Brake light idea

[Timbone]

This strange little thing is my latest idea: a brake light set up.

I have already wired and soldered a 6V led into my rear taillight assembly that already had a closed 12V bulb that serves as running light.

What you see there is the 4 AA batteries (rechargeable) wired in series and an ugly little metal tube. No need to clean any of this up - it will all be wrapped tightly and epoxied after the electrical connections are made.

That metal cylinder is the switch, which I hope to perfect. It's a closed metal tube that houses a steel ball bearing. One end is soldered metal; the other end is stuffed with an insulator but penetrated by a small machine screw.

The idea: I'll place the tube at a slight angle down towards the rear of the bike. When braking force is applied, the ball bearing will roll forward, touching the machine screw terminal closing the circuit and lighting the brake light bulb. Forward acceleration or still, the ball rolls back and the light goes off!

I'll solder it all up tomorrow and do some tests.

 

[Frankenstein]

View attachment 79975

This strange little thing is my latest idea: a brake light set up.

I have already wired and soldered a 6V led into my rear taillight assembly that already had a closed 12V bulb that serves as running light.

What you see there is the 4 AA batteries (rechargeable) wired in series and an ugly little metal tube. No need to clean any of this up - it will all be wrapped tightly and epoxied after the electrical connections are made.

That metal cylinder is the switch, which I hope to perfect. It's a closed metal tube that houses a steel ball bearing. One end is soldered metal; the other end is stuffed with an insulator but penetrated by a small machine screw.

The idea: I'll place the tube at a slight angle down towards the rear of the bike. When braking force is applied, the ball bearing will roll forward, touching the machine screw terminal closing the circuit and lighting the brake light bulb. Forward acceleration or still, the ball rolls back and the light goes off!

I'll solder it all up tomorrow and do some tests.

Eh... Gravity seems like a bad system to act as a switch, think of going downhill... I would suggest one of 2 options, a brake handle with a switch built in (I own one) or a momentary switch glued to the brake handle body, and another plastic blip glued to the moving part of the brake lever, if you use a normally closed switch on it then the blip will press the switch in when the brakes are released, opening the circuit and shutting the light off. Squeezing it will move the blip off and then the switch will go into its resting "normally closed" position which will turn it on.

Another kinda crazy idea I came up with was a piece of spring steel like from a car windshield wiper, put that part on the brake lever or the brake itself and have a metal post that it will hit as soon as you start squeezing, and since it's springy you can't push it too much and break it or hit a solid point in the braking system.

 

[CroMagnum]

You can buy a brake lever with a switch built in for $3.50. E-bikes use them to signal the controller that you're hitting the brakes so it can chop the throttle and activate regenerative braking if available. But they work just dandy as brake light switches.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-of-Un...levers-quick-shipping-from-Texas/152600097450

Very reliable, cheap, and saves a lot of fabrication. Just wire the switch in series with your brake light and you're good to go.