Spotlight, LEDs and location

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56G80S
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Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by 56G80S »

I've read loads of threads about the LEDs and did have LEDs all round, includinjg on the trail the Matchless pulls and the indicators.

I'm not happy with the beam or my personal problem with depth perception seeming to be different with the LED headlight so have refitted the Halogen. But I was thinking of fitting a spotlight focussed on the "kerb". Where I ride at night, not a lot, there often is no kerb; just muddy edge and then a ditch with a hedge behind it.

Firstly, only seem to be able to find small LED spotlights in 12v or operating in a range 4v-84v. I run 6v and too tight to replace all those LEDs, and flasher unit I have in place as required by cutting the wire for a 12v system (V reg II). Any suggestions?

Wanted a small unit because although I did put nice new stainless fittings for the front numberplate I haven't refitted it. I thought a little LED spotlight would maybe fit on there with maybe a little bracket work. I thought it would pick out the edge of the road nicely wired in with the dip beam. Don't really want a pair mounted on the handlebar fairing.

Thoughts welcomed even if it's - leave it as it is you fool.

Thought I'd beat you to it Sprid.

Johnny B
JimFitz
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by JimFitz »

How about a badge bar / crashbar mounted through the front sidecar mount with a pair of - dare I say it - scooter spotlamps. They may only be available with 12v globes but 6v LEDs are now available for most fittings.
I have LEDs all round on my G12 outfit and I am disappointed with the headlamp so I have bought a couple of classic spotlamps from a bike jumble and plan to fit one or both using LEDs and wire them to the main beam circuit.

Jim
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SPRIDDLER
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by SPRIDDLER »

56G80S wrote:
Thoughts welcomed even if it's - leave it as it is you fool.

Thought I'd beat you to it Sprid.

Johnny B
No John, I fully appreciate the sense in that. I have to resort to focusing short and close on the nearside verge/hedge/ditch when blinded by today's piercing oncoming car lights. Those high intensity blue ones are particularly troublesome. My pet beef is oncoming drivers approaching a bend in minor roads on full beam who must be able to see my lights illuminating the hedge or whatever (whether I'm on 2 or 4 wheels) before they reach the bend but don't dip until their lights are full in my face. I even resort to the sailor's trick to retain night vision by closing one eye briefly.
I haven't really thought it through but maybe a suitably small spotlight might be the type that cyclists use. Some of them are extremely powerful. A pal uses one on the all night Westward Ho! run with great effect.

Later....
If the cyclist lamp is a different voltage to your bike it can be switched via a relay in the dip beam circuit. However most LED lamps are quite tolerant WRT voltage so your 6v should be O.K. to power one.
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Which taken at the flood............'
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Duncan
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by Duncan »

John, if you just need 12v for one light it is possible to get a 6v to 12v step-up converter, I have no experience of these so would be interested to hear how you get on if you try one, the following is an example not a recommendation: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-5V-6V-7V- ... SwJV1Z3fWq
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Rob Harknett
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by Rob Harknett »

Would 2 x 12v LED's wired in series make 24v. or 2 x 12v LED's wired in parallel make 6v ? I am sure that happens with loud speaker ohms. I am sure I have seen 4 x 8 ohm speakers wire in series /parallel will result in 8 ohm. Over to the experts.
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by g5wqian »

i know what you mean about the LED not having the depth of light etc , its especially worse on wet roads .

i use one of the modern lucas headlamps with my led headlight bulb but it is a markably better light with the original bpf bulb in place .
the led hardly uses any current but i recently had a problem with a flat battery and didnt notice the dynamo wasnt charging .

with a decent load on the dynamo you can see if it charging easily but with the LED it doesnt deflect the ammeter enough to visibly detect any problems with or the fact it is charging .

i have a new ammeter in place and have rebuilt the dynamo [that had took on oil ] and refitted the old bpf bulb , this then shows a good deflection on the ammeter and also shows the charging level easily .
the light output from the old bulb is better .

i would prefer using the LED for the fact of the low load upon the dynamo and fact i could run headlight all the time in the day , but at present i have opted for LED sidelights and old bpf headlight and see how it goes .

i dont do much night riding but i know how you feel about the oncoming headlights dazzling you , it seems that almost every new car dazzles yet the old halogen lighted cars dont cause the problem .

there also seems to be a never increasing number of cars with defective headlights these days , either one not working or one beaming up in the air and at oncoming traffic .

we do have one thing worth noting to our benefit though , the new ULEZ zone in london , historic vehicles are exempt , so you can run your old 2 stroke or flat tanker or 7R tyre smoker straight through the centre of it free of charge .
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by leswaller »

I would go with Duncan's suggestion. I run two 12v LED spots from one of these units without any problems. The lights are mounted on the crash/badge bar and the 6v-12v converter is mounted in the tool box.
Incidentally I have mounted a second converter which supplies power to my Garmin Sat Nav as Garmin units dont work unless you use their proprietary charging lead which will only accept 12v. Most other Sat Navs will work off 6v as the units themselves only require 5.4v.
Les
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56G80S
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by 56G80S »

That's a great response and typical of this Club.

Quite a bit to chew on, particulary the step up idea. Does that increase the load ? I only have the short dynamo and hence only 42 odd watts to play with. It was recently rebuilt and is working very well. I think that may be the way I'll go

I was avoiding a pair as I wasn't keen on looking like a car some distance away - although that's unlikely bearing in mind the centre headlamp. Suppose it could look like an early P4 (?) Rover! Also the cost of a "crash" bar puts me off. Poprtugal IJR looking dicey on that front.

I also thought a lower level light could work better for just lighting up the road edge.

What had really got me onto this was the dreadful ride I had along the south coast after coming back from Celles sur Belle IJR. Thought it would be easy to find a BnB or cheap hotel but there was some kind of festival on. So then up to North London to stay at sister in law's. It was a good job I was so fatigued that fear didn't come into play much.

Johnny B
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Tommy RE
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by Tommy RE »

"I was avoiding a pair as I wasn't keen on looking like a car some distance away - although that's unlikely bearing in mind the centre headlamp. Suppose it could look like an early P4 (?) Rover! Also the cost of a "crash" bar puts me off. Poprtugal IJR looking dicey on that front."

Perhaps if I'd looked like a car, that fool woman wouldn't have pulled out on me wrecking my bike :headbang:

I have used a step up converter, and it doesn't seem to affect the output of the dynamo..

Regards,

Tommy RE
56G80S
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Re: Spotlight, LEDs and location

Post by 56G80S »

Parts arrived today,

One of the attactions of these was that they don't do all that cycle round three options which I read was a bind and the syling isn't so out there that they'll look out of place.

and



on the step up I went for the 2amp one as I'll only be running the 2 spots at most but probably only one.

Plan to just put a toggle switch and wire separately from everything else............................................................................

because the rest is only 6v! I'll need to look at the threads elsewhere on the forum about how to use relays - I know they're there so don't spend time telling me how.

Hope I don't over stress the front mudguard because that's where I plan to put it, using the holes for the number plate (which means I'll have a spare pair of those stainless mounting bolts).

Johnny B
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