Hoping to increase driver passing distance at night, I've glued front and rear reflectors to my wing mirrors.

[Nealh]

Those PlanetX twin lamp lights are pretty good as one can have the fornt and rear lights active at the same time, 3 modes for the front and 6 modes for the rear.
In theory if one uses Trevors idea of a pannier rack one could mount a light each side on a 700mm wide bar so the forward beam passes the riders hips.
To any vehicle whether front or rear they will see two pairs of lights spaced either side giving the wider impression.

 

[Nealh]

Mounting the lamps so that the beams/light fore & aft can be seen means handle bar use will cause either the wrist or fore arm blocking the plain where one wants the light to be seen in from the rear.

I suppose one could use the action cam various mount extenders raise them so any beam is above the fore arm position.

 

[pudding835]

matters have improved greatly after I attached a headlight to my handlebar, directed backwards to illuminate my hi-vis blouson, which from what I've experienced thus far, makes me quite brightly visible from the sides and well as head on, because it illuminates my chest and the insides of my hi-vis arms

Ah, I thought it was just the chest with Hi-Viz like a safety vest. Add the arms and it's much clearer the driver is seeing a person.

Does the headlight have a wide beam, as you're sitting quite close to it?

 

[guerney]

Ah, I thought it was just the chest with Hi-Viz like a safety vest. Add the arms and it's much clearer the driver is seeing a person.

Does the headlight have a wide beam, as you're sitting quite close to it?

I prefer blousons - bigger surface area. The light is very close to my yellow hi-visibility blouson with reflective strips, so my chest and the insides of both arms are brightly lit - it's not a wide beam or even bright (a standard 6V Bafang headlight), but it's proximity does the trick. From the reactions from drivers and pedestrians, I know I'm (quite amusingly) visible.

Better risible than invisible!

I keep meaning to take a photo of myself riding illuminated this way using a timer, will do one dark night in an area clear of thieves, setting a good camera on a tripod for a time.

 

[guerney]

One guy I saw had a bright Blue ones at the front and a bright Red ones on the rear, he was highly visible in the dark.

I don't think 3M do Scotchlite in bright colours, which would work better in daylight - I could add a few cheapo dayglows.

Those PlanetX twin lamp lights are pretty good as one can have the fornt and rear lights active at the same time, 3 modes for the front and 6 modes for the rear.

I didn't read the instructions to start with - why are they always such damned tiny pamphlets? A link to a PDF online would be nice: double presses activate the red lights, double presses toggle through their modes. Single presses do the same for the front white LEDs. Starting with camera off, if you set the front white LED mode, you can double press to activate the red LEDs. But start with camera off, if you select the red LED mode, you can't have both reds and whites at the same time.

In theory if one uses Trevors idea of a pannier rack one could mount a light each side on a 700mm wide bar so the forward beam passes the riders hips.
To any vehicle whether front or rear they will see two pairs of lights spaced either side giving the wider impression.

I've got a rear lollipop, and some combination of that and my fsckoff bright red light flashing in horrifying fashion is certainly influencing all but hard-boiled taxi drivers to give me a wide berth - so wide in fact, it's harder to capture their number plates on video. But some cut in close at front, hence my wanting to mount this Planet X light to my right handlebar end, to show width there at night (no chance in daytime). I'm showing horror behind. However, I have got a Mimoura handlebar extension which I could mount to my rear pannier rack (using hose pipe for padding, held with jubilee clips - same way my headlight is mounted to the relatively thin end bar of my rear pannier rack), and mount the light to that, in addition to the lollipop which is more useful than that light during the day. If doing so doesn't impede the folding of my bike, I could add another of these flip out lollipops to the other side of my rear rack, to show width day and night.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Fold-Out-Safety-Reflector/dp/B004H1QYG2/

so the forward beam passes the riders hips.

That'd add a bit of side lighting too.

Mounting the lamps so that the beams/light fore & aft can be seen means handle bar use will cause either the wrist or fore arm blocking the plain where one wants the light to be seen in from the rear.

I suppose one could use the action cam various mount extenders raise them so any beam is above the fore arm position.

I'm going have the light hanging down from the bar end so nothing obstructs the light, and add extenders if necessary. If anything obstructs from there, an extender with a ball joint could angle out a little wider. There are oodles of different types of GoPro mounts including right angle adapters (to extend further out) and doubles... so you could fit two or many. I'm also going to ziptie my ancient flashing red to the extender arm, when it arrives.

GoPro Hero Action Camera Double Dual Bridge Mount Adapter Support Bracket UK | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GoPro Hero Action Camera Double Dual Bridge Mount Adapter Support Bracket UK at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

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There's at least one ebay seller offering custom 3D printed GoPro mounts.

I was thinking of mounting one under the camera on my chinguarded helmet instead of on, to look more Halo than Tellitubby - with adapters a dual light could stick out to one side, so rear red lights are visible, but that's treading into seriously silly territory. GoPro have done a great job of popularising bolt-through tongue and groove joints, for action camera mounts; quite versatile.

 

[guerney]

The battery life of the Planet X dual light in testing with just the front lights on (so far, it could improve a bit as I charge + discharge + recharge) is about two hours on constant full power... which is about half as long as I need for my longer rides - good job I'll be ziptying my ancient red LED flasher (in constant mode) to the Gopro extension arm, which lasts many hours on 2 chargeable AAAs. I suppose I could strap a small Poundland power bank to the Planet X dual light to get more hours, waterproof using self-amalgamating rubber tape around the USB port.

I'll try just the reds on the Planet X dual light for battery life next, which is what I need, then both reds and whites.

 

[Nealh]

The light will display both front and rear at the same time , mine do.

 

[guerney]

The light will display both front and rear at the same time , mine do.

On mine, you must start with single presses to get the white front first, select whatever mode of the front fronts you want using single presses, and keep them on, before double pressing to switch on the reds... after which single presses changes modes for the reds. If you start with the camera completely off and start up reds first, you can't have both front whites and rear reds.

Takes ages to recharge...

Looks like they can work while recharging.

 

[guerney]

mine do

Where have you mounted yours? With the right GoPro attachment and/or bodge, they could be situated anywhere, even on CF trailer platforms.

 

[Nealh]

Currently one front one rear as I haven't yet found a suitable solution to me for the dual light usage, Ideally I want to mount both so I have 4 lights showing front and rear.
At the front I have 3 lights showing using another on the LHS of the bars and the rear I have another seat post mouted one as well, for the rear I use the Red on the alternating flash mode.

 

[guerney]

Currently one front one rear as I haven't yet found a suitable solution to me for the dual light usage, Ideally I want to mount both so I have 4 lights showing front and rear.

There is a seatpost/handlebar adapter for the GoPros, and you could either attach a 90 degree direction changer adapter to that on the seatpost, and an extra long extender arm?

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...or you could double up and have one other side of your seatpost?

Alloy Dual Camera Bridge Mount - for GoPro type fittings | eBay

Great for vlogging, selfies, flash mounts, general video production, and loads more. Perfect for bicycle related, and other load intensive applications.

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There's also this, which looks like it'd clamp your light to thinner tubes on the bike, like the sides or with a bit of padding, even the pannier rack - then you could add extenders etc. for both lights either side?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HSU-Aluminum-Handlebar-Compatible-Mountain/dp/B089D4GNNK/ref=

I was thinking of getting one for the second camera, for max choice regarding positioning.

Before I got the big badass rear flashing red monster light, my old flashy did well mounted on the side fold out lollipop - two of those either side, attach the lights? They seem light enough. A job for superglue + baking soda! And two cheapo flat-type GoPro mounts! (Plus zipties).

 

[guerney]

Salzmann 3M Spoke Reflectors - Made With 3M Scotchlite - Pack of 36 or 72 | eBay

Cheers! They arrived today - lightweight, they cling to spokes well and they're very reflective indeed. Genuine Scotchlite too. The last time I looked, the real deal was more expensive. Good call! Some other ebay sellers are selling them at a higher price - they must be playing the long game, knowing the guy selling them cheaper will soon run out of stock.

I'll stick any spare ones onto the Oxford side lollipop arm...

 

[Nealh]

Yes lots of options to mount them so one can use the simultaneous use of the light modes.

 

[guerney]

The reds have been on constantly since 10.02am, and they're still going - much lower power usage... therefore if these don't have the desired effect, I could look into placing heat resistant red acetate sheet over the much brighter white LEDs, and point those backwards, for the shorter journeys. Blimey that'd look bright

 

[guerney]

Yes lots of options to mount them so one can use the simultaneous use of the light modes.

I quite like the idea of the rear pannier clamp plus long arm extension - flip out dual directional lights either side as needed, like Star Trek's Enterprise's engines - there's even a slow pulsing red glow setting.

 

[guerney]

The red rear lights are still going, I think we can safely conclude they'll last longer than 4 hours, given they've been on since 10.02am. So I've tightly rubber banded some heat restant acetate sheet over the front white LEDs, to use as much brighter rear reds - oh yes, much brighter! These may even stand a chance of being noticed during the day, if heavily overcast:

 

[guerney]

The rear red lights on constant, lasted for 24 hours and 12 minutes!

The "CNC machined alloy GoPro extender arm" arrived and was duly fitted thusforth, ready for prime time: I simply cut off the right prong (I wanted the bolt grip on the ouside) and filed it down. I used the hex bolt from the broken Zefal Dooback mirror, because the one supplied with the Zefal Cyclop is just a slotted head, harder to tighten to death - that end bar mirror will deffo not be falling out again! Maybe I should have bought two of these lights? They're small as a small DSLR battery pack...

 

[guerney]

No, I didn't like the elastic band either, so I stuck a bit of heat resistant red acetate sheet on with gaffa tape, then secured it very tightly using a ziptie. I think it'll stay on, but if not, I'll superglue or something:






...but then I realised that in sawing the prong off the alloy GoPro arm extender, I had made a notch, which the base of my old red flasher conveniently fits into... so now I have a backup red, or dual red constant running lights. The old flasher is secured with four tightly bound zipties - it won't break off easily.






...and here's a brightness comparison between the two. This will be noticed at night for sure!





It's shocking to behold!

 

[Nealh]

Doesn't look very Red with the acetate and doesn't conform legally if it omits white light from the side gaps.

 

[guerney]

Doesn't look very Red with the acetate and doesn't conform legally if it omits white light from the side gaps.

I agree - I was going to use two sheets if necessary for more of a red, as I've done for my rear lights. That would dim them a bit... although with two sheets. they might still wake up taxi drivers while they're driving, and they'd have to stop and do a crossword or something. Also forming a box or cone/pyramid with the aceate would be better - it's just fiddly to do, will get around to it (that was the previous version, just not sticking out, which might make itself useful as a bit of a red side light, if it did) and upload a pic at some point. I might find a boxy red diffuser of the right size to plonk on. My camera flash gun's is too big. Heat-formed thicker red sheet would be ideal, but beyond the resources of my workshop (computer desk). I do have a bit of car rear light housing I could cut to fit into the inset of this light - looks a bit pink with a bright light behind it, so maybe another red acetate sheet behind that?