Blinky Taillight Color
 

I just picked up a Cannondale Hindsite Plus (5 LED) because it was about half the price of the other taillight I've been looking at and seems to be exactly like the 9 LED version but with the spots for 4 of the LEDs left empty. So I'm planning on adding the other 4. I watched a video a while back with kids doing fixie tricks at night where on of the guys had a blue blinky that I thought really drew a lot of attention. So I'm trying to decide if I should change the color on this while I'm at it.

On one hand, red is pretty standard for the back of a vehicle so it should be pretty normal for a driver to see that and assume it's a vehicle of some sort (as opposed to some other blinking thing they could run over I guess).

On the other hand, if it were another color (or maybe even a mix like blue and green) it might make the drivers pay more attention because they're wondering what the heck I am at first.

What do you think?

With 4 red ones already, adding some color - will it be noticeable or not? I'd just look at putting just red ones or throw in some white ones if the lens cover is red...if clear, then color might work.

Michael

It has a clear cover and 5 red LEDs at the moment and sort of a red reflector thing between the lights. I'm planning on adding 4 more LEDs and they will either be red or I will remove the 5 existing LEDs and put in 9 new ones in the color of my choice. I would only mix colors that were similar like green and blue or something like that.

Check your state laws. Using Blue lights on the road may get you in serious trouble. Generally, red rear, amber anywhere, and white front.

Well, for strictly a drop in/LED swap it looks like I'm stuck with the red/orange/yellow sort of pallet since the LEDs each only get about 2V and most other colors need more (blue would likely be around 4V unless I wanted to really search for special low voltage drop versions). I probably could change resistor values on the board or something to get more power but I don't think it would be worth it. I'll probably just add mor red and call it done. I could have just bought the 9 LED version online for the same price (plus shipping) but I thought this would be a bit more of a fun little project and I might come out with a unique looking blinky.

Oh well, red will probably still help me not get run over just the same.

If price is more of an issue than delivery time, you could also get a second one (with all nine LEDs) for $4 or so: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3639 That's the same light, correct?

The quality of those is really bad, especially the mount. The plastic is very flimsy, and I suspect that the mount would break very quickly with repeated mounting and unmounted. I just installed one on a friend's new bike and told her to just leave it there as it would break if she took it off. They might look the same, but I highly doubt they are the same quality.