Most popular lights for these bikes?
- Thread starter Bearcamp
- Start date
NunyaBidness
Member
a lighting system for these motor bikes is a much discussed topic here
you can do a little searching on "light" and wind up with a LOT of reading to do
personally, after reading a lot of posts talking about lights for a motor bike, I'm going to talk with a friend, who is getting the same motor, and has worked for years with low amp electronics, and see if we can't come up with something.
you can do a little searching on "light" and wind up with a LOT of reading to do
personally, after reading a lot of posts talking about lights for a motor bike, I'm going to talk with a friend, who is getting the same motor, and has worked for years with low amp electronics, and see if we can't come up with something.
NunyaBidness
Member
yea, with over 50k miles on a non motored bike, hand signals is what I use when needed for turns,
I would like to see if I could get some rechargeable head/tail lights. wire these to a motorcycle battery and somehow use the white wire to charge the battery.
for now I have a tail light for a bicycle that is hot glued to my CamelBack that I always wear when I'm putting any kind of miles on. Don't currently have a head light.
I would like to see if I could get some rechargeable head/tail lights. wire these to a motorcycle battery and somehow use the white wire to charge the battery.
for now I have a tail light for a bicycle that is hot glued to my CamelBack that I always wear when I'm putting any kind of miles on. Don't currently have a head light.
VW ships cars to the US with solar panels plugged into cig lighters for battery topoff. In new car inspection, techs liberate said panels and sell them on ebay. Good companion for a 12v battery system, but it would take a week to charge for ~10 minutes of light output. Know your amps, amp-hours, and watts; many people overdo the light output for the amp input and amphour storage.
After searching for aeons you won't find any breakthrough "white wire" answers b/c very little (.5A at 6v) power is available, and it's hard to step this up to the 12v you'd need to charge a battery or run commonly available lights.
My setup is a 7.5 amphour sealed lead acid battery running a cheap 55watt foglight; the math says I'll get 1.63 hours of service at 100% discharge but it's bad for the battery to get drained more than 50% regularly so it fits my 45 minute commute perfectly. Taillight is a cheap red 12v marker light; it's kinda dim running on the white wire but not horribly so.
I got the tail light at advance auto, $2.68 and it looks super cool like a 59 caddy.
Taillight
headlight
After searching for aeons you won't find any breakthrough "white wire" answers b/c very little (.5A at 6v) power is available, and it's hard to step this up to the 12v you'd need to charge a battery or run commonly available lights.
My setup is a 7.5 amphour sealed lead acid battery running a cheap 55watt foglight; the math says I'll get 1.63 hours of service at 100% discharge but it's bad for the battery to get drained more than 50% regularly so it fits my 45 minute commute perfectly. Taillight is a cheap red 12v marker light; it's kinda dim running on the white wire but not horribly so.
I got the tail light at advance auto, $2.68 and it looks super cool like a 59 caddy.
Taillight
headlight
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sparky
Active Member
I think I'm gonna get two ring clamps (one on handlebar, other one slid thru perpendicularly, holding my flashlight) and a Coast LED Lenser P7 flashlight.
I bought my first Coast flashlight at WalMart a couple years ago and have loved it, but the button on mine actually got stuck, so I bought a new one with "focusable prism reflector" light, model no. 7436. It's AMAZING light for 2 AA batteries... the optics on this lens are mind-boggling!! There aren't really "dark spots" like you'd see with other focusing lenses because of the way the lens is shaped.
Anyway, this 7436 Coast flashlight (only 41 lumens) is MUCH better than my narrow-beamed Cateye EL530. That thing is a piece of junk, and nobody should ever buy it for a MB... it's useless.
As great as the 7436 is, I'd prefer a bit more light... so I'm also gonna buy the 7345s (6-LED design, non-focusable) and P7-8407 (167 lumens, focusable lens) from this site. I'm trying to figure out if the 6-LED cloverleaf design provides a wider beam, or at least a brighter beam when the focusable light has the same beam width. Either way, I'll never be able to own enough of these flashlights, and everybody here should try one of 'em.
The P7 is prolly a bit much ($100) for a bicycle headlight, but I think it'll be worth it to me. It's supposed to put out 167 lumens (711 feet effective range) for 130 hours just from 4-AAA batteries & one single 4.45 Watt LED!!!! I'd essentially never need to worry about batteries again, or wiring anything up & using the tiniest extra bit of gas... and I'll certainly be able to see everything in front of me, which is most important.
I bought my first Coast flashlight at WalMart a couple years ago and have loved it, but the button on mine actually got stuck, so I bought a new one with "focusable prism reflector" light, model no. 7436. It's AMAZING light for 2 AA batteries... the optics on this lens are mind-boggling!! There aren't really "dark spots" like you'd see with other focusing lenses because of the way the lens is shaped.
Anyway, this 7436 Coast flashlight (only 41 lumens) is MUCH better than my narrow-beamed Cateye EL530. That thing is a piece of junk, and nobody should ever buy it for a MB... it's useless.
As great as the 7436 is, I'd prefer a bit more light... so I'm also gonna buy the 7345s (6-LED design, non-focusable) and P7-8407 (167 lumens, focusable lens) from this site. I'm trying to figure out if the 6-LED cloverleaf design provides a wider beam, or at least a brighter beam when the focusable light has the same beam width. Either way, I'll never be able to own enough of these flashlights, and everybody here should try one of 'em.
The P7 is prolly a bit much ($100) for a bicycle headlight, but I think it'll be worth it to me. It's supposed to put out 167 lumens (711 feet effective range) for 130 hours just from 4-AAA batteries & one single 4.45 Watt LED!!!! I'd essentially never need to worry about batteries again, or wiring anything up & using the tiniest extra bit of gas... and I'll certainly be able to see everything in front of me, which is most important.
sparky
Active Member
Oh yea, I forgot to link to some comparison lighting pics for flashlights that I found at www.CandlePowerForums.com --
Coast LED Tactical Light model no. 7438 (83 lumens; was their most popular model & might still be)
Modded Coast Tactical Light
Another beamshot of the Modded Coast Tactical Light
Tell me you guys don't want a Coast flashlight!
Coast LED Tactical Light model no. 7438 (83 lumens; was their most popular model & might still be)
Modded Coast Tactical Light
Another beamshot of the Modded Coast Tactical Light
Tell me you guys don't want a Coast flashlight!
Warner
Member
Thanks for that info Sparky....good stuff! I e-mailed the guy on there that mods the flashlights asking for a reccommendation....will keep you posted with his response....
Warner
Warner
sparky
Active Member
Please do tell me what he says!
I woulda bought one of those modded Coast lights, but I read that he stopped selling 'em. I figured I'd at least show you guys what *one* LED can do for you. It's hard to surpass the things that make these Coast flashlights so aweseome, like efficiency & optics.
I woulda bought one of those modded Coast lights, but I read that he stopped selling 'em. I figured I'd at least show you guys what *one* LED can do for you. It's hard to surpass the things that make these Coast flashlights so aweseome, like efficiency & optics.
