mrbubbles

W501B with 5 mode Cree drop in. The drop in is worth it, flashing mode is bright. Find a narrow plastic bottle (ink dispenser, $1 stores, cut it, I got mine from an empty ink jet refill).



I use Planet Bike blinky mount moded with reflector mounts. It'll fit all kinds of flashlight and handlebar OD.





Diffuser.



Diffuser beamshot, less spotty, more side diffusion than Planet Bike Superflash and host of other optic rear 1w blinkies.

Win.

cc700

yup, that's awesome.

i'm jealous of your flash modes, your diffuser, and your mount.

Plutonix

I didnt want to add a cover to mine diffuse because depending on the cover it can also makes it less bright. To make mine more diffuser like, I bought some extra lenses ($3/10ea) and played with scuffing them up. An ultrafine sanding block (sponge actually) does a great job of 'fogging' the lens. Someone makes actual optics that will convert the light to an almost 180 degree 'band' of light but it costs 3x the amount of the light and while I think it is the right diameter, I think it is too thick to fit.

I do very much like the hard mount.

I've recently set this light aside however in favor of the PDW Danger Zone. Twice as bright as a PBSF (1W vs .5) with much, much better off-axis visibility and a very eye catching blink pattern. Do avoid the Radbot though - it is very big and basically half a Danger Zone with a reflector. At the risk of hijacking (not my intent), most places sell the DZ for $32 to $40 - check around, I found them for $20 at Outside Outfitters.

I now have the DZ mounted on the road side seat stay and the PBSF on the other with a Radbot on the seat bag. The Ultrafire is still brighter than any of these but also pretty big.

mrbubbles

I had that concern as well. To remedy, I chopped a center hole.



Here's the mounts I have, for seatpost, handlebar, rack, and fender hole mount. I love the quick release, it's really convenient.





The bracket on the left of the flashlight holder is for Planet Bike SF.



I have room for two MC-Es, but I use one instead, it's plenty bright.


Note the Planet Bike mount on the bottom.

Plutonix

ooooo! I like the hole in the diffuser idea. If/when I recommission the UF, I might try that with 5-8 smaller holes across the face of it.

This is the results of the "ApolloW" (W for wide) optics. Like I said, I am not sure it would fit the 501B quite right, but looks great:




I had no room on my seatpost for the Ultrafire, so I mounted to the bottom of my bag. Ziptied a plastic 'plate' on the inside to a 2Fish trimmed down to almost half on the outside. It holds it very well and you can adjust the aim by shimming the light with rubber spacers:



FWIW, I mount my front lights under the handlebar bag. The combination of your mount and light lets it extend past the bag so that it doesnt chop off any light. My Dinotte 200s would splash too much light on the top of the bag so I mounted them under the bag:




It works very well and makes them much less obvious when parked. My other bike has a pair of 18650 based flashlight mounted the same way using 2Fish clones. The mount is the Minoura Swing Grip. They can be a real PITA to install but the ability to adjust the arm is great and they are very durable - some early SPACE grips had a problem with a plastic piece breaking, but I have them on 2 bikes for 2 years with no probs.

1nterceptor

I'm impressed with your DIY ideas and capability
I'm going to copy your mounts with some Planetbike and reflector mounts
I have lying around. Did you get the red drop-in from DX or from Solarforce?

Plutonix

This is the drop in https://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-xl...8-4v-max-26345. They are changing the catalog so that skus dont always work, but it is 26345. Solarforce may have something similar, I dunno.

I think this thing might be able to be used as a diffuser. Probably not as-is, but cut off the lid and affix it to the front of the light.

1nterceptor

Thanks for the DX link, the Solarforce drop-in has a higher lumen rating plus I want to get the
Solarforce L2 body with battery extender. This way I could run 2 18650 batteries for future projects.

https://www.solarforce-sales.com/prod...=RB&s=28&id=39

MechanicalMan

FWIW, the lumen ratings at solarforce-sales are completely bogus. DX ratings aren't accurate either. The DX light is apparently an XP-C, while the Solarforce and Spiderfire lights both claim to be XR-E. I'm a little confused by that, because I don't think Cree makes red (or red-orange) XR-Es..? There are red XP-C and red XP-E, but I don't think there are actually red XR-E. Anyway... a lot of the info on the solarforce-sales website is very inaccurate.

Plutonix

FYI, the DX "90 Lumen" version is extremely bright. Using a 200 Lumen (something brighter at any rate) would absolutely require a diffuser or that it be aimed at the road. The beam from these is really too much as is.

EDIT: It occurred to me how bright we are talking. Even if the 225 is actually only 180, thats twice the DX version and loads more than the Dinotte which is around 140. Thats a LOT of red light coming from a 20mm source. Luckily it has modes.

SlimAgainSoon

I have an Ultrafire W501B, but it doesn't blink.

I now have a taillight powered by my hub, which is solid, so I need a blinky.

How did you convert yours to blink mode?

Sorry, but I don't know what a drop-in is, or how it works.

Thanks for any info.

1nterceptor

Get a drop-in with modes
https://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-xl...8-4v-max-26345 or
https://www.solarforce-sales.com/prod...=RB&s=28&id=39

then switch the LED on your flashlight:

SlimAgainSoon

Thanks for the info.

I'm new to this drop-in concept, so please bear with me.

So, all I have to do is find a drop-in that fits, unscrew the head and swap out the light itself?

Do I have to do anything to the switch? How does an on-off switch become a three-mode, or five-mode, switch?

1nterceptor

I'm new to the interchangable drop-ins concept too, I just ordered my first P60 host and drop-in.
So I'm hoping the more experienced members would jump in if I'm giving any wrong info. The
modes are built in to the drop-in, the clicky type switch will cycle to the number of modes in the
LED. On/off for single mode, Hi/Med/Lo/off for 3 modes and so on. So from what I understand,
you can just swap out the drop-in and keep the same switch.

Plutonix

Most of the switches are momentary switches. Pressing it all the way it clicks and goes on or off; press it part way and the driver sees the momentary loss of power as a signal to change modes. But yea, all the smarts and stuff is in the module which means any P60 host can become an entirely different light with a new module - and there are lots and lots of drop ins.