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Suggestions on lighting systems



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 25th 03, 05:35 PM
Thomas Reynolds
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems

(David Johnston) wrote in message om...
I'm fed up with my Niterider Trailrat always burning out its bulb!
I've burnt out four bulbs in the last year and a half! I'm not even
knocking the thing around or dropping it. It always burns out
suddenly when I turn it on.

......
Can anyone give me some advice? I'll be using it for commuting in
Los Angeles. About 3/4 of the time I ride on streets with overhead
lights. I've been happy with the Trailrat so far except for its short
bulb life. I'd love it if I could get something with a smart charger
and longer battery life. Also, a fork mount option would be a bonus.

I have two Niterider lighting systems, one since 1998. I have had to
replace the bulb once. However, I am not impressed with Niterider QA.
I have had to fix several problems on their systems myself, just to
keep them going.

Anyhow, the point is that something is wrong with your system and
Niterider should fix it. There still may be recourse even though the
warrantly is expired. Check the laws in your state.

Tom
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  #12  
Old July 25th 03, 06:37 PM
David Damerell
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems

Werehatrack wrote:
may have said:
This is completely irrelevant, since dynamo-driven headlights use
conventional bulbs.

Is no one making an LED/dynamo setup? It seems like a natural
symbiosis to me.


Rear dynamo lights are LEDs, because there there is a real efficiency
improvement with the lack of a need to use the rear filter. I remain to be
convinced that there's much in it for headlights - LEDs make great "being
seen" lights, but don't seem so good for seeing.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!
  #14  
Old July 26th 03, 12:48 AM
pico23
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems

Thats odd because I have a petzl headlamp that I use for
climbing/hiking/kayaking ect. and the light on it is super bright and I
prefer it for seeing in the 10-15meter range with fresh batteries. The light
in question also has a second built in light with a halogen bulb and sure I
use this for spot beaming but I still use the LED 99% of the time even when
climbing a pitch.

I think you need to reevaluate LEDs. High quality ones are really bright and
work well. I wouldn't be suprised to see them in REAL light systems in the
next few years.
"David Damerell" wrote in message
news
Werehatrack wrote:
may have said:
This is completely irrelevant, since dynamo-driven headlights use
conventional bulbs.

Is no one making an LED/dynamo setup? It seems like a natural
symbiosis to me.


Rear dynamo lights are LEDs, because there there is a real efficiency
improvement with the lack of a need to use the rear filter. I remain to be
convinced that there's much in it for headlights - LEDs make great "being
seen" lights, but don't seem so good for seeing.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!



  #15  
Old July 26th 03, 05:25 AM
Werehatrack
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems

On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 11:39:53 +1000, "stu" may have
said:

The reason this works is that with a 3W conventional bulb, only about
one quarter of the energy used (at best, and generally much less) is
converted to light; with an LED, it's more on the order of two-thirds.


LEDs and quartz halogen have about the same lumens per Watt.


My lightmeters disagree. The comparison is more like 3 to 1 in favor
of the LED, compared to 6 to 1 for a conventional incandescent. This
is taking readings from several angles and averaging them together.
The data in one of the LED manufacturers' spec sheets suggests that my
estimates are off by a good bit in the halogen's favor, but I'll take
mine. They suggest a ratio that seems absurdly good; the halogen
would have to be using less than 4% of its energy consumption for
light production for the figures to be correct, and I think that's
probably a bit low.

Leds don't
needs as much focusing because most of the light comes out the front anyway.


Good news and bad news there; the beam *can't* be focused very well by
the use of additional reflector elements; the lens is all you have to
work with. This isn't optimal by any means.

So for a nice wide beam they work great. If you want a pencil beam you will
have trouble. and for the same sort of output you are talking lots of $.


Higher than incandescent initially, yes, but cheaper in the long run
in appropriate applications...and frankly, the site you mentioned is
horribly overpriced. I can get many of the same items locally for
about one third of those prices. Not everyone knows where the stuff
is available, so they probably get a lot of business from folks who
just don't know of any other source. Many of the local truck lines
have entirely swapped over to the LED tail and signal lamp assemblies
because the price for that long-life unit is about half the cost of
the conventional unit with two years' worth of maintenance added in.
See
MR-16 about halfway down the page only $80each(l think you would need about
4 of them to replace a 15W halogen)
http://www.theledlight.com/dcbulbs.html
and there figures are a little umm misleding (leading get it)
60mA at12vdc; 180 lumen; approximately 15 watts.

the 15watts they are talking about must be an incandescent bulb, which is a
little misleading being that it is a replacement of a halogen bulb


The lumens thing is also a bit difficult to make a comparison on; the
halogen bulb's output can, at this point, be utilized more efficiently
with reflectors that are already well understood and in production;
if, however, the lamp assembly is designed for the LED light source,
useful illumination levels which are comparable to those from halogen
bulbs can be achieved with less than one third of the power
consumption of halogen, just nowhere near as cheaply. On the other
hand, the LED assembly will be far more reliable. There are tradeoffs
everywhere.

some more interesting stuff on LEDs
http://www.theledlight.com/ledbulbs2.html


What they don't say (probably since I doubt that they know) is that
white LED units with a brightness adequate for automotive headlights
should be in mass production within the next 6 years, and should
appear in automobile and truck applications soon thereafter. There
are fundamental headlight design issues which must be addressed, and
it is considered unlikely that a DOT-approvable LED conversion for
existing headlamp bulbs will be marketed anytime soon, if ever. On
the plus side, it's not expected that the LED headlamps will be
anywhere near as hideously expensive as the high-frequency Xenon
strobe units that are currently available. They very well may reach
the level of standard equipment on low-end vehicles within 10 to 12
years. Since it's likely that the average LED headlight will outlast
the car that it's delivered with, they probably won't be something
that you'll find on the shelf at every parts store.


--
My email address is antispammed;
pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something,
it's also possible that I'm busy.
  #16  
Old July 26th 03, 11:58 PM
John Albergo
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems



David Johnston wrote:

I'm fed up with my Niterider Trailrat always burning out its bulb!
I've burnt out four bulbs in the last year and a half! I'm not even
knocking the thing around or dropping it. It always burns out
suddenly when I turn it on.

Is this kind of thing normal? Are all lighting systems going to
have this kind of trouble? I looked at Niterider's web site and they
claimed that a bulb should last years!

So I'm considering getting a more reliable lighting system, instead
of continuing to shell out $20 every four months. I was thinking
about one of the Niterider digital models, but I've read some negative
reviews, and Niterider is kind of on my **** list right now....

Can anyone give me some advice? I'll be using it for commuting in
Los Angeles. About 3/4 of the time I ride on streets with overhead
lights. I've been happy with the Trailrat so far except for its short
bulb life. I'd love it if I could get something with a smart charger
and longer battery life. Also, a fork mount option would be a bonus.

-David



  #17  
Old July 28th 03, 03:21 PM
David Damerell
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Default Suggestions on lighting systems

pico23 wrote:
"David Damerell" wrote in message
Rear dynamo lights are LEDs, because there there is a real efficiency
improvement with the lack of a need to use the rear filter.


Of course I mean a red filter here.

I remain to be
convinced that there's much in it for headlights - LEDs make great "being
seen" lights, but don't seem so good for seeing.

I think you need to reevaluate LEDs. High quality ones are really bright and
work well. I wouldn't be suprised to see them in REAL light systems in the
next few years.


Don't top-post, it gives you crabs.

I did check out several LED headlights recently; while I run a Schmidt hub
dynamo, I have two 4xAA battery lights as backup, one of which is an LED
light. It is very visible at a distance, but of little use for seeing
unless the surface is highly reflective; the halogen bulb light remains
much more useful for seeing what I'm doing.

Of course the LED light consumes less power, but it doesn't seem feasible
to get higher-power arrangements without the multiple LEDs on the Cateye
EL300. However, current headlights for dynamo use are very precisely
focused, which would not be possible with a number of separate light
sources.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!
 




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