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How many of you have your head/tail lights hardwired?

MikeFairbanks

MikeFairbanks

100 kW
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
1,385
Location
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Currently I have a great headlight and taillight for the Trike, and eventually will transfer them (after the school year is over) to a proper two-wheeler for the summer. My goal is to, next school year, commute every single day by bike, even in the dark and cold.

So, those of you who consistently ride in the dark: Do you use self-contained units for lighting or do you have them wired to your battery systems?

BTW: My commute is on paved bike paths and there is little to no interaction with automobiles. My headlight is partially for vision (when it's dark) and to be seen by golf carts. Safety is only a minor concern since I never get near cars with a few minor exceptions.
 
After trying several I finally stopped with this setup.
http://cgi.ebay.com/56-LED-Torch-Bike-Bicycle-Head-Light-5-LED-Rear-Light-/110427608704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19b5ff9680
Works great and you can actually see with this light even in the 9 led mode.
 
I use a 12v 55w front (fog style-enclosed) white light and a rear 45w stop/tail light.
Both the front and rear (tail) light are hooked up to a switch on my handlebars and the "stop" function of the rear light is hooked up to one of my "electric brake handles".
The switch and the brake handle are hooked up to a 12v 20ah Lifepo4 battery.
(along with my directionals, radio, dual cigarette lighter/power port socket and subwoofer amplifier)
 
After much consideration, I think I'll stick with the AA powered headlights and AAA powered tail lights.

I got my wife a real nice headlight with a 4 AA NiMH rechargeable battery pack. By the time I got a new light for myself, I realized that carrying a couple extra AAs and replacing the batteries was not much of a burden, so I nixed my plans to wire everything to the ebike battery. The ebikes have too many wires already.
 
I started with that, but after changing out batteries every other week (I do alot of night riding), I went my way..
Not only does the 12v battery last a long time, but I can recharge it through my cigarette lighter on the bike.
:)
 
MagicShine 900 lumen up front, and cheap led blinky taillight at the back.
Both running off of a DC-DC converter from the main pack.

But I would recommend hardwired high power light up front, and sticking with a battery rear blinky, or having a battery one as back up, just incase you run out of juice on your main pack. I have had this happen once in the dark on a long ride. No fun riding a heavy ebike, with no lights in traffic.
 
On DayGlo Avenger it's all 12V motorcycle stuff, on a DC-DC powered by the traction pack.

On CrazyBike2, it's a mix becuase of experiments: CFL headlight and taillight powered by traction pack plus a boost from a laptop supply wired in series. Incandescent 12V turn signals, halogen headlight, and LED brake light, powered by a separate NiMH pack (because I didn't have a DC-DC available for it).

Ideally I'd have all 12V stuff, running off a DC-DC from the traction pack, but an option to stick a 12V lighting-only pack on there for long night rides so I don't waste my range on lighting.
 
If you got money get the Lumenator 12-100v. If you wanna get more bang for your buck get a Magic Shine Front and Rear kit they either come with a battery or run it of a DC to DC it will run off your pack. If you want cheap but ok get the Halogens with a DC to DC provided by Ebikes.ca This will run off your pack also. Or consider maybe getting the bike that Golden Motor sells. 36v ready.

Have you considered getting a really good metal cased flashlight and a handlebar mount. I just bough a 145 lumen Led Coloeman max light at walmart thats bad ass for the money which was like 23-25 bucks... a cheap 5$ ebay flashlight handlebar mount and you are good to go.

On your paths out there u need to be seen. A weak ass 1-3w led light is barely enough to mark urself or use to see for night riding... Its good for evening to dusk not advanced darkness . Its a day and night difference when u get into "Real Cree LED" flashlights...some are reachargeable... and the magic shine
 
I am planning to hardwire my lamps to the bike

I have a set of De Notte lamps

not cheap, but very bright

I have one of their old model 1200Lumen 6 LED lamps, supposed to run of 7.2 v LiPo pack , but their engineering department tell me 12 volt is fine.

http://store.dinottelighting.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=dinotte&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=156429469&Count2=73569893&ProductID=161&Target=products.asp


Also have a 400 Lumen rear lamp from them...also good for 12 volt

I have a 100-240VAC to 12v 5 amp 'transfromer' the sort used to run LCD PC screens. it works fine with a DC voltage imput at 84 volts.

Plan on using this to drive the lights. I pulled an old hall effect throttle of a laFree e-bike..and that has built in light switch, so will be using that.
 
I use the front and rear LED lights from ebikes.ca. They have built in dc-dc converters good from 12 to 100 vdc. They have held up great in a year of all weather commuting and a couple of crashes.

The only down side is the headlight isn't bright enough to see by for over 20mph riding. It's fine if you are just using it to be seen though. I run mine day and night.

It's a good idea to have a backup cheap battery powered head and tail light in case of wiring problems or pack failure.

Gary
 
Hardwired front MagicShine off of a Lyen converter @ 13 Volts. Rear is a Cateye blinker. The flashing MS is highly visible during the day!
otherDoc
 
I have 120watts of 12V via a 48v-->12V DC DC converter.

Haven't figured out my lights yet though, but they will be hardwired to the main pack. (At least until I can buy more batteries!).

Really debating some of the 35W HID off road vehicle lighting. :D
 
My bikes carry the waterproof LED lights designed and built by Grin Technologies (ebikes.ca)
The front has their 1W 12 LED lights that always runs in blink mode during the day. The tail lights too are always on.
They also have a Cycle Lumenator mounted with permanent brackets instead of the stock adjustable quick release clamps.
They're all hooked up with JST SM connectors.

I consider my bicycle a vehicle and so requires a lighting system.
IMO, permanent mounting makes it safer from casual pilferage.
It also avoids the inevitable situation when you're not carrying your clip-on lights or their batteries are flat.
 
I'm curious about what people are running in terms of lights too. I need to get something and I like the idea of hard-wiring everything into the main pack. One can get a 24-75V input 5V output DC-DC converter for pretty cheap from Mouser or ebay.

Do most of the AA battery powered lights have some kind of current limiting? I wonder if it would be appropriate to run them from the 5V supply, or if a voltage divider would be required to drop down to 3V?

I'm looking at the "Planet Bike Beamer 5" or something similar for a headlamp.
 
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