Oh Boy - The clocks have changed! ;0)

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Permalink Reply by Graham Lennard on October 31, 2011 at 21:49

You didn't have those shades on did you?....

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Permalink Reply by Jon Ingram on October 31, 2011 at 22:11

Lol! Was that where I was going wrong?

Same specs but no, there wasn't quite enough sunlight to make them go dark!

Graham Lennard said:

You didn't have those shades on did you?....

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Permalink Reply by Philpost on November 1, 2011 at 18:53

clocks change and the world suddenly looks very different and the winter feels like it's going to be interminable. my route is the rea valley including a section of canal. perhaps it takes a bit of  adjustment but had two occassions in the dark this evening with other cyclists heading directly for me, perhaps mesmerized by the headlights - but would be better if we passed on the left. it's the combination of dark and  the wet leaves that makes for some nervousness, plus the dog walkers haven't got their doggie lights on yet. still going to stick with the rea valley pre ice and dense fog, then it'll be the road.

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Permalink Reply by allthegearnoidea on November 1, 2011 at 19:29

The light certainly has changed. I was driving back from Cardiff last night and it really did feel like winter. :(

 

I'll be needing to buy a decent set of lights for the winter. I'll not be using the canals, but Rea Valley, side roads and sometimes the Pershore. Any suggestions?

 

Has anyone looked at these on eBay? 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=2400+lumen+bike+light&_sa...

 

I doubt they're 2400 lumens and I have concerns over the battery life, but even if they're 1000 lumens that would be very bright.

 

rob

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Permalink Reply by Kim on November 1, 2011 at 21:32

Ha!  On the subject of dark towpaths:

I lead a ride through the Netherton Tunnel on Saturday.  I'd been out to check the route on Wednesday evening and found my lighting to be more than adequate, so was a bit shocked when the tunnel turned out to be slow going on Saturday afternoon.

After we'd stopped for a few minutes about a third of the way in to do the obligatory turn-all-the-lights-off-and-admire-the-dark thing and take a few photos, it all seemed a lot easier.  I eventually realised that I was wearing photochromic glasses...

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Permalink Reply by Andy Wood on November 1, 2011 at 22:25

There's normally a big drop off in the number of cyclists on the road after the clocks change.  There seemed to be plenty out on the way home from work tonight.  A positive sign for cycling in Birmingham - numbers do seem to be increasing.

 

Allthegear can I receommend the Hope Vision One headlight.  I am hugely impressed and it is well worth the investment if you can afford it.  With high quality rechargables, and limiting full power to rea valley only I get two weeks between charges, used twice a day between Kings Heath and city centre.  It's not got a lot of peripheral light but for commuting that's not really a problem.

http://www.hopegb.com/voir_visled1.html (a few sites have it for £70 with free delivery)

The light output on the higher levels I would say is comparable to the output of a car's headlights although a lot more focussed, and it is rated as 240 lumen.  I don't think you need 2400 lumen, and if that light on ebay can even do that which I doubt, the batteries will not last very long at all.

 

Beware the current trend for lights that take button cell batteries - you can't get rechargeables and they are much more expensive to replace than AA or AAA batteries.

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Permalink Reply by Luke Sweeting on November 1, 2011 at 22:35

My light of choice for the past 2 years has been this head torch:

http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=1...

Fits onto your helmet nicely, and is absolutely fantastic for the price!

 

If you're not a fan of the head torch, I've had one mounted to the bars before using a bar mount sold as a spare part on chainreaction. Worked perfectly, I just prefer the head torch option for shining directly at motorists who fail to dip their headlights!

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Permalink Reply by Jon Ingram on November 1, 2011 at 22:56

How about this 3w version for only £5.60?

 

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_13&p...

 

I had to order one to see what it's like!

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Permalink Reply by Jon Ingram on November 1, 2011 at 23:23

Oh and btw, lumens, lux, candlepower and watts - what's a body to do to sort that lot out and make a comparison of power per buck?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Ingram on November 1, 2011 at 23:25

Answering my own question, via Google and a guy from Gloucestershire on CTC:

 

Watts are a measure of the power consumption of the light.
Lumens are "amount" of light - effectively also power, but after the conversion into light. It's the same regardless of how the light is focussed.
Candlepower (or candela) is beam intensity (lumens per solid angle). If you focus the light into a narrower beam, the candlepower rating increases.
Lux is surface illumination (lumens per square metre). As well as getting a higher rating for a narrower beam, you also get a higher rating if the light is closer to the surface you are shining it on.

The only convertible units are lux and candelas, but you have to know how far away the surface used to measure the lux was. It's usually 10m, because that's how German road lighting regulations specify required lighting power, but I have seen 1m lux quoted too. At 1m, 1 lux = 1 candela. At 10m, 1 lux = 100 candela.
For converting between watts and lumens, you have to know exactly what the light source is. An old style bulb may give only 10 lumens per watt, but the best LEDs can give 120 lumens per watt when run at a reduced power.

You have to watch out for lights that claim a high candlepower or lux rating by concentrating all of the light into a very narrow beam. The Cateye EL530 is like this.
You also have to watch for "manufacturers rating" on the amount of lumens from an LED. Lumens aren't easy to actually measure as you have to add up the brightness of all parts of the beam. Instead, many makers just quote what the LED manufacturer says it will do, and ignore losses in the lens/reflector, reduced output due to the LED getting hot etc.
The other thing you have to watch for is the mismatch between quoted powers and quoted runtimes. A 2500mAh AA NiMh battery has 1.2V x 2.5Ah = 3 watt-hours of energy in it. If a light has 4xAA, claims 3W and a 10 hour runtime, it's not true, as 4 AAs will only run 3 watts for a maximum of 4 hours. It's probably 3W with new batteries, then gets progressively dimmer.


Jon Ingram said:

Oh and btw, lumens, lux, candlepower and watts - what's a body to do to sort that lot out and make a comparison of power per buck?

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Permalink Reply by allthegearnoidea on November 2, 2011 at 9:45

I ordered one of the 2400 lumen lights I expect that:

 

a) it won't be 2400 lumens but will be very bright

 

b) the battery life won't be great, but I can charge it at home and at work so maybe OK.

 

rob

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Permalink Reply by Stuart Thompson on November 2, 2011 at 10:11

I got one of these off ebay a few weeks ago, its seems very bright for the price. I think the runtime off aaa rechargeable batteries is in the region of 3-4 hours. Its certainly a lot brighter than the 10w Halogen Cateye I used to use

 

The torches that have Cree T6 xml LED's are meant to be a whole load better, have a look on www.dealextreme.com for more details ( they are all the rage on mountain bike forums - Singletrack being a prime example )

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