PoorBehavior

Hey all, for some time I have been looking for a visible daylight hazard light. My purpose is to make my sons Burley more visible to motorists. All the lights that I have seen, like the cateyes, are great for traveling after dusk, which I will never do with my son behind me. I cannot find a light that is visible at distances of 100m at multiple viewing angles. Has anyone seen anything that works well during the day?

geeklpc1985

I have the niterider tail light, it works great during the day, but you have to have a niterider headlight to use it, or just the battery.

Good Luck,

GEEK

dayve

An amber strobe maybe?

https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...-3A&type=store

You'd just need a 12V battery with enough power to run it for however long you take the trailer out. Personally, I'd either mount it down behind the trailer or use something to darken any part of the lense that's facing you if you look backwards.

MsMittens

Have you looked into the CatEye TL-LD1000? I recently got this and this thing is freakin' bright -- even during the day on a sunny day. The other thing you might want to do is get a flag. The SO and I recently got a Burley Trailer that came with it's own tall 7 foot (?) flag and it's rather noticeable.

dynaryder

There's been a couple threads about these:
https://www.flashback.ca/products/accessories.html

Might want to check them out.

Seanholio

Get a Lightman Xenon Strobe:

https://www.southwestpublicsafety.com/ligbasbikstr.html

They are bright, attract notice, and visible in the daytime. They're also designed for bike mounting.

If you need something brighter, check the thread on ultimate geekness, where home-built lights are discussed, and there may be information on brighter xenon strobes.

PoorBehavior

Wow, thanks for the response folks. That big light seems crazy but I would tow it and the battery if it will help the idiots pay attention. I use a 7 foot flag now, but when you are towing the most important thing in the world behind you paranoid becomes rational very quickly. I think I will look into the xenon strobe though, if it is as bright as it is advertised it should do the trick.

DieselDan

Trek Disco Inferno. Flags work great too.

Michel Gagnon

In terms of visibility, it depends where you ride.

My Chariot 2-children carrier has a deep blue bottom part, but the upper 3/4ths is yellow, so it's fairly visible.
To improve night-time visibility, I have added two rows of large automotive reflectors (one row of red, one row of amber reflectors), and at the top, I have added a post onto which I can install taillights.

As for taillights, my favourites are:

- Vistalite SuperNebula 5-LEDs (durable) and Total Eclipse 7-LEDs (more compact) for all-around visibility;
- BLT Super Doppler for rear visibility.

The Vistalites are better in urban environment, but so far, the SuperDoppler is unbeatable in rural environments and other high speed roads where it can be seen from very far. In daytime, the SuperDoppler is very visible from behind in flashing mode. But don't try the flashing mode at night unless you are competing with high-power street lights.

DCCommuter

I second this one. I have it on my commuter. It is very bright, I worry about giving drivers seizures, even in daytime.

PoorBehavior

What battery and battery recharger setup do you guys use with this?
https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-b...E-3A&type=store

dayve

I can't find the exact specs for how much power that strobe draws, but this would probably be more than enough battery.

For the charger, you could go with something similar to this. If you tinker with electronics very much, you could probably take an appropriate "wall wart" (I'm thinking 12VDC 200-300ma unregulated) and make a trickle charger out of it.

LittleBigMan

I agree. I got an amber Lightman along with this product, which is my personal preference (see link below.) They cost about the same. The Lightman is available for bike mounting and is compact and attractive. The second light is designed for portable use to attach to your car and plug into the cigarette lighter; I think it's brighter, myself:

https://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...003077/c-10101

I like the Lightman and it's versatility. The only thing that irks me is that I've been told by different salespeople the the Lightman is anywhere from 600,000 candlepower to 1,000,000 candlepower, when in actuality it puts out less flash than my 100,000 candlepower strobe. No real harm done, it's still extremely effective.

By the way, I tried the All Electronics amber strobe, a seemingly good buy at about 9 bucks. But it quit working after less than a week, possibly due to vibration or shock. It wasn't worth the shipping for me to send it back for a replacement.

dayve

Also, you should be able to find strobe kits at your local auto parts store. Something similar to these: https://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...rs=Strobe+Kits

Boston Commuter

I have an amber strobe on my '86 Peugeot, I think it was called a "Belt Beacon". They were sold for cyclists. You could wear it or mount it to something. It's reasonably lightweight, about 2 1/2 inches across, round. Do they still make these?

froze

For the price the Cateye 1000 that another poster mentioned is the brightest LED you can find, and it can readly be seen in daylight.

LittleBigMan

Xenon strobes are excellent, too. Some are equally visible up to 360 degrees, every possible angle.

froze

That Cateye 1000 is also visible from at least 180 degrees due to sidefiring LED's and is cheaper then the Xenon Strobes...at least the ones I've seen lately. The older Xenon Strobes, at least the Vistalite that I have, are not anywhere near as bright as my Cateye 600 but it was cheap; I have converted it for use as front flasher to compliment the headlight by swapping out the red lens for the amber lens it came with.

todd6559

Hello: The best light BY FAR for commuting is a LIGHTMAN xenon strobe. Visible for up to 3 miles, three times stonger than LED blinkies. They are very easy to mount on the back of any bike, especially your recumbent. I put two with clear lenses on the back of my RANS Rocket by using the belt clip attachment -- they slip right on the back of the seat, and they stay on! There are NO brighter lights available for cycling safety. These blink 80x/min. Great lights. They retail for $25 (plus $5 s/h) at the lightman website, but you can get them much cheaper on eBay. Here's a link if you want to take a look. https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MESE%3AIT&rd=1

GOOD LUCK, and happy cycling! Todd