Good morning everyone! My weekend is starting, the weather is good (and holding), I'll either have or I'll find some reason to do some riding and life feels pretty sweet right now.
I can't post a photo of the light set-up, but I ought to be able to describe it well enough that you can follow (and likely improve) it.
this setup is for a bike with trailer. (I think a trailer is a necessity, anyway. If you can't carry a decent amount of cargo, then it's not really practical transportation.) But if you don't have a trailer, you'll be able to figure out the mods necessary to put it all on a bike.
The wiring of the set-up is 12 gauge Romex. The switches are regular household on/off switches. The main advantage of this is that it's easily replaceable when needed. I don't doubt that 14 gauge would be heavy enough. But 12 gauge is what I had on hand.
(one of the members here has a signature that says, "If it's broke and you're broke, you use weird stuff to fix it." I've changed that a bit; "If you want it, but you can't spend money on it, then use weird stuff to make it". This lighting system is a good example.)
The Romex can be fastened to bike and trailer frame with hose clamps and zip ties. Being stiff, it can be "looped" over or under places where some room is needed and it will hold it's shape.
The battery is a "spill proof" ATV battery that I bought at Advance Auto. I cut a piece of fairly stiff foam rubber about and inch thick to place the battery on for buffering against jars that might break the case. Another sheet of foam rubber on top (across posts) for a bit of weather protection. Added to it a 1.5 Amp, automatic off, onboard battery charger. This is a battery charger that is meant to be mounted in your engine compartment (on a car) and permanently attached to the battery posts. The idea is that you plug it in in winter to keep the battery charged and warm. I got mine at Harbor Freight. Lashed these two items together and to the trailer bed with lashing straps.
You start with a bit of flexible electrical wire. (Though I suppose you could just strip the outside casing and ground conductor from a piece of Romex) Running away from the battery you wire in a tail light (I used an automotive tail-light from Wal-Mart) and a switch. (This does mean that you must dismount to turn on the rear light. but to me that seems preferrable to running a circuit all the way up to your handlebars and back)
Somewhere in the vicinity of this rear light circuit, you splice in your Romex for the forward circuit. I used red wire nuts. They hold tight. So far no tendency to vibrate lloose. And your circuit is always open for moderations this way. Then you start running your Romex along the trailer. Use hose clamps as much as possible for strength, but zip ties are adequate in those places where a hose clamp is not convenient. Loop the Romex over the axle so that it's not in the way when you have to change a tire. (Or similar loops in similar places, depending on your equipment. You get the idea, I'm sure)
Romex straight up to the trailer hitch. At this point, naturally, you'll want a splice. So that you can unhook the trailer. This is a good place for the cigarette lighter socket. I used a cheap one with a plastic cap for weather protection. It'll eventually get rusty. But they only cost a couple of bucks.
Now my trailer hitches to the bike on the left side (of bike) right at the rear axle. so the Romex continues from there on the underside of that frame member there. (that's called a chainstay, isn't it? Then this would be the left chainstay.) Then a small loop under the crank in order to clear any cables running through there. Then up the downtube toward the headset. Keep it away from the exhaust, of course. Now you wire up to an on/off switch hanging from the handlebar by a zip tie. Flexible wire from there to the lights (or light. You're going to have options on that.).
The lights I bought at Wal-Mart automotive electrical department. They have 3 or 4 different ones available for 15 to 20 dollars. A few of them are rather cool looking, bullet ttype lights. These lights seem to be meant to be used as fog lights (though the packaging does not call them that.) The instructions even say that they should not be mounted more than, I think, 30"inches high. Apparently blinding oncoming traffic is a concern. (I believe it. These things are BRIGHT). For me, this was no problem; my brake bosses were available. The reason is that I've removed my cantilever brakes. Not willling to deal with difficult adjustment. I've replaced them with old-fashioned side-pull brakes. So my brake bosses were available. If your's aren't, then I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out.
I've always figured that when the day comes that I want to mount a battery on the bike I'd get some aluminum strips. Perhaps 3/4 inch wide by 3/16 inch thick. could probably get enough for the job for 10 or 15 bucks. make a cage for the batt. and figure out some way of bolting it to the bike frame maybe a bit above and forward from the rear axle, left side likely. A battery that is large enough to give any running time will be heavy enough to affect bike handling, but it shouldn't be a huge problem.
Probably don't need to explain anymore? This is pretty simple and I'll bet you've got the picture.
It probably sounds a bit weird and, maybe, extreme. But I'm telling you, it's a great feeling to look at heavy rain, fog, dead of night and say "so what?". With a set-up like this, everyone sees you and they see you plenty early in the game. I've been commuting in a bit of bad weather and quite a bit of dark now and it's obvious that being seen is no problem at all.
