Lets talk head lights

[bluegoatwoods]

I'll toss in one observation about rear lights. Not that I'll try to make anyone convert. But I think it's important, or at least useful, so I try to spread it around a bit.

When our eyes get to be middle-aged (this is the voice of experience here) flashing rear lights on bikes is bad when we're behind the wheel of a car. We're coming up behind the bike. We can see the flashing light, of course. But we can't tell just where it is. We have a hard time 'getting the range'. Until we're right on top of the poor guy, anyway. I approach these bicyclists so carefully that they're not in any real danger from me. But we all know that we can't count on a lot of motorists in this regard.

For this reason I have my tail-lights on steady. Though I'll switch them to flash in poor visibility. A heavy rain or snow, for instance.

I also run two tail-lights, side by side. For added visibility. And also so that I have at least one should the other go bad.

Again, no one needs to do this just because I say so. But I would urge everyone to consider the possibility that steady lights in the rear are safer than flashers.

 

[2door]

I've seen and heard that drunks often steer towards flashing lights. The evidence is how often they drive into road barricades and have run into police cars or other emergency vehicles that were displaying flashing lights. Apparently there is some scientific evidence of this phenomeon.
It makes me wonder how safe flashing rear lights are on a bicycle.
Just food for thought.

Tom

 

[jkshd]

I am looking to use the magneto as a power source for head and tail lights too. I haven't dedicated any time to research but I am sure someone has a solution. maybe two 3V headlights wired in parallel?

 

[Greenbiker]

The interference problem might be able to be solved (if it hasnt been already by some Faraday shielding. Im not real sure how to tune it, but you might find the wavelength of the emf that the light is emitting, then find a brass mesh of that coarseness, the size of the opening in the mesh. You would then wrap it around the body of the light. If you cant get the exact coarsness then try to find one twice as big as the wavelength and use two layers, over lapped to create the desired gap size. You could try aluminum foil around the body as well, but i not sure if it would work or if it did if it wouldn't cause heatimg problems. You could try shielding betwee the instrument and the light as well.

 

[Greenbiker]

I think the driver dazzling problem in relation to the rear lights can be solved by using some sprt of difussing medium that will increase the apparent size of the light, reduce the apparent harshness of the flash, while increasing the noticibility of the light but not ruinjng the drivers visual acuity or night vision, that and realizong that the light doesnt have to be right in their eyes to be seen. Infact the broghter the light is, the less right im their eyes it should be. And if you can point a rear light at your back, it will light YOU up very noticibly without letting the driver see the harsh flash of the source of the light in their eyes. Also having a light that goes from lit to unlit creates a problem in that the drivers eyes dont have time to switch between seeing light and seeing in the dark so you really become invisible during the unlit phase and they cant see you. So a light that has a bright steady state with a less bright flasher or a combination pf lights that have this effect will have the attention getting capability of a flasher, with the constant visibility of a steady state light.
On the build i am about to start, i will be using a 3 gallon red hdpe boat tank for the fuel tank on a rear rack. For my rear lighting i will be attaching a super bright white blinky to the front of the tank, facing into it amd it will light up the whole tank as a big giant red blinky without being blinding. I will have the accelerometer enabled brake light from sick bike parts ( maybe two) mounted on the rear of the tank.
On top of the tank, i will mount either a light that combines blinks with steady state lights or a combination of lights to achieve this effect. They will be directional or static but they will be pointed at my back to light me up also without being blinding. I also have fenders so i will either have a fender reflector on the rear one with a light built into it or i will imstall one more of the brake lights i mentioned earlier. I will be visible but not blinding. I will probably add some light strips for my stays maybe with the lane lasers just to go over the top a little, i wish they had green or purple lane lasers rather than just red, bit i cant have everything can i?
For the business end:
Im gonna have an old cellphone mounted as my comp, with at least one cup holder, a horn, amd maybe some other stuff, so the realestate there is pretty much used up, so i will be using at least one bar extender assembly for lighting. Light set will include a couple of those super bright led headlights with seperate rechargeable batteries as my longer distance lights, a couple of super bright flashlighs with bar mount adapters as my close and mid range beams that will use regular batteries so that i can use rechargeable batteries but still use off the shelf primaries if my other lights fail or i have dead batteries i can just swap them out and get home to recharge. I will also have some sort pf bright white blinky (or green maybe) with some sort of difuser so again its visible but not dazzling. I will also probably include strip lights on my fork as well as my down tube if i need to reall light stuff up. I was also thinking about wheel writer spoke lights cause it looks cool, but i think that might be something that would limit my speed a little to avoid wobble as they are only one fairly large unit in the spokes so there's no balancing counter weight. Well that's my plan at least, who knows how it will turn out.

 

[Compulsive Tinkerer]

Although we are now on the topic of rear/tail lights, I would like to add something regarding my experience with led headlights. This is the one I used on my road bike and later my 66cc 2 stroke motorized mtb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C2MHNJK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_jpkXwb1JQYECS

. So everything about this light is awesome. 4 different intensities, very very wide angle of light, 2800 lumens, easy handlebar mount, 100% waterproof including battery and connections battery level indicator, good price etc. So all around a great bike light HOWEVER, when I decided to start using it on my motorized bike, after about a month it started flickering and cutting out and then stopped working. The light would not come on but the battery indicator was still working. So I decided to take the light apart and see what happened. Apparently one of the joints where the transformer is soldered to the board had broken from all the vibration. I resoldered it a d the light worked again. After fashioning many anti vibration mounts and resoldering it multiple time i finally had to give up trying to use it on my mb.

So basically all I am trying to say is if you choose a fancy light with a circuit board and transformer like the one I did, be aware that if your bike vibrates a lot it can cause problems.

 

[Greenbiker]

Do you thinke cutting a shim out of a foam bmx grip would cushion it enough to prevent it from happening to begin with, not to knock your skill with an iron, but i would think that resoldering the connection over and over would make it weaker than if it hadnt broken to begin with.

 

[Compulsive Tinkerer]

Hmm, I really am not sure since that was the first thing I tried, however you are 100% right about the resoldering being weaker than the original connection. And don't worry haha. I know how to solder but I hate it and am terrible at it. You'd think I'd be better at it with both parents being electrical technicians in the Navy. It should be noted that (and I'm not sure if this is standard procedure) the transformer was held in place only by the two joints where the thick copper wire that is wound around the ring was soldered to the board. I'll try to draw something or attach a picture so you can see what I mean. Basically the way that it was connected to the board and positioned horizontally made it susceptible to damage from vibration.

It's like taking a straighened out paper clip with a weigh on on end and holding the other end so that it is parallel with the ground and shaking it up and down until it's been slightly bent back and forth so many times that it breaks.

Sorry, I am horrible at explaining things in writing.

 

[wrenching4fun]

Heh, Compulsive. I'm across the river in Oriental. We're riding in the Independence Day parade on the 2nd if you're interested in joining us. I'm riding my MB and some of the other guys are riding mopeds or Cushmans. PM me if you're interested. Would like to check out your ride some time. Cheers.