Opticube LED lighting advice?

[TimC]

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 at 11:50 GMT, Peter Signorini (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Highlighting an advantage and a serious disadvantage of these lights around
> urban bike paths. They do give great warning. But they are fairly basic
> lights from an optical point of view, that blast oncoming traffic with
> blinding light unnecessarily. Better lights designed for street use have a
> foreshortened upper beam that focuses more light on the road while still
> giving suitable non-blinding warning to oncoming traffic. My B&M Lumotec
> headlight has a concentrated square of light (useless for off-road night
> riding) that is just the right width to illuminate the full width of a bike
> path. This also gives a brighter than normal 3W beam in this square.

Does it also counteract the 1/r**2 law? What I want, is a light that
is not too bright close to the bike, such that I can still see the
necessary tens of metres in advance. Adjust this mythical light
correctly, and the entire part of the road/path, short of the oncoming
driver/riders eyes, is lit uniformly. If this hasn't been invented
yet, could someone built it for me and give me the patent rights,
please?

Ta, thanks, OKBYENOW.


--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
-o)
/\\ The penguins are coming...
_\_v the penguins are coming...

 

[aeek]

giving suitable non-blinding warning to oncoming traffic. My B&M Lumotec
headlight has a concentrated square of light (useless for off-road night
riding) that is just the right width to illuminate the full width of a bike
path. This also gives a brighter than normal 3W beam in this square.

So be aware that the simple wattage is not the only thing that makes a good
light for street use.

Agreed, my HID is only 13.5W but its just as well its not so focused.
I love not being blinded by oncoming cars going to high beam when they object to my riding the lane.
I am impressed to see the light arc reach the other side of the main road, effectively 7? lanes.
Focused to the width of a bike path? Scary.

 

[Random Data]

suzyj <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Try riding around for a while just with the 1W LED. Once your eyes are
> a little dark adapted, that sort of light is pretty good for most
> stuff.

It's OK as a backup, and on the road it's fine. Off road on anything
but a nice smooth (and high albedo) fire trail, you tend to hit things
a bit too often to be pleasant. And they're shite in races, where
every other bugger has an HID.

Dave - who recently joined the HID set.

 

[Tamyka Bell]

TimC wrote:
>
> On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 at 10:53 GMT, TimC (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/exclusive/2004/pylon_ambience/
>
> Needless to say, with a domain like "www.pureenergysystems.com",
> you're there purely for the pretty pictures. Do not attempt to read
> the text. I repeat, do not attempt to read the text, or you will be
> reduced to shaking your head for the next hour, wondering what the
> hell humanity did to deserve these... these... idiots.
>
> --
> TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
> An Emacs reference mug is what I want. It would hold ten gallons of coffee.
> -- Steve VanDevender



An artist in residence at a physics department?! We don't have one of
those. What a great job! Meanwhile, your post FORCED me to read the
article... damn you, damn you...

Tam

 

[Terry Collins]

Tamyka Bell wrote:

> An artist in residence at a physics department?! We don't have one of
> those. What a great job! Meanwhile, your post FORCED me to read the
> article... damn you, damn you...

naah, that one wasn't so bad. It is the ones on the links that are a
good laugh. what I did learn is that if I want to fit one of thoe free
energy motors to boost my bicycle, I am going to have to run near power
lines to make it work. Bit restrictive {:-(.

 

[Peter Signorini]

"aeek" wrote:

> Agreed, my 'HID' (http://www.bikelights.com/Products/Arc.htm) is only
> 13.5W but its just as well its not so focused.
> I love not being blinded by oncoming cars going to high beam when they
> object to my riding the lane.

They're not objecting to your presence on the road. The high beam flash is
because they are being blinded by your high beam bike light. "Dip your
lights man". Check out the impact of lights by taking a simple domestic
light and getting someone to shine it straight in your face on a dark night.
Low wattage poorly aimed will still be blinding. That's what I mean by
wattage not being the only thing to make a good light for street use.

> I am impressed to see the light arc reach the other side of the main
> road, effectively 7? lanes.

You need 7 lanes to ride your bike?

> Focused to the width of a bike path? Scary.

Normally I only need to see clearly that which is in front of me. The light
throws a gentle light for about 45deg and
is still clearly visible to other traffic for a full 180deg. A very good
setup around town, but as I said, not a night MTB riding light.

All these fancy 10-40W lighting sets using rechargable batteries have only
been developed since the growth of night off-road MTBing, in the past 10
years or so. For many years before that a 3W headlight (even 2.4W) was the
norm for night cycling in towns and country roads. Today's 3W halogens are
much brighter than the old lights - you shouldn't need anything more for
commuting around a town.

Cheers
Peter
-20W lights, like the SUVs of urban cycling
>
> --
> aeek
>

 

[Peter Signorini]

"Peter Signorini" wrote:
> -20W lights, like the SUVs of urban cycling

Bad form to reply to my own post, I know, but want to clarify this.

" I bought a big, tough 4WD for city commuting to see better than everyone
else, protect myself/family and monster everyone else on the road"

Sustitute 20W light for 4WD and it works ;-)

Cheers
Peter

 

[Tamyka Bell]

Peter Signorini wrote:
>
> "aeek" wrote:
>
> > Agreed, my 'HID' (http://www.bikelights.com/Products/Arc.htm) is only
> > 13.5W but its just as well its not so focused.
> > I love not being blinded by oncoming cars going to high beam when they
> > object to my riding the lane.
>
> They're not objecting to your presence on the road. The high beam flash is
> because they are being blinded by your high beam bike light. "Dip your
> lights man". Check out the impact of lights by taking a simple domestic
> light and getting someone to shine it straight in your face on a dark night.
> Low wattage poorly aimed will still be blinding. That's what I mean by
> wattage not being the only thing to make a good light for street use.
>
> > I am impressed to see the light arc reach the other side of the main
> > road, effectively 7? lanes.
>
> You need 7 lanes to ride your bike?
>
> > Focused to the width of a bike path? Scary.
>
> Normally I only need to see clearly that which is in front of me. The light
> throws a gentle light for about 45deg and
> is still clearly visible to other traffic for a full 180deg. A very good
> setup around town, but as I said, not a night MTB riding light.
>
> All these fancy 10-40W lighting sets using rechargable batteries have only
> been developed since the growth of night off-road MTBing, in the past 10
> years or so. For many years before that a 3W headlight (even 2.4W) was the
> norm for night cycling in towns and country roads. Today's 3W halogens are
> much brighter than the old lights - you shouldn't need anything more for
> commuting around a town.
>
> Cheers
> Peter
> -20W lights, like the SUVs of urban cycling
> >
> > --
> > aeek
> >

Poor form by me:

Jumped on my bike late arvo to head to circus training. Half way there
it was getting a bit dark so I flipped on my flashers, they're the LED
aqualight ones. Rear one was fine. Front one was dead. Was totally
bright and perfect when I used it a week-ish ago, and now, gone. Not
good, because there's a few streets that are really dark. Fortunately I
commute in a fluoro yellow shirt. Something new for me to add to my
commute-bag: spare batt and an itty bitty screwdriver.

Tam

 

[Bikesoiler]

"aeek" wrote:

> Agreed, my 'HID' (http://www.bikelights.com/Products/Arc.htm) is only
> 13.5W but its just as well its not so focused.
> I love not being blinded by oncoming cars going to high beam when they
> object to my riding the lane.

They're not objecting to your presence on the road. The high beam flash is
because they are being blinded by your high beam bike light. "Dip your
lights man". Check out the impact of lights by taking a simple domestic
light and getting someone to shine it straight in your face on a dark night.
Low wattage poorly aimed will still be blinding. That's what I mean by
wattage not being the only thing to make a good light for street use.

> I am impressed to see the light arc reach the other side of the main
> road, effectively 7? lanes.

You need 7 lanes to ride your bike?

> Focused to the width of a bike path? Scary.

Normally I only need to see clearly that which is in front of me. The light
throws a gentle light for about 45deg and
is still clearly visible to other traffic for a full 180deg. A very good
setup around town, but as I said, not a night MTB riding light.

All these fancy 10-40W lighting sets using rechargable batteries have only
been developed since the growth of night off-road MTBing, in the past 10
years or so. For many years before that a 3W headlight (even 2.4W) was the
norm for night cycling in towns and country roads. Today's 3W halogens are
much brighter than the old lights - you shouldn't need anything more for
commuting around a town.

Cheers
Peter
-20W lights, like the SUVs of urban cycling
>
> --
> aeek
>

I agree with Peter S. I have a HID (home built 10W Solarc) that is too bright for road use/commuting. Most of the time I only use a Smart Light 3 LED flasher or an older set of Cateye Daylites (2.4 & 6W).

The HID blinder is save for night MTB ventures. What's that on my helmet? Useful at the Kona24 too, hey Hippy?

 

[eddiec]

The HID blinder is save for night MTB ventures. What's that on my helmet? Useful at the Kona24 too, hey Hippy?

Damn you HID types during that race! I'd be happily cruising along with my 40w (20 x 2) set up thinking i could see well, until the sudden blaze of light as a HID-wearer passed me made me feel highly inadequate Not to mention making the darkness seem even more pervasive...

Oh well... back to the drawing board for that Luxeon project...

Eddie(very happy with my new S-sun 5 led front light for the road)c

 

[Peter Signorini]

"Bikesoiler" wrote:
>
> The HID blinder is save for night MTB ventures. 'What's that on my
> helmet?'
> (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mbtc/PhotoGallery/0501Lyster/Pic02.jpg)
> Useful at the Kona24 too, hey Hippy?

Hey, that's my club's evening ride, run by Tony Kuc IIRC! I nearly made it
to this ride, would have been good but had just gone back to work
(shell-shocked) after the holiday break.

Cheers
Peter

 

[aeek]

They're not objecting to your presence on the road. The high beam flash is
because they are being blinded by your high beam bike light. "Dip your

no, it was being high beamed when I was using a flashing white LED.

Normally I only need to see clearly that which is in front of me. The light
throws a gentle light for about 45deg and
is still clearly visible to other traffic for a full 180deg. A very good

pre-HID, I was having to dodge cars pulling out of sidestreets into me.

 

[FaHeL]

Possible to get the specs on the home built light as I am looking at
building my own

Regards,
FaHeL

 

[hippy]

Bikesoiler wrote:
> I agree with Peter S. I have a HID (home built 10W Solarc) that is too
> bright for road use/commuting. Most of the time I only use a Smart
> Light 3 LED flasher or an older set of Cateye Daylites (2.4 & 6W).
>
> The HID blinder is save for night MTB ventures. 'What's that on my
> helmet?'
> (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mbtc/PhotoGallery/0501Lyster/Pic02.jpg)
> Useful at the Kona24 too, hey Hippy?

I still tell people about your home-built setup.. how much did it cost
to build again? Reckon you could do it cheaper nowadays?

hippy

 

[slaw]

no, it was being high beamed when I was using a flashing white LED.

pre-HID, I was having to dodge cars pulling out of sidestreets into me.

My current commuting setup is a 10W light on the bars (home-made using a very focused dynamo headlight and a Lithium battery) and a 4 LED flasher on my helmet (A Basta/smart model that has a headband and a handlebar clip). I feel that now I don't have problems with cars in side streets as I can direct the flasher at them. Also the flasher has a broader visibility then the normal light and I think that it is just as conspicuous as the brighter, steady light.

I also have one of those red X-lights on my helmet, as well as a normal red flasher on the bike, and I carry a white X-light as a spare for the front which I would I use prior to the end of daylight savings when I didn't have the main lights fixed to the bike.

Off-road is different, two bar lights and one helmet light all home-made, but drooling over the Vicsous Power HIDs. I'm in the pic that Bikesoiler posted, but that was before I had fitted my lights.

 

[Jonathanallen]

Originally Posted by suzyj .

Peter S wrote:

> Anyone know if the Cateye opticube lights are bright enough to really work?

Depends. They use opticcube to denote many of their LED and halogen lights. Most of the LED ones are a waste of space. The halogen ones are pretty good.

> I'm looking at this one
http://www.deanwoods.com.au/store/prod557.htm
> but want some user experience before I put my money down.

You picked their one useable LED light. I did a 400 with a guy that used two of these. They're good stuff. They throw a good beam (enough to see by, as well as be seen), and last a reasonable amount of time.

The only downside (and this is common to all the Cateye lights) is their mounts are a bit on the fragile side.

Regards,

Suzy

Do you have some pics of these led opticube led lights?