$5 home depot headlight finished!

[Sgt. Howard]

Well now- I FINALLY took the time to drive this thing at night as the weather was reasonably co-operative... and I have to say that the $5 Home Depot light is at best MARGIONAL illumination for these bikes. If you are out in the middle of nowhere and your eyes are good at night, you will have little trouble. Your first headlights from oncomming traffic and you will have to pull over and let your eyes re-adjust. In a more urban setting, the competition from other lights shows how dim your light really is. Sad, too... I had just welded on the turn signal indicators. Bah!!!
The turn signals/brake/running lights are bright enough to be seen in daylight- at night the brakelight is brighter than the headlight. Now I need to apply the lessons I have learned and build a proper headlight. I will include results in the thread regarding my light system
thank you for your support

[Sgt. Howard]

So now- I've located LEDs that are six times the output of the ones in the flashlight and have ordered a few to play with... I will be replacing the ones in the lantern head with these and we shall see how much differance that makes.

[jrowse]

Are you having vibration issues with that set up ? i am killing led flashlights on my bike. i get 4-5 uses than no more, i've tried rubber in the mounts but that makes very little difference

[Sgt. Howard]

Y'know, so far I've not had issues with vibes... but then, I use heavy soldering techniques when I put them together then mount the boards rather solidly. Check your 'dead' flashlights for broken connections and see if that's what is going on- I doubt the LEDs are failing

[Rapidrob]

The LED is not subject to vibrations. The leads are. I use an array of 4-6 LED's that by themselves are so bright you are not to look at them directly. When combined, the out put is about 60 watts equivalent. By having an adjustable reflector,the beam will go over 100 yards at night. Set to wide angle, it lights up the shoulders of the road.
When I get more time I'll post on hot to make the lights.

[jrowse]

i look forward to that. i killed flashlight number 4, i guess it's the switch that went bad from the vibes. Leds still seem good

[jrowse]

New Flashlights same issue of brighter/Dimmer flickering despite rubber in mounts

[Sgt. Howard]

Replace yer sparkplug with the NGK supressor equivilant- it might be that your light has too sophisticated a circut to function with all the RF garbage yer motor puts out

[jrowse]

Using NGK plug already. i doubt that $4 flashlights have sophisticated circuits. The battery holder piece is the same with all the flashlights i tried. Perhaps it has room to wiggle and cause the bright/dim behavior. There are springs on both side of battery thingy, they don't get broken but possilbly they cause that too. After awhile switch stops working.

[IbedaYank]

Have you guys looked into using the LED mr16 bulbs yet?
they are 12volt bulbs