Rainman,
The Brake Sensor sits between the adjustor for the cable and the the actual brake caliper. It works like a car brake. Regardless of whether you have the unit turned on, when you press hit the brake, the light stays lit.

I'm not sure how you'd wire that into your 12V system but I do know that bike shops sell the brake sensor separately. i.e., you don't need a circuit board for the brake lite.

rural,
What sort of setup are you working on? Or are ya still thinking about it?

Hi! ;)

I was riding home from work when a cable broke. I found myself hobbling back to Intown Bicycles
to fix it. As I worked on it, I met a new employee who was fixing another bike.

"Did you get those lights at Home Depot?" he asked me.

:eek:

"Ya,..."

"Man, I got mine there, too!"

I ended up showing those guys my lights & horn. Made my day.

:D

I found the voltage regulator...still have to figure out where it can sit and still stay clean and dry
Check out these output drops even with Lead Acid....

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~willie/lvr.html Here's his light...

scuse the lateness of this post but i've been in the moving process. vegas is much warmer than seattle BTW.

got my little (can i actually call sheila little at almost 35 pounds?) gtc back together but i haven't gotten the lights on her yet. i'm still trying to figure out how to adjust the gearing cause it's all out of whack.

BUT i did get in the side lighting in from nashbar. (link above in earlier post) they aren't very bright and i didn't exactly like all the extra wiring so i'll have to snip and trim but for now i have the excess wiring tied into a bun and taped down onto my mudgaurds. looks pretty cool when it's dark out.. looks like junky taped up job in the daylight.

as i said, i haven't taken her out yet as the gears are all FUBAR'd but i have a doc appointment for her on monday and the guy at the shop said he'd show me how to adjust the gearing so i don't have to pay someone else to fiddle w/ her gears ever again. (that will be so ACE! been wanting to learn how to adjust the gears for ages.)

after the gearing gets fixed i'll finish reinstalling the lights and i'll posty pictures then. mind you my set up isn't anywhere near as cool as most of the other peeps in this here thread but then again i'm technically challenged.

cheers
kat

I"m reviving this thread so people can find it.

Would anyone who has not already posted their home built light(s), please tell how they built their light? Brag shots welcome.

-V
PS I have not started those turn signals...swamped with other stuff and just riding!

Well, I have already bragged enough..NOT!

I'm still using my homemade lights day and night. Really gets me noticed, especially when in shady areas and under bridges.

Recap: two 20W headlights (one's usually enough,) rear LED beehive truck marker light (very bright,) yellow 100,000 candlepower xenon strobe (not nearly as bright as police strobes, but bright,) and a nice loud car horn (good for waking the dead.) Two hours run time if I don't use both front lights. One hour if I use both.

I make sure I'm noticed.

ah 100K candlepower xenon! So when you want to get around traffic, do you strobe 'em? Exactly what do you do with the strobe?

Incidently, I ran person built a light for under $30 including the recharger? His has been running for over a year on Radio Shack parts. http://www.nas.com/~petes/bikelite.htm

Wow. This is some cool stuff. I have been all about upgraded lighting in my car (bought the european versions, added a large wiring and relays, then put in 90/100watt Philips Rallye H4's), and now that I have a road bike I want some lighting for it.

Since I'm on a tight budget I not about to buy one of those kits already made, or stick myself with some cheap low output "headlight" such as some of the weak LED and oldschool Cat Eye stuff(HL-500). I bought one of those flashing LED tail lights for safety and for my headlight I have been messing with different ways of mounting my Surefire 6P flashlight to my bars. I like it because it is bright, and very versatile. I have the main body with the bright halogen bulb, along with an extension that allows me to use a rechargeable nickel cadmium battery opposed to two(expensive) CR123 Li-Ion batteries. Also for christmas I got a Luxeon 1 watt LED head for it. Honestly the output of this LED is pretty amazing. Though purplish light, it is brighter than your run of the mill large D cell MAG light in the flood pattern(the MAG when focused has more distance). Either way I already own the light, so I just mounted it up to my bike. I went to home depot first and got some plastic tips for a stool, cut out the bottoms and used them as sort of protector/spacer shims. then i used a clamp to hold the light with these "shims" onto the stem of my bike. tried it at dusk, it was decent, but I'm charging the Ni-Cad and going to put the halogen head back on it and take it for a ride tomorrow(hopefully it will not be raining).
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...bikelight2.jpg

check this site out, they have some serious flashlights, these 1/3/5 watt Luxeon LED's are so much brighter than the stuff you are used to you would be amazed, plus this guy sells the parts, so you can make your own flashlight/bike light for a small amount of money.http://elektrolumens.com/

wow, http://www.lupine.de , this company's 10watt HID(I know others make similar HID lights, but they gave specs) light has an output of 900 lumens. That is close to the low beam on a single automobile headlight. my car uses H4's and the standard bulb output is 1000/1650 lumens for the low/high beams respectively(keep in mind though that a car will have two headlights, so you have two sources, each with 1000 lumens output. even still this is bright for a bike(a standard automobile HID bulb, the D2S is a 35 watt xenon with an output of 3200 lumens).

home depots site doesnt have this anymore. i also tried Lowe's. maybe ill just over over to the store and actually see if they have it, dont want to trust their site as to whether or not they actually have it.

http://www.nas.com/~petes/images/light5.jpg
i like this even better, less parts= cheaper.

If you decide on this one, be sure to get a waterproof boot to cover that switch.

I have started my "Total Geekiness" light. The light itself(bulb, housing, switch, and mount) was $15.89 at Home Depot. I ordered up a 12V 4aH battery, and charger from batterymart.com that was more money, $32.69; all I need now is the ceramic socket for the bulb and wiring(which i have some and can get the spades cheap. then i think ill charge the battery when i get it and wrap it in a T-shirt so it holds into my water bottle holder tightly. after that it will be time to ride!! im probably going to hook it up to my car battery tomorrow to see how bright it is (after i get the ceramic socket at a lighting store)...well this is if i find time.

http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...glx/lightA.jpg
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...glx/lightB.jpg

I'm lovin' it. Great pics!

The $8 Radio Shack 12V yellow strobe replaced my rear LED flashers.

:D

http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...x/DSCF0206.JPG

I connected it to my cars battery to see what it would look like. pretty bright and pretty cool. cant wait till my battery comes in the mail. ill be charging and riding to test that baby out.

Ray,
Judging by the numer of posts, I think you have a "following"! My bike was stolen at work last week so it's back to square one. There's enough spare parts to build another like the one I made but NO BIKE!

It's perfect! Wow!

thank you!

I'm very sorry about your stolen ride. You can get another, though, so don't fret, VR.

(I am honored that you would confuse me with "the Rainman," Raymond Perry. Nobody knows just how much a compliment you've paid me.)

Thanks, Raymond. :)

It is complete. Gonna try it out tonight....apparently the battery came from batterymart.net charged??? hmmm

http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...x/DSCF0260.JPG
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...x/DSCF0261.JPG
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/memb...x/DSCF0265.JPG

Ya, buddy, that's the ticket.

Fun to make your own, ain't it?

:D

This is Southern CA. I got my light just a couple months ago from the Depot. They had that light, but also one without a slanted cowl that takes the MR16 bulb -- which is the one I got. Maybe your depot was temporarily out of stock. The light comes with little clips, so no soldering or twisty connectors was necessary. Seems to be holding up well.

The battery, for those who are interested, is located next to the cell-phone area at Pep Boys -- not with the other batteries! I'm using a solar panel to recharge mine whenever the sun comes out. What's hard to get for the batteries is fuses. I'm using one that's a little under-value from Radio Shack. Hah! First time I opened the battery I accidentally crossed a couple of wires and zapped the fuse! D'oh!

The bad news is that Radio Shack doesn't carry the Xenon strobe any more. I'm looking for a website that still sells it.

It seems like this thread has really spread since the first topic, but I like Little Big Man's original configuration: Quick setup, inexpensive, reliable, doesn't take a mechanic to do. This is has enabled me to take moonlight bike rides, which is about the only exercise time open to me.


Mark