New light!
 

My Magicshine just showed up. Someone made a bargain with the devil to produce a headlamp this strong, this light, and this cheap. I think I'm in love.

WATERPROOF YOUR BATTERY BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Seriously, if the circuit board inside the battery gets wet it'll die.

Awesome light otherwise :D

Adam

Conga Rats! It's awesome, luvin' mine.

What's the best way to waterproof the battery?

One simple and quick way I can think of is put it in a balloon with the cord coming out the end you'd tie off. Use a zip tie at that end and if possible face that end down just to make sure no water could get in. I'm sure there is an easier, more sophisticated manner of doing it but thinking back to weatherproofing electronics in R/C vehicles this is one method. If it works for that don't see why it wouldn't work in this application too.

Thanks!

Not a problem, if you use this method hope it works well for ya.

i've heard plastic dip from the hardware store gives a more permanent solution.

mine rides in an empty water bottle covered with plastic bags and rubber bands. inside the bottle is a couple layers of bubble wrap for thermal protection

I painted mine with "Liquid Electrical Tape" bought at the local hardware store. I also attached a couple of layers of old inner tube to the top side of the battery, to keep it from banging against the underside of the stem. (The wires were fraying from where they went over the edge of the circuit board).

So far, this seems to be working.

It looks a bit ****e and rubbish, does it actually survive multiple charges and lots of rain? I'm always on the look out for new lights. Still I never understand why you Americans just don't get an Iblasst fom New Zealand. i've been using this for over 2 years in lots of raining/****ty weather 5 days a week, monsoon-esque rain. Antartic cold, and it's never ever let me down. I have no idea why you lot don't buy this light,.http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/endurenz%20details.htm

It's also considered one of the brightest lights and the customer service is great.

This is what gets me, see my above post. You should not have to waterproof a commuter light, the light and battery should be designed to deal with all weather conditions. Just buy an Iblaast and stop wasting you're money.

My dual MS setup is still working fine, even after numerous rain soakings and charges. I keep my batteries dry by storing them in my rear panniers, plus I have spare batteries that I alternate using/charging when one of them gets low on the commute. In a little over a month from now, when the time changes, my current lighting system will be put up in storage and then I will go back to my basic, cheaper lighting system.

Interesting... but it's 400 nzd, which is what? 280 usd? a far cry from 80 usd for the magicshine.

Having to water proof a battery for a bicycle light seems absurd to me. That said, I haven't looked into getting one recently since the one I've used for eight years works well enough. Maybe you can't have water proof and cheap?

I'm actually in the middle of making my own light with a couple of PVC pieces and a halogen bulb from the hardware store. The "Shack" has cases that hold 8 and 10 batteries. They were out of the single 10 battery casess so I bought an 8 battery and a 2 battery case and glued them together. (Since you need 10 batteries if using rechargables to make the 12V) Might seem like a lot of work but if you're handy it really isn't. Plus with all the parts I'm spending maybe $30 approx. and I don't have to worry about circuit boards and such. Regular AA batteries and rechargable ones aren't going to cry if they get wet. Oh, the battery cases also have a 9V battery style connector so it is easy to unplug, bring in the house and charge or change out the batteries. Everyone has their own reason for needing a particular style, type, brandname or price of a light. For me it happens to be a DIY light that I get the satisfaction of knowing that I made and it gives me more light than a "flashlight" and will last 3 to 3.5hrs. (longer burn time than I need at the present time) Sorry, kind of went off on a tangent here maybe, just saying that there are other options beside the fancy high $ brands out there that seem to need special attention that you can explore.

I wouldn't call the MagicShine a fancy high dollar brand of a light, but currently it's the best bang for the buck in lumen output in non DIY situations. Just curious, how many lumens do you expect that your 30 dollar setup will produce? I ride amongst urban traffic, and my current 1400 to 1500 lumen setup is having the results to my liking in getting motorists' attention in dark and low light conditions.

I got one of those and a Terralux at Christmas and feel the same way. But I'm going to have to wait a while up here in Chicago to see how well they work.

Going to guess around the 500 lumen range. I'm generally not out doing late night riding in an un-lit park or non-lit side streets either so I really don't need too much. I've currently got a regualr bulb Cateye (can't remember the model name off the top of my head) that runs off of (2) C batteries so anything is an improvement over that. I'm in no way saying that my set up is better than this or that. I'm just a tinkering kind of guy that likes the fact that it is possible to make a decent light myself. Just something about creating something from everyday parts instead of just buying a mount and go set up, makes me feel a little more invovled. Maybe I'm just weird, don't care if so! LOL

I Built one and it was a very good. But I chose to get a Magicshine 3 months ago as it had a longer run time, didn't need to be recharged before every ride, and was more compact and finished.
I still have my "frankenlight" somewhere and will probably put it on my beater bike.

Probably because they can't be found in North America, where most of we lot reside. We'd have to have them shipped, sight unseen. I'd rather have a demo of the light at my LBS before I plunk down my hard-earned cash.

I did the same thing sans the old tube, got the liquid tape from Home Depot. Just watch out, they come in different colors, I bought green first, wanted black :)

A.

I've used both my DIY halogen and the Magicshine.
The qualities of light are differrent. Both are very bright and I've had several people say they thought I was actually a motorcycle coming down the street.
Looking toward the light, the Magicshine is obnoxiously bright....the Halogen is a little more "focused" (I use a halogen spot...MR16 12V 12° bulb).
From the rider viewpoint I actually like the halogen better as It seems to have better "throw".

I used Cyccomutes Retinnal Burner plans but used some rechargable drill batteries bought cheaply at Harbor Freight. Run time was about 1.5 hours. But I had to charge them for 4hrs right before riding. (Not great for spur of the moment trips at night)
I can run the Magicshine several days in a row without charging.

The Magicshine is very bright but LED's seem to want to not focus dirctionally as well as halogen bulbs and have a different color signature. (Just different qualities of sources)
Anyway Halogen = warmer color....LED = cooler.

My eye seems to like Halogen better, but I'll stick with the Magicshine for runtime, brightness, and convienience.

To be fair its more like 2 magicshines. Around twice as bright and you don't need a backup if it looks like rain.

Yes, the MS lights do have a lot more spill than some lights I've purchased. That will be OK with me, since it'll give much more light towards motorists crossing intersections from my left, and in turn will be better in garnering their attention. I've noticed considerably more motorists not willing to cross in front of me at a further distance as I had when I used more focused/projected lighting.