ryenmatt

Made me turn signals/emergency flashers for my bike helmet. Everything is built into the helmet and the helmet fits comfortably on my head don’t even know it is there and the weight increase was minimum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxCO0...ature=youtu.be

alaskanb3arcub

Warning: frank opinion, not attempting to be a d!ck.
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interesting concept, but I think it's poorly implemented.

1) those leds will likely mean next to nothing, due to lack of brightness, and close proximity. If I were behind the wheel of a car, I'd have a lot more to look out for than 2 flashing LEDs on a helmet. Even if I did see them, it would be nigh impossible to determine which way you were turning anyway.

2) the control switches on the helmet itself seem like a bad idea to me. My balance sucks, so I don't like to remove my hands from the bar at all(thus https://www.bicygnals.com), but I can't imagine safely switching from directly on the helmet on a regular basis being safe.

ryenmatt

Your telling me when I have only one of the lights flashing you can't tell which direction I am going to go?? As far as balance what do you do when you need to reach for your water bottle? Do you stop everytime you need a drink? How about hand signals? What do you do if you need to use hand signals??

rscamp

Cool idea ryenmatt. Though the previous post seems quite critical I'm afraid I have to agree with it. I'm not sure that losing balance to activate the helmet signal is that serious a problem but think about it. If the hand is going to be removed from the handlebar to activate a switch on the helmet why not just signal with the hand?

And absolutely, it isn't nearly bright enough or large enough. Nor does left and right have enough separation to be clear to a driver behind you. There is also no reference light - if the driver doesn't see your head at night how would he know if the left or right LED is flashing?

Look what I have. The switch is where it should be - right in front of the thumb on the handlebar so no concentration or excessive motion is required to activate or cancel it. The separation to indicate the direction is much better. But even this effort is inadequate as it isn't really bright enough in the sun.

ItsJustMe

The problem here is that a single blinking light means nothing. There's no spacial clue. Approaching drivers will only see "blinking light" (though as dim as those are, probably not even that).
What you need is for one light to be on and the other flashing. Then the driver has a spacial clue "the one on the left is flashing".

Also, 6 inches of separation is basically useless - only another vehicle/cyclist following at your speed and observing closely will be able to easily/quickly tell that there's a turn signal going on there at all.

Ideally what you want is two lights AT LEAST a foot apart - maybe at the far edges of the helmet it might work. Also about 10x brighter than that. And the one on/one flashing thing for spacial clues.

I definitely would NOT put these on the helmet - LEDs in general are very directional and when you're turning, you SHOULD be turning your head all around checking your sides and six. If you're doing that, nobody behind you can see the lights on your helmet very well, certainly not well enough or for long enough to realize that they're turn signals, not just blinkies.

I'm not trying to be mean here, I just don't want people relying on things that are really not adequate.

ItsJustMe

You're assuming that it's bright enough to see you in addition to the lights. That's a false assumption.

Imagine that we're standing outside in the dark. REALLY dark, so you can't see me. Now I'll hold two tiny red flashlights and turn one on. Which one is on? You can't tell. If I turn one on constant and the other on flashing, then you can tell which one is flashing.

ryenmatt

Those are not turn signals those are emergency flashers cause they both flash not just one or the other.

zacster

One of the things I hate about hand signals is taking my hands off the bars!

ryenmatt

If your guys balance is so bad that you can' take one hand of the handlebars you really shouldn't be riding to begin with.

xtrajack

I like my winkku turn signal lights. Pricey but worth it.
I feel that they are a well designed product. The only issue is that the mirror on them does not hold up well. Read as scratches easily.
They eat batteries fast in running light mode. Used as turn signals only, the batteries last me four or five months of nightly use.

There is plenty of separation, because they mount on the handlebars. With my taillights, mounted on my fender and V-racks it is clear to the folks behind me which way I am turning at night. I use hand/arm signals during the day.

By the way, I am not affiliatied with the Winkku company in any way other than as a satisified customer.

alaskanb3arcub

Enough to signal at least 3 seconds before the turn? I don't have it. MAYBE a fraction of a second. That said, it's either riding my bike with the bicygnals(which any driver of a motor vehicle should be able to decipher). It's that or take a cab anywhere I can't walk, either due to having too much to carry or the distance being too far.

zacster

Ummm, you frequently need to brake when you approach a turn, you need your hands for braking, not for balance.

redcon1

Slightly better design than an earlier attempt:




But seriously, kudos to you for trying to improve safety.

wphamilton

I like this idea. My concern is similar to the others, in that there isn't much separation between the lights for turn signals. I have the same objection to under-seat turn lights, or on the seat stays and so on. You get a flashing light, which is a good thing but not really a turn signal which would be better. It's not going to bother me to move my hand from the bars to activate it ... although I'd be tempted to add a mercury switch in the helmet instead. Tilt the head way right to start it up on a 5 or 10 second timer.

I think you can solve the separation problem with some imagination, and a little extra expense. A pattern of lights, coming on in a sequence left to right and ending with an angle right or brighter light at the end, and repeating, would definitely be recognizable as a turn signal. Someone did an Ipad turn signal app that way and it looked pretty good, but also looked more inconvenient than your idea. You can buy light strips for these patterns but they're expensive, at least the ones I've seen.

ryenmatt

My reply to people that say the lights are too close together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eXFxttxeaA