The new best headlight

[RoadieRoger]

Banggood.com have a nice bright compact LED front lamp for £8.51 including postage . It is described as a German Standard Smart Shock Sensor LED Warning Light in their blurb . It has 4 settings , yellow side light , 50% main lamp , 100 % main lamp and flashing . The main lamp claims 400 LM with a run time of 8 hours .The Polymer lithium battery is 1200 mAh 3.7 V and a USB lead comes with it . I had 2 on preorder and they have arrived from Vientiane , LAOS . Even in daylight the flashing mode is too bright to look at .

 

[IR772]

Present arrived this morning!

Ordered the 21st here on 27th!!!!!

Had a little play and d8veh thank you very much for your advice.

Did a little non scientific comparison with my Moon Meteor which is 200 lm on high power and a believable output level.

On high power this one is visibly brighter than the Meteor on power levels 2 and 3 the Meteor is a bit brighter.

The outer ring LED's are really bright and will make very good low power daylight or evening running lights.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[soundwave]

 

[IR772]

Really useful multi voltage package.

If only they showed the bottom label in the ad it would have explained everything.

Looks like we are both happy with our purchases.

 

[soundwave]

the power button on the pack turns on and of the usb power just running the pack down to see if it shuts off and testing the cells every 20 mins so dont go below 2.5v.

this light is getting hot tho on full power but its just sat on the side atm

 

[STEVEMANFA]

Can we see some pics of the new light.

 

[IR772]

Went out and got wet for these.

The edge ring lights are bright and in the riders view so I wrapped some black tape around the edge and all is good, in an emergency you could easily see to cycle home in the dark with just these, good running lights.

Very bright main light on full, easily 40-50 metres with good round spread of light I think I will probably use level 2 most of the time.

Battery pack fits well on the frame.

Only slight difficulty is Haibike handle bars are not designed for forward facing lights or anything come to that.

Charger and batteries all seems as you would hope for so fingers crossed, the kit for £16 is great value.

One of the dog for Leigh to see.

 

[LeighPing]

Nice review. Great looking Shepherd.

 

[EddiePJ]

Brilliant photo of the dog.

Oddly the light actually looks bigger than I had imagined it to be from the spec.

Next time that you are out, try a shot like this one that I took this evening using the Fenix BT20.

From your photo, I definitely prefer the double Velcro strap mounting strap system that Fenix supply. I have broken many of the straps on the pouches of the Ebay supplied Cree lights.

I think that the ride tonight was just a little bit dusty!

 

[soundwave]

i charged it up with the charger that came with my light and works fine and cuts out when there charged.

tested the cells and got 4.12v and 4.13v from each one charged my phone up with it and had the light on for a hr and was down to 3.6v from each one.

so still a bit of life left in them and also now go longer with out that bms that was in the pack.

size of the old pack to the new one.

 

[IR772]

Wet morning again so thought I would do some measurement of my new toy.

Below are the current, wattage and length of operation for each mode on the new light. All approximate and rounded up or down to be close to being right.

The battery voltage is 8.1 but for ease I assumed it is 8 volts, the battery pack fully charged is rated as 6400 mAh and have taken the real capacity to be 5200 mAh due to sales boasting and inefficiencies, so the operating period should be real world attainment.

Standby just the rear green led on
4 mA
0.032 watt
1,350 hours operating

The ring of LEDs on constant
134 mA
1.072 watts
38.8 hours operating

Main beam high power
985 mA
7.88 watts
5.3 hours operating

Main beam medium power
280 mA
2.24 watts
18.6 hours operating

Main beam low power
86 mA
0.7 watts
60.5 hours operating

The surprise is that the main beam on low consumes much less than the ring of so called low power LED's. In by eye measurement due to the lens the main beam on low is a much better running light than the ring of LED's.

I am pleased with the length of operation of the battery pack, reassuring to know.

Adding the wattage outputs allowed me to grasp the light level compared with other torches I have using; 1 watt, 3 watt and 5 watt outputs. I would say the figures are in line with other lights I have and real compared to some of the lumen figures I see.

Hope this is of help.

 

[soundwave]

Only slight difficulty is Haibike handle bars are not designed for forward facing lights or anything come to that.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131597662531?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=430968950331&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[anotherkiwi]

Wet blanket time again:

In the UK, the regulations governing bicycle lights are set out in the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 and their subsequent amendments, summarized in the Highway Code. The regulations require a white front light, a red rear light, a red rear reflector, and amber/yellow pedal reflectors on the front and rear of both pedals. Reflectors must conform to BS 6102/2 or an equivalent European standard. The situation for lights is more complicated:

• a light with a steady mode is considered approved only if it conforms to BS 6102/3 or an equivalent European standard;
• a light without a steady mode is considered approved only if it flashes at a constant rate of between 60 to 240 flashes per minute and has a luminous intensity of at least 4 candela;

The majority of LED lights available are not approved for UK use since they have steady modes that do not conform to BS 6102/3. It is, however, legal to fit additional lights providing that they are of the correct colour, they do not dazzle other road users and that if they flash, they do so at a constant rate of between 60 and 240 flashes per minute.

And this may help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux

A 40 lux headlight is quite bright enough for riding at 50 km/h on the open road on a moonless night. It all depends where those lux are put on the road. Beam shape is more important than the number of lumens of the source. Supernova and b+m have an amusing ongoing spat about which headlight provides the best beam pattern.

Where I ride in the dark having the right legal markings on the lights is important. Basque policemen have a very restricted sense of humour and I have probably already been drinking more wine than reasonable so I wish to have all the correct equipment on the bike.

 

[IR772]

Only slight difficulty is Haibike handle bars are not designed for forward facing lights or anything come to that.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131597662531?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=430968950331&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Will this fit sDuro as it would be a better option and will look straight forward?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401152751693?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[soundwave]

it should fit as you have some space inside the screenclamp i have 1 for my bike.

 

[IR772]

Wet blanket time again:

In the UK, the regulations governing bicycle lights are set out in the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 and their subsequent amendments, summarized in the Highway Code. The regulations require a white front light, a red rear light, a red rear reflector, and amber/yellow pedal reflectors on the front and rear of both pedals. Reflectors must conform to BS 6102/2 or an equivalent European standard. The situation for lights is more complicated:

• a light with a steady mode is considered approved only if it conforms to BS 6102/3 or an equivalent European standard;
• a light without a steady mode is considered approved only if it flashes at a constant rate of between 60 to 240 flashes per minute and has a luminous intensity of at least 4 candela;

The majority of LED lights available are not approved for UK use since they have steady modes that do not conform to BS 6102/3. It is, however, legal to fit additional lights providing that they are of the correct colour, they do not dazzle other road users and that if they flash, they do so at a constant rate of between 60 and 240 flashes per minute.

And this may help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux

A 40 lux headlight is quite bright enough for riding at 50 km/h on the open road on a moonless night. It all depends where those lux are put on the road. Beam shape is more important than the number of lumens of the source. Supernova and b+m have an amusing ongoing spat about which headlight provides the best beam pattern.

Where I ride in the dark having the right legal markings on the lights is important. Basque policemen have a very restricted sense of humour and I have probably already been drinking more wine than reasonable so I wish to have all the correct equipment on the bike.

I had a chuckle when you quote the British standard from France. Very few Basque Policemen around here.

Not sure how long you have been in France but the Police just do not care, very much like dongles or cycling on the pavement, might be big news in Main land Europe but not here.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Well almost all my riding is done across a national border and on the other side they are no fun. So I wear a helmet (no problem now I have an expensive comfortable one) and all the equipment on the bike is to EU spec. I don't have much money, certainly not enough to throw away in fines and whatnot. And my German lights are just so much better than the Chinese crap I had before.

If you are travelling to Spain: stay off the footpaths, wear a helmet outside city limits. If you are going faster than a pushbike they will look at your bike as you go by so best bet is to be legal at all times.

 

[IR772]

it should fit as you have some space inside the screenclamp i have 1 for my bike.

Thanks for the photos to confirm the fitting. Yes it will fit mine as well and I can set it up like yours and it will make a good bracket.

 

[soundwave]

just cut up 2 strips of inner tube so it dont scratch the bars or use some tape

 

[IR772]

Well almost all my riding is done across a national border and on the other side they are no fun. So I wear a helmet (no problem now I have an expensive comfortable one) and all the equipment on the bike is to EU spec. I don't have much money, certainly not enough to throw away in fines and whatnot. And my German lights are just so much better than the Chinese crap I had before.

If you are travelling to Spain: stay off the footpaths, wear a helmet outside city limits. If you are going faster than a pushbike they will look at your bike as you go by so best bet is to be legal at all times.

Me too, as I am only 7 miles from Wales. If you use the back lanes and have good local knowledge usually you can slip past the UK Boarder Agency/Heddlu De Cymru.

We are fighting for freedom of movement, but I think it will all change soon.