Bright Headlight for Winter - Recommendations?

guerney

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You are corrupting me with these daft prices...!
Lights similar to the Amazon one you linked, are also quite cheap at the mo on AliExpress.
 

guerney

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Found it! It'll takes awhile to run flat.
Lasted about 45 minutes from 59% at max brightness, after being used for awhile (can't recall how long, about 40 minutes at max brightness?) then being thrown into a box for a few months.


Can you charge it up/power it with USB when it is switched on or does it switch itself off under charge? Not a big deal but might become one when the cheapo cells wear out?
The answer is no, it can't be switched on while charging, after fully depleting the internal cells.

Whichever internally powered headlight you buy, I think you should get at least two for the handlebar.
 
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thelarkbox

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Be mindful very cheap rechargeable lamps may have batteries that last only minutes..
Or perhaps i just buy lemons..
 

guerney

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Thanks for testing.
I also tried shoving the charger cable in while it was switched on and powered by internal battery - no dice, light switched off and it started charging.

After full depletion and a full charge, it lasted 2 hours 17 minutes and 5 seconds at max brightness.

I measured it's brightness using the luxmeter app on my phone, held at 60cm before the beam spreads out too much, and it's about 1800LUX (reading jumps around a lot). The brightness at 60cm of one of my 1800LM headlights measures approximately 8800LUX, again reading jumps around. There's no way to make the sampling time of the app longer than the LED pulse rate (looks constant to the human eye). Goes to show, my old yellow lizard eyes cannot be trusted to judge brightness...
 
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guerney

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Be mindful very cheap rechargeable lamps may have batteries that last only minutes..
Or perhaps i just buy lemons..
Which lemons did you buy and from where? I fully expected a lemon, and it still could turn out to be - haven't used it much at all. It's cheapo cells could rapidly crapify. I bought this last year, perhaps the cells in the ones for sale currenty are better? Worse?

BTW Who the heck buys those tiny Aldi and Lidl bike lights powered by CR2032 cells? Always surprised when they fly off the shelves. There's a CR2032 flasher on the back of my now unused Crivit helmet, cells crapped out fast.
 
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AndyBike

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The built in light that comes fitted to my buzzbike is something like 300 lumens.
300 lumens is pathetic for a bike light. I've had head torches that project more light than that.
I've complimented it with a 2000 lumen exposure toro, set on flashing, which gives a good strong flashing light, and on full for dark alleys

I noticed the other day on one of these uber bikes the guy had a big light made up of maybe 80 or so leds. Not the cree type or something that projects light out far in front, but a big light that made him more visible than a small or small bright flasher.

Makes a change for uber riders. Dont know how many times ive been overtaken by one of those guys at night, and noticed they arent running any lights, front or rear :oops:
 

thelarkbox

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Which lemons did you buy and from where? I fully expected a lemon, and it still could turn out to be - haven't used it much at all. It's cheapo cells could rapidly crapify. I bought this last year, perhaps the cells in the ones for sale currenty are better? Worse?

BTW Who the heck buys those tiny Aldi and Lidl bike lights powered by CR2032 cells? Always surprised when they fly off the shelves. There's a CR2032 flasher on the back of my now unused Crivit helmet, cells crapped out fast.
Ali-express - Xtra cheap bargains


Charged up via usb-c (nice touch) .. popped on the bike and went to the chippie 4-5 miles away, lights were off with drained batteries before i got home, and were turned off while buying chips..

so far i have failed to break open and check/replace the lipo.. though ive not been that determined - yet..

nice format and fair illumination when working but......

I also have a couple of cr 2032 powered press to on/off flashing rear lamps, - with £shop cells they last fine AS LONG AS I REMEMBER TO TURN OFF..

iirc same batch of bargains included a head strap lamp which on full beam lasts an hour if lucky and a usb cordless screwdriver (£2.99?) that is a marvel, light as a feather (tiny battery) but if charged has lasted for every job i have put it too, and is one of my neighbours regular 'can i borrow?' tool.. (cant find a link the 'invoice link' is dead. )
 
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saneagle

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Had these dynamos too, they were shite and barely generated any light in pitch black.

View attachment 60893
Mine was OK until I stopped. It's all I had for my daily school run from 11 years old.

Looking at that one in the photo, it's using a single wire with the frame as the ground. It's grounded through that rusty screw in the bracket that presumably has a point that digs through the paint. I can see a lot of potential both there and where the light is grounded to lose the potential needed to work the lights, so I'm not surprised that yours was bad if it was the same
 

guerney

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so far i have failed to break open and check/replace the lipo.. though ive not been that determined - yet..
Are those watch sized? Might contain one of these...


60907


... which I had to break out of my Smart watch, which very much wasn't. Glued shut, impossible to soften the glue without burning. I don't own a Dremel, so I used plumber's pliers to Hulk smash! Noticed some fako Dremels going cheap on AliExpress recently.

60906


Exactly the same cell is used in my wireless microphone, where it now resides. Also my bluetooth headphones. It was cheaper to buy the fake Smart watch than to buy the cell+delivery, might be still.
 
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guerney

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How many of these did you have back in late 70s/80s?

I had most of them I think, cannot find a pic of the massive big square red rear light, had that too, new ones every year for Christmas as they broke, Ever Ready must've made a killing...

View attachment 60892
I'm wondering if screw-in LED bulb replacements could be found for some of those, as there are for halogen capsule type bulbs and some old car headlights. Probably not worth the expense, can't imagine them being much brighter than the originals. I had square versions of the two on the left, which I distinctly recall deciding against at the bike shop in the late 1980s. The smaller square ones were more compact, easier to shove into my pockets after locking up the bike.
 
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guerney

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iirc same batch of bargains included a head strap lamp which on full beam lasts an hour if lucky and a usb cordless screwdriver (£2.99?) that is a marvel, light as a feather (tiny battery) but if charged has lasted for every job i have put it too, and is one of my neighbours regular 'can i borrow?' tool.. (cant find a link the 'invoice link' is dead. )
Cheers for the heads up! I'll probably buy one during the usual AliExpress winter sale with cyclically fluctuating low randomised prices between now and 2025. I had dimissed those out of hand, "How useful could a USB cordless screwdriver possibly be?" I thought.
 
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portals

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I had dimissed those out of hand, "How useful could a USB cordless screwdriver possibly be?" I thought.
I bought one of these quite recently, have to say it works very well and has more torque than you might assume, what is good that you can use as normal screwdriver if screw is really tight then just use the motor to do the rest.

When working on drones , 3d printer etc. it gets heavily used, I also like the leds light you get on drill so you can see dark places with no torch. Comes in decent quality case, bottom tray has lots of spudgers etc. for removing cases. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10 and very happy with it. Probably I wouldn't buy this type of thing from aliexpress as you know it's gonna be crap with soft blades that strip and damage screw heads etc.

Was £17, link here

Review here:

60909


I also tried shoving the charger cable in while it was switched on and powered by internal battery - no dice, light switched off and it started charging.
Probably could wire up a USB cable to the internal battery contacts or board, what voltage does it say it runs off, any idea what the battery config is inside?

After full depletion and a full charge, it lasted 2 hours 17 minutes and 5 seconds at max brightness.
Crikey that not long is it.

I measured it's brightness using the luxmeter app on my phone, held at 60cm before the beam spreads out too much, and it's about 1800LUX (reading jumps around a lot). The brightness at 60cm of one of my 1800LM headlights measures approximately 8800LUX, again reading jumps around. There's no way to make the sampling time of the app longer than the LED pulse rate (looks constant to the human eye). Goes to show, my old yellow lizard eyes cannot be trusted to judge brightness...
So your other lights (8800lux) are approx x4 brighter than the new one (1800lux)? How long doe the older one last on full power?
 
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guerney

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I noticed the other day on one of these uber bikes the guy had a big light made up of maybe 80 or so leds. Not the cree type or something that projects light out far in front, but a big light that made him more visible than a small or small bright flasher.

Makes a change for uber riders. Dont know how many times ive been overtaken by one of those guys at night, and noticed they arent running any lights, front or rear :oops:
So many cycling ninjas about, deadly silent too. Perhaps some driver violently knocked in some sense of not wanting to be invisible anymore.
 

guerney

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So your other lights (8800lux) are approx x4 brighter than the new one (1800lux)? How long doe the older one last on full power?
Many hours, over 40 - it's soldered to my 19.2Ah ebike battery like the other five. It'd take over 40 hours for one 1800LM headlight to reduce my ebike's battery voltage from 42V to 36V. One of the five is supposed to be brighter than the three next brightest ones, haven't measured. Plus there's another connected to the controller, pointing backwards from the handlebar at my high viz blouson, because hiviz aint unless reflecting light.


Probably could wire up a USB cable to the internal battery contacts or board, what voltage does it say it runs off, any idea what the battery config is inside?
No idea, I'd have to break the waterproofing adhesive to look inside, and I'd rather not do that until I can't avoid doing so. It'd be wonderful if there was a rubber gasket, but from what I've seen this far it's just screws (you're lucky if there are screws) and glue holding cheap bike lights together, making them a bugger to reassemble and re-waterproof. Dimensions suggest a single 18650, or could be two 14500. Could be a oblong block, I'll find out when it stops working.
 
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guerney

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I bought one of these quite recently, have to say it works very well and has more torque than you might assume, what is good that you can use as normal screwdriver if screw is really tight then just use the motor to do the rest.

When working on drones , 3d printer etc. it gets heavily used, I also like the leds light you get on drill so you can see dark places with no torch. Comes in decent quality case, bottom tray has lots of spudgers etc. for removing cases. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10 and very happy with it. Probably I wouldn't buy this type of thing from aliexpress as you know it's gonna be crap with soft blades that strip and damage screw heads etc.

Was £17, link here
That looks like a good deal, cheaper by a tenner plus VAT than AliExpress.
 
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thelarkbox

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Cheers for the heads up! I'll probably buy one during the usual AliExpress winter sale with cyclically fluctuating low randomised prices between now and 2025. I had dimissed those out of hand, "How useful could a USB cordless screwdriver possibly be?" I thought.
Had to replace hinges in 20 yr old pvc windows circa 12 x sets .. ground floor was ok. 1st floor was nerve wrecking and the very light powered screwdriver was the tool of the day so light that in an awkward position one handed aiming and unscrewing of the screws retaining the hinges was much easier than with a drill driver with heft that was impossible to aim. (with my limp wrists at least..)
 
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guerney

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Not for me on AliExpress, you must have some crazy discount codes?

View attachment 60911
Yes it's a good deal you linked, I said THAN AliExpress, plus they add VAT at checkout. Ebay don't add VAT to the pre-checkout price, and this is one of those times where ebay is cheaper than AliExpress.
 
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guerney

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My electric 15 inch orange lollipop makes women scream (with laughter), so I'm encouraged to go electric with other things. Added stuff to my shopping cart in anticiption of the AliExpress:


60912


... cart total should automatically drop. Then I'll search for the same items being sold cheaper elsewhere on AliExpress, and ebay.


strip and damage screw heads etc.
Occasionally a tiny laptop screw will for some mysterious reason, be much tighter than the others. Would be nice if the torque could be turned down, so an electric screwdriver doesn't foul the head if pressing lightly. Non-electrified, I simply press down harder while screwing.