The big LIGHTS thread 2011-2014
Comments
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Thanks both:) helpful info; I guess though re connectors cables can be cut OK and connectors swapped if I got wrong one
I haven`t seen any info on my light about connector type !
One other query is is it safe to make pack more water resistant by wrapping up in eg insulating tape? or is a `breather` hole needed when charging?
ta0 -
Insulating by electric tape is OK: I've used that method for some of my batteries. But please note that waterproofing of embedded electronics (i.e., protection circuit) is more important - so, if you'll disassemble the battery, take care about PCB first. Most simple way is, to apply a coating of automotive silicone grease (typically sold in tubes, for contacts protection etc) to both sides before sealing of battery pack. There's no need to keep any holes in enclosure: the cells indeed have protection valves, but they're not triggered during normal use - and even if they will vent, the soft battery case won't be a problem for the gases to release.
P.S. To check the connector diameter, I'd suggest to use set of drilling bits: if 2mm drill is easily fit into central hole of light connector, and 2.5mm does not - it indicates that you have 5.5/2.1 connector.0 -
Can also buy converter leads or plugs.
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I just got a set of upgraded Cree Q5 lights/torches, brackets, recharge kit, and a free rear LED light on eBay, only £25 ($38), next day delivery... Looks great, works well, and is super bright.
I recommend getting a set if you're on a tight budget.
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bamba wrote:Any body throw any light on this, just spotted.
Note its named as a xml2 not a xml u2 as there is a separate listing for that one..
m.lightmalls.com/item_description/1292
XML2 is the new generation XML, so you are correct that it is not the same thing as XML U2 (which is a 'bin' of XML). Check Cree's website if you're into the numbers, or there are threads on more techno-weenie forums like candlepowerforums. But in a word, brighter.0 -
Gents, have read through a lot of this thread and numerous others today and iM a little bewildered.
Had a look on eBay and seen these, they are from the uk (not interested in china hk wait times).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Cree-XML-T ... 3f20c1272b
They will be used 95 percent of the time on a road bike, probably for durations of up to 2 hours.
Will these do the trick? Or should I be looking for something different?
Cheers
Dave0 -
Chris-Treleaven wrote:I just got a set of upgraded Cree Q5 lights/torches, brackets, recharge kit, and a free rear LED light on eBay, only £25 ($38), next day delivery... Looks great, works well, and is super bright.
I recommend getting a set if you're on a tight budget.
not bad but the old cree q5 is not really a current led. you could have got twice the output for the same money0 -
dangerousdave. wrote:Gents, have read through a lot of this thread and numerous others today and iM a little bewildered.
Had a look on eBay and seen these, they are from the uk (not interested in china hk wait times).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Cree-XML-T ... 3f20c1272b
They will be used 95 percent of the time on a road bike, probably for durations of up to 2 hours.
Will these do the trick? Or should I be looking for something different?
Cheers
Dave
the zoomers are not great tbh search for 501b or 502b you want one with an orange peel reflector. tbh you'll only wait 2 weeks this time of year and you'll get xml2 or xml u3 leds for kes money. these are both brighter and more efficient.0 -
diy wrote:Chris-Treleaven wrote:I just got a set of upgraded Cree Q5 lights/torches, brackets, recharge kit, and a free rear LED light on eBay, only £25 ($38), next day delivery... Looks great, works well, and is super bright.
I recommend getting a set if you're on a tight budget.
not bad but the old cree q5 is not really a current led. you could have got twice the output for the same money
Yer, I did see some more powerful options on the internet for similar money. ... Only reason I got a set was because the police almost fined me for having no lights. Anyway... Took my new lights out and got stopped again, apparently they're too bright for road use... Made me laugh, you just can't win. :roll: 0 -
just point them down, but its partly why nobody is recommending them as the leds are too spotty. XRE. are also not great for road use.
Xml, xpg mce and p7 chips are best for road, but the single core leds also need to go in a small head with orange peel reflector. For road, I use two xml t6 lights on low which is about 350mA, i'll pop them up to medium 1a if i am riding fast on unlit roads which is overkill.0 -
dangerousdave. wrote:Gents, have read through a lot of this thread and numerous others today and iM a little bewildered.
Had a look on eBay and seen these, they are from the uk (not interested in china hk wait times).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Cree-XML-T ... 3f20c1272b
They will be used 95 percent of the time on a road bike, probably for durations of up to 2 hours.
Will these do the trick? Or should I be looking for something different?
Cheers
Dave
For my road riding (mostly unlit country roads but some lit town) I have one of these
http://dx.com/p/ultrafire-th-t60-ha-ii- ... 8650-57007
As it throws the light about 12-15 to 20-25 feet down the road (has a better throw than 501 ime) and a bog standard 501b with a U3 led (I bought as a drop in upgrade) and an orange peel reflector. The 501 it makes a wider pool of light and I angle it so it lights from the front wheel to the inner limit (12-15ft) of the T6. That way I have a narrow beam down the road and a wider pool close to me - I find its great and the bits and bobs are cheap and easy to find. I ordered mostly from HK as it was cheaper and the longest I waited was about 10 days.0 -
I think its important to understand that the driver is the main thing that effects the output. A T6 driven at 1.8A will produce a different beam than one driven at 2.4A. Head size and reflector are next, but a lot of the debate about which unit is better are based not on the lights design, but on the output current.
The above TH-T60 at $27 has a 3A driver, still hard to justify it over two 501b T6s ($12 each) at 1.4A. Though personally I'd say a 1.4A unit is not great.
I also note that 7dayshop are now selling the T6 based magicshine clones for £26
http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-super- ... 9xPWJpa2U=0 -
All very well these super bright lights ("face burner" ---(I recently bought a Sing Fire 800 lumen one http://www.madeinchina.com/product/Sing ... 2939.shtml with a measured (my checking on it) burn time 3.5 hr on high) BUT I`m finding ON road in daytime when using strobe am receiving some adverse reaction from motorists BUT at least I`m getting seen and I`m sure they don`t gesticlute at the new generation daylights LED stripes some cars now run with 0
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I wouldn't run them on strobe mode, the LED drivers are from units designed for military/hunting purposes. The strobe is intended to disorientate. Better to run it on low/med and use a cheapo frog-like flash with button cell for a flashy. Alternatively a string of white leds connected to single 18650 works and has a run time that you can measure in weeks rather than hours.0
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Ah !! didn`t realsie that (but admit when trying them out indoors they were slightly confusing / alarming); now I know that will certainly avoid as last thing I want are disorientated drivers :shock:I wouldn't run them on strobe mode, the LED drivers are from units designed for military/hunting purposes. The strobe is intended to disorientate
I reckon LOW setting gives at least 10hr run and will still be just as visible without having potentially alarming effects on drivers !!!
Thanks for heads up on this
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Bike lights now coming out with the new XM-L2 LEDs, I wouldn't believe the stated lumens or the mode configuration and the batteries are bound to be rubbish like the majority of stuff from China but this will still be more efficient and maybe brighter.
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S021404
http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S021369
http://www.lt-box.com/high-power-bicycl ... y-set.html0 -
the batteries are bound to be rubbish like the majority of stuff from China
I gather this from reading around threads; BUT running light on maxm batteries held up for 3.5 hr which I think is perfectly good. And where else are batteries made ---everything seems to be from far East countries !!!
When batteries from China described as rubbish is that a short battery lifespan, inability to recharge or what?
And if they`re that bad where are better 4 x 18650 packs available from ? I can only find non China sources of single 18650s all others seem to be packs from China.0 -
JamesB wrote:the batteries are bound to be rubbish like the majority of stuff from China
I gather this from reading around threads; BUT running light on maxm batteries held up for 3.5 hr which I think is perfectly good. And where else are batteries made ---everything seems to be from far East countries !!!
When batteries from China described as rubbish is that a short battery lifespan, inability to recharge or what?
And if they`re that bad where are better 4 x 18650 packs available from ? I can only find non China sources of single 18650s all others seem to be packs from China.
If you want really good cells then make sure they're from Japan (Sanyo, Panasonic, Samsung etc) but you can get pretty good Chinese cells (BAK). The battery packs that come with cheap bike lights are very hit and miss, if you're getting 3.5 hours out of yours and you are happy with the light output then you're lucky, I bought a 3xT6 LED light with a spare 4 cell pack and both packs were utter rubbish. They took a very short amount of time to charge and even with both connected with a Y splitter cable and running the light on low with occasional medium power I'd be lucky to get 2 hours out of them so they are either very low capacity cells or some of them are junked. It is not unusual to find recycled laptop cells in bike light battery packs that are completely dead.
I've just bought a Magicshine 6 cell 6.6Ah pack which I used for the first time last night and although I'm yet to fully charge and discharge it to find out exactly how long it lasts initial impressions are good and way better than the other two packs together. Magicshine packs use decent quality BAK cells (some use Samsung) which have been proved to be pretty accurate to their stated capacity.
http://www.magicshine.co.uk/batteries/r ... j-818.html
http://www.magicshine.co.uk/batteries/r ... -6002.html0 -
Low capacity, i.e. quite short run time.JamesB wrote:When batteries from China described as rubbish is that a short battery lifespan, inability to recharge or what?
Have a look at eBay, for example...And if they`re that bad where are better 4 x 18650 packs available from ? I can only find non China sources of single 18650s all others seem to be packs from China.0 -
Thats' true, but measurement of cells' "state of health" requires some additional equipment, while most users have just ordinary charger and perhaps DMM...bamba wrote:Regarding 18650 batteries, far better to find your self an old laptop battery an get some good cells, imo far better than any second rate stuff from the far east, and often for free.0 -
Not really, just check there voltage, charge them and check there taking charge and hold charge, then test them in a torch.
If you get a good run time from them then consider them good.measure the current draw if you want and google the battery code to find its milli amp hour rating to see if its on par.0 -
Not really, just check there voltage, charge them and check there taking charge and hold charge, then test them in a torch.
If you get a good run time from them then consider them good.measure the current draw if you want and google the battery code to find its milli amp hour rating to see if its on par.0 -
I agree with Bamba, a sophisticated charger or DC amp meter is not necessary really. Charge and use and check the start and end voltage to work out how good a cell is. Noting that it takes a few cycles to get a cell that has spent its life at 3.75v to take 4.2v.
Also very few laptops don't have w/h or mAh on the pack.0 -
For single-cell torches, method "Try and see" is appropriate, too (although I dislike idea of using cell without protective circuit , for safety reasons). Measurement of actual cell's parameters is necessary for assembling the high-capacity batteries, though.
As for the voltages - 3,7 V is nominal voltage, and 4,2 V is voltage at full charge (for majority of types). There's no need to cycle the cell to reach 4,2 V level: if cell and charger are not broken, it will do that on very first charge, regardless of previous cell usage.0 -
But if all the cells have come out of the same laptop pack and hold the same voltage, there really isn't much point in doing anything more to determine the capacity.
You typically find the voltage is way off, if the cell is damaged in some way.
I personally also find that mah goes up after about the 2nd or 3rd charge. Its possible that this is because the cell packs have spent the last 6-12 months in a cupboard though rather than a specific feature of upping the voltage. Either way I would not expect a recycled laptop pack to be optimal after the first use.
i.e. want to avoid people binning perfectly good cells.0 -
Capacity and voltage are totally different things: there's no way to determine capacity by checking voltage only...diy wrote:But if all the cells have come out of the same laptop pack and hold the same voltage, there really isn't much point in doing anything more to determine the capacity.0
