michaelajones
03-30-2007, 11:01 AM
YABL (Yet Another Bike Light)
Yeah, I now, you're tired of these, I bet. I have been commuting to work in the dark, and I have been using my Cygo-Lite Halogen headlights. They are fine, and nice and bright, but the battery is kind of heavy.
I am trying to optimize my morning commute, to see if I can shave any more time off of the journey. One way is to keep clothes at work, so that I can lose the rear rack, and trunk (a nylon zippered box, the size of a really large shoebox). Or at least lose the trunk and keep the rack, for lunchtime errands.
Another way is to reduce the weight, by changing headlights. Now, I'm a cheapskate, so I won’t buy new ones. Plus, I am at a waiting stage on the new Cree LED bulbs. They are the brightest LED's I have seen so far. But they are not cheap, they are ~$50. $50 is too much for a bulb, switch and a couple of wires. Geesh!
So I have this flashlight that was in my former car, a yellow 2001 New Beetle. It was a yellow flashlight. It had a halogen bulb. $3.50 at Wal-Mart, I think.
I first took that bulb out and put in a Xenon bulb, which was nice enough, I guess. But then I put in a 3Watt Luxeon LED 2-D cell replacement flashlight bulb. Oh, yeah! I got this LED replacement bulb at Wal-Mart for $18. I know, that’s steep, but you can get them on the web a few bucks cheaper.
I had to slightly widen the bulb opening on the flashlight to accommodate the larger bulb. See, the manufacturers of the replacement bulb want you to use their flashlight, so they made the LED bulb base a little larger than the standard PR-2 bulb case. B*stards!
Anyway, after doing that, the little metal strap that comes from the switch was a little too far away from the bulb to contact the metal on the bulb, so I took some needle-nose pliers to gently change the angle there.
Plus, I replaced the original flashlight lens, (which was simply a round piece of flat glass), with a plano-convex lens, which means half a convex lens – it looks like this: |) , that I got from something that I tore up. I believe that you could also use a biconvex lens AKA a convex lens that looks like this: () - which is what you call a magnifying glass lens. If you can’t remember the difference between concave and convex, remember that a concave lens looks like a ‘cave’ opening, like this: )( . I put the convex lens on to spread out the focused LED light to a massive flood.
I took some leftover reflector parts to make what you see here. I have rubber strips between the clamps and the bars and flashlight body. This will mount under the handlebars, which is where I like it, out of the way. I will try this light on Monday and see a), how long two AA NiMH cells last, and b), how well it holds up. For my half-hour commute, it should last, I guess(?), but I will see soon.
I recommend against trying this on a mountain bike, as it will definitely not hold up to the rigors of trails, I know this for a fact, because I made an earlier version of this light last year, and it broke off on some rough trails, and I lost the flashlight. Dang it! It will be fine on the road, however.
Yeah, I now, you're tired of these, I bet. I have been commuting to work in the dark, and I have been using my Cygo-Lite Halogen headlights. They are fine, and nice and bright, but the battery is kind of heavy.
I am trying to optimize my morning commute, to see if I can shave any more time off of the journey. One way is to keep clothes at work, so that I can lose the rear rack, and trunk (a nylon zippered box, the size of a really large shoebox). Or at least lose the trunk and keep the rack, for lunchtime errands.
Another way is to reduce the weight, by changing headlights. Now, I'm a cheapskate, so I won’t buy new ones. Plus, I am at a waiting stage on the new Cree LED bulbs. They are the brightest LED's I have seen so far. But they are not cheap, they are ~$50. $50 is too much for a bulb, switch and a couple of wires. Geesh!
So I have this flashlight that was in my former car, a yellow 2001 New Beetle. It was a yellow flashlight. It had a halogen bulb. $3.50 at Wal-Mart, I think.
I first took that bulb out and put in a Xenon bulb, which was nice enough, I guess. But then I put in a 3Watt Luxeon LED 2-D cell replacement flashlight bulb. Oh, yeah! I got this LED replacement bulb at Wal-Mart for $18. I know, that’s steep, but you can get them on the web a few bucks cheaper.
I had to slightly widen the bulb opening on the flashlight to accommodate the larger bulb. See, the manufacturers of the replacement bulb want you to use their flashlight, so they made the LED bulb base a little larger than the standard PR-2 bulb case. B*stards!
Anyway, after doing that, the little metal strap that comes from the switch was a little too far away from the bulb to contact the metal on the bulb, so I took some needle-nose pliers to gently change the angle there.
Plus, I replaced the original flashlight lens, (which was simply a round piece of flat glass), with a plano-convex lens, which means half a convex lens – it looks like this: |) , that I got from something that I tore up. I believe that you could also use a biconvex lens AKA a convex lens that looks like this: () - which is what you call a magnifying glass lens. If you can’t remember the difference between concave and convex, remember that a concave lens looks like a ‘cave’ opening, like this: )( . I put the convex lens on to spread out the focused LED light to a massive flood.
I took some leftover reflector parts to make what you see here. I have rubber strips between the clamps and the bars and flashlight body. This will mount under the handlebars, which is where I like it, out of the way. I will try this light on Monday and see a), how long two AA NiMH cells last, and b), how well it holds up. For my half-hour commute, it should last, I guess(?), but I will see soon.
I recommend against trying this on a mountain bike, as it will definitely not hold up to the rigors of trails, I know this for a fact, because I made an earlier version of this light last year, and it broke off on some rough trails, and I lost the flashlight. Dang it! It will be fine on the road, however.