Look what the postman brought..

[soundwave]

i just ordered 4 of the Panasonic 3400ma cells will be here tue/wend next week.

phill if you hold off i will test them when they are here and see how long they last to the other fake ones i have and test them with the wall charger

 

[Gubbins]

i just ordered 4 of the Panasonic 3400ma cells will be here tue/wend next week.

phill if you hold off i will test them when they are here and see how long they last to the other fake ones i have and test them with the wall charger

Too late. Have ordered 2 packs of 2 batts and the battery box. My lamp has 3 lights on the back so can keep the track of the discharge...

 

[soundwave]

o well lol got 4 4 20.50 free p+p 1 year warranty

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nitecore-D2-LCD-Li-ion-26650-18650-16340-14500-AA-AAA-Universal-Battery-Charger/322247096116?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=38624&meid=e25c45e3bca7447d8c8bfb31176fe29a&pid=100011&rk=2&rkt=9&sd=322232541505

 

[Gubbins]

o well lol got 4 4 20.50 free p+p 1 year warranty

Which when translated means.......

 

[soundwave]

there not cheap rubbish as long as you look after them and should last longer than a year.

there the same things in ur bike battery just more of them.

BATTERY CAPACITY

3400 mAh

BATTERY CHEMISTRY

Li-Ion

BATTERY FEATURE

Rechargeable

BATTERY FORM FACTOR

18650

BATTERY MAXIMUM VOLTAGE

4.25 V

BATTERY MINIMUM VOLTAGE

2.50 V

BATTERY RATED VOLTAGE

3.6 V



Dimensions

DEPTH

18.3 mm

HEIGHT

65.0 mm

WIDTH

18.3 mm

WEIGHT

46 g

 

[LeighPing]

I tested my new bike light around the woods and roads tonight. As you can see, the air was a bit damp. So excuse the camera lens for being a bit misty. It's a more than adequate little light for it's price. Cheers D8veh. No complaints here mate.

 

[soundwave]

 

[vidtek]

That's a great idea.. where do I plug it in?

This is a bit of a cross post, but I have taken a tap from my 36v battery and used a buck converter i.c. to drop down to a 12v cigarette lighter/power socket. I power my Garmin sat-nav with bluetooth hands-free and separate bluetooth speaker and charge my smartphone at the same time from the battery when on a long ride.
Works for me. I have just ordered a chinese integrated buck converter 3amp jobbie from ebay, save me messing around with discrete components and potting solution myself.
here is the link-only $6-7 why mess about?
DC-DC Step-down converter 15-52V 24V/36V to 12V Car LED display power supply.

All you need to do is tap into the 36volt from your battery WITH AN IN-LINE FUSE on the red lead and secure somewhere safe and watertight with a lead to a ciggie socket. Simple.

 

[EddiePJ]

I tested my new bike light around the woods and roads tonight. As you can see, the air was a bit damp. So excuse the camera lens for being a bit misty. It's a more than adequate little light for it's price. Cheers D8veh. No complaints here mate.

Sadly that clip shows exactly what I don't like about the cheap Cree lights. I really hate the spot beam.

I find that an even spread of beam across a wider area, is both more beneficial, and safer for off road use. A spot beam does nothing to aid all important peripheral vision, and can even become a distraction.

 

[Gringo]

Smugly I'm still using the 18650 cells I brought back in 2014, 2 X Samsung 2200mah cells for 99p and I brought enough to keep me going for a while.
At that time the seller had loads and back then I told everyone with a link to the seller, but how many had the foresight to buy

 

[Gringo]

Sadly that clip shows exactly what I don't like about the cheap Cree lights. I really hate the spot beam

It's all in the reflector
I have several cheep lights but on two of them only the housing & emitter remain original. I've replaced the driver with one that works directly from 3.7v (18650 cells) and instead of the reflector I've used an asymmetric lens, they light up evenly with absolutely no hotspot, not as bright as some you can get but the light is where you need it

 

[LeighPing]

instead of the reflector I've used an asymmetric lens, they light up evenly with absolutely no hotspot, not as bright as some you can get but the light is where you need it

I'd like to see that. Any pics please?

I find that an even spread of beam across a wider area, is both more beneficial, and safer for off road use. A spot beam does nothing to aid all important peripheral vision, and can even become a distraction.

I've got a couple of fork lights coming to see if that issue can be rectified 'off road'. They were ultra cheap, I'm not expecting miracles from them. However, 'on road', I was very happy with the performance of this new cree headlight. No-one flashed me and it did a good job of lighting the way and clearly showed my presence to other road users.

 

[Gringo]

An asymmetric lens and one 18650

I use a 4 cell pack wired in parallel as my day light, I don't know exactly how long they last untill flat as after 10 ish hours I'll check the voltage, if it's less than 3.6v I'll stick a new one in and charge the one I've just taken out.

Taken just now in the daylight with my iPad

 

[danielrlee]

An asymmetric lens will provide even illumination of a 2D plane, e.g. a wall as in the photo posted above by Gringo. However, it still proves problematic when lighting a 3D plane, due to light falloff (inverse square law - double the distance equals a quarter the light level). What you get is excessive near-field illumination which destroys your night-vision, that very quickly fades to ineffective levels of illumination in the distance.

I actually prefer 'hotspot' over asymetric lighting for bikes since the hotspot can be aimed further ahead, with the peripheral light serving near-field illumination. I find that this gives a more even illumination over a greater distance.

The ideal lens however would provide progressively stronger illumination in the distance, but with a sudden cut off point so not to blind oncoming traffic.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Sadly that clip shows exactly what I don't like about the cheap Cree lights. I really hate the spot beam.

I find that an even spread of beam across a wider area, is both more beneficial, and safer for off road use. A spot beam does nothing to aid all important peripheral vision, and can even become a distraction.

That's just an affect of the (presumably cheap) camera. It doesn't look like that at all in real life. Instead, you get a lovely spread of light that lights up everything that you need. Try one. I'd be surprised if you'd be disappointed with it - especially for £16.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

View attachment 15324

Crikey! That one lights up the whole city.

 

[LeighPing]

That's just an affect of the (presumably cheap) camera. It doesn't look like that at all in real life. Instead, you get a lovely spread of light that lights up everything that you need. Try one. I'd be surprised if you'd be disappointed with it - especially for £16.

Yes, there's plenty of width in the beam. Well over 3 metres I'd say. You can view what's going on to the left and right plenty as your ride progresses through the darkness.

'Bang for buck', it's a hard bargain to beat and so small, that you could always fit another for off road use. Although, if you did, it might be like driving through Las Vegas high street.

Abba keeps all the night critters away too.

 

[EddiePJ]

That's just an affect of the (presumably cheap) camera. It doesn't look like that at all in real life. Instead, you get a lovely spread of light that lights up everything that you need. Try one. I'd be surprised if you'd be disappointed with it - especially for £16.

To be fair that did cross my mind.

Just from my own attempts to capture either photos or film of lights, I never really get a true feeling or representation.

I have brought the light on it's own as a back up to the Fenix, and indeed being more compact than the old style of single Cree light, it could make a very useful addition in respect of being more of a road biased light when used on it's lowest power setting.
I'm not directing this comment directly at this light, but feel it a bit of shame that all lights don't come equipped with a diffuser. The manufacturers are perhaps missing a trick with that one.

I'd like to see that. Any pics please?

I've got a couple of fork lights coming to see if that issue can be rectified 'off road'. They were ultra cheap, I'm not expecting miracles from them. However, 'on road', I was very happy with the performance of this new cree headlight. No-one flashed me and it did a good job of lighting the way and clearly showed my presence to other road users.

View attachment 15322

The first trip through a muddy puddle will certainly diffuse any light!

 

[LeighPing]

but feel it a bit of shame that all lights don't come equipped with a diffuser. The manufacturers are perhaps missing a trick with that one.

Excellent point Ed. The only torch I've used that does that is a maglite. Maybe that also exists in the bike light world, I just haven't seen it yet.

 

[IR772]

Showing light efficacy in videos and photos is the same as trying to show steep gradients and difficult tracks, they do not look the same as in real life.

The halo of light in the video is what the camera sees where the human just experiences good illumination.

High power for me is too high in road use as other big vehicles will just aim for me. Middle power level is very good for road use, low power for evening running.

Sadly the forest and off road season has come to an abrupt end for me, met two men on a trail Wednesday, as I approached one of them slid a rifle into the fern, I rode past said "good evening" and looked uninterested, so did they and that was that.

Spoke to a man in the know and now after the rain the fern is pressed down and the deer easier to see. I think these men were from the darkside from what I was told.

So am keeping out of all forestry until next spring, bloody shame.