Lights

I don't have the money for one.

Pathetic, huh? But the Moon Comet will see me good when the Flare I already have finishes failing (pretty soon, the screw on plastic for the LED has pretty much lost all of it's threading now).

I'll see your puny cells and raise you the 18650 cell.

Heh, a tail light with one of those is going to need a solid alu body and heat dissipation fins.

So, why not get another Flare? I like their blinky mode.

Cos it's a shit design, they always fail from either getting water in them and corroding or starting to turn themselves off all the time.

Look like they've been replaced with the USB charging tracer.

You know, I'd love to design a tail light with a super bright LED and a Fresnel Lens apparatus that acted a bit like an optical landing system.

The basic idea is that the super bright LED will have a wide angle of visibility, but instead of wasting some of the light that goes upwards at a steep angle and off to the side (pointing at 3rd floor flats next to the street), or downwards off to the side (pointing at the gutter)... it would be tuned to give additional brightness in certain areas behind you.

Now I know, all bike lights have some element of a Fresnel Lens, but what I mean is to use the Fresnel Lens effect to achieve something like the optical landing signal.

i.e. It would increase in brightness if you were directly behind, or on a side road, but decrease the brightness if you were safely off to the side and going to overtake.

Another example would be to increase brightness at the height of a truck driver... so when they got closer to the bike, it would appear that the light gained intensity.

The purpose would be to provide an entirely passive way of making the tail light give warnings and instructions to other road users. And much like the optical landing system uses a Fresnel Lens to warn when a plane is off-centre, the tail light would warn when they were on path to a collision.

It's a redefinition of how to use the lensing effect, instead of "make the light angle wide from a crappy small light", it becomes "make the light a useful warning system in some angles/heights from a powerful LED light).

Depends what LEDs are fitted, 18650's just a 8Wh cell spec.

Both mine are fine and outlasted/outperformed most other lights I've used. I'm pretty sure I've given them a decent test in terms of mileage and weather too.

Moon Comets are OK - great light distribution and very visible BUT I have had 2 die within a year from internal corrosion. I pulled one apart to find the battery pack had swollen or melted and leaked corrosive shiz everywhere. But I like that you can recharge via a USB port on a computer etc.

Fresnel lens rear landing light? Wouldn't that be too dependant on position (height, mounting point etc.) that it would be impossible to get accurate dispersion? Your hardly going to get people pulling out rulers and spirit levels to mount a bike light.

Fresnel lens rear landing light? Wouldn't that be too dependant on position (height, mounting point etc.) that it would be impossible to get accurate dispersion? Your hardly going to get people pulling out rulers and spirit levels to mount a bike light.

Put the light on a bracket that has a ball mount, put a round spirit bubble on top:

Once set properly for a bike (a 10 second task), tighten ball bracket and you're good.

That would make the angle of the seat post or mounting point irrelevant.

As for height... the Fresnel could deal with minor variation in height... but let's face it, seat posts don't vary massively in height from floor so I doubt it would be a problem.

This is over-thinking it though... I'd probably actually design a vertical back of the light so that you can visually just see whether it's straight against any background (door frame, lamp post, etc).

Hmm, could definitely work for a more the conscientious cyclists out there. I'd personally enjoy getting nerdy about set-up. I suppose the reality is that most people wouldn't even use a built in level correctly.

I recently bought one of these:
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIAR2LRL/areo-red-led-rear-light
as a cheap back-up and it has similar ideas, just very cheaply and poorly executed. it has little lenses moulded into the main dome that focus the light in certain directions and is notable brighter from front on and side on. So i guess properly done it would work.

Seems like a better solution than just "make it brighter than the sun"

No worries, found it... it's the Moon Comet.

Funny thing about that light is that the static mode last longer than the blinking mode, mainly because the blinking is a little brighter than the low static mode.

So yeah... USB charge can >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I prefer keeping a wall charger with an extra set of AA batteries on the ready, then change batteries before I ride. Relying on USB charging requires the self discipline to put my lights on recharge when I return from a ride. Usually when I get back home I'm dying for a snack/piss/shower/dry clothes/beer/etc. ... I know my limitations.

Limits my choice of lights though...

I'll see your puny cells and raise you the 18650 cell.

Hope District+ has two of those, I think. It lasts so long you forget the last time you charged it and goes from sensible to unsafely bright. Also has an interchangeable battery pack with some of their front lights (e.g. the now-discontinued Vision 2) which you can use with a splitter cable to power both from the same pack.

My Magicshine MJ880(2x Cree XM-L) came with a 6x18650 pack, a Y splitter cable and an MJ818 rear light. The waterproofing on the rear light wasn't great and after a few years of wrapping tbe excess cable round the frame, I think I've got some dodgy wire somewhere in or either side of the plugs.

Might only be with Knog lights but they only seem to charge from an iPhone wall charger not from a USB port on a computer. Plus the battery life has got nothing on real batteries.

Wow, that's a hell of a tail light.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope-district-rear-light/rp-prod88101

The customer reviews are all fairly gushing, and the magazine reviews only balk at the price and lack of battery indicator (but yet it lasts over 11 hours on full burn, a month on low burn).

The choice of front lights nowadays is great. I still love my Lumicycle and it's 3,500 lumen high burn, with a 1,100 lumen standard burn.

But... tail light choice is shitty. The companies that are great on front lights tend to use splitters to power high quality casing but low quality rear lights. Outside of them are all the cheap and ineffective lights, the USB lights, etc.

It's good to see a serious tail light. I've always thought that dim London winter streets with a high number of distracting lights means that there is a need for brighter tail lights to be sure you're seen.

Oof. That is a ridiculous front light.

That's a tail light.

Unless you meant my Lumicycle.

Yes - I meant your Lumicycle. Should've quoted the relevant bit.

Been commuting with one of those Hope Districts for the last couple of years or so. Absolutely love it, wouldn't consider anything else for my commuting (or any other bike where an external battery wouldn't be a problem). So impressed that I got a matching R4 for the front. It's overkill for day to day, but every once in a while there are dark, foggy mornings riding along a main road I wouldn't be without it.

I have had some bother with splitter cables, chargers and batteries dying on me, but whenever I have, I just print out the returns form from the website, send them off to hope with a note and no questions asked, 2 days later Mr Fed Ex turns up with a box of brand new parts.

Best endorsement I can give is that when I bought it, I thought it was a silly, indulgent overpriced vanity purchase, but now if it died on the way to work this morning, I'd order another without question the minute I got to my desk.

My pic from earlier in the thread:

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good bright light for a rear rack? I assume the light bracket is standard but if not the rack is a TorTec Ultralite Rear Rack.

Cheers

you'll be able to mount pretty much any light to a rack. choose the best light for you, not for your rack x

Pretty much. SJS Cycles has a load of rear light mounts so that you can fit a tail light anywhere: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rear-light-brackets-dept784_pg1/#page=

Thanks noiser and Velocio. SJS it is. What a great shop they always seem to have the harder to find stuff as well.

I noted they have some nice rack rear lights by Busch Muller. Not sure how well they compare to the btighter, recommended rear lights but I like the idea that a tool is required for removal, which where I look my bike should suffice to prevent the light walking.

B&M make excellent light, as they should being German.