brian.slater said:Hey, Skippi, where'd you get those? I'd like to have one of those on my
Coker (I ride to work at midnight a lot:eek🙂 for much better
visibility to car drivers.
Search Ebay for Cold Cathode. They seem to have the best prices, and
big colour selection. (about $10 including shipping for 2 lamps and the
inverter.)
They're meant for geeks to put inside their acrylic computer cases.
Chop off the computer power cable, and attach it to a battery holder.
Radio shack has them for 8 AA batteries (8X1.5volts=12V) but I use NiMH
rechargeables (1.2v), so I find they last a lot longer with a 10X
battery holder. Experience has shown that if you run it higher than
about 18V it'll catch fire, so stick with 12.
Then get one of 'these holders' (http://tinyurl.com/akmrz)
If you get the second one, get 'these snaps' (http://tinyurl.com/8sb2g)
as well to connect the lights to the batteries. They're all basically
the same, except for the shape, but they all fit the battery holder.
If you want to recharge all your batts at once, get two.
Then, get ten rechargeable NiMH batteries of as high a mAh rating you
can find. Walmart has the Digital 2200mAh 4-pack for $6.30, though I
use the more expensive Engergizer 2500s.
Nothing beats clear packing tape for attaching your lights and
batteries to the uni. Right now I've got the light on the left fork
facing forward and the other facing back for all-around
saftey/visibility purposes. I've taped all the batteries in the holder
(otherwise you'll loose them all in a UPD and never find them in the
dark) and then taped the holder just under the seat in the back of my
uni.
To turn the lights on, just connect the snap on the holder; pull it off
during the day.
To recharge, hook up your spare snap to a 12V power supply. You'll
actually want it to be able to charge the batts up to 14 volts (1.2v is
a pretty conservative rating, they're about 1.4 when they're fully
charged.) Mine's a 6-amp car battery charger, but I'll only draw 1amp
(therefore, it takes 2.5 hours to fully charge the batteries)
Otherwise, you'll have to take the batteries out and charge them in a
standard battery charger.
Of course, Mouser sells the 'neon lights' (http://tinyurl.com/7w56f) as
well, in many sizes, but just in white. I don't think they include the
inverters, though.
--
Skippii
One for the Road: Harrisonburg's Unicycle gang.
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