Control panel for lights
 

having to press the button several times to activate each front and rear light every time you want to turn it on or off gets to be cumbersome and a drag. and then having to press each button several times for the mode you want (high. low, flashing, solid, pulse, etc).

it would be cool if you could activate front and rear lights from a small control panel, that could memorize your preferred lighting mode, can turn on or off both front and rear lights with just one button, etc. its 2015 already why isn't something like that available, perhaps utilizing wireless technology such as bluetooth.

in the age of smart phones bike lighting technology is still in the stone age.

That assumes that I put one set of lights on and just leave them. I have several front and rear lights and I change them out every few months as conditions change. Any system like this would lock you in to a manufacturer (a standard is possible but hands up anyone who thinks that Cateye and Lupine and Cygolite will all join hands, sing kum-ba-yah and build a common standard).

Wireless assumes built in battery for the light, which isn't true for me most of the time. I'm not willing to put up with the low battery life of the small batteries inside lights. Also wireless will draw power at all times as the receiver runs listening for the "turn on" signal - though with BLE it may be low enough to not make that much difference.

Lock you into a manufacturer? Why is that a problem? How often do you buy bike lights? You are way overcomplicating things. I've only ever had to buy one set of front and rear bike lights and had them for the last 7 years.

If you don't like the manufacturer there's no law that says you can't switch companies.

It's an interesting idea, watch for a kickstarter near you.

It would eat the battery up over time. With your smartphone you have to plug it in and charge it every night - not something you usually want to do with a battery light.

No matter how low power, no wireless technology is no-power, and it has to check every second or so if a signal is being broadcast, using battery power.

Systems that only control light output can be wireless because they're only on while the light is on, but wireless systems that turn the light on and off would be doing that all night while you're not riding or using the bike.

Bontrager has a 700 lumen headlight and 60 lumen taillight that are wirelessly controlled by a bar mounted set of buttons. Ion 700 RT - | Bontrager

I think the new Garmin lights can be controlled via your GPS head unit.

My lights go on 14 different bikes. The trike has it's own set. I need something that fits all my bikes, and is easy to switch to another bike. I don't want
anything more complicated than I have now. I can turn on the headlight and the tail light while riding anyway.

Edit: Also, I turn my lights on when the shadows start to get long in the afternoon. Unless I stop for some reason, they stay on until the bike is on my porch. I do change the headlight brightness for a big fast down hill, But I already can do that while moving. There is just one button on my light head on the handlebars. If I wanted to turn it off while riding, I can.

Lupine's 2016 lights have bluetooth and smartphone app for control. Here's the Wilma:

Lupine Lighting Systems - Products ? Helmet- and Bikelights ? Wilma R 7 / 14

J.

There are some internal hub generator lights that are automatic, like this one B&M Eyc T Senso Plus Dyno Headlight . But for multiple lighting, I see a low-power bluetooth-like network standard where you pair the lights and if any one light is switched on or off they all follow in kind. This would also allow for a standalone button to be placed anywhere, and also for a photocell/motion sensor for automatic activation/deactivation

I've succumbed to upgrading my lights since 2008, because I see better lighting available at lower cost. Better lighting has been worth it to me. And I expect I will upgrade again before 2022. If that involves a remote control, I won't mind.

I will change the light settings zero to one time during a ride, so changing on the fly would add little value to me. In fact, I can already do that, since all the lights except those on the seat stays are within reach from the saddle.

The memory function, so that the light starts in the desired mode, is handy. But my lights already have that, now. Even my 2008 lights had that.

I am considering a new light set and one of these is on the short list. I ride a recumbent for my fun rides; as such remote control is important to me.

My TV remote works for many months at a time on a pair of AA batteries. I don't think battery life is much of an issue.

BT LE devices operate for months or years on a coin cell. Shouldn't be an issue.

J.

After dark and in daylight, I start rolling the lights light , why overcomplicate things ?

hub dynamo & LED head and taillight. they work .






solder up something your self if that will keep you happy.

That has no relation to the thoughts I wrote on it.

My Light And Motion lights battery runtime goes significantly if I just leave them physically plugged into the light for a week. A couple months, and the batteries are completely drained even though the light is off.

It's certainly not impossible that I could be wrong, I haven't tested it myself. I wrote it a little to "this is why" strongly when it's more of a theory.

That would be my concern personally - is the battery draining over time as it sits and waits for a signal. We're always told it will last forever and be insignificant, but often it pans out a lot worse.

My understanding of the context was that it was the batteries for the remote.

FWIW, it's eminently doable to have the light and battery plugged in together and not have it drain the battery. For example, many of the self contained units that include both the light and battery do well for long periods of time. The technology isn't even difficult. My Lupine Wilma of 2013 vintage will operate as you describe. My Lupine Piko a year later is much better. But that isn't even the issue - it's the designers who decided to not implement a lot of the power saving techniques. I have customers who operate similar circuitry which consumes microamps or less while in standby in similar applications.

J.

My Viz360 has an integrated head and tailight switch that's nice, but I tend to upgrade lights every couple of years and wouldn't want to be stuck using something just because it worked with the rest of my lights.