Flashers

Mel Long

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Jul 26, 2003, 11:27:10 PM7/26/03

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Does anyone know of a cheap strobe, or flasing red light for the back that
can be seen really well? I saw one somewhere a while ago and lost the
address.

Mel

BentHeadSWB

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Jul 26, 2003, 11:49:33 PM7/26/03

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http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Sec
tion_Id=1&Product_Id=1627454

Emerson 18-LED flasher, runs on 4 AA batteries and is very, very bright! I
have been using one for the last 3 years or so, works great. Remove the
magnets from the back and mount it to your rack. $4.99 plus $4.95 shipping...
Best $10 you'll ever spend on a tail light.
5 watt white LEDs will cost you quite a bit more.

John H
N TX

jt

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Jul 27, 2003, 9:45:53 AM7/27/03

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"Mel Long" <m...@knifemaker.ws> wrote in message
news:vi6hkg3...@corp.supernews.com...

> Does anyone know of a cheap strobe, or flasing red light for the back that
> can be seen really well? I saw one somewhere a while ago and lost the
> address.
>

Mountain Equipment Co-op has a battery powered strobe - the real kind, with
a flashtube, not a bunch of LED's - for about $13. Looks like a small
standard flashlight, has a couple of coloured lenses you can attach over
(instead of?) the clear one. I would have bought one except that there's
already a flashtube strobe on the back of what I ride.

Flashtubes are _way_ brighter than LED's.

Travis C

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Jul 27, 2003, 10:40:27 AM7/27/03

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Mel

Try www.lightmanstrobes.com we use these on the railroad and are visible a
good distance.

Travis

"Mel Long" <m...@knifemaker.ws> wrote in message
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boy@yahoo.com Review Boy

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Jul 27, 2003, 12:37:08 PM7/27/03

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Hi jt -

I could not find a flashtube at MEC's Web site. Do you recall the make and
model?

Thanks.

"jt" <jta...@spamkiller.hfx.andara.com> wrote in message
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boy@yahoo.com Review Boy

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Jul 27, 2003, 12:40:08 PM7/27/03

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Hi John -

What sort of battery life do you see with the Emerson 18-LED flasher?

Thanks.

"BentHeadSWB" <benth...@cs.com> wrote in message
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jt

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Jul 27, 2003, 5:27:28 PM7/27/03

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"Review Boy" <review b...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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> Hi jt -
>
> I could not find a flashtube at MEC's Web site. Do you recall the make
and
> model?
>
> Thanks.

If you search from the main page with "strobe" you get item number 4018-137.

boy@yahoo.com Review Boy

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Jul 27, 2003, 5:50:41 PM7/27/03

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jt -

Aaah, there it is. Thanks very much!

How do you attach it to your bicycle?

"jt" <jta...@spamkiller.hfx.andara.com> wrote in message

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Niteynite1

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Jul 27, 2003, 6:29:40 PM7/27/03

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Damn! I thought this thread was about cute women flashing when recumbent riders
go by.

Curses!

Will
I drive a Kia. My cell phone is a NOkia. I am so confused.

Dave Clary

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Jul 27, 2003, 7:42:00 PM7/27/03

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On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 21:27:10 -0600, "Mel Long" <m...@knifemaker.ws>
wrote:

I don't know if this qualifies as "cheap", but it's damn bright. It's
a genuine strobe and you can see it forever. It is a battery hog so I
used rechargeable batteries with mine. You can find it by searching
on Lightman Strobe. Here's what one looked liked mounted to the back
of my P-38:

http://www.geocities.com/texasp38/269.html
>
Dave Clary/Corpus Christi, Tx
EZ-1SC Pilot (Texas P-38 Squadron Retired)
Home: http://home.stx.rr.com/dclary
Never Forget: http://www.politicsandprotest.org

Mark Leuck

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Jul 27, 2003, 11:28:22 PM7/27/03

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Do you have any pictures of the rest of that bike?

"Dave Clary" <dcl...@stx.rr.com> wrote in message
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Dave Clary

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Jul 27, 2003, 11:47:10 PM7/27/03

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On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 03:28:22 GMT, "Mark Leuck" <m..leuck@comcast.net>
wrote:

>Do you have any pictures of the rest of that bike?

Bunches.

http://www.geocities.com/texasp38/TexasP38.html

Jerry Rhodes

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Jul 28, 2003, 11:19:26 AM7/28/03

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"Review Boy" <review b...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<vi8035o...@corp.supernews.com>...

>
> What sort of battery life do you see with the Emerson 18-LED flasher?

John is right. About the best $10.00 you will ever spend.

As to battery life....I have been using mine regularly for 3 years and
the batteries seem to still be good.

I estimate about 300 to 400 hours in that time so far (I use it in
flasher mode only). I expect to replace the batteries in the next
couple of months.

On daylight rides I get many comments from other cyclists about how
far they were able to see the light in the daylight. A great
attention getter.

Jerry

Dean Arthur

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Aug 5, 2003, 1:02:40 PM8/5/03

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There's a line of small clip-on single and multi-LED flashers which use
AA-batts. I've found them in drug stores but not ONE bike shop in
Jackson Hole offered them up until I stopped commuting there in July,
2001. I used a five-LED flasher while on airport ramp during dark
operations. Received much favorable comment from pilots of our Air
Wisconsin and United jets.

Dean Arthur

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Aug 5, 2003, 1:06:36 PM8/5/03

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>...Flashtubes are _way_ brighter than LED's.

Maybeso, but I used LED type on airport ramp at night year-round and
received much favorable comment from pilots who sometimes couldn't spot
flashlight wands. Hate to think what strobe-types might have done to
their night vision.

Dean Arthur

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Aug 5, 2003, 1:08:05 PM8/5/03

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>...How do you attach it...?

VELCRO, after duct tape comes VELCRO!!

Sticker Jim

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Sep 1, 2003, 2:15:36 AM9/1/03

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Try one of these. They work great and need no batteries - ever. The faster
you go the more often they flash and the visibility is good from the rear.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3624298631&category=22689

Joshua Goldberg

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Sep 1, 2003, 8:36:59 AM9/1/03

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Cute Flasher idea (except there is a flaw), what happens when you pull to
the curb or stop for traffic and come to a dead stop. Your bent stops being
visible, which does not sound real healthy to me. What it should have is a
way to store some of the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable battery.
Then when the wheel stops turning, the battery takes over.
***************************
"Sticker Jim" <m...@here.com> wrote in message
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Just zis Guy, you know?

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Sep 1, 2003, 5:17:58 PM9/1/03

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On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 08:36:59 -0400, "Joshua Goldberg"
<evsol...@bellnet.ca> wrote:

> What it should have is a
>way to store some of the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable battery.
>Then when the wheel stops turning, the battery takes over.

I have this on my 'bent - and the magnetic gizmo powers the headlight
as well. But the magnetic gizmo cost some big bucks...

It's SON of course ;-)

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony.
http://www.chapmancentral.com
New! Improved!! Now with added extra Demon!

lan...@comcast.net

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Sep 8, 2003, 6:43:05 PM9/8/03

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What do you mean the 'magnetic gizmo cost some big bucks'? Doesn't the
light come with the gizmo to generate the electricity? Or were you
referring to the storage gizmo? What's big bucks? $10, $20, or more?

Chuck

GeoB

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Sep 9, 2003, 4:57:04 PM9/9/03

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> way to store some of the extra energy in an onboard rechargeable battery.
> Then when the wheel stops turning, the battery takes over.

I have a great flashlight on my christmas list. It is white LED, has
transparent plastic case, floats, has NO battery at all! It has a
coil of wire (you can see it in there) and a metal slug that slides
back and forth through the coil when you shake it. That motion
generates a current that charges a small capacitor. The capacitor
powers the LED for up to 5 minutes (advertised). I saw one, and used
it, in Hawaii this last summer. Solid item, well-built. Gotta have
it.

http://www.foreverled.homestead.com/deluxled.html

Don't see why this wouldn't work with an LED flasher, except maybe the
flasher would run longer. I 'spose a person could patch in a
capacitor for the flasher.

Sticker Jim

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Sep 9, 2003, 8:42:00 PM9/9/03

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Actually, it has that covered too :) There is a horizontal row of 3 LEDs.
Just above and below the LEDs are two bands of reflective material similar
to what is found on normal bike reflectors and the rear end of the light is
rounded so it covers more of an arc to the rear rather than basically
straight back.. Anything approaching from the rear area with lights on,
will llight up the relective areas like a normal reflector.

"Joshua Goldberg" <evsol...@bellnet.ca> wrote in message
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Sticker Jim

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Sep 9, 2003, 8:47:40 PM9/9/03

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Actually, as I'm a windmill builder too, the "magnet gizmo" is not an issue
and I was thinking about turbo charging the lighting system with no
mechanical drag to your bike. All that is required is making a small coil
of something like 16 to 20 gauge wire, and you could hang two or more on
each side of a wheel. Get some good neodimium magnets from a place like
otherpower.com and fasten 2 or 4 to your spokes. As I'm not an electronics
guru, it might require a cap, rectifier or resistor to smooth out or limit
the power output so as not to blow your LEDs at higher rpms. It should
provide more than enough juice to power both a headlight and a tailight at
low rpms, and again, there would be no need for the friction associated with
hub and wheel generators.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <guy.c...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
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