making lights

On the way home from a 15 mile ride I realized that it's not legal yet. Still need a mirror. I didn't even think about it until I was heading home and thought about what packages I had not yet received from Amazon. Oh yeah... mirrors.

Anyways, she's looking good. I'm going to start a new thread with a poll to decide what paint scheme it should be.

Pictures in just a minute

So I got one of those cheap ebay Chinese light kits, but all I used was the switch. The switch actually works really well.

I couldn't use the shaker top as the rear light. Figuring out the logistics of mounting a light inside it is pretty difficult, so I gave that idea a rest. I may still revisit that one another day. For now, I'm using 2 trailer marker lights, which are plenty bright. The headlight is really bright as well. It lights up the road so well at night, and as i ride past people oncoming, i see them shielding their eyes. It projects from about 2 ft in front of me and throws a serious beam way out. Just what i wanted.

The battery is an 8.4Ah 6volt from batteries plus. Cost about $25. I've had it on almost all day and it's not showing signs of dying any time soon. It may be a bit overkill, but I'm scared of being stranded somewhere without lights. At a 3.3mA draw with the headlight, tail light, and brake, it will take a long, long time to kill that battery. In the world of batteries, the capacity curve is almost asymptotic. So think: An 8.4A draw will last 1 hour. But a 4.2A draw may last 2.5 hours. I had a battery rated at about 9000Ah that would last 3 hours at a load of about 3000A. At 125A, it lasted for a loooong looong time, and discharged over 14,000 A!

Yes, I'll say it again. Overkill.

Of course it would rain, but it happened as soon as i got back from my 15 mile ride. It's such a pleasure to ride.

My next step is to pretty everything up and install acorns where I can, and I'm also going to redo the battery mount. I'm thinking a round brown vinyl bag with a zipper for access, maybe some white vinyl piping to match the seat. Sort of a cylindrical bag so it will match the theme of the bike and cover the battery.

I agree whole heartedly! This is only temporary, and it will be fixed. Another reason SLA batteries die quickly is that they're designed to be maintained at a charge, not continually discharged and charged like normal flooded batteries. My job entails a lot of battery research, and we're doing a lot with SLA batteries right now. The one in particular we are using is designed for use in warehouses as a backup power supply. What we're trying to do is figure out the best way of maintaining the battery in a constant use environment, which has proven difficult. One thing is to let it slowly discharge a small amount (say 5-15% of capacity) and recharge only the amount of amps that has been discharged. Do that for a week, then do a deeper discharge (about 25%), then followed by an equalizing charge for a specified number of hours at a certain rate. This is all dependent on the size/model of each battery, but we are slowly gaining data for many types. This, of course, is the "normal" method of use. When the battery is needed, it gets used and recharged depending on how deep the discharge was. It does get confusing, and i dont think I'll really be paying that close of attention to the amp-hours charged and discharged to be completely honest. I'm just going to use it and charge it as necessary.

I figure that if I get a year's worth of use out of it, I'll be happy. $25 isn't going to kill me.

Very true. Ideally, we would like to do something like that, but operationally that's not possible for us. We beat the snot out of our batteries so we try to do what we can to make them last. Our lives depend on it!

Anyways, the lights are working great! Visibility is good, and that means both ways. I can see, and also be seen.

Any further recommendations are always welcome. I do love constructive criticism. It makes things better!

Oh, and don't forget to vote on a color scheme for the Skyhawk bike. http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=58889

-Terrence