Who's clearing $100 / hour?

90% of my hourly rate goes toward overhead and expenses...and I'm not making anywhere near that.

But the DIY ones do seem kind of crappy in the mounts and switches - where it matters in everyday usage. I'd go with the L&M ones that are so highly recommended.

It's OK we all understand... just get there before sunset, the meetings seem to end about the time it gets darK...

Pfft don't look at me, I'm dirt poor, barely in the black

that's...uh....not what I heard about you

Are there instructions for DIY HID lights somewhere? Looking at batteryspace.com, it looks like I could put something together for less than $200 -- but maybe I'm leaving out important parts. Velcro, radiator clamps, and duct tape are fine -- its going to be after dark.

https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1395
Out the door and on the road, @ 185 not too shabby

My understanding is that HID lights are slightly more efficient than the best white LEDs in the 1W and under size. LEDs in the 3W, 5W and larger become progressively less efficient but there is reason to believe that efficiencies can be improved by the LED manufacturers.
I like LEDs because they should be more reliable especially with lots of on/off cycles. However if you currently want to light up the road the best light for the weight is an HID with Lithium Ion battery. LEDs are not quite as bright but provide better runtimes than halogen which are the cheapest of the lights.
Craig

Yesterday I bought a "budget" LED headlamp, the Cateye EL500. I was shocked by how bright it is. I went on the street tonight and it illumantes from curb to curb and forward about half a block. And that was in my neighborhood where there was some other lighting. I am sure in a rural area it will much more pronounced. I would not have imagined one small lamp could produce this much light. I am more than pleased at this point.

2manybikes said, "The Otto 8 is a combo light, just what you are talking about.
They also have a 4x3 watt LED light too, brighter than any other LED bike lights."

wow...that is an expensive led light!
https://www.gretnabikes.com/product.a...=172&cat_ind=7

does anyone know of any powerful small handheld led flashlights that you could secure to your handlebars for way less money than the lupine?

Anyone used this light? Comments on durability/reliability? And, which is better the 6 degree spot, or 12 degree flood?

There have been several long threads on different forums about varying problems with these lights. A google search should turn them up.

I got mine last December, and ran it twice a day, 5 days/week until late April. Mine has the Li-ion battery, so it was a little more expensive. The coldest temperature it was used in was ~-25C + windchill. I had it fail on me once, just before I left for work, but I turned it off, checked the connections and then it was fine. I made my own helmet mount as well:

The helmet mount is made from an old Oakley goggle lens and weighs less than an ounce including the straps and velcro. It is quite stable, especially since the Trailtech light casing is made from metal and is fairly heavy [read: overbuilt for cycling, great for MX]. I don't really notice it anymore, but it takes a couple of days to get used to it. I have the 12-degree flood, and it is very effective. On my commute, it's important to see and be seen, and drivers are not expecting to see a biker riding through the snow when it's -20 out. I don't ever shine it directly at a vehicle unless they stray into my lane or look like they won't be giving me the right of way. Most vehicles give me a wide berth, which is how I like it.

I loaned it to a friend of mine for an adventure race, and it lasted twice as long as any of the other lights, with about 3x the brightness.

The main downfalls of this light are the weight of the light unit itself and the lack of a good helmet mount. The weight is something I can get used to, and the helmet mount is easy to create out of some plastic and a couple of straps. The beam pattern is great, the brightness is unbelievable.

I used one all last winter, and am still using it.

I had one problem; I assembled the thing myself from parts, and at the time BatterySpace said that their 14.4v bottle battery was "perfect" for this light. It's not. The HID specs a max voltage of 14.8v. A 14.4v NiMH pack puts out over 16 volts for a long time when freshly charged, and takes > 1 hour to drop below 14.8v. I wound up frying the ballast in my first HID. Fortunately TrailTech fixed it for free.

Now I'm running at 12.4v (regulated, didn't want to hack up my 14.4v pack). Many hours since then, no problems.

If I were doing it again, I'd probably go with a 12 or 13.2v pack, or maybe LiIon. I intentionally stayed away from LiIon last time because I often ride when it's < 10*F and LiIon doesn't do well at low temps. But I think for those few times I could put the pack in my jacket.

I actually have the Spot. I ordered the flood but they misshipped. They offered to replace but I decided I didn't care that much. I think I'd get the flood. There's plenty of light to spread around, the spot isn't needed.

I just wanted to comment on the durability of headlights based on my experience.
I have owned several EL200s, an EL500, a NikeHawk Raptor, a NikeHawk Emitter, and a Nashbar brilliant(?).
All of these lights have started having failures after less than a year of use. The EL200s last 6-9months before they start turning off on large bumps. Shortly after this they fail to turn on. The Nashbar light had similar problems after a shorter amount of time (thou it was winter when I used this light).
After about 10 months the Emitter would no longer turn on follow a short period where it took repeated attempts to turm the light on.
The battery connection on the Raptor became loose after only a few months of use. I was able to resolve this issure with some ingenuity. The light was stolen with my bike before I got to use it much longer.
I've had the EL500 for about 6 months and the switch has started to give problems. It took me multiple attempts to turn the light both on and off the last time I used it.
Does anybody have a recommendation for a light as bright as the EL500 that will last for years rather than months? I hate buying new lights every few months.
Craig

Are you sure about this? In my experience NiMH does a poor job at cold, but I always thought Li-Ion is better in this regard.

--J

Yah but how /MUCH/ is the replacement HID bulb tho. I was thinking of the HID myself and I do ride about 2-3 hours a night with probably about 6-8 on/off switches (I grocery shop, snack stops, and when I'm in/out of dark zones and back into the city lights) a night as I shift between my low power blinkie/light and my high power one (if/when I get a HID high power). Based on my time/useage what ywould you say my bulb burn out time would be?


Zero_Enigma

Did you check out this page for some pocket torches? https://www.qualitychinagoods.com/

A lot of the guys at Candlepowerforums have a dealers page and I've read a few security personel picked up some of the 5-10W lights off that site above for the price and the preformance is decent as a backup light. The rest of the list from Candlepowerforums can be found here. https://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=56067 I like how they have the rechargeable CR123 batteries now. If you use the light a lot it would be probably be a good idea and investment to get an extra set of rechargable CR123's charged up when you're out on the battle road.


Zero_Enigma

I'm coming from a AA use here for cameras and other gadgets. I IMHO have experienced that NIMH's fresh off the charger into a digicam in ~ -30C - 35C w/ windchill (approx. -18C - 24C without windchill) in Canada's famous winters (I'm in T.O) don't last long. That's like around 0F for our friends south of the 49th parallel. I mean I managed to get about ~10-15 shots in about 30mins off my Canon S2-IS digicam before the batteries seized on me. When I took the batteries out they were pretty cold already. Those same batteries I used (I used 1100 mAh generics and 1850 mAh Energizers) back in Dec./05 in the summer yields me around 100~200 shots (flash, zoom, manula/auto tweaking settings, LCD on). When I changed to lithium batteries back in Dec./05, being pissed off all my batteries zapped out after 10-20 shots each dispite me keeping them around the bodies "hot" zones to keep them warm before use.

Now I've always heard Lithiums are king in the cold temps but never really put that tot he test myself being a NICAD/NIMH person for the ecomonical long run but I sprung the $6.00 for 4xAA lithiums then and managed around no less then 100 photos with flash and zoom. I think I got no more then 150 photos before the batteries drained out on me. Now that's a hell of a difference there getting ~10-20 shots with NIMH over Lithum. My second time with the lituims was when my GPS kept draining out on me around ~ -20C - -30C w/windchill (approx. -15C - -22C then without windchill) and I was using my NIMH batteries fresh off the chargers. I was using WAAS and full load (no power saving with full backlight on) and I got about just less then 2 hours of useage using the 1100mAh and 1850 mAh.

Both batteries felt bone cold when I took them out. My GPS model then was the Garmin Etrex Legend C which has a approx 32hr run time or about 9-10 hours with low backlight. When I dropped lithum batteires in I got around 5 hours on full load when the winds were howling outside. IMHO lithums seem to be king when you're out in the cold for sure. I had two situations I tried it in and it carried me through.


Zero_Enigma

Lithium is different than Lithium Ion. I would not assume that experience in one carries to the other.

Googling around, you can find anything from "LiIon rules the cold" to "LiIon is useless in the cold". So you have to choose who to believe. I generally find batteryuniversity.com to be reliable.

https://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-15.htm
"-20°C (-4°F) is threshold at which the nickel-metal-hydride, sealed lead-acid and lithium-ion battery cease to function, the nickel-cadmium can go down to -40°C (-40°F)"

but later on
"Lithium-ion may be used down to -30°C (-22°F) with acceptable results. Larger packs will be necessary to compensate for the reduced capacity at these temperatures. "

So apparently that's a usage of the phrase "cease to function" that I was unaware of.

There are also apparently different breeds of LiIon, some manganese based and some cobalt based, and possibly others, and they behave differently.

If my NiMH pack ever dies, I'll probably try a LiIon pack to see how it does.