After some help with my winter light set up....
Got a LED3 Lumicycle set up which i am happy with. Use this bar mounted and its pretty good, however just wanted to add something helmet mounted to help out a bit seeing round corners etc...
So i hae an old Lumicycle halogen set up, which i could mount on the helmet (and use one of my Li-on battery packs from the LED3 to power), however my concern is around the heat produced by these, will it be too hot for the helmet?
Also what wattage bulb would be recommended for this??
Many thanks
Heat wont be a problem but power drain will be
Personally i would get LEDs added to the Lummi light
Not sure what trout does these days but the kit was around £50 a few years ago for circa 4-500 lumens
I dont think a halogen on your head will help much with light and it will run for roughly 1/4 of the time of a LED
I dont think a halogen on your head will help much with light and it will run for roughly 1/4 of the time of a LED
Well... back in Victorian times before Wiggo had invented road riding and Troutie discovered the LED at the end of his garden we somehow managed to night ride quite effectively with Lumicycle halogen lights. Usual set-up was a 12-watt spot on the helmet and a 20-watt flood on the bars. The 12-watt spot was fine for peering round corners and fill-in, though it will eat more power than an equivalent LED.
A 20-watt spot was brighter, but got hotter and had less burn time and a 35-watt spot was actually ridiculously bright but got very hot and had a very short burn time. Still won't melt your helmet though unless, I guess, it's sat directly on it rather than on the Luymicycle mounting kit. Of course you can extend battery life by switching the thing off on easy bits.
So yes, you can use a halogen Lumi can on your helmet and it will provide light, though as above, an LED will give you more bang for your power consumption. You'll also find the halogen light is much yellower, which is actually quite pleasant, but makes an interesting mix with the whiter LED tone. I'd start with a 12w bulb, a spot, and see how it goes.
yes it'll be fine i used to use the 20w Lumi on the helmet. now have same lamp as you on bars and an exposure Diablo on the helmet with a battery doubler attached to the side of helmet. the halogen colour is much much nicer - a mate still has one but its oddly off-putting once your eyes are settled into the whiter led light. so yeah go for it until you can afford a longer burning better matching led helmet lamp.
Iknow a lot of friends that have upgraded to led, but suerly with prices having dropped and light quality being huge now, its cheaer to just buy a new set? Especially the direct hong kong lights? Cheap I know, but masses of riders around here are using them, I for one have had a set for 2 years now and theyre going strong 😀
Thanks for the input, will try the 12w spot I have as a headlight. Should only use it for the technical bits anyway, and if it fails, should still have the main led one 🙂
Hopefully be an improvement for no extra cash 🙂