Cateye LD - 1000 question...
 

There are upper and lower set of lights on the Cateye LD-1000.

My question is if I only turn on 1 set of lights will the batteries last longer?

Or because it completes a circuit it doesn't make any difference.

http://www.questbikes.co.uk/acatalog...eye-LD1000.jpg

Hmmm, I would say yes it does make it last longer, you are using less energy. The 5 blinkies are no brighter individually than when you turn on the 10, so I would say, (without looking at the circuit) that it should last 2x as long.

Your batteries will last longer if you're only running one bank of lights. You would be powering 5 lights instead of 10. Each bank of lights is it's own separate circuit.

However, they are LED lights, so don't draw much juice anyway. I use 1.2 V, 1800 mAh, NiMH, rechargeable in mine and they will last me at least two months riding to work well before daylight, but I recharge them at the beginning of every month.

Yes, of course they will.
Blinking mode will also extend your life over solid mode.
The chip that runs the thing will take probably years to draw the battery down by itself; it's only the LEDs when they're on that draws any significant amount of current.

BTW, I've seen people mention that putting both banks in blinking mode may not be that good an idea; since they won't stay in sync, from very far away they look solid.

I ditched my LD1000 and am now using a Planet Bike SuperFlash, which as a bonus is cheaper.

I prefer one bank solid, one blink.
As mentioned above, use rechargable and never worry about saving power. This also makes it easier to get in the habit of using it when its not so dark.
Al

the problem with using rechargables is you loose a fair amount of brightness because of voltage drop. you start out with only 2.5v and go down from there. in blinkies I use li on cells they are higher in volgage and mainting that ligher voltage to the end. the brightness is noticable.

I use rechargables and brightness isn't a problem. I just charge them once a week so the voltage never gets very low. I can't really tell the difference between a fresh alkaline battery and a week-old rechargable.

Newer rechargables also have much less problem with self-discharge. I've even started using them in remotes without any problem. I do still use alkalines in clocks, but they will generally run a year or more on a half-dead battery. I know because I get my alkalines out of the battery disposal bin at work; lots of people mix new and old batteries in a device, then when it stops working they throw away the lot, but there wind up being a lot of practically new batteries in that bin.

Not staying in sync is sort of the point. They go in & out of sync which, if you're using different blinking modes for the two banks, gives a very noticable pattern. In my experience.

NiMH do have a lower nominal voltage than alkalines, but like lithium cells they maintain voltage much better over time and under load. So yes--alkalines are initially brighter due to higher voltage in an unregulated circuit, but after the first couple of hours, the NiMH are still plugging along at 2.5 volts, while the alkys are slowly fading beneath that level.

I run multiple rear lights, and despite the above, like having alkalines in one of them. While they do run dimmer than the other chemistrys for most of their lifespan, they don't fall off rapidly. Both lithiums and NiMH drop off rather suddenly--not a good thing in a taillight since I won't know until I'm home or I'm squished.

I used to run lithiums, and while they last a long time, they're still too expensive for me. I do carry a set in my seatbag for emergency backup though.

Jack

I don't want to go off topic, but could you tell us a little more about your experience with the SuperFlash? How long have you been using it?
I own the LD1000 and it's both bright and water resistant. A Superflash owner said his unit was not very water resistant, have you had any such issues with yours?

thanks

This is what I've noticed using NiMH rechargeables in my headlights. When the light gets noticably dimmer, in the time it takes me to pull over, stop, and dig my spare headlight out, the first one is completely dead. It happens that fast.

Which is one reason I run multiple headlights and taillights.

However, I've never had this happen with a taillight, since all the ones I have are LED and the batteries last much longer than the monthly recharge cycle they get.

This is actually a good thing about NiMH; the cells are giving you full voltage up to the very end of charge unlike other batteries which experience voltage fade throughout the cycle. Alkaline AA's produce about half their charge below 1.2V! That's one reason I change out my taillight batteries on a regular bases and recycle them into a remote control, utility light, etc. for the remainer of the batteries power.

Nevertheless, I don't like the idea of throwing away primary cells like I've been doing with the taillight; this discussion has inspired me to use one of my lithium 18650's with my LD1000. Anyone running 3.7V successfully with the LD1000?

I haven't ridden it in very rainy conditions yet. Also I have full fenders.

There's a thread here from within the last week of a guy who put his SuperFlash through the wash in his jacket pocket. It was a bit damp inside but was still blinking; he just opened it up and it dried out fine.

I do wish that the SuperFlash had the waterproofing of the LD1000, but I think it's good enough that it's unlikely to stop working on a ride, and it's certainly more noticable.

I think both the blink pattern and the fact that it spreads the beam a bit more than the LD1000 are what makes it attractive to me. That single LED is really strong, and the blink pattern really demands attention.

I should probably mount both but I don't have the space. I've got a stupid, useless suspension seat post that limits how high I can go, and stuff on my rack that limits how low, so I only really get one blinky in the space available.

I too really like the SuperFlash. I have one mounted to the back of my helmet with a zip tie. I've had it out in the rain a dozen times or so with no problems. I use it exclusively in flash mode, and the batteries (alkaline in this case) last nearly forever.

Jack

You guys might want to watch this.
Once again, youtube amazes me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fl5y72POyiU

Seeing as the LD1000 uses 2xAA @ ~1.5-1.6v x 2 = 3.0-3.2v and in the odd case I've seen AA's at ~1.7v (2x @ 3.4v) so I think it would work if you let the cell rest a bit after you take it off the charger say a couple days to drop in voltage as cells fresh off the charger hold a higher voltage in my experience.

If you use that lith battery I'm almost certian you'll need to get a blank/dummy AA battery placed into the second bay to simulate like there is a second battery to complete the circuit. To be safe I would email Cateye and ask thier R&D/tech dept. and ask what the min and the max voltage the unit will take.

I've seen that. It does show that the SuperFlash is brighter than the others, but that's all it shows. The video is too dark to show anything realistically. The LD 1000 is much brighter than that. I've had coworkers comment that they could easily see my LD 1000/LD 500 set up from over a mile.

THe whole point is that it shows the SuperFlash is brighter than the LD1000. In order for the camera to expose the light correctly, everything else around it will be super dark. Our eyes can see a much broader range of dark to light than a camera can. So sure, in the video the individual lights don't seem that bright. But what the video shows is that the SuperFlash is definitely the brightest. I also have the LD1000 and I think it's very bright and noticeable, but obviously it's not the brightest.

But if you REALLY want bright, you need to check out Dinotte's tail light.
http://www.dinottelighting.com/DiNot...Tail_Light.htm
I'll probably keep the LD 1000 for now and upgrade to this eventually.

For much less than that you can go with a Nova Bull if you have a 12v system on your bike already. I don't know how it compares to the DiNotte, but the Bull is already so bright that many people (including myself) are not using it because it's TOO bright. I've been thinking about getting a Bull but only using it in adverse conditions, especially during the day.