broke, mess with it anyway!
Last edited by RainmanP; 08-30-04 at 04:37 PM.