you can't use blinking tail lights in the UK or most of Europe as far as I'm aware. (I know someone will correct me on this)

use both for best effect. one flashing to get attention, and another solid to allow people behind you to get a good judgement on how fast they are gaining on you.

for in-city use, PB super flash is one of the best in this regard.

You in fact are wrong. It's Germany (perhaps there is another country or two also) that has goofy light regulations.

Blinkies are legal in the UK, but only if the blinky is a secondary light OR hasn't got a steady mode and meets other requirements, like light output and correct mounting.

I don't know about goofy light regs, but I suspect Germany is pretty much the same as the rest of Europe....



My red Ultrafire WF-501B arrived today.

Firstly, it's BRIGHT !!

Here's some measurements, with a fresh battery:

Current draw at battery = 850 mA
Voltage measured at LED = 3.56V
Weight = 137g inc. battery

I put a fresh battery in at 7.33pm and the torch ran continuously until 11.30pm.

So the runtime is 4 hours less a few minutes on a single 18650.

I'm very happy with it and it fits the Fenix mount perfectly.

Luckily the Fenix mount also fits my seatpost very well, a fairly traditional 27.2 mm.

Build quality is very good, torch can be easily disassembled.

Seems well regulated, gets warm but not hot.

Not much else I can say really, cheap and lots and lots of red light.

Rather than argue whether any particular light is as good, blinky or not, I'd just like to point out that I've just upgraded and now have a mudguard light, two PBSF on the seatstays, two multicolour lights on the rear carrier, two b-spoke on the seatpost and two round blinkies are going on the saddle.

Some of these are on solid, some on flash and I'm just adding a high power rear light as we speak

I'm not sure I'm going to blend in with the surroundings.

Blinkies are fine, but on their own they aren't 'better' than a fixed light.

A single blinky can be very difficult for a motorist to get a fix on.

yes, thank you for the correction.

I knew there was at least one country which required no blinking tail lights.

Not really a correction as I don't know what regs different countries have.

In theory, most of europe should be in harmony.

Be careful, this unknown cyclist had flashing lights and it appears that a motorist got a fix on him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEccxPPwXmI

"This video is not available in your country."

Maybe this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a--Pc7R8PU

No, Germany has it's own regulations which are under the StVZO regulations. Below is a translation of them.

https://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/R...t_for_bicycles

"Required equipment for bicycles - Munich"

Munich is in Bavaria, not Germany.

Are you here just to argue? Are you so arrogant that you can't possibly imagine that you perhaps are mistaken? The StVZO regulations are for the whole of Germany.

Actually, I'm not here just to argue I posted details of the new red Ultrafire from DX (this is the Cheap, powerful rear light thread) - did you read it ?

Ok, Mr. Unknown beat me to the punch because I was too lazy (and busy) with ski patrol last weekend. he provided a good baseline report, mine will be less technical and more observational.

1. Full runtime on mine was 3h45m. I don't think my battery was fully charged, however.

2. The o-rings are cheap. I already trashed the tail cap o ring. Off to the hardware store.

3. Highly visible in daylight. Just what I wanted.

4. My LED was not perfectly centered, but WHO CARES. I'm not using this as a flashlight.

5. The Led unit is a drop in and you could replace it with another drop in if you wanted to use it as a flashlight. Double duty! Bonus.

6. My wife thinks I'm going to attract airplanes (my commute takes me past Portland International).

7. It was 10 dollars!

8. If encouraged, I would still be willing to take pictures of daytime and nighttime compared to my Niterider rear light and Superflash.


pdxsteve

Ok..as you seem to be upset...I'd better explain...

This icon indicates a joke is being made.

In post #78 I said In post #81 I said I stated clearly twice that I don't know, does that really sound like I am being arrogant about it, or even arguing ?

To quote Wikipedia:

German-Bavarian relations
I think you might have overreacted slightly, which is understandable, as many people don't realise that Bavaria was a separate country until comparatively recently.

Yes Steve! If you would be so kind as to take some night/day photos of your light. I'm sure many of us here including myself would love to see some beam shots.

Yes,please do....

And if I might add to ilovebicycling's request, please note the name of the light and model. It has gotten buried in the discussion.

It's a torch "Ultrafire WF-501B Philips Luxeon K2 Red LED Flashlight"



And very good too, I might add

nearly 4hrs is really good run time for a light that runs on only one battery.

The real question is how much of that four hours is usable light? I'd be interested in the runtime to 50% output, which is how lights are usually rated.

I reckon it took about 1/2 hour for the torch to get warm and stayed warm for maybe 3 hours, cooling down for the last part of the discharge.

Obviously because either the board is working less hard or the LED is.

So it's likely that if used on short journeys the total runtime could be slightly longer.

Pity they don't do a 2 x 18650 version....

or some cold weather testing. I find I only get 90% of regular output power and run times when I'm riding the P7 in under -2c conditions.

can we just call them luxeon K2 red? or just K2 red?
makes my life easier to not have to say the whole name.

Thanks Unknown for the pic above a few posts.

The reason I asked for a repeat of the name is this:

I lurked here for some time before making a series of purchases that moved me from generation one to generation two lights. But to be able to do so, I had to follow a number of conversations that became a bit confusing.

Therefore, the reason I asked for the product name to be mentioned was so others could easily pick up on the work you people were advancing. Make sense?

And thanks for your efforts.

Well, it has a driver so the light output is very nearly constant.

As the battery voltage drops the current draw increases so that the watts supplied to the LED remains the same.

With a fresh battery the voltage is high and the current draw is low.

With a tired battery the voltage is lower and more amps are taken from it to compensate.

This enables the driver to keep the current (and therefore the voltage) at the LED the same.

Having said that, before the LED went out I shone it on a white surface, then when it went out I did the same immediately after fitting a fresh battery and it was a little brighter.

Maybe the when the battery is nearly depleted it can't supply enough amps to keep the wattage the same and then the output drops ? I don't know for sure, more run tests and measurements required.

I'd say that if the light output did drop as low as 50% before going out, it must have been in the last 2 or 3 minutes.



Hope this helps....