• This topic has 29 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by STATO.
Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 30 total)
  • Anybody tried Green LEDs for solo night rides?
  • stuey
    Free Member

    This seasons first really dark ride with mates, I found all the different quality of beams distracting.
    [Our solution was to get everyone to run on ‘medium’ to prevent white out ]

    I remember some folk talking about green lights to improve definition.
    Forth are doing some greenies.
    – Before I jerry one together – has anybody had experience with green lights?

    cbike
    Free Member

    You need a mixed spectrum (white) to see well.
    Pure Red and Green or Blue on their own can be very disorientating. All the green or red cones or rods will fire until they get exhausted. Then you’ll be stuck with after images in the other colours.

    I find halogen headlights easier to see by than modern discharge or LED. Brighter not always better.

    Adding green sounds like a technical way to alter colour temp. could do that with a filter.

    aphex_2k
    Free Member

    Take some green plastic and put it over your usual lights. Ride for 5m, then take it off with the realisation that green is cack. Very little penetration (oooer missus) into the darkness. Same with red. Good for close up reading maps etc when you dont want to screw up your night vision but pants for high intensity situations, IME.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    stuey
    Free Member

    aphex_2k – surely if I put a ‘cell’ over a light I’ll be reducing intensity – so it won’t be as bright/penetrating ?

    – will try tonight-

    creamegg
    Free Member

    I nearly went for the 4Fourth green LED based on their recommendation / preference but they did point out that it dosent work too well if you have a different coloured headlight. I went for their standard Holy Moses in the end, which is awesome. Good power, throw and spread. Battery life is good too (largest battery).

    stuey
    Free Member

    creamegg – do you get a similar problem if cycling in a mixed group?

    creamegg
    Free Member

    I went for the standard white light so no issues.

    edit: I didn’t go for the green as I had a Hope R4 headlight so they recommended also going for a white on the handlebars

    nemesis
    Free Member

    Oh god, we’ve reached the point where lights are now more than bright enough so people are now looking for stupid things to try and supposedly improve the experience…

    sandwicheater
    Full Member

    stupid things to try and supposedly improve the experience…

    I’ve stuck a wedge of lemon on my light. Makes the light vibrant and fresh.

    STATO
    Free Member

    I find halogen headlights easier to see by than modern discharge or LED. Brighter not always better.

    Ditto. Rode with someone running old 12/20W lumis last week and the level of detail on the grpund you could see was way superior to cheap but much brighter led or expensive exposure stuff. I think the brighter led allowed faster riding but halogen colour was much better in twisty rooty stuff or areas where leaf littler made spotting roots difficult.

    Oh god, we’ve reached the point where lights are now more than bright enough so people are now looking for stupid things to try and supposedly improve the experience…

    I find the pure white lights pretty crap for actually seeing where I am going, and the brighter they get the crapper they are. Everything just gets bleached out and becomes one dimensional.

    I prefer the old yellow halogen lights for seeing in the dark so a warm yellow LED would be my choice.

    I’ve not tried them, but I believe this is the thinking behind the Green LEDs.

    EDIT: just like wot Stato said above.

    stuey
    Free Member

    nemesis – like i said in op – we all agreed to run low – which solved the issue. However I noticed the difference in LED BINs / colour / spread and was wondering what ‘tone’ was best – I thought human green cones are more sensitive / ‘evolved round plants’ ?

    ‘Just a hobby’ – not trying to convert the world to LED BIN obsession.

    – Edit just seen posting above + a green OHT pen – green U2 here I come 🙂

    offthebrakes
    Free Member

    I took part in some testing for Four4th when they were developing the green LEDs – comparing the green LEDs and the standard LEDs back to back.

    I found the green LEDs gave better definition and less glare back off the trail. They were particularly good in the twilight period before it is fully dark where I tend to find standard LEDs struggle a bit.

    Funnily enough –

    I find halogen headlights easier to see by than modern discharge or LED.

    – they felt somewhat halogen-like in this respect (albeit unsurprisingly far more powerful than my ancient halogen light). The beam colour is warmer than standard LEDs, it seems more yellow than green when projected onto the terrain (which is largely green anyway) – although looking directly at the LEDs they are definitely green!

    Most other riders doing the test seemed to agree, although one rider who needs fairly strong glasses felt the opposite, so they are not for everyone. Four4th do have demo sets you can try so it is well worth contacting them to find out.

    As others have said, mixing a green helmet light with a standard bar light or vice versa doesn’t really give much benefit, so if you are supplementing an existing light then bear this in mind.

    I’m not claiming to be unbiased as I race for Four4th so obviously I would recommend the lights, but when it came to choosing green vs standard (with my own money!), I went for green without hesitation.

    Hope that helps, but if you’ve got any questions then just give Four4th a shout, Del is happy to chat at length about this kind of stuff.

    core
    Full Member

    I’ve never found LED light very good for picking out definition, and it doesn’t spread/bend the way halogen lamps/filament bulbs do. Yes you get a very bright light, but I tend to find it doesn’t reflect back all that well, making distance hard to judge, and a lot of the light isn’t that usable.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Oh god, we’ve reached the point where lights are now more than bright enough so people are now looking for stupid things to try and supposedly improve the experience…

    Ever tried them? They’re really quite good. I’m just not sure I can justify the cost of a new british made bar and helmet light Vs just obliterating eveything with 2 £15 chinese lights.

    dirtyrider
    Free Member

    lupine do different coloured diffusers for the pike

    http://lupineshop.com/index.php?page=categorie&cat=59

    nemesis
    Free Member

    You know, I don’t doubt that there could be something in it but in the real world it’s just getting too princess and the pea for me.

    I’ve ridden through the whole candle flame-equivalent light, through halongens to HIDs to LEDs and while they all have pros and cons I just can’t see the claimed issues with LEDs being a real world issue. YMMV of course…

    edhornby
    Full Member

    seems like a daft idea to me – if you’re riding through a green environment and only casting green light then you’re not going to get the visual definition

    I remember testing dive torches and finding that the red end of the spectrum was missed from cheaper torches which made it difficult to see in a brown/blue/green environment

    just stick with white

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    So neither of you have actualy seen one to criticise it?

    Best analogy I can give is it’s like wearing polarised sunglasses on a really bright day, stuff on the trail seems to stand out much more and it doesn’t glare back at you or turn everything in the center of the beam white. The best bit’s of a stupidly bright light (reaches far/wide) with the best bits of a much dimmer light (doesn’t obliterate the detail).

    asbrooks
    Full Member

    You could use some colour correction gel sheets.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=colour+correction+gels&tag=googhydr-21&index=electronics&hvadid=41355277736&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13827626950781464060&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4tmlef77tw_b

    I use them when blending flash and normal household lighting. They are inexpensive and come in various densities to get the best results.

    marmaduke
    Free Member

    The problem with using filters or gel is that you are using much more power to create a white light then filtering all the non-green frequencies out than a green led so you’ll get a shortet battery life for a dimmer light

    robj20
    Free Member

    I use the green Holy Moses and really like them, it makes features on the trail stand out better, things look less flat if that makes sense.

    Olly
    Free Member

    I read an article that discussed using blue green leds to achieve maximum efficiency. Longer battery life per amount of light given out. Can’t stand cold light myself. Give me incandescent anyday

    Deveron53
    Free Member

    I’m trying a new momochrome filter on my lights, it makes everything black and white.

    I once considered using night vision goggles for night riding off road…

    nemesis
    Free Member

    marmaduke – Member
    The problem with using filters or gel is that you are using much more power to create a white light then filtering all the non-green frequencies out than a green led so you’ll get a shortet battery life for a dimmer light

    But I thought we’d established that it isn’t about power or is it but it has to be green power?

    robj20 – Member
    I use the green Holy Moses and really like them, it makes features on the trail stand out better, things look less flat if that makes sense.

    If you use it on a 27″ bike, does it bring the trails to life twice? 😀

    robj20
    Free Member

    It all makes sense really considering humans see best at a set nm.

    “Maximum sensitivity is at 507 nm (in the blue-green region) and red light is almost invisible.”

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    But I thought we’d established that it isn’t about power or is it but it has to be green power?

    Well it is, and isn’t. If you have a 200lumen ‘green’ LED than that’s what you get, 2000 lumen of green-ish (say 800green, 600 red, 600 blue) light. If you have a 2000 lumen white LED and block out the red and blue then you’re down to ~600lumens of green light, which clearly isn’t going to be as good.

    I wonder if we could retrofit the green LED’s into the chinese lights.

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    STATO – Member

    Ditto. Rode with someone running old 12/20W lumis last week and the level of detail on the grpund you could see was way superior to cheap but much brighter led or expensive exposure stuff. I think the brighter led allowed faster riding but halogen colour was much better in twisty rooty stuff or areas where leaf littler made spotting roots difficult.

    POSTED 5 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

    Isn’t the whole point of night riding that you can’t see roots and stuff, so you just float over them, relaxed and happy?

    And isn’t it the middle of summer, with MONTHS before we need lights?

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    Our solution was to get everyone to run on ‘medium’ to prevent white out

    Why not just ride far enough apart? Much cheaper than a green light, you can use your stupidly bright led lamps at retina searing and your less likely to run over the man in front when he disappears into a puddle of axle deep goop that’s not been there for months whilst it’s been dry.

    STATO
    Free Member

    And isn’t it the middle of summer, with MONTHS before we need lights?

    It’s dark by 9pm and we don’t set out until 8pm anyway. I didn’t get home till 11pm last week.

Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 30 total)

The topic ‘Anybody tried Green LEDs for solo night rides?’ is closed to new replies.