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#51
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On Fri, 12 May 2017 11:53:49 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote: You are just full of criticism. Reminds me of know it alls. :-) Andy Those were calculations, not criticism. I'll assume that you can recognize the difference. Apparently, you haven't thought much about what "know it all" really means or implies. If someone knows everything, then they have stopped learning anything new, which not a good thing. Is that what you're accusing me of doing? I hope not. If my calculations remind you of all those "know it alls", which I presume by your choice of words means more than one, does that mean that you are associating with those who have ceased to learn new things? I can only imagine how boring that must be. I'm told that hanging around "know it alls" might be contagious. Need some quiz questions on LED lighting to determine if you're still able to learn something new? Reminds me of wild hickory nuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QffEYYotXIk Hint: Read something on ANSI/NEMA FL1 flashlight standards: http://www.led-resource.com/ansi-fl1-standard/ http://flashlightwiki.com/ANSI-NEMA_FL-1 http://www.flashlightreviews.ca/FL1.htm There's quite a bit in there that is applicable to bicycle lighting (which is ignored by many bicycle lighting manufacturers). -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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#52
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Tim the Tool Man, Needs More POWER
On Fri, 12 May 2017 16:36:32 -0500, DougC
wrote: On 5/10/2017 11:08 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Wed, 10 May 2017 20:21:11 -0700 (PDT), Andy wrote: ... I made a light system using a SLA battery that was as bright as a car headlight. Sigh. Megalumens again. Do you really need something as bright as a car headlight (700 lumens low, 1200 lumens high)? Do you enjoy blinding oncoming traffic and other cyclists? There used to be a guy on Bikeforums (hope it wasn't Andy) It wasn't me. ANY time people asked about lights, he would post pictures of his setup, and brag about how he could see stuff on the ground 50 yards away at night. He could easily see reflective road signs 200+ yards away. With my eyesight, I can't read road signs 200+ yards away. I sometimes test myself on street signs. In the dark with minimal lighting, I can focus to about 50 yards. 200+ yards is a blurr. The comedy of this was that this person was very-late-middle-aged, somewhat overweight (like myself) and rode a upright "granny" trike. I can empathize with him. I'm 69 years old. A BMI calculation says I'm overweight. No trike yet, but I am converting my various machines from the traditional hunchback position, to something more upright. The battery may not have been SLA but it was about as big as a motorcycle battery, and it had to be carried in the rear basket because it was too big to easily mount anywhere else. I was looking at 12V LiFePO4 batteries today in the motorcycle form factor to power a friends ham radio transceiver for Field Day at the end of June. For example, I can get a motorcycle replacement battery: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kinetik-LiFePO4-12V-7-9ah-Battery-for-SUZUKI-DR650S-N-P-650CC-1992-1993-/191626757785 that lasts longer, delivers more current for starting, and weights about 20% of the lead-acid equivalent. The battery above weights 1.2 lbs. Except for the cost, why bother dealing with lead-acid on a bicycle, were weight is a real problem? I couldn't help but wonder: how fast do you think that guy EVER rides? Probably not very much so, I'd think. Why did he need a 50-watt xenon headlight on his trike? I dunno, but he thought it was AWESOME. Oh, I could think of many reasons, none of them particularly useful. Some people just want to own the biggest, fastest, most expensive, loudest, most garish, unique, etc. Others consider lighting to be a weapon. Some want bragging rights. Maybe he's testing the limits of practicality (or absurdity)? http://tesladownunder.com/WorldsBrightestBike.htm#BikeLights There's always a reason for doing such things, although it may not be obvious or sane. ...For some reason he was never able to explain well, he thought that having this huge front light greatly improved his safety, with regards to being seen by cars. He would have done better impersonating a Christmas tree. Blinding oncoming riders and traffic does nothing for being seen from the sides and rear. If he wants to be safe, he has to be visible from all directions. I think I annoyed him once when I said that he should put a red lens on it and mount it on the *rear*, since any oncoming cars should be driving on the OPPOSITE side of the road, and the greater risk was being hit from /behind/, , , , -but that was dumb for some reason I forget. He had a reason. I don't remember. Good logic, but I've had more problems with near misses from the sides than from the rear. However, I don't ride much lately, so my experiences don't count for much. Now... I've heard of people who MTB at night, and I can understand that being a reason to want as much light as possible for that. (I can't MTB at night in the central USA, as there is one billion spiderwebs strung across every 10-yard stretch of wooded trails at night) Well, if they're looking for a challenge in the dark, perhaps riding blindfolded would be just as challenging? I suppose a chicken wire windshield wouldn't help with the spiders. Maybe attach a basket to the handlebars and carry an ant-eater on the ride? ...And I can understand people having vision problems, and a lot of light might help for that. As we get older, glare recovery becomes a problem. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2631002 When someone blinds me with their overly bright headlights, it now takes me much longer to recover than when I was younger. ...But I never understood the reason for overspending for a high-power light setup, especially for people who are (almost certainly) very casual pavement-only riders. If I could pay ~$45 each and replace the ruined 4xAA Cateyes with the same ones but new, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's called diminishing returns. In lighting, to get a small percentage improvement in performance (lumens), it's sometimes necessary to spend a disproportionately larger amount of money. It's not the cost of the LEDs, but rather the cost of all the support equipment, such as batteries, holder, charger, electronics, heat sinking, etc. I can throw together a 2 watt LED headlight with little effort or cost. I'm currently pricing what it will take to do a 10 watt LED "flat" light, which is rapidly growing to far more than a 5x linear extrapolation. High end lighting can be expensive. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#53
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On Fri, 12 May 2017 09:14:09 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote: On Fri, 12 May 2017 08:51:55 +0700, John B. wrote: On Thu, 11 May 2017 09:17:40 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Thu, 11 May 2017 04:03:29 -0700 (PDT), wrote: If the OP uses 4 1.5V Lion in a parallel batt carrier wired in series to a second same carrier the V is 3.0 3 in series is 4.5V Correct ? No. Most (not all) LiIon cells are a nominal 3.7V. Plug one of these into something made for a 1.5v akaline battery and you will have a smoking ruin. This is a very real problem. I have several flashlights that use 14500 LiIon cells which are exactly the same size as a AA battery. If I accidentally plug one of these into a AA battery holder, it will probably destroy the device. So in potential possibility repairing a failed proprietary integral batt device is possible. Nope. Plugging in the wrong battery does not make things go better or fix them. I have 2 devices, a Pioneer 2DIN receiver and a new Amprobe 510 multimeter asking connect to ground first. I had operated under the auto batt standard of grounD last. Is this a current sea change ? No. It is also wrong. In a car, I'm told that you connect the ground (negative) battery terminal last. That's because when you tighten the positive battery terminal with an un-insulated wrench, and you accidentally hit the grounded chassis or grounded battery frame, if the ground (negative) terminal is disconnected, there will be no spark, arc, smoke, or exploding battery. Of course, grounding the ground lead with a wrench will not do anything dangerous. Unless you have a classic car, such as a pre '60's Volkswagen, many British cars prior to the '60's, or even a Ford, from the Model A through about 1948, all of which had positive grounds :-) Also, pre-1960's White and Mack trucks had positive grounds. The logic is fairly simple. Positive ground reduces corrosion effect. However, I have a different theory. Look at the polarity for a DC stick arc welder. Worktable ground is positive. If you build cars and trucks with an arc welder, then a positive ground would seem logical. Or it might have been intentionally different in an attempt at "product differentiation" which means you need to buy special accessories for a positive ground car[1]. Nope. DC welding is commonly used in "either direction". You have electrodes designed to work best with electrode negative and others are electrode positive. But "normal" or "straight" polarity is, as you say, electrode negative. An electrode that's identity code ends in 10 is a reverse polarity rod, i.e., electrode positive. E 6010, for example is commonly used reverse polarity rod. "THE ARGUMENT FOR POSITIVE GROUND" http://lajagclub.com/the-argument-for-positive-ground/ Long ago, I stopped to help a lady start her sports car (forgot the model) by jump starting it. My car was negative ground and hers was positive. No problem as long as nothing conductive gets between the bodies of the two cars. We got to talking and not paying attention. Her car door hit mine. Sparks, smoke, etc. I had the good sense to kick the doors apart to prevent welding the cars together. Standards are a good thing. It doesn't matter which polarity electrical system is used. One connects the hot battery terminal first, and the grounded terminal last. But until connected it is neither the hot or the grounded terminal (;-} [1] I used to be in the 2-way radio biz. During the 1960's most 2-way radios came with a floating ground, where it would work with either a negative or positive ground system. -- Cheers, John B. |
#54
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Tim the Tool Man, Needs More POWER
On Fri, 12 May 2017 18:13:58 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: On 5/12/2017 5:36 PM, DougC wrote: On 5/10/2017 11:08 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Wed, 10 May 2017 20:21:11 -0700 (PDT), Andy wrote: ... I made a light system using a SLA battery that was as bright as a car headlight. Sigh. Megalumens again. Do you really need something as bright as a car headlight (700 lumens low, 1200 lumens high)? Do you enjoy blinding oncoming traffic and other cyclists? There used to be a guy on Bikeforums (hope it wasn't Andy) ANY time people asked about lights, he would post pictures of his setup, and brag about how he could see stuff on the ground 50 yards away at night. He could easily see reflective road signs 200+ yards away. The comedy of this was that this person was very-late-middle-aged, somewhat overweight (like myself) and rode a upright "granny" trike. The battery may not have been SLA but it was about as big as a motorcycle battery, and it had to be carried in the rear basket because it was too big to easily mount anywhere else. I couldn't help but wonder: how fast do you think that guy EVER rides? Probably not very much so, I'd think. Why did he need a 50-watt xenon headlight on his trike? I dunno, but he thought it was AWESOME. ...For some reason he was never able to explain well, he thought that having this huge front light greatly improved his safety, with regards to being seen by cars. Sounds like Mr. Scharf. I believe that the proper form of address is "Councilman Scharf". -- Cheers, John B. |
#55
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
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#56
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
sms wrote:
On 5/10/2017 9:08 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: Most easily removable adjustable handlebar clamps that I've tried are horrible. They all slip or vibrate badly. As long as headlight manufacturers insist that the rider must be able to install and remove the clamp without tools, they're going to continue to slip. This is true. But those clamps are cheap. For flashlights I make my own. http://www.dx.com/p/motorcycle-bike-handlebar-clamp-bottle-holder-adapter-silver-447307 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000056BMU (AA) or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000056BMV Aluminum flat bar Bolts and lock nuts Heat shrink tubing Thead lock compound. http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/IMG_0239.JPG http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/IMG_0303.JPG "A thing of beauty and a joy to behold." Not quite... |
#57
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
"A thing of beauty and a joy to behold." Not quite... one u bolt one aluminum strap 3M 33 electrical tape |
#58
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
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#59
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
On 5/13/2017 9:33 AM, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote: On 5/10/2017 9:08 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: Most easily removable adjustable handlebar clamps that I've tried are horrible. They all slip or vibrate badly. As long as headlight manufacturers insist that the rider must be able to install and remove the clamp without tools, they're going to continue to slip. This is true. But those clamps are cheap. For flashlights I make my own. http://www.dx.com/p/motorcycle-bike-handlebar-clamp-bottle-holder-adapter-silver-447307 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000056BMU (AA) or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000056BMV Aluminum flat bar Bolts and lock nuts Heat shrink tubing Thead lock compound. http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/IMG_0239.JPG http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/IMG_0303.JPG "A thing of beauty and a joy to behold." Not quite... True. But not held together with cable ties, bungee cords, or duct tape. And the one with the wing-nut needs no tools to install, and is adjustable in two axes. |
#60
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Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?
1 April, 1971
the prob with DIY flashlight holders is no ergonomy. if you crash, the DIY holder could maim you for life. |
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