LED's

These are pretty cool...
 

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Let me suggest that you go to the Instructables site, and peruse their ideas. There are a lot of easily implemented ideas for adding lights to clothing, bags, helmets, etc.

These are pretty cool...

Both very cool. I am thinking of making a riding vest. Denim with LED's sewn in.
I have 2 designs in mind...one using red, blue and orange (if available) LED's in a flame pattern on the back. (Flashing to simulate moving flame but that might be too much to do effectively)
The other would be all red LED's In the outline of the Jolly Roger Flag.
 
Stan, I've seen a Levi's vest with a dancing campfire and a stick figure indian dancing around it. It is mostly how much trouble you want to go to - that vest had over 400 LEDs attached to it, yet the battery pack and controller for all of it went into a large Altoids tin in the front chest pocket. Guy would just plug the pigtail in the pocket into the socket (mini USB pigtail) on the end of the tin, and slide it in the pocket, button the flap.

He did fully line the vest to protect all the fine wires.
 
More LEDs

Walking thru Wallyworld, I saw a card display with these funny valve stem caps. Most of them looked pretty doofy, especially the real long skinny ones, and the ones that tried to looked like a helix or a moebius strip. I sorta liked the ones with a rubbery-type-substance-skull-and-crossed-bones-guy. They came two to a card with 6 extra batteries (free), for $5.00. each. They flashed like crazy when you shook them, I figured I'd give them to the grandkids to play with in school (teachers love Grampa Pat, last time it was laser pens. <g>)

When I got home, I discovered that the little-rubbery-type-substance scull-and-crossed bones-guy popped right off. Underneath was a quality valve stem cap topped by a lexan, curved lens over three little leds w/ a tiny circuit board. Not withstanding all of my other lights and reflectors, they look pretty good and bright making white circles in the dark. Even if all of my lights went out, I would still have them and my reflectors which should be enough to get me home. I gave the little guys to the kids, even tho they didn't blink. They proudly put them on the ends of their school pencils (teachers still love Grampa Pat.)
 
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I have to get some reflectors for my bike; maybe some reflective tape by 3M. That's good stuff.

I like overkill.... I picked up a brake light for trucks at Harbor Freight yesterday; six LEDs in a row; cost was less than $11 after paying. It fits horizontally across the back of my bike quite nicely. When it comes to keeping cagers away from me, cost to be seen is disregarded. I just don't place any credibility in any lighting device that runs on two AA batteries.

The brake light mode (bright mode) draws about 150 milliamps of current at 7.2 volts (five rechargable D cells in series). That is good enough to be seen well beyond half a mile away. A small gel-cell motorcycle battery with five forward biased diodes (to drop excess voltage) with this taillight will be good for many hours of non-stop illumination.

Now to get a headlight... maybe a halogen type... I read 35 watt halogen lights are quite satisfactory.

I found on the internet a site (maybe several) of companies that sell safety vests with flashing LEDs already sewn in. They are plug-n-play. One of those are on my list of want-to-have's.

MikeJ
 
There are several bicycle led lights on the market that are good enough to see the road for driving at legal speed limits. They are made for people who need dependable lights on long trips or commuting. Most of them are made to be used with a generator. The best way to generate the lights is with a hub generator. Sturney Archer, Sachs, Shimano and Schmidt make hub generators. They call them dyno hubs. As long as the wheel turns you have light. Many of the lights have a super cap in them and store enough power to run the light for several minutes while stopped at a traffic light. I prefer this to a battery. The Inoled will run of of battery or generator. The Supernova, Schmidt Edelux and Lumotec IQ Fly are generator only. These are the brighter of the led lights on the market.
 
the dynohub looks like a great idea... probably adds less weight than a 12v battery would, but the systems I'm looking at are expensive-- $100 and up for the hub and $50 and up for the front light.

What do you have, and is it bright enough to light your way (as opposed to being just lights to be visible with)?
 
I have not purchased yet. Waiting on funds. I have a friend with the Edelux It lights up the whole width of a lane for a distance that would make me feel safe going around 30mph. It just recently became possible to have a light that runs off of 3watt 6volts that actually lights up the road properly. These products are expensive. I am saving for the Swiss Supernova E3 triple and the Schmidt dyno hub. I ride a Tandem and like the stronger wheels. The Schmidt can be ordered with a 48 hole pattern. The newest version of the E3 triple headlight puts out 800 lums.
I have bought quality when I can. That is why my 20 year old tandem is still in excellent condition. These lights are in demand so if you do decide to purchase one you may end up waiting sometime before you have it. The Schmidt dyno hub has a 5 year guarantee and does not need to be rebuilt until around 50,000 kilometers. This equipment was designed to produce light with human power.
There are some battery powered LED lights that will work also. Lights that hold primary cells between spring contacts will fail quite quickly from road shock. You need one that uses a rechargeable battery like the Inoled.
This guy has some pictures of what these lights look like down his driveway.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp
 
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