lights

[Sambu]

im looking for some powerfull lights for night riding on country lanes. ive thought about mounting a couple or torches to the handlebars. ive got 1 tesco led torch which i coud use but i saw these and wondered if they look too good to be true? i was thinking about building my own but not sure ive got the knowledge lol.

any advice would be great!

Sam

 

[Bman]

There are quite a few makes that would do the job. It just depends on your budget.

Two that I remember (and aspire to own one day) are:


Hope Vision 2 and Ayup's

 

[gbb]

One of the main considerations Sambu is how long you aim to ride for...its the batteries that dictate most of the cost of decent lights. Do your homework on and make sure whatever lights you choose...that they actually can last the duration of the ride.
I had a set of cateye halogens with a heavy Ni-cad battery...sadly even though the lights were quite good by the standards then, the battery rarely lasted the distance.

DIY Cree LED lights (or similar)are do-able, fabulous light throw and good life with the right battery, but even DIY they come expensive...
2x 3W Cree LEDs, maybe £15
Some sort of housing, maybe £5
Switch and LED driver, maybe £15, then you need some sort of heatsink, possibly jackplugs too connect/disconnect the battery...and finally the battery itself, mines a 15V Li-on battery, nice and light, compact, long lasting (hours and hours of high power lighting)...and you'll be looking at £30 ish minimum for a battery. (to be fair, my battery is a bit OTT therefor more expensive than it needed to be)
I reckon my 2x Cree setup cost minimum of £60 to build. Fabulous light output, but at a cost.

There are many cheaper options, homebrew or mass produced, but good lights cost either way. But there's nothing worse than spending good money, to find they're not going to last long enough.

 

[Trumpettom001]

This is my current setup - one of these connected up to a 2 cell, 4 AmpHour LiPo Battery.... I'll publish bur times when I remember to record it!! (You have to cut the torch in half - otherwise it's ablout a foot long)

I'm also working on a fibreglass shield/reflector - the torch in the link has a really bright spot in the centre - and radiates light almost 170degrees - it would blind drivers.....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/T6-1600-LUMEN...ing_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item4aa0e52cd6

 

[Peter10]

I reckon my 2x Cree setup cost minimum of £60 to build. Fabulous light output, but at a cost.

Same set up here. I have ones which can be zoomed in and out. I have one on "flood" setting which is used to cover the road for potholes and general vision and the other slightly zoomed in, for road users to see me from a good distance and it illuminates the road ahead, which is great when it hits reflective road signs & traffic islands so cars pulling out see it and know something is coming. My back lights arn't as good as I want them to be, but I hope to have it covered before the real winter sets in.

 

[upsidedown]

If you can afford them i would recommend the AyUps. Mine are on their 3rd year now of daily commuting. They get charged once a week and pretty much forget about them. If they're dirty you wash them in the sink and they are absolutely bomb-proof.

Not cheap but they will last for years.

cheers

paul

 

[cyberknight]

check this site............

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.999