What is best ebike lighting available?

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Hello,

I am looking for what is considered the best lights available for an ebike.

I know that "best" can be subjective, so I am looking for something that is very bright, offers a good wide view, probably best if it can run off my main battery pack for simplicity. I'm using 18s Lipo.

I have no idea what is available or what is considered good. Does anyone have any recommendations?

This will be for my high end ebike below. Thanks,

0bfc2453-ad87-4a77-8f0f-099ed045b0e9_zps0b93fb79.jpg
 
Best "plug and play" unit would probably be the Cycle Lumenator from Grin Technologies.
Just wire it into your main pack.

http://www.ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/cycle-lumenator.html

I have an early model and much of the time it is too bright and I have to "tip" it down.
The latest version has a "multible brightness option", a must.
They used to offer a dual mount access., but have dropped it. I guess it was overkill.
 
Depends on your speed.
In a pitch black enviroument, I don't feel I'm over-driving the light on a street/path in the 20mph to 25mph range.
Riding a trail, at night, at full tilt, it probably doesn't focus tight enough(I'm a long time dirt-biker and I know you would be looking as far down the trail as possible).
It's not designed for that. But it outstanding on the peripheral, almost a true 180 degrees.
I would think for fast off-road riding at night, you would need two lights, the Lumenator and a spot.
At any rate, Justin has a video on the blog(Ebike CA)with him riding with a co-worker. Justin is running a Lumenator(perhaps a dual) and the other guy using a more conventional light.
 
I've been looking into lighting myself and I saw this for $15.99US:

56ba1fcc-3b1b-4368-810c-176c284c4373_zps27f5e4da.jpg


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/12V-85V-Universal-Motorcycle-E-bike-20W-LED-Modified-Headlight-Lamp-Gold-/121325730535?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c3f93bae7&vxp=mtr&_uhb=1

It's 20W and universal voltage (12-85 volts). It would save you from having to wire in a dc-dc converter. Not sure if it's any good though and I'm not sure about having 85V leads coming from the battery into the light ready to short.
 
I think it all depends on how much you would like to spend.

Ive been looking into lights for the past few weeks now and from what i have seen on the market and in use i wouldnt be looking for a light no smaller than 20 Watts in power.

you can usually find a decent light bar with 2 to 4, 10 Watt LEDS in it which should suffice. I found this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/351013161776?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649 light bar on ebay which was very cheap compared to a purpose made bike light at only $40 but you will need to make a bracket for it to hold it on. Otherwise your paying $150 and upwards for a decent light like this one
http://www.mtbrevolution.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=220 and the prices just keep going up for very high Quality.

Spend some time Googling LED bike lights and you will be supprised just how many different types are out there and at very low prices compared to purpose made lights, Im going to be using my Grin CA handle bar mount addapted for my light as the CA is now on the Headstem with a different bracket.
 
I got a few lights from Dealextreme, which are supposed to run up to 75V input and they're 600lm and 900lm 3 LEDs per light like the gold light in the above image... I think they were $10 - $15 USD each. not fantastic build quality, and I haven't tested them yet so can't comment, but on the bike they look pretty cool. I found them under the motorcycle headlights section.

Andy
 
Animalector said:
I think they were $10 - $15 USD each. not fantastic build quality, and I haven't tested them yet so can't comment, but on the bike they look pretty cool. I found them under the motorcycle headlights section.

Andy

Yes i found those on DealXtreme also, the bike section lights are no where near as good as the ones in the Motorcycle section and they are cheap too considering there Luman output.

try this site http://www.dx.com/s/motorcycle+headlights
 
I have some of those Dealextreme lights that I got much cheaper from Banggood.com. They're the same but without the aluminium clamp. Stuffed up the middle is a DC/DC converter. They're very bright for a bicycle and I'd recommend them to anybody that wants a light for normal riding: however, they're not as bright as a single Cree T6 XML. The beam is more spread out, so it's difficult to get an exact comparison. They're OK for off-road riding a bicycle at night on unlit cycle paths, but if you want to go fast, I think you need at least two Cree T6 XML emitters.
 
Do you want to ride far away of the traffic or is there a problem with blinding other people?

A super bright light does NOT automatically let you see more, even the opposite can be true. Your eyes will adopt to the brightness and you will see less outside the brightest spot with some super bright lights. Maximum brightness also should NOT be near your bike but in the distance. You need a special reflector for that, a simple symmetrical beam is not suitable.

Of course you can go the "as many lumens as possible" route as many others (note that "Chinese lumens" often differ from real lumens), or you can go the route of improving what you will see. This includes eye adoption and pattern of the beam, even light color.

If you travel in traffic do not blind other people with your light.
 
Cephalotus said:
Do you want to ride far away of the traffic or is there a problem with blinding other people?

A super bright light does NOT automatically let you see more, even the opposite can be true. Your eyes will adopt to the brightness and you will see less outside the brightest spot with some super bright lights. Maximum brightness also should NOT be near your bike but in the distance. You need a special reflector for that, a simple symmetrical beam is not suitable.

Of course you can go the "as many lumens as possible" route as many others (note that "Chinese lumens" often differ from real lumens), or you can go the route of improving what you will see. This includes eye adoption and pattern of the beam, even light color.

If you travel in traffic do not blind other people with your light.

Voice of reason.

I lost count how many times I must stop on lit bridge path because some yahoo is so proud of their 9000 lumen backcountry spotlight.

If you guys use such things (and you know who you are) please don't be a douche with an insanely bright headlight.
 
No matter what light you mount to the handlebars, I still like a helmet mounted light in addition. The added animation gets cagers attention without blinding unless you look right at them. :shock: The handlebar light is there to satisfy the cops. :wink:
 
I find that best is to fit a 12v DC-DC converter and use lights that are common in the automotive. Add a small ballast and you can use HID Xenon lights that will be very white and bright. HID conversion kits for motorcycles are cheap on DX, and after that you can find replacement bulbs locally when needed. On the rear, and for flashers or running lights, you can use 12v automotive Eagle Eyes that are very small, very cheap and available in a variety of colors.
 
Dual Cycle Lumenator for me.

Plug an play up to 100V. I have 24s LiMn so this was the best I can get. Though it's is 100V, my max voltage can be up to 100.8V when i regen on full battery going downhill so I guess there is a little tolerance there. I have the dual multi-brightness version. This is a must because during the day, I dim them down to save some energy. My daily commute is 45 miles and up to 1.5 hours round trip. Using the max brightness, I will burn up to 30Wh just having the lights on at max brightness. This equates to 0.75 miles of riding with my bike. This is not much, but every miles count.

Here are the specs on wattage:
Max: 10W
Medium: 1W
Low: 0W this is what the CA reads. So this is very low. I venture to guess it's around 0.25W, but you will need to get an accurate wattmeter to tell. It also reads 0A on the CA.

Point is multi-birghtness is great to minimize the power consumption and keep things civil when you don't need the max brightness.
 
Just bumping this if anyone has any good ideas for lights over the last year.

Still never got lights for my bike but want them this summer.
 
The above-mentioned lights are only 8$ now. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC12V-80V-20W-Black-LED-Headlight-Handlebar-Light-Waterproof-Lamp-Universal-for-Motorcycle-E-bike-for/32501138512.html?spm=2114.01010208.8.9.kdjnL6
 
Golyo said:
The above-mentioned lights are only 8$ now. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC12V-80V-20W-Black-LED-Headlight-Handlebar-Light-Waterproof-Lamp-Universal-for-Motorcycle-E-bike-for/32501138512.html?spm=2114.01010208.8.9.kdjnL6

Thanks, I may try this. A cheap option is best, at least it will give me an idea of what kind of light I need. And for only $8 you can't go wrong.
 
So much rubbish linked in this thread.... Best eBike light is either a Roxim x4E or a Supernova M99 depending
 
Save he high powered hot spot with overstated lumens output for flashlights. Bike lights are in lux and have great optical management. Saying that, I'd take a crappy light over no light any day hahah
 
I use these, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171907183341?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=470827475619&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT on three of my bikes.
Loads of light and the remote thumb switch is very handy. I run them off a dcdc converter. They run on 8.4 volts when you buy the battery but are totally fine at 12.5 volts from a dcdc.
 
t3sla said:
Does anyone recommend good dcdc for battery to 8.4V use

Problems I found are if your voltage is above 60 volts, there are very few DC-DC converters that can do that higher voltage range to 8.4 volts.

12 volts you can get in that higher voltage range.

You may actually need to use two voltage converters to get 8.4 volts.

But then your bike will start to look like this. I need 12 volts, 8 volts, and 5 volts on my bike. These were supposed to be mounted temporary but have become a permanent fixture on my bike now.



 
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/light-motion-stella-500-light?skid=LTM0105-BL-ONESIZ&CMP_SKU=LTM0105&MER=0406&skid=LTM0105-BL-ONESIZ&CMP_ID=PLA_GOc014&mv_pc=r101&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PLA&CSPID=0914&mr:trackingCode=71591239-FB1B-E411-A23D-001B21BCB944&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=81820584661&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:tid=pla-123470137741&mr:ploc=1015208&mr:iloc=&mr:store=&mr:filter=123470137741&gclid=CIOkrsvirssCFQsDaQodq4ELWQ&gclsrc=aw.ds a long ass link. This light comes with a lithium battery. If you ask they will sell you this light for $100 and no battery. I have a dc dc converter to 12v instead of an extra battery.
 
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