bike light blues

  • Thread starter Thread starter dirty_feet
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dirty_feet

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I am a full time bike commuter. I try to wear bright clothing, I have reflective hoo haw in all the right places on my bike and bike bag, light myself up, BE SEEN as a cyclist. I have a reflector on the back of my seat, back of my shoes, one front lamp, two really neat led (watch battery style) lights in the end of my handle bars and one full back light.

I HATE BUYING BATTERIES and rechargeables aren't as bright, and don't last very long at all, especially in this rainy Pacific Northwest weather.

I really, really want to stop my battery dependence, or lessen it. I have LED lights - contrary to what I keep being told - I'm still buying batteries all the time for them. What good is my carbon footprint if I'm buying batteries all the time!! ARRGG!!

Suggestions?

Ok GO!....
 
one word.

dynamo

find a few of them and put em on your wheels. wire your lights together to them.
Only problem is the voltage won't be just right for each light since the brighter and bigger lights like more juice. you can fix this by wiring in rheostats (dimmer switch) between the dynamo and the lights. lot of work, but if you didn't have to buy anymore batteries it'd be worth it.
 
Bendixontherails said:
one word.

dynamo

find a few of them and put em on your wheels. wire your lights together to them.
Only problem is the voltage won't be just right for each light since the brighter and bigger lights like more juice. you can fix this by wiring in rheostats (dimmer switch) between the dynamo and the lights. lot of work, but if you didn't have to buy anymore batteries it'd be worth it.
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is this kix?
 
never tried buying one, but at mutantfest this summer there was a workshop on building your own rechargeable led headlamp. It was pretty straightforward and took about 4 hours to make a fully functional light that you could plug into a phone charger. Maybe you can buy one readymade, or break out the sauldering iron.
 
The simplest thing, if you have access to an electrical outlet, is to buy D-cell NiMH (Nickle Metal Hydride) batteries and the recharger for them, a bit expensive, but cheaper over the long run than alkalines. Then you make a housing for the batteries and you put one extra battery in than you are supposed to put in if you are dealing with an incandescent (Do not do this with an LED light, you will probably kill it) and you will have a pretty bright light that lasts for a while, but you'll pay for it in weight.
 
i have one of the dynamo type lights, but usually only use the tail light, the headlight seems to atract more bugs!
 
Dynamo/generator lights are the best! Unfortunately the kind for bikes are hard to find except online. Most places don't carry them. Even alot of specialty bike stores don't have em. If you do a search online for dynamo you'll come up with all kinds of lights, some of which wouldn't work well on a bike. I've got a wind up flashlight that's called a dynamo. If you search on ebay or similar for "generator bike light" you'll find em.
 
Geoff said:
swing a lock on a chain over your head. driver's won't get anywhere near you lol.
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AhAahAHAH!!!! Couple that with the barking and snorting I do while riding - and I'm one bad mamma jamma without batteries.
 
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