The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014

spdpug98

supersonic wrote:

This:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-XML-T6-M ... 3f1ce2816c

I bought the same light and used it on the Maxx Exposure ride last week, I was worried about the run time as tests at home before the ride gave a run time of approx 2.5hrs on full power, I used my normal Tesco Cree Torches for the first few hours, then switched it on and ran it on low power on the ride (which was plenty bright enough) and was still going after 3 hrs

beerglass007

Hi,

I've brought a few UltraFire WF-501B from lightmalls and quite impressed for the money

But still looking for something around the £50 -£70 which might be better

I do single track MTB riding and require about 2 - 2.30 hours ride time

I'm currently using an old set of lights and started to play around with the DIY option's and UltraFire WF-501B

My mate was impressed with the UltraFire WF-501B setup and so currently sold them to him. Is there something better for slightly more money

Thanks

Ouija

beerglass007 wrote:

Hi,

I've brought a few UltraFire WF-501B from lightmalls and quite impressed for the money

But still looking for something around the £50 -£70 which might be better

I do single track MTB riding and require about 2 - 2.30 hours ride time

I'm currently using an old set of lights and started to play around with the DIY option's and UltraFire WF-501B

My mate was impressed with the UltraFire WF-501B setup and so currently sold them to him. Is there something better for slightly more money

Thanks

If you like the WF-501b and hand torch style lights it might be worth upgrading to the TrustFire A8.



Same emitter and reflector size (so not overly 'spotty') but with a much bigger 26650 battery (26mm wide instead of 18mm wide, as in the 18650 battery). With 5000mAh, it stores over twice as much as the usual 2400/2800mAh of the 18650 battery. Just ordered one of these myself.

With my old 502b's with Senybor 2800mAh batteries id' get 1hr 50m on the brightest setting, with the Trustfire A8 i'd expect to get at least 3hr's.

diy

My approach is just to add more lights and run on lower settings, but I'd say the skyray is the step up you are looking for:

http://www.lightmalls.com/sky-ray-king- ... ht-4-18650

3 T6 with 4 cells body.

beerglass007

diy wrote:

My approach is just to add more lights and run on lower settings, but I'd say the skyray is the step up you are looking for:

http://www.lightmalls.com/sky-ray-king- ... ht-4-18650

3 T6 with 4 cells body.

What bar clamp would one order for these please ?

Thanks

diy

absolutely no idea - but there are enough loops on it to make something work

chrisw333

Considering one of these bad boys from Lightmalls (the double LED all in one for those that can't be bothered to click)

http://www.lightmalls.com/2000-lumen-le ... -light-kit

But has anyone got a definitive answer on whether this needs to go on their Fedex ($16.66) postage service as it includes a 'battery product' or is the cheaper singapore postage still ok?

"( For UK Customers, If Order Include Battery products,please and must choose the FedEx shipment term,Or We can't not ship the order to you ! )"

Thanks

jairaj

I would think this needs to come under the Fedex postage as there is a battery pack included in the package

smashed

smashed wrote:

Hmm, thanks skankin-giant.the candb-seen site seems easy, but an even bigger premium..

Is this likely to be from the UK? Or would I be better off purchasing from Candb-Seen in case it breaks in the rain etc...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-T6- ... 43b3ebfec6

http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-li ... e-xml.html

Interesting..and trying their luck. The ebay price has gone up from £24.89 to £79.99 today just as I was about to purchase.

diy

At 2.5A max is going to be 700ish lumen.

smashed

diy wrote:

Sorry about the experience - its one of the risks when buying overseas. DSRs don't apply to faulty goods anyway its SOGA. But neither apply in this case. DSR is right to cancel and seller can make customer pay return costs (if specified), but there are ways of the customer getting out of this. None of this really helps.

IME you are better off saying the charger was missing from the order rather than faulty.

I'd be tempted to get another charger off ebay (torchy's OEM chargers are pretty good) or try suntekstore (also ebay) for something with other uses. DX have a local UK warehouse too.

You might want to point them here and tell them why they are getting all these orders and how it sill immediately stop if we find they are not playing fair. For those who remember we went through a phase of recommending bestofferbuy.com, but they stopped being competitive and now I don't even bother looking.

Actually..

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/busine ... oft698.pdf

Who pays for returning the goods if the consumer cancels
an order?

3.57 If the goods are faulty or do not comply with the contract, you will
have to pay for their return whatever the circumstances.

supersonic

Very true, but that is because of the SOGA. ('you' being the retailer)

sonas50

is this light worth buying?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1200-Lumen-CR ... 4601c5b6ce

what one would be better?
just want a light for cycling in the dark evening along forest trails, nothing too technical, thanks

supersonic

yes, very good price, but it located abroad so will take a while to arrive.

apreading

sonas50 wrote:

is this light worth buying?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1200-Lumen-CR ... 4601c5b6ce

what one would be better?
just want a light for cycling in the dark evening along forest trails, nothing too technical, thanks

Is that really a 8800mA battery pack? I thought they were all 4400mA at that size?

supersonic

It will be more like 4000, they have a habit of overstating things!

diy

Claimed 1A output would be poo. But would mean coupled to the "8.8ah" pack you'd get run time of 9 hours. Given how much of the description is wrong I'd probably give them a miss.

beerglass007

I have some old lights from http://www.lumicycle.com/product/104/sy ... ystem.html and they use a battery 14.8 volt, 5.2 Amp Hour (76 Watt/ Hour) Lithium Ion pack.

I still have this battery pack, would I be able to use these with some LED bike lights ?

supersonic

If they have that voltage input, yes.

andyrr

Looks like I may have fried the battery pack in my MS SSC light after previous bodgery to fix the frayed wires from the charger resulted, temporarily in a short. Thought I'd escaped damaging the pack or charger but this eve they refused to charge up and then splicing in another charger seemed to work but only 2 minutes later it also gave up. Dash it - an excuse to order the Lightmalls triple T6 lightset, hopefully the promised 4-8 days via fed-ex (required delivery method for orders with batterys) will not be too far off the mark.

beerglass007

supersonic wrote:

If they have that voltage input, yes.

Ok thanks

So something like this would work with the battery pack ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-XML-T6-M ... 02&afsrc=1

or these

http://www.lightmalls.com/2000-lumen-le ... -light-kit

Ouija

beerglass007 wrote:

supersonic wrote:

If they have that voltage input, yes.

Ok thanks

So something like this would work with the battery pack ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-XML-T6-M ... 02&afsrc=1

or these

http://www.lightmalls.com/2000-lumen-le ... -light-kit

Those are 8.4v, so no.

jairaj

beerglass007 wrote:

Ok thanks

So something like this would work with the battery pack ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cree-XML-T6-M ... 02&afsrc=1

or these

http://www.lightmalls.com/2000-lumen-le ... -light-kit

First check your current battery is in good shape and holds charge correctly.

Once you've established that the battery pack is good, you need to pick a light with a driver that has a suitable input voltage range.

Eg Your battery pack outputs 14.8v. light A has an input range 3v - 8v. light B has input range of 3v -15v. light C has input range of 8v to 20v. Here either light B or C will do as 14.8v fits within the range of both of these lights.

Both of the lights you linked to had zero detail about suitable input voltage ranges so either contact the seller for more info or try different lights.

diy

two lights in series will work fine. giving you 7.4v each.

-Archie-

diy wrote:

two lights in series will work fine. giving you 7.4v each.

Old incandescent lights - yes, but nowadays, for the LED lights with control electronics, this is very bad advice...

Ouija

-Archie- wrote:

diy wrote:

two lights in series will work fine. giving you 7.4v each.

Old incandescent lights - yes, but nowadays, for the LED lights with control electronics, this is very bad advice...

+1

LED lights don't vary the voltage, they are Pulse Modulated. In other words, they receive a pulse of electricity at full voltage, followed by nothing (allowing the LED to dim slightly) and then another pulse etc. Space the pulses closer together and the light glows brighter, space them further apart and they dim. Above 50 pulses a second and the human eye sees what it thinks is a smooth constant light (though it doesn't fool cats, dogs, birds, who see a migraine inducing manic strobe/flashing).

You can test this by shining your T6 torch on a spinning fan or bike wheel. The spokes will appear to be stationary or moving backwards/forwards at a different speed than it really is. The speed will change as you go through the lights modes (altering the spacing of the pulses). Something you wouldn't get with an old variable voltage analogue light bulb.

diy

Sorry your right wasn't thinking, though I have done it with drop ins (but they were rated 3.7-18v) - Simpler to add a switch(es) to the pack to split the 8 cells to power two lights from 2P4S to 4P2S. You'd switch them to serial for charging and parallel for power It would just need a couple of switches to split the pack. But having thought about it. Might be better to go with a voltage step down unit:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... -in-series

wishitwasallflat

Just got the THE SIMPLE ALL YOU NEED TO GET GOING SET UP: from Supersonics thread from DX - I haven't tried it yet on the bike but it looks stunning! Super bright and a great balance of spread and focus for me as I am a road cyclist only.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting this up (saved me a fortune as I was under the illusion Cateye, Lezyne etc were the only options!!!).

Only problem is the mount doesn't fit my road bars (31.8mm) - NOT COMPLAINING AS I APPRECIATE THIS IS AN MTB FORUM - just mentioning it for any other roadies seeking to benefit from your great wisdom and generous advice.

Thanks again!

diy

wishitwasallflat wrote:

Only problem is the mount doesn't fit my road bars (31.8mm) - NOT COMPLAINING AS I APPRECIATE THIS IS AN MTB FORUM - just mentioning it for any other roadies seeking to benefit from your great wisdom and generous advice.

Thanks again!

Remove the nut and bolt and replace with a cable tie

MarksMintness

wishitwasallflat wrote:

Just got the THE SIMPLE ALL YOU NEED TO GET GOING SET UP: from Supersonics thread from DX - I haven't tried it yet on the bike but it looks stunning! Super bright and a great balance of spread and focus for me as I am a road cyclist only.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting this up (saved me a fortune as I was under the illusion Cateye, Lezyne etc were the only options!!!).

Only problem is the mount doesn't fit my road bars (31.8mm) - NOT COMPLAINING AS I APPRECIATE THIS IS AN MTB FORUM - just mentioning it for any other roadies seeking to benefit from your great wisdom and generous advice.

Thanks again!

Wishitwasallflat - which torch did you get, the T60 or the 502B? Did you go for 2 or 1 torch? I'm putting a basket together tonight based on this guide for my road bike. Are dx shipping the batteries ok now? Seems there was an issue at one stage, going back through the thread.
Cheers,