Aux Lights

[ryo]

Don't count on riding in non-rural areas to avoid deer. I almost hit one one night on one of the Washington DC Beltway exits (Little River Turnpike (Rt. 236) which is right in the middle of a highly populated area - Fairfax County). and I did hit one, one afternoon in suburban Pittsburgh (where during season there is deer road kill everywhere). I swear they are suicidal, and my policy even before I hit the one deer is to slow down, move as far away as possible, and be prepared for a panic stop). BTW, I hit the deer (center punched it) at about 30-35 mph (50-60 kph) - it totaled the deer, totaled the bike, and almost totaled my shoulder. A herd came out from behind a stack of Jersey barriers, I slammed on the brakes, moved as close to the jersey barriers as I could, had them all missed and the last one in line for whatever reason turned around and leaped right in fromt of me. Count on them to do the dumbest thing possible and try to detect them as early os possible.

 

[Daboo]

Good lighting doesn't always help. I took an early Saturday morning ride in a rural area. A deer that I didn't even know existed, bounded out in front of me. I veered left and grabbed the brakes as hard as I could. I felt like I could count the hairs on her rump only a couple feet in front of me, for what seemed like a lifetime. Eventually, I slowed more than her speed as she was running for all she was worth. We both parted without sharing any paint or fur, with our hearts pounding a lot more than a few minutes before.

FWIW, those 10W LED lamps put out 1500 lumens. A standard H4 halogen using 55W, puts out 1550 lumens. The Model 44 puts out 2000 lumens in a flood light pattern. The Model 60 puts out 3600 lumens, again in a flood light pattern. If you want to read more, check out LED Auxiliary Lights - Page 189 - ADVrider

The low current use of these lights will leave more available output for things like heated grips and heated clothing. And you don't sacrifice light output.

Just to be clear, I have no financial interest in this guy's business. I just like to pass on things that are "good deals" that I've found work.

Chris

 

[Beemerphile]

FWIW, those 10W LED lamps put out 1500 lumens. A standard H4 halogen using 55W, puts out 1550 lumens. The Model 44 puts out 2000 lumens in a flood light pattern. The Model 60 puts out 3600 lumens, again in a flood light pattern. If you want to read more, check out LED Auxiliary Lights - Page 189 - ADVrider

I have read it. Nobody is yet getting a sustainable in-actual-use 150 lumens per watt. Manufacturers like CREE test their LED chips on lab benches at room temperature with short pulses that produce a high efficacy that cannot be achieved in practical use. It is not uncommon to see efficacy losses of up to 40%. In actual extended use, they would be doing good to put out 800-900 lumens. If you put an ammeter in line with an LED light and turn it on, you will find that the amperage is highest at start-up and then goes down as the lamp heats up. The final current times the system voltage is the wattage of the lamp. The heat dissipation capability of the housing has an impact on the operating temperature and thus the output. Lumen measurement should be done on the actual lamp at operating conditions by a 3rd party laboratory. Taking the manufacturers rating times the number of LED's gets a much higher number but it is useless for comparison.

I have a set of Rigid Dually D2's made in USA with massive finned aluminum housings that are rated at 2600 lumens for 28 watts. I don't believe that the Chinese lights sold by ADV Monster are getting 50% better efficacy. I have two sets of the Tesla lights that appear to be identical to the 44's. The housings are not good heat dissipators and one of the lights failed during my testing. So, I will use them as back-up lights on my high speed 48 mph army truck but not the motorcycle.

And as far as finding deer, I don't think my 2600 lumen D2's are up to the task either.

 

[Daboo]

Lee, I bow in humble admiration of your technical expertise in these matters. And I'm not trying to be snide or anything. Some people have gifts for making modifications to their bikes, and you definitely do. And you do your homework to make sure you do it with the best possible equipment.

I'm just offering an alternative I found works well for me in hopes it might work for someone else. I have no idea of how much current drop the lights have; I just know they work. My pastor looked at them in the daylight and said it is like looking into the sun. I don't think I'd notice much improvement to the light at night if they were only 800-900 lumens...but I do see a big improvement over the dual H4 lights I have on my bike. If these work this well, I suspect the more powerful versions do too. The comments on ADVRider.com are for the most part, very favorable. The only things I noticed were some people who were using them off-road needed stronger brackets...which are offered now. And there were a couple people who had some issues electrically, but in reading their comments, you had to wonder if they knew what they were doing. The customer support comments have been excellent too.

I wouldn't have paid $415 for something like the Duelly D2s to see if they'd work like I wanted them to. But I could swing a little over $100 for these LED lights and take the chance they'd work as planned. (I had mounting issues to solve, that the NC700X doesn't have.) If I couldn't solve the mounting issue, I wasn't out much money. If I could...great. They may be made in China, but are holding up just fine. I've had them for a little more than a year and over 17,000 miles. That's a lot of use and a lot of bouncing up and down to jiggle things loose. If they were going to fail because of being cheaply made, they probably would've already.

So if someone is looking for a low cost alternative, these might be worth considering.

Chris

 

[Beemerphile]

Lee, I bow in humble admiration of your technical expertise in these matters. And I'm not trying to be snide or anything. Some people have gifts for making modifications to their bikes, and you definitely do. And you do your homework to make sure you do it with the best possible equipment.

I'm just offering an alternative I found works well for me in hopes it might work for someone else. I have no idea of how much current drop the lights have; I just know they work. My pastor looked at them in the daylight and said it is like looking into the sun. I don't think I'd notice much improvement to the light at night if they were only 800-900 lumens...but I do see a big improvement over the dual H4 lights I have on my bike. If these work this well, I suspect the more powerful versions do too. The comments on ADVRider.com are for the most part, very favorable. The only things I noticed were some people who were using them off-road needed stronger brackets...which are offered now. And there were a couple people who had some issues electrically, but in reading their comments, you had to wonder if they knew what they were doing. The customer support comments have been excellent too.

I wouldn't have paid $415 for something like the Duelly D2s to see if they'd work like I wanted them to. But I could swing a little over $100 for these LED lights and take the chance they'd work as planned. (I had mounting issues to solve, that the NC700X doesn't have.) If I couldn't solve the mounting issue, I wasn't out much money. If I could...great. They may be made in China, but are holding up just fine. I've had them for a little more than a year and over 17,000 miles. That's a lot of use and a lot of bouncing up and down to jiggle things loose. If they were going to fail because of being cheaply made, they probably would've already.

So if someone is looking for a low cost alternative, these might be worth considering.

Chris

Chris,

I mis-spoke. Mine are the regular Dually's (4-emitter) not the D2's (6-emitter). I paid $105 each for them. CORRECTION: It was $84.13 each from Amazon. Currently $86.46 each (only $6 more than the ADV Monster 44's) > http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H33ZU6/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_SC_dp_1 The Duallys are rated 1300 lumens and 15 watts each in actual use. My comment was only that the ADV Monster lumen claim for all his lights seemed over-the-top, which would affect the accuracy of lumen-to-lumen comparisons. I still firmly believe this to be the case. I have both lights. Please understand that I am not saying that they would not provide adequate illumination for some people and some purposes. I bought two sets of the 4-emitter lights because I thought they were an unbeatable bargain. Had one of them not failed, they might still be on my bike. For reference, an 800-900 lumen light can blind you quite effectively if the beam pattern is tight. What blinds you is the lux, which is lumens per square meter. Standing in the hot spot of the beam, a 500 lumen light with a 10 degree beam will look just as bright as a 2000 lumen light with a 20 degree beam because they will have the same lumens per square meter, but it will light up one fourth as much road.

As far as the reliability statement, my personal failure experience with the 44 style is one in four. One of them flickers when it is at temperature for over five minutes. Your experience is better than mine and both are valid data points.

 

[Roman K.]

Did anywone try? How you think it is cost these money? Glenda Info Page

 

[Beemerphile]

Did anywone try? How you think it is cost these money? Glenda Info Page

I have seen these. They are incredibly high quality lights with a price to match. The light output of the Glenda did not do what I needed. The Krista would have, but I chose the Dually D2 on the basis of price and size.