2manybikes

slvoid is right (sigh...) it's hard to see in the photo but the 6w halogen does have a wide spread of lower intensity light out to the sides, top, and bottom. You can just about see it on the railing on the sides of the photo. The bright spot in the middle is a little wider too. Even though the very center of the beam is very close to the LED light in illumination, in use the 6w halogen is easier to ride with.
The photos are very close to what I actually saw, I was amazed. I had to get away from other light sources to get the photos to come out correctly. I used the "center weighted" light meter, not the spot or the averaging, and used auto exposure. As you can see I forgot the tripod, I just rested the camera on the bike computer and held my breath.
The plan was to show the 6,10, and 15 watt settings on the Nightrider Pro6, but it ran out of juice, and it goes to low automatically. I'll try again, and I'll bring the 2.4 watt 4aa Cateye light as well, and the homemade 50 watt halogen.


I'm too old to change.

allgoo19

That would help a lot. I'm looking forward to it.

2manybikes

Here we go......

jsharr

are you sure you name should not be changed to 2manylites? Awesome pics, thanks for the posts.

2manybikes

2muchstuff

I hope this helps someone that might be shopping for a light.

more light photos to follow soon. 2manymorelights

slvoid

I have an odd feeling the dude has a really nice high paying job and not much else to spend money on.
Can you do me a favor and send me one of those HID lights, seeing as how you can't possibly use them all??

2manybikes

Everyone has to have a "loaner" for a guest. Or a backup if you drop one. If you visit you can use one.

Ever since I saw that picture of "Ringo" I thought maybe I should put the 50w halogen,the 10 w HID and the 16 watt hid on the same bike at once. Just to see what it's like. Hmmm I have another 50 watt light I forgot about.

slvoid, when I give you the signal, go outside and look in the sky to the north !

It took me over 11 years to get all this stuff, a few bucks at a time.

2manybikes

Some of the lights that look very similar in the shop, are amazingly different when you try them in the dark. For example, two 3 led lights that look similar..

allgoo19

Great test!

It only confirmed my opinion that MicroHalogen is the best choice among the budget lights. I would much rather have two MicroHalogen than 10w Halogen alone. I'm hoping somebody will make a helmet mount version of MicroHalogen with a separate battery holder.

I believe the camera 2manybikes uses works for this purpose because the camera taking all the photos with maximum brightness setting(maximum aperture, slowest shutter speed) that the camera can give. If the scene gets any brighter, the camera will start adjusting the exposure automatically.

2manybikes

My micro halogen is pretty old, maybe ten years? Before most of the new LED headlights. One problem is that alkaline batteries don't work in the cold. (Close to freezing or below.) The NiMh rechargeables from Radio Shack seem to work fine in the cold. But they don't run as long. I did ride with two micro halogens for a while.
But I did not have rechargeables at the time. That becomes very expensive if you put in enough hours in the dark. Eight AA's every 3-4 hours. !! Yikes ! I do about 8 hours a week in the dark now.

I found a 15watt rechargeable light and stopped using them. Buying eight rechargeable NimH AA's and two four bank chargers is a lot of money. And a lot of trouble compared to owning one 15 watt or 10 watt rechargeable light.

I still use one for a backup or for a loaner. I like it. There is nothing wrong with the light, but if you put in a lot of hours in the dark a bigger rechargeable is better in the long run because of the cost.

I rode with a friend who owns a brand new Cygolight HID today. It's a nice light, here's that beam photo.

allgoo19

You should try newer Nimh batteries. My 2300mah batteries last 3.5 hours (Cateye web site says 3 hours) and keeps the intensity untill the very end unlike Alkaline. And top of that, many newer chargers charge them in 1 hour or even in 30 minutes! (I forgot one of them says in 15 minutes.)

2manybikes

I did, the ones I have don't keep the state of charge as long as the lower capacity ones. I have some for a light and I tried them in my camera. I get more useful life out of the lower capacity radio shack ones.
I stopped using the high capacity ones after a few runs.

If I leave them for a day they are way too low. Also the fast chargers wear out the batteries faster, the faster they charge, the faster they wear out the batteries.

allgoo19

2manybikes, you may want to look at this .

Not all Nimh batteries are created equal and chargers make a difference too. You'll find a wealth of information there.

slvoid

BTW, there are now AA's that fully charge to 2200+ mah in *15 minutes*.
I'm gonna start scrounging the 6 pages so far for battery info so I can write a summary and stick it in the first thread too.
And 2manybikes, I'm gonna add the link to ur page, I'm still trying to get the images to work.

2manybikes

I went out for a while and when I came back I forgot to answer your PM. Sorry. I think I know a couple of places I can host the photos for free, I will try and make the links work in two other ~ sites~ I'll get back to you.

That's a great idea to have some basic battery information along with the chart. Can you paste that chart into a post so the whole thing comes up?


Thanks allgoo 19 for the link.

Maybe you need this.........

It’s on sale !!

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The Supernova P99-D is the brightest bicycle headlight available on the planet ! It is the No.1-choice for 24 hour races. The two different Xenon H.I.D. reflectors provide a long distance light with a 6° angle and also a broad beam light with a 13° angle. Two 14 Watt H.I.D. bulbs, which are equivalent 120 Watt halogen, will even leave your car headlights in the dark. Mountain bike Magazine USA: “…the brightest system we’ve ever seen !”
Remote control electronic power management-PMX 6.5 has new software featuring a simple, rider-friendly menu: 15min step rest burn time display with low battery warning, automatic shut-off to prevent deep discharge to increase battery life, energy save mode. Multi color RGB LED display. All electronic components have either industrial or military standard certificates. Bulb-Protection-Software prolongs bulb life.
Automatic charger – microprocessor controlled ultra fast charging - for world-wide use ( 100-240 V ), overcharge - protection with auto shut-off . Temperature sensor. Charge time: 85 % in 2,25 hours. 100% in 4,25 hours.
Burn Times: 4 hours @ 14 Watt, 2 hours @ 28 Watt
Charge Time: 85% in 2.25 hours, 100% in 4,25 hours
Battery: rechargeable lithium ion battery - 8800mAh (High Quality MOLI Technology) integrated in insulated water bottle ( fits in every bottle cage ). 14.5 Volt. Electronic power booster provides maximum lighting power regardless of battery status. Waterproof 5 pole gold connectors
To view a presentation of SuperNova lights (requires Quicktime) from their site click here

Daily Commute

It's bad enough that some of us have bikes worth more than our cars. But to have a bike light worth more than my car? I guess I'll just tell my wife it's a "safety purchase."

2manybikes

I'd be glad to call the house and back you up!

wheezl

What car?

kuan

Has anyone tried the Planet Bike 5000x "xenon" light? 3.5 watt 6 volt, should perform a little better than the Cateye Micro Halogen don't you think?

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/produ...il.asp?p=PB50X

allgoo19

I wasn't aware of this. It must be a new model.

From what I can see in the spec. it looks good. Wattage often doesn't tell you the whole story, for exaple, 2.4w MicroHalogen is much brighter than 5w halogen I have, probably comparable to 10 w halogen. So, 3.5w doesn't really graurantee that it is going to be brighter than 2.4w MicroHalogen.

I'd be very interested to see someone comes up with the side by side test between Planet Bike 5000x and Micro Halogen. Maybe this is going to be the new champion of one piece unit 4AA battery head light.

2manybikes

This is one time that being this far apart is a pain. Too bad someone can't just hand me the planet bike, or I could hand them my micro halogen.

slvoid

I added a bunch of info about the lights and also 2 new links, please check the info to make sure it's ok, thanks.

2manybikes

Very, very, nice job. All of it, the chart, the links, and the lighting pro/con article.

Your grade for today is A+ (this will count towards your final grade)

I see people are using it and being helped by it.

Instead of having someone search by thread name I may just start pasting the URL for that page in other threads when it comes up. I think making it easy to find is a priority too.

Somehow you got to my yahoo photos, thanks.

rideabike

This guy does a lot of light mods. I can't wait for this one to be finished:

https://elektrolumens.com/QuadStar-Bi...Bikelight.html

It is based on another mod here:

https://elektrolumens.com/Quad/QuadStar.html

This will be one serious light.

2manybikes

You really don't have to wait to see approximately what it will be like. If you go to the links that slvoid has posted on his first post in this thread you can read up and find a similar wattage led light and see what the beam looks like at night and compare it to other lights in same setting. That's one main reason for all the work he put into that chart and the links with photos. You can find out approximately what you get before you buy something. It's not going to be that great.