Cateye HL-500 bulb upgrade.
Keiron
If possible I want to increase the brightness of my Cateye HL-500, yes
the most common of all bicycle lights.
How should I achieve this? New bulb? Higher voltage batteries (do these
exist? 1.5V Cs for example?)?
The light looks like this one:
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=7968
The bulb is the GH182 from this list:
http://www.reflectalite.com/halogenpage.html
This site also suggests bulb alternatives but non are listed for this.
Does anyone have any experience in upgrading the bulb in this headlight?
The average output according to the table is 11 lumens and the bulb can
handle 2.5v, 0.5A and produces 1.25W power. The bulb base is: P13.5S.
This bulb from SJS Cycles:
<http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-Reflectalite-Ltd-2.5-Volt-0.8-Amp-2-
Watt-Push-Fit-Pre-Focus-Halogen-Bulb-GH155-4322.htm>
Or TinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/mfj45s
Is 0.8A and 2W and says is for the HL-500. Can I expect a decent
brightness increase or should I go slightly higher and devise some
rudimentary heatsink device from foil?
Additionally/Alternatively, what can I do to push a slightly higher
voltage through the existing bulb? Is it possible to buy standard size/
designations of cells with a slightly higher voltage? A quick google
suggests not but checking if there's some specialist alternative of which
I don't know.
Cheers
Keiron
TYPO:
Where I say 1.5V Cs I mean rechargeables. Although are there non-
rechargeables at above 1.5V?
Clive George
news:EKCfm.18965$0h2....@newsfe01.ams2...
> Hello all.
>
> If possible I want to increase the brightness of my Cateye HL-500, yes
> the most common of all bicycle lights.
>
> How should I achieve this? New bulb? Higher voltage batteries (do these
> exist? 1.5V Cs for example?)?
Boring answer : new lamp. Something LED based. Much better than faffing
around modding a crappy HL-500.
Re voltage - your rechargables are 1.2V rather than 1.5, and IIRC that lamp
is a 2 cell unit, so you're never going to do brilliantly with ot. Rejigging
it to take 5 rechargable cells and a 6V bulb would win you a lot. But see
above :-)
Keiron
> "Keiron" <po...@NOSPAMsheffield.ac.uk> wrote in message
> news:EKCfm.18965$0h2....@newsfe01.ams2...
>> Hello all.
>>
>> If possible I want to increase the brightness of my Cateye HL-500, yes
>> the most common of all bicycle lights.
>>
>> How should I achieve this? New bulb? Higher voltage batteries (do these
>> exist? 1.5V Cs for example?)?
Hi Clive,
> Boring answer : new lamp. Something LED based. Much better than faffing
> around modding a crappy HL-500.
Yeah appreciate this and in fact already have other, superior
alternatives. Just want to 'faff' for.... fun I guess.
> Re voltage - your rechargables are 1.2V rather than 1.5, and IIRC that
> lamp is a 2 cell unit, so you're never going to do brilliantly with ot.
> Rejigging it to take 5 rechargable cells and a 6V bulb would win you a
> lot. But see above :-)
I wouldn't mind rigging it with an external battery pack but I don't want
to go crazy with the mods hence I'm not sure 6 V wouldn't melt the thing
without serious (and then even more senseless) upgrading than I'm already
suggesting.
I have however just spotted a 2.8 volt bulb running at 2.25 watt which I
venture might not run too hot but then how do I apply the extra 0.3V to
the bulb to take advantage of this?
Thanks
someone
Dry cell batteries do have differing working voltages due to internal
resistance 1.5v is the nominal working voltage. filament bulb are
always over volted. I have used a 4 cell lead acid on a 4.8v
filament, it was brilliant. It didn't last long in a hand torch but
did give an incredible amount of light. About 8.5v. I am now using a
6v bulb with the 4cell gel lead acid battery which seems ok. I think
4.8v running 8v may work longer on a bicycle with some cooling air.
You need to get a higher wattage bulb anyway and then check each brand
of batteries you use for working voltage in mid life.
Back to dry cells. Surprisingly, the cheaper cells can perform better
in this respect (high working voltage) although may not give the
lifespan. It all depends how cheap you can buy whether it is worth
prusuing with filament systems. Or reclaim the cells. Get halogen
bulbs (krypton) and seriously overvolt them if you can.
If the lamp gives a good pattern I think it is worthwhile trying to
get more light. The worst that can happen is that you will melt the
reflector, but at least it will have worked well for a short while.
So go for an external battery if need be and dont pay too much
attention to bulb voltage versus battery voltage. If it lives, burns
white and does not blacken the bulb you have a success.
Maplin have halogen torch bulbs. Some electrical wholesalers (trade)
also stock low voltage bulbs.
someone
Start with three ni-cads. You really want to be running 3w. With
overvolting you will probably get this with a white light. 3 ni-cads
will run about 3.6v two dry cells probably wont give enough
illumination. It is trial and error to get white light and good bulb
life. Always carry a safe running spare bulb (near to supply voltage)
for when the over volted bulb blows (not necessarily).
landotter
> "Keiron" <po...@NOSPAMsheffield.ac.uk> wrote in message
>
> news:EKCfm.18965$0h2....@newsfe01.ams2...
>
> > Hello all.
>
> > If possible I want to increase the brightness of my Cateye HL-500, yes
> > the most common of all bicycle lights.
>
> > How should I achieve this? New bulb? Higher voltage batteries (do these
> > exist? 1.5V Cs for example?)?
>
> Boring answer : new lamp. Something LED based. Much better than faffing
> around modding a crappy HL-500.
No kidding. And cheap too. The Planet Bike range has a good
performance to cost ratio.
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/headlights.html
Or get a good bottle generator system and never fool with batteries
again.
someone
Using a 'lantern battery' pj996 or something like that, with a flex
attatched to the bulb and terminated in two croc clips makes the most
reliable front lamp system. No switch, no unreliable battery
contact, the only connexions are solder from the bulb to the wire and
from the wire to the clips and the clips to the battery which is
sealed. Even the croc clips can be done away with and the wire
soldered to the battery terminal with a small butane torch. Something
else to fit in my bar bag. Probably better to clamp the last wire to
the spring battery terminal with a connexion block or crimp.
Frank Krygowski
My advice, based on direct experience:
Forget it. Buy another headlamp.
I tried _exactly_ what you're discussing many years ago. I fitted
some higher wattage halogen bulbs, because I did like Cateye's beam.
(Sorry, don't remember exactly what bulbs.) It worked quite well for
about 20 minutes, IIRC. Then the lights went out. The heat from the
bulbs flanges softened the reflectors until the bulbs lost contact
with their electrical connections. At that point, the reflectors were
not quite toast, but never the same.
If you wait a year or two, there may be much brighter LED replacements
for most of the filament bulbs listed at Reflectalite. (I'm only
guessing, but I see that happening for flashlight bulbs and night
light bulbs right now.) If that happens, you can resurrect your
headlights easily.
I just gave someone the $40 Planet Bike 1 Watt LED light as a gift.
It's the first small headlight I've tested that I consider pretty much
equal to my good generator setup. Except, of course, that it lacks
the "no battery, no theft, always ready on the bike" benefits of a
generator light, and its optics, like most such lights, could be way
better.
My advice, assuming you're not a generator guy:
Since LED technology is advancing as rapidly as computer chip
technology did in the 1980s, or digital cameras in the 2000s, you
should watch the progress until you spot your personal "good enough."
Then buy something, and don't worry that it will be outmoded in a year
or two. And realize that spending $40 saved you at least five hours
of work... or unproductive experimenting. And your time is worth
that, no?
The Planet Bike will probably be "good enough" for most people. It
will surely blow your Cateyes away!
- Frank Krygowski
Frank Krygowski
>
> Re voltage - your rechargables are 1.2V rather than 1.5, and IIRC that lamp
> is a 2 cell unit, so you're never going to do brilliantly with ot. Rejigging
> it to take 5 rechargable cells and a 6V bulb would win you a lot. But see
> above :-)
About the 1.5 V vs. 1.2 V: It's not usually a problem. Here's why.
The voltage measurements quoted are measured at zero current flow. In
practice, when batteries are powering a light, they produce _less_
voltage at the bulb, because the batteries have internal resistance.
The more current flow, the less voltage they produce.
How much less? It depends not only on the current flow, but on the
type of battery. Serendipitously, rechargeables have much less
internal resistance than non-rechargeable batteries. So in practice,
two 1.2 V rechargeables produce almost exactly the same voltage at the
bulb as two 1.5 V NiCads. At least, that's what I found when I
measured them a few times.
Now, about over-volting bulbs: If you apply more than the rated
voltage to a bulb, you'll get brighter light out of it, and you'll get
more efficiency, but _much_ reduced life. Some filament bulbs (like
those once used for important indicator lamps) are designed to last a
long, long time under their rated voltage, but to do that, they accept
low brightness and low efficiency. Ovr-volting them a bit may not
matter.
Bike headlight bulbs tend to be designed at the other end of the
scale. They're already sort of over-volted compared to other bulbs,
since bikes aren't ridden all that much at night, and people want them
to be bright. Pushing them harder will probably give much shorter
life. Maybe still satisfactory for you, depending how much you ride
at night - but carry spares!
- Frank Krygowski
someone
Because of difficulty obtaining Wonder batteries, 4.5v flat lantern, I
made up a 4 cell ni-cad pack. The bulb did blacken although I dont
know what its rating was. I changed the pack to a three cell unit,
like the original zinc battery, which did OK with the slightly
blackened bulb. When Duracell's offerings in the 4.5v battery were
commonplace I then used these which were better running than the
nicads.
timan...@gmail.com
The first upgrade I did was to buy another HL-500 and run them both together.
A little while later, I upgraded to 6v 6W halogen globes (bulb GH15 at Reflectalite.com) and run them both of a 6v4AHr sealed lead acid battery (which fit nicely in a small camera bag which sit snuggly in my drink bottle holder). This was a significant improvement in lighting output and served me well for many years - I also did this upgrade for a friend who just had one light, but was so impressed with my upgrade, and my brother did the same upgrade on his pair of HL-500s. (I soldered wires onto the battery terminals inside and drilled a small hole in the back lower corner (near the switch) and put them both on the same switch so I could turn them on/off together. The switch got hot at some point and melted and I had to replace it with a proper switch).
Just last year, I did a further upgrade by replacing the 6v6W halogen globes with 1.5-9v 1W LED globes (NL322 at Reflectalite.com) - this further increased brightness but more significantly reduced the load on the battery so that instead of having 1.5 to 2 hours of lighting before needing to recharge, the battery should now last more than 10 hours before needing a recharge.
If you wanted to, you could use the NL322 LED globe with your existing C-sized batteries (note the brightness is virtually constant over the whole voltage range of the globe (ie. anywhere from 1.5 to 9v - a pair of C-sized batteries is 3v, or 2.4v for rechargeables) - this would save you the trouble of rewiring the lights as well as buying a SLA battery and charger, etc. For longer rides you could just carry spare C-sized batteries as required.
sms
> If you wanted to, you could use the NL322 LED globe with your existing C-sized batteries (note the brightness is virtually constant over the whole voltage range of the globe (ie. anywhere from 1.5 to 9v - a pair of C-sized batteries is 3v, or 2.4v for rechargeables) - this would save you the trouble of rewiring the lights as well as buying a SLA battery and charger, etc. For longer rides you could just carry spare C-sized batteries as required.
NL322 bulb is rated at 120 lumens.
You can buy a 500 lumen light that uses C batteries for $15, and it has
two brightnesses plus a flash mode, and it zooms from spot to flood.
James
unless there is a switch to use them as high beam only with a properly
shaped low beam light for normal urban use. Ultra bright poorly
directed torch lights are a hazard to the user and others around them.
--
JS
Sir Ridesalot
Cheers
Frank Krygowski
does it compare with the original bulbs?
IIRC, in that era, Cateye did a better job of fitting the beam to the
road than most manufacturers of similar bike lights. I'm wondering if
their optics still worked well with that LED.
--
- Frank Krygowski
sms
<snip>
> Oh, you mean a torch. Those things should be banned on road bikes,
> unless there is a switch to use them as high beam only with a properly
> shaped low beam light for normal urban use. Ultra bright poorly
> directed torch lights are a hazard to the user and others around them.
ideal as you're likely to get for bicycle lights.
While some people may aim their light to high, they can do this with any
light, bicycle-specific or not. And of course many bicycle specific
lights have symmetrical beams anyway.
Old style, low power, bicycle lights often have a beam with a horizontal
cutoff that directs the limited available light onto the road surface
directly in front of the bicycle. These focused beams are a compromise
necessitated by the lack of sufficient power. Unless all of your night
riding takes place on well-lit streets these lights should be avoided
because they do not provide proper illumination for safe riding.
Proper bicycle lights have a beam that's nearly symmetrical. This is for
two reasons. First, because it's critical to cast some light off to the
sides so vehicles approaching from the right or left can see you coming.
Second, because it's vital to have some light shine slightly up in order
to see overhead obstacles such as tree branches, and to read street signs).
Sir Ridesalot
Cheers
Frank Krygowski
>
> cutoff that directs the limited available light onto the road surface
> directly in front of the bicycle. These focused beams are a compromise
> necessitated by the lack of sufficient power.
worldwide comes with headlights that have a horizontal cutoff? Ditto for
motorcycles intended for road riding.
In case there's anyone out there still inclined to believe Scharf's
"guerrilla marketing" for his Chinese flashlights, there's this article
explaining proper headlight beams:
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/plight.asp
- Frank Krygowski