LED lights, make your own?

ive been trying to find out what the hell this whole lights on your spokes thing is all about and why pay 50 quid for a few dozen led's, a load of wires, and some battery packs to be hanging on your wheels.

amnn, still have no idea why would want to do that.

why not just have one tiny one, less heavy, less battery and less wires. I figured there must be a way to make a small led that will screw on instead of a valve cap, and turns out these things are already on the market (t'bay has a load to choose from).

the thing is any of these (car/mbike/bicycle) caps are pretty big. Atleast 4cm long and if you want to fit them onto presta valves youll need an adapter which will add even more length to it. The fact of the matter is when you actually screw them onto a bicycle valve you can imagine how far the LED light is away from the rim. If you were to spin the wheel in the dark, the light circle that it creates would be significatly smaller in diameter than that of your wheel.
This is a big problem of this silly device. And i came up with an LED light that can connect to the spoke, making it easy to move it around to any position on the axis.

Basically, not to bore you with all this writing, its a 3V battery, a standard LED, two tiny wires and a magnet from a bicycle speedometer taped together with duck tape

The idea is that the unconnected wire from the LED is layed between the spoke and the bolt, which when tightened will connect the current betwen the battery and the bulb.

With this, unlike the caps, you can position the light right up against the rim and create the light circle the size of your actual wheel.

it obviously isnt that bright, i just used a few seconds on the shutter speed.

so, yeah, if anyone knows of anything similar to this or want to share they're opinions/ DIY led builds post them here.

Excellent pics and talkthrough, I like making stuff.

But I just glued my tyre fly to a presta valve cap, same results and much less effort.

Excellent pics and talkthrough, I like making stuff.

But I just glued my tyre fly to a presta valve cap, same results and much less effort.

i figured thats a pretty good solution as well.

do yours only turn on in the dark? and how quickly do they turn off when you stop the wheel spinning?

it obviously isnt that bright, i just used a few seconds on the shutter speed.

i kinda want to do that but i think it would be wasted in london as its never really that dark, not where ride anyway

p.s thats a Blue Peter quality walkthrough

Tyre flys are activated by shock, so its on most of the time I am riding. Even in the day.

I bought a boxful of batteries in anticipation of the batteries running out, but ive had it on all winter and its still going strong!

With your method it might be interesting to have a few different colours positioned at different lengths of the spoke.

That way you would get several circles of varying diameters?

Fun for a group ride/race?

http://www.argos.co.uk/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=3668975
£10

Have an ingenious notion for custom seatpost with integrated red LED's to eliminate the need for rear light, must give it a go with an old post I have and see how it turns out, would be epic if it works out and they're bright enough to do the trick!!!

Anyone ever seen this before or am I really onto something new here??

http://www.argos.co.uk/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=3668975
£10

that is exactly what defines you a wanker, those pattern things arent cool

Have an ingenious notion for custom seatpost with integrated red LED's to eliminate the need for rear light, must give it a go with an old post I have and see how it turns out, would be epic if it works out and they're bright enough to do the trick!!!

Anyone ever seen this before or am I really onto something new here??

My 360° electroluminescent seatpost.

Just PM'd you

You can also use LED 'throwies' for this, even less bulk - all you need it 3v battery, led, rare eath magnet, duct tape. I found they last about 2 weeks - but are always on.

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Throwies/

I like the accompanying video

I have some tyreflies with the diy presta adaptor to, they're pretty good, makes the battery last longer with the motion detection. I'm thinking of using the motion sensor to make them into something better though. Will report back with results, I have a box of LEDs,magnets and batteries at home

tynan - did/do you use that or was it just an experiment. It's still flipping brilliant!

we got big boxes of these lying around with out of date batterys
I might hack some apart and try your solution
make spoke lights with them.

that is exactly what defines you a wanker, those pattern things arent cool

we got big boxes of these lying around with out of date batterys
I might hack some apart and try your solution
make spoke lights with them.

why dont you shove some new batteries in, that ^^^ looks pretty cool

The reason those ebay valve caps are that tall is partly because they use more than one battery, but also there's a light spring in there which keeps the connection open until the wheel turns. Then centrifugal force acts against the spring and closes the connection, turning the light on. there's also a tiny circuit to make them flash on and off, but this uses hardly any space.

The reason those ebay valve caps are that tall is partly because they use more than one battery, but also there's a light spring in there which keeps the connection open until the wheel turns. Then centrifugal force acts against the spring and closes the connection, turning the light on. there's also a tiny circuit to make them flash on and off, but this uses hardly any space.

i understand why they are that size, i just dont think they are a solution for using them on a bicycle wheel (valve).

I put them on mine for the bridges ride (I got some free with an order of bike bits once). They are even more crappy with Schraeder valve convertors on the end of long valve stems. About 4 inches inside the wheel.

I quite like the argos pattern things though. sorry ;-)

tynan - did/do you use that or was it just an experiment. It's still flipping brilliant!

Cheers, used it a lot, showing some wear now, might have to knock up a new one for these dark afternoon/evenings.

what was the cost for your el p (roject)

tynan, what did you use for the tubing of the post?
I mean i would suppose its plastic, but how thin before it snaps under your own weight.
And where did you keep the battery pack? Surely it would have been easier to shove the battery wires and lighting all inside the tube?

what was the cost for your el p (roject)

if you're asking about the led taped to the battery thing, then it cost me £0, but if you have neither the led or the battery surely you wont spend more than £1
what tynan did was probably in a different budget area :)

reflective vinyl, cost = pence

now that's what i'm fucking talking about.

is the seatpin vinyl as well?
i reacon if thats a good enough excuse to not have a rear light

aye, it's self adhesive stuff that can be removed with a hairdryer for up to 7 years, if you're careful. works exactly the same way as the hi-viz bits of jackets etc. so you need an almost direct light source but is perfect for headlights/drivers' vision, if you get me. just looks glossy black in normal light.