Flashers



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> way to store some of the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable battery. Then when the wheel
> stops turning, the battery takes over.

I have a great flashlight on my christmas list. It is white LED, has transparent plastic case,
floats, has NO battery at all! It has a coil of wire (you can see it in there) and a metal slug that
slides back and forth through the coil when you shake it. That motion generates a current that
charges a small capacitor. The capacitor powers the LED for up to 5 minutes (advertised). I saw one,
and used it, in Hawaii this last summer. Solid item, well-built. Gotta have
it.

http://www.foreverled.homestead.com/deluxled.html

Don't see why this wouldn't work with an LED flasher, except maybe the flasher would run longer. I
'spose a person could patch in a capacitor for the flasher.
 
Actually, it has that covered too :) There is a horizontal row of 3 LEDs. Just above and below the
LEDs are two bands of reflective material similar to what is found on normal bike reflectors and the
rear end of the light is rounded so it covers more of an arc to the rear rather than basically
straight back.. Anything approaching from the rear area with lights on, will llight up the relective
areas like a normal reflector.

"Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Cute Flasher idea (except there is a flaw), what happens when you pull to the curb or stop for
> traffic and come to a dead stop. Your bent stops
being
> visible, which does not sound real healthy to me. What it should have is a way to store some of
> the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable battery. Then when the wheel stops turning, the
> battery takes over.
> ***************************
> "Sticker Jim" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Try one of these. They work great and need no batteries - ever. The
> faster
> > you go the more often they flash and the visibility is good from the
rear.
> >
> >
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3624298631&category=22689
> >
> > > "Mel Long" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > > > Does anyone know of a cheap strobe, or flasing red light for the
back
> > that
> > > > can be seen really well? I saw one somewhere a while ago and lost
the
> > > > address.
> >
>
 
Actually, as I'm a windmill builder too, the "magnet gizmo" is not an issue and I was thinking about
turbo charging the lighting system with no mechanical drag to your bike. All that is required is
making a small coil of something like 16 to 20 gauge wire, and you could hang two or more on each
side of a wheel. Get some good neodimium magnets from a place like otherpower.com and fasten 2 or 4
to your spokes. As I'm not an electronics guru, it might require a cap, rectifier or resistor to
smooth out or limit the power output so as not to blow your LEDs at higher rpms. It should provide
more than enough juice to power both a headlight and a tailight at low rpms, and again, there would
be no need for the friction associated with hub and wheel generators.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 08:36:59 -0400, "Joshua Goldberg" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > What it should have is a way to store some of the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable
> > battery. Then when the wheel stops turning, the battery takes over.
>
> I have this on my 'bent - and the magnetic gizmo powers the headlight as well. But the magnetic
> gizmo cost some big bucks...
>
> It's SON of course ;-)
>
> Guy
> ===
> ** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com New!
> Improved!! Now with added extra Demon!
 
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