Why does My Front Light Keep Going On The blink

[shadow master]

The 1970s called. They want their anti-dynamo prejudices back.

All the problems mentioned have been solved years ago. http://mashing53.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/the-freedom-of-infinity/

Yeah your £5 front lights packed up but don't spend £30 and two minutes fitting a rechargeable led system,get dynamo hub fitted and a dynamo with a capacitor fitted with all the wiring involved!....just the point I was making what's realistic in the real world and advice on forums/internet are poles apart...baring in mind the original poster cant even get a battery light working!

 

[Wobblers]

my front bike lights are always packing up or not working properly and I have to buy new one every time which is quite expensive . And my rear light is always fine no problems whatsoever

I go over some speed bumps at speed on my commute to work could this be causing my front light to go dopey ?

When do your lights go off? Just randomly or when you hit a bump? If it's the latter, then the bump is causing the batteries to come off the battery contacts. As a temporary solution, you could try using paper of cardboard to wedge the batteries in tighter and a bit of old inner tube underneath the mount to reduce the vibrations that you light gets.

What lights are you using? It sounds like you're using cheap ones. Going a little upmarket will pay dividends. Try the Smart Lunar 35 or Smart Lunar 60 - both are currently on offer from Planet X for £12 (which I've linked to). They have good mounts, are well built and give out plenty of light. You ought to have less trouble with one of those!

 

[mjr]

Yeah your £5 front lights packed up but don't spend £30 and two minutes fitting a rechargeable led system,get dynamo hub fitted and a dynamo with a capacitor fitted with all the wiring involved!....just the point I was making what's realistic in the real world and advice on forums/internet are poles apart...baring in mind the original poster cant even get a battery light working!

Yeah, I'm not sure it's the best option for the original poster but not for the reasons you think (the capacitor is inside the light and it's one two-core cable, not "all the wiring"), evenif I doubt that £30 light is legal and decent.

 

[Psycolist]

Something I have always been very aware of is using quality lights. Its definitely "you get what you pay for" £3.99 for front, back and batteries included, is never going to be value for money. Spend once wisely and the light will last for years. My current Topeaks are over five years old and have never let me down.

 

[shadow master]

Yeah your £5 front lights packed up but don't spend £30 and two minutes fitting a rechargeable led system,get dynamo hub fitted and a dynamo with a capacitor fitted with all the wiring involved!....just the point I was making what's realistic in the real world and advice on forums/internet are poles apart...baring in mind the original poster cant even get a battery light working!

Actually the light is a serfas 305 lumen usl led, rechargeable, 5 star rated, with lifetime warranty my local has them at £30 with free rear light!

 

[the_mikey]

Yeah, I'm not sure it's the best option for the original poster but not for the reasons you think (the capacitor is inside the light and it's one two-core cable, not "all the wiring"), evenif I doubt that £30 light is legal and decent.

In all fairness almost none of todays lights are technically legal, except maybe the ever ready light clones sold in Halfords and the work about as well as the old ever ready lights ever did.

 

[mjr]

Actually the light is a serfas 305 lumen usl led, rechargeable, 5 star rated, with lifetime warranty my local has them at £30 with free rear light!

So, not legal as far as I can tell from https://www.serfas.com/products/view/921

In all fairness almost none of todays lights are technically legal, except maybe the ever ready light clones sold in Halfords and the work about as well as the old ever ready lights ever did.

Indeed, very few in retail shops are legal, mostly because the police don't seem to be enforcing many lighting offences at the moment (except perhaps if you've no lights) and few riders seem to realise the benefits of legal lights, but there are plenty for sale online if you can be bothered to look.

But most people don't and forums get loads of threads about dazzling lights, defective lights and so on...

 

[fossyant]

Buy a Hope Vision 1 and your problems are solved forever. Guaranteed.

So good I bought 2.

 

[shadow master]

So, not legal as far as I can tell from https://www.serfas.com/products/view/921

Indeed, very few in retail shops are legal, mostly because the police don't seem to be enforcing many lighting offences at the moment (except perhaps if you've no lights) and few riders seem to realise the benefits of legal lights, but there are plenty for sale online if you can be bothered to look.

But most people don't and forums get loads of threads about dazzling lights, defective lights and so on...

I doubt serfas or hardly any international modern lighting company are going bother to put there product through a 1986 British standard test based around filament bulbs! "Very few in retail shops are legal"... And yet lighting is better and more economical than ever...so let's not let standards from nearly 30 years dictate what lights you buy today

 

[mjr]

I doubt serfas or hardly any international modern lighting company are going bother to put there product through a 1986 British standard test based around filament bulbs! "Very few in retail shops are legal"... And yet lighting is better and more economical than ever...so let's not let standards from nearly 30 years dictate what lights you buy today

They wouldn't. Again, you're stuck in a timewarp. BS have dropped the ball but many international modern lighting companies put their products through the more recently-updated equivalent European standards, which also makes them legal here... but Serfas and other foreign jokers would rather save the money and pay their owners more dividends instead of help riders obey the law... and there are plenty of scofflaw riders willing to be complicit in it.

Lighting is better than ever? Yeah, that's why we're awash with complaints of dazzling bike lights!

 

[shadow master]

They wouldn't. Again, you're stuck in a timewarp. BS have dropped the ball but many international modern lighting companies put their products through the more recently-updated equivalent European standards, which also makes them legal here... but Serfas and other foreign jokers would rather save the money and pay their owners more dividends instead of help riders obey the law... and there are plenty of scofflaw riders willing to be complicit in it.

Lighting is better than ever? Yeah, that's why we're awash with complaints of dazzling bike lights!

Dazzling lights mean cyclists are being seen...better than "I couldn't even see him" also I suggest dazzling drivers with bike lights is more down to the positioning level of the light rather than the legallity of the light.

 

[the_mikey]

Eeven with a feeble 7 lumen city light, you can dazzle oncoming cyclists, yet you will not see where you are going with it, it runs on a single AA battery, the point being that you'd ride with this tiny little feeble flashing thing in the hope that someone might see you.

 

[furball]

I go over some speed bumps at speed on my commute to work could this be causing my front light to go dopey ?

Sorry to state the obvious but have you tried not going over speed bumps at speed?

 

[Wester]

You get what you pay for.It sounds like you've been shopping at your local poundshop

the light is a Dunlop Sport model which i got in Sports Direct for £6 reduced in price by something like 60%

Any of you know any more about Dunlop Sport lights ?

 

[fossyant]

Crap lights I am afraid.