Best all round light for night biking.

Ypedal said:
Is this an addiction ?
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Yes it is and I have the same addiction :D
I'll take a pic of mine later this week not as extensive as yours but i've got MS 900 and 1400, 2 DX aurora's, 50W HID torch(been debating getting a dc-dc converter and disassembling to turn into a bike like :twisted: ) and I just ordered 2 of these spiderfire lights and some more 18650's.
Ypedal what is the 2nd to last light on the left? does that hold 2 18650's?
 
I forgot to mention the mounting. I just remove the battery endcap to mount/dismount the light. I also needed both the rubber shims for the bracket, so I used an old innertube as a light shim.
 
It looks like Ypedal might have gotten bit by the bug.

BE CAREFUL YOU MIGHT END UP SPENDING MORE ON LIGHTS THAN BIKE STUFF.

Dealextreme does sometimes ship fast and sometimes slow,but I always got the stuff.

Have fun guys and hang on to your wallet.
DON
 
rebelpiolot

The battery should be fine(0V).When they drop below 2.5 V the battery shuts off.When you put it in the charger it resets .These chargers charge to about 95%.Something like 4.16-4.18 V.But they're soooo cheap if it brakes or gets lost so what.I've own 2 for 2 years now and no problems.
DON
 
GTR2EBIKE said:
Ypedal what is the 2nd to last light on the left? does that hold 2 18650's?
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That's an UltraFire WF-500 Xenon. good and bright, more of a yellow light compared to the LED's..

It will run on a single 18650, or a combination of cells with or without the tube extender.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1317

It wont run with protected cells, draws too many amps ! :twisted:
 
BIG BEAM said:
It looks like Ypedal might have gotten bit by the bug.

BE CAREFUL YOU MIGHT END UP SPENDING MORE ON LIGHTS THAN BIKE STUFF.

Dealextreme does sometimes ship fast and sometimes slow,but I always got the stuff.

Have fun guys and hang on to your wallet.
DON
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Muahahaha.. i don't think that's possible, i can't even come up with a figure on how much i've spent on ebikes... it would take one hell of a flashlight collection to compete..

However, i have been eyeballing the HID torches, expensive buggers but i'm tempted..

any suggestions on the " No BS .. absolute brightest flashlight " available ?
 
Ypedal said:
BIG BEAM said:
It looks like Ypedal might have gotten bit by the bug.

BE CAREFUL YOU MIGHT END UP SPENDING MORE ON LIGHTS THAN BIKE STUFF.

Dealextreme does sometimes ship fast and sometimes slow,but I always got the stuff.

Have fun guys and hang on to your wallet.
DON
Click to expand...

Muahahaha.. i don't think that's possible, i can't even come up with a figure on how much i've spent on ebikes... it would take one hell of a flashlight collection to compete..

However, i have been eyeballing the HID torches, expensive buggers but i'm tempted..

any suggestions on the " No BS .. absolute brightest flashlight " available ?
Click to expand...

Oh it is absolutely possible. High end HID flashlights are well over 2k$. Custom Titanium lights that will fit in your pocket are up to $900. A high end customized MagLite can be $500. The dx stuff is not even on the charts of quality lights.

The really brightest flashlights are fun, but not cheap or practical. I made one with five "C" sized Lithium Manganese cells sleeved into a 4D Maglite and driving a 100 watt projector bulb overdriven to 150 watts through a microprocessor PWM's FET at 15V 10A RMS to the bulb. It will burn paper quickly. It is nowhere near the brightest. Total runtime is about 12 minutes, but it must be done in short bursts to avoid overheating. That one is around 4-5,000 lumens. In a stock looking 4D it is a sleeper.

I had one customer run my regulator up to 360 watts. Now that is getting up there. Perhaps 11,000 lumens.

I've seen one that claimed 20,000 lumens but it got hot so fast it wasn't too useful.

Top end LEDs are also getting up there. The 9 Amp 4V SST-90 is right up there too. But 36 watts overheats a big flashlight pretty quick as well.
 
I agree with alan B.1000 L is what I call the limit with respect to a sensible light.

I can't find the thread but the highest priced light is 8K(I think it was 4200L HID).

I tent to use the older style (2 or 3 years old) LEDS.P7 and MC-E are still capable of good beams.some of the new 6 and 9 die emitters are a little hard to focus.

Not all venders are honest with there ratings.the light in my first post is about 400-500L OTF(out the front)I think on dealextreme it said 900L.The emitter will do that at rated power but the driver in that light runs it much lower.

BTW I have well over 600 flashlights I collected over 35 years.They range from 2 cell(#6 batteries) to custom built titanium and surefire lights.As you can see Ebiking is not my only vice.
DON
 
Ypedal said:
GTR2EBIKE said:
Ypedal what is the 2nd to last light on the left? does that hold 2 18650's?
Click to expand...

That's an UltraFire WF-500 Xenon. good and bright, more of a yellow light compared to the LED's..

It will run on a single 18650, or a combination of cells with or without the tube extender.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1317

It wont run with protected cells, draws too many amps ! :twisted:
Click to expand...



AW on CPF makes batteries for higher amps draw lights.AW is a good guy and his batteries are some of the best on the market.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=230876

DON
 
Ypedal said:
no worries, i have plenty of Konion cells from Makita power tool packs, only 1300 mah and not protected, but they can push 10 amps and i don't care if i kill them as i have plenty on hand ! :wink:
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Great cells. The AW LiMn C Cells are about 2300 mAH and will handle 20A. They fit into 1" pvc sleeves into a D Maglite.

However for bicycle use I think 18650's driving LEDs are the way to go. I plan to use them for backups on my setup. For primary I have the 15-100 volt ebike lights from ebikes.ca.
 
For 180$ i'm still REALLY SAFTISFIED with my 4 x cree P7 from Geomangear!

You can buy the individual single P7 led with reflector and PWM driver and have wide voltage range input from 6 to 18VDC. I measured that all 4 leds consume 48 Watts. not bad for all these LUMENS :mrgreen:

A cop already said to me that he saw my ebike light at a distance equivalent to 11km :shock:

Fortunatly my LEDs are pointing to the ground.

Doc
 
GTR2EBIKE said:
GTR2EBIKE said:
I just ordered 2 of these spiderfire lights and some more 18650's.
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Actually cancelled my order for 2 of these and ordered 2 more aurora's after seeing this review http://laserpointerforums.com/f66/review-aurora-ak-p7-5-led-light-52498.html
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After reading the review I am still happy with Bigbeam's recommendation.
From the review:
The light gets very warm after a few minutes on high, but nothing serious. I would not, however, recommend keeping this on high for ~40 minutes. Both for the sake of the light and the skin on your hands.
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The Aurora drives the LED very hard.
The Spiderfire seems better suited as the "best all round light for night biking" IMHO, it may not be quite as bright, but it has wider illuminated area. I find it easier to ride with a light that does not have a sharply defined beam. The Spiderfire is also lighter and more compact, it will likely be easier to mount and keep aimed. And battery life will be better. The Aurora is an impressive flashlight.
Of course it all comes down to personal preference.
 
Yeah the spiderfire does have a good flood beam.

Rember that a light with 900 L is not twice as bright as one with 450L.

In fact I can't tell the difference between 400L and 600L
DON

BTW the Aurora is a nice inexpensive light also
 
rebelpilot said:
The Aurora drives the LED very hard.
The Spiderfire seems better suited as the "best all round light for night biking" IMHO, it may not be quite as bright, but it has wider illuminated area. I find it easier to ride with a light that does not have a sharply defined beam. The Spiderfire is also lighter and more compact, it will likely be easier to mount and keep aimed. And battery life will be better. The Aurora is an impressive flashlight.
Of course it all comes down to personal preference.
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Yes it does the battery is supposed to last 50% longer on the spider with just minimally less light. Realistically how much more compact is a half an inch shorter, are you ever going to notice the difference(IN FLASHLIGHT TERMS GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER)
Maybe i'll re-order a single spider and see how I like it, I wished dx had faster shipping. I have no patience.
 
Mt son, who is just out of the army says the soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan use Surefire(sp?) lights mounted on their weapons. They are said to blind the enemy when going into dangerous houses.
otherDoc
 
Alan B said:
The military buys a lot of Surefire lights. They are well made physically. Their LEDs are generally not quite state of the art. See CandlePowerForums for more info. (LOTS more info).
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one of my friends swears by them and I believe they come with a very long warranty maybe even lifetime but I don't remember for sure. However the amount of light they emit is not up to par with either the spider or aurora.
 
And surefire is not immune to problems just because of the price.I have a few L4's and they all had switch problems.They were covered under warranty but at $150.00 a pop I would think so.
DON
 
BIG BEAM said:
And surefire is not immune to problems just because of the price.I have a few L4's and they all had switch problems.They were covered under warranty but at $150.00 a pop I would think so.
DON
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True, but they do pretty well. And they generally stand behind their product. I have a 6P that is about 25 years old and still going. Better than factory specs with upgraded drop in LED.

A Surefire clone that does well at a lower price point is Solarforce. They also take the 18650 cells since they have larger internal diameter. 18650's are perhaps the ideal battery for ebike lighting. Combine that with a Malkoff Devices dropin for some excellent performance and better than Surefire reliability.
 
Thanks for sharing this super bright flashlights!
Between the two(SpiderFire SSC P7 and Aurora Ak-P7), which one has a more focused/narrower beam(i.e. longer throw)? any suggestions for a P7 reflector for this flashlights that throws a less floody beam?
 
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