Conference noted::bicycle

    A light pointed to the right may help you keep enough distance from the 
    wall.  Another light pointed down in front of the front wheel may help you 
    avoid surprises on the ground.  Those 2 visual cues will also help with
    balance.  The trick is having something bright or focused enough.  Those
    tunnels are incredibly dark.  Maybe a visor on your helmet would help 
    shield your eyes from oncoming light.  Perhaps a mirror that reflects 
    oncoming light down and to the side would help.
    
    Those small flashing Vista head (white) and tail (red) lights 
    may warn other vehicles of your presence. You can quickly snap them onto 
    the front and back straps of a backpack.

Thanks for the advice. I am looking for an absolutely minimal setup though. Two
lights are out of the question.

Karol

On looking through the catalogs I see that the VistaLite VL400 comes with a
simple 2watt bulb and takes 4 AA batteries. The Next kight up is the VL410 which
comes with something they call "High power" Ni-Cad rechargable AA batteries.
Everything else about the VL410 is the same as the VL400. Ie. same housing, same
2 watt buld.

So, pardon my dumb question but, what will different NiCad batteries bring to
the equation other than the obvious advantage of being rechargable? Will the
light be brighter with the Ni-Cad batteries even when the bulb is the same 2
watt bulb? What governs the brightness of the light?

Yes, I admit it. I know nothing about electricity.

In the Excel catalog I see a light called the Cateye Hyper Halogen HL-1500 which
they claim is 3 times brighter than their standard light. Has anyone used this
HL-1500 item?

Karol

    NiCads are lighter than alkaline and regular lead acid batteries,
    which is the other main advantage.  For 2 AA's, you're hardly
    going to notice tho.
    

    You might look at note 10 and its replies for what others have done
    to light up the darkness.  For a minimal setup, I would tape a small
    flashlight to the fork.  It would at least make the ground visible
    in front of your front wheel. This is a low speed setup.

    
    	Once a NiCad battery's output drops below a certain point the bat-
    	tery just sort of quits ... it doesn't "dim" like an alkaline does.
    

    Au contraire, my Slabo. I have been running the Night Rider system for
    the last 4 years and can tell you, with undeniable certainty, they
    NiCads do dim... 
    
    In fact, that's my warning signal to go to the single bulb (I have the
    dual bulb system for mountain biking). My bulbs go from a white light
    to a very yellow light.
    
     Chip

    
    	Maybe it depends on the device being powered.  My portable CD
    	player would just shut down without warning.
    

>    You might look at note 10 and its replies for what others have done
>    to light up the darkness.

Before I posted this note I scanned the other notes on lighting. They all seemed
to

   1) be too old,
   or
   2) be for people who wanted to build their own custom lights
   or
   3) talk about lights with heavy external battery packs.

>For a minimal setup, I would tape a small
>    flashlight to the fork.  It would at least make the ground visible
>    in front of your front wheel. This is a low speed setup.

Thanks for the tip but I have already tried the VistaLite 400 and it doesn't cut
it.

So can I assume that so-called high power nicad batteries will not make the same
bulb burn any brighter?

Karol

    > So can I assume that so-called high power nicad batteries will not make 
    > the same bulb burn any brighter?
    
    Correct, if in fact there are no other differences between the lights. 
    Nicads have an output voltage of 1.2V vs. 1.5 for alkalines, and
    therefore might even be dimmer (depending somewhat on the exact
    behavior of the bulb and batteries).
    
    For more light, you need more power; i.e. look for a unit with a higher
    wattage bulb.
    
    Karl

    
    	Just a quick comment ... just because a note is old doesn't mean
    	that you can't post a REPLY there instead of doing a WRITE command
    	to add a new note.
    
    	If next month you decide to buy a light for a poorly lit tunnel
    	[as opposed to an unlit tunnel], will you create another topic for
    	that situation?
    

>    Correct, if in fact there are no other differences between the lights. 
>    Nicads have an output voltage of 1.2V vs. 1.5 for alkalines, and
>    therefore might even be dimmer (depending somewhat on the exact
>    behavior of the bulb and batteries).
    
Not really true!  NiCds NOMINAL voltage is 1.2 and Alkalines NOMINAL voltage 
1.5.  A fully charged NiCd is about 1.45.  It will discharge fairly quickly
to 1.35-1.40 then slowly down to 1.15-1.2.  Once it's at 1.2, you've used
80-90% of the capacity and the voltage will die quickly beyond that
point.   An alkaline starts at 1.5 and drops fairly 
linearly to .9, where it's considered discharged.  An alkaline's
energy capacity will be on the order of half (or less) that of an alkaline
of the same size.  The real tradeoff is: alkalines last longer, NiCds are
rechargeable.

NiMH (nickel metal hydride) has 50% more capacity than NiCd and should
be chargeable in the same charger.  I don't think they're available in
AA size though.

chris (who used to design handheld PCs and had to worry about this stuff)

    Ah, Chris, thanks for the real numbers.
    
    Karl

> An alkaline's
> energy capacity will be on the order of half (or less) that of an alkaline
> of the same size.

Of course Chris meant to say that a *NiCd* has half the capacity of an
alkaline of the same size.

>
>Of course Chris meant to say that a *NiCd* has half the capacity of an
>alkaline of the same size.
>

Of course . . .  Sorry