Brighter-Lights

I'm making more Revelation-1's today and wants to take more photos before I make it known... will be over the weekend... Will also add the LUX measurements then. Revelation-1 is slightly brighter than the Sigma 10W halogen but much whiter and runs 11.5 hours on its 350g battery. R2000

Thanks Guys! Yes, I'm just a phonecall away + your lights can be upgraded when much brighter LED's become available. What you need to do now is take a nice photo of you, your bike and your light at the next race! and email it to me. I'm adding a 'pimp my light' photo page on the new website! We've been discussing it between friends who own decent lights and we all agree that the night riding/racing thing shoul be continued all year round... in summer it could get a bit late... but what's more fun than to ride with so much light in front of you!

no they're not warm white, but they're between 5000k and 6000k color bin... very nice natural color... Camera was set to daylight white balance in manual mode. I had a big lights shootout a week ago but need time to complete the new webpage before I upload anything. I'm getting a Light and Motion HID for comparison tomorrow night so probably early next week.

mampara: It's for a complete package. Light + bar mount (70g) Li-po battery in bottle (350g) 11.1v 4000mA 3 cell balance charger with power adapter. Flea: It uses an 11.1v li-po battery with a buck regulator so it burns at a constant brightness for 11.5hrs when the low battery warning comes on at 11:30 +- I built one prototype and then got parts for 4 more. I sold 2 yesterday and need to build the other 2. So there's 2 left, although a bike shop asked for one. I will probably get parts for another 10 in time for Trans. night-tider : Yes ! the MC-E is super efficient at up to 800lm at just under 10w... problem is... to drive 4 in series you'll need a high v+ source... at least li-xxx cells in series.

Thanks Paul, I've made a new website and just need to complete a few pages with new products and upload it... will be in the next 5 days. New products: Revelation-4 R5200-00 (960 lumens + 2x 350g battery packs) 5+ hours high beam total to 100+ hours low beam total. (5 levels) Revelation-3 R4200-00 (5.5hrs high beam at 1000mA or 8 hours high beam at 750mA) 120 hours low beam. (5 levels) Revelation-1 R2000-00 (210 lumens for 11.5 hours) (440g) Li-ion flashlight - R1100-00 - 220 lumens for 6 hours + holder + gun barrel mount. LED upgrade kit for Sigma Sport Nipack R900-00 (plug and play) 2 light modes, 7 led battery level indicator. 3.5 hours at 210 lumens (slightly brighter than Sigma 10W) and 7 hours at 110 lumens) I'll let you know when available and work out a HUB member discount.

Those other lights (not gonna mention names) use Z-Power led's. I've built 2 Revelation-3's - one with Z-Power's which a few use, and one with XR-E (which I use). What a difference... I had to underexpose this photo because the XR-E is so much brighter even though they have the same lumens acc to datasheet... but the XR-E has a 90deg primary angle and Z-Power is 135 deg... Used 15 deg optics in both. I first used the same camera settings as in the MTBR lights shootout, but everything were overexposed, so I made the shutter 2 seconds faster... been very conservative. Also, these might appear dimmer with lots of ambient light around you. Best viewed in a darkish room.

Potent: The P7 uses 4x dies in parrallel... so you need beefy hardware to drive it at 2.8 to 3.3 amps and 4volts. That's why we don't have a pwm type triver for it, there's very few chips that support that high current. I have a textured alu reflector here for the P7. sampie: No I don't use drop-in's. Most of the drivers they use are cheap chinese and not very efficient. Those reflectors also give a ringy beam with a cree. My reflectors in the Revelation-1 look like this : I specially designed the Revelation-1 for tTrans Baviaans or 24hr solo riders. I've just been so busy, almost done with the new website.... check in a week! I'll take pre orders for the Revelation-1 soon. The Revelation-1, 440g System weight, 11.5hours burn time at 210lm. R2000-00 - no competitor can even come close to matching this performance! Prices are soon going up because I'm talking to distributors now. Here's a beam photo of a Sigma Sport EvoX 10w Halogen (1.5hrs), Brighter-Lights Revelation-1 (11.5 hours), and a Blackburn X3 (same as X4) 3.5 hours...

hahaha yes! it's as dangerous as crossing a street

Glad you're happy Barry, Thank you. Charging the battery is very safe with the included charger because it only charges at 1.1 amps - 1/4 of the pack's capacity. Lithium chemistries can be charged at a much higher rate. Just select the 4.15v or 4.25v per cell setting. The pack will even handle 4.35v per cell but li-po and li-ion becomes unstable at this high voltage. 4.25v per cell already gives you 17volts for a fully charged pack. About lithium battery explosions. Li-ion actually explodes easier when mistreated. The electrolite is stored in a metal casing... = more pressure. (Most li-ion cells have vent holes) When the cell is overcharged the electrolite swells until it eventually blocks the vent holes = even more pressure. = possible fire and explosion. (but again... how many laptop's have exploded? ) It's all very safe when handled correctly. Li-polymer is housed in a bag like casing which allows it to expand. When mistreated, the bag like enclosure will swell and pressure will build up. But, explosions and fire only becomes a hazard when you overcharge the cells or charge them at too high current. That's why this microprocessor controlled charger is so nice... it senses everything about every cell in the battery and controls it. = very safe.

will do so thanx

Yes it's a fast shutter speed. If I shoot at the settings some photographers in these online light shoot-out's use the lights will really appear like daylight LOL... This one LED ligh is good for 40 to 50km/h on gravel roads you know, but it's nothing like the 4 LED version I'm testing now... hmmm I will take pics of the mounts and little light tomorrow. JG PS: a beamshot of the 4 LED with helmet at 40m (840 to 900 lumens) Notice the great depth and side spill... really lights up the area... Brighter-Lights2008-05-05 16:30:02

yes, using a slower shutter speed over exposes the photo... very realistic result at above settings. You can look at some of my other photography here : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13533&l=86d36&id=730046909

Iso 200, F2.8, 1/1.3 Second The LED in the PIC is an older Q3, so the Q5 will be even brighter. Waiting for new stock to arrive. JG

I've been watching this thread with interest. Becomes expensive once you add batteries and chargers eh? Luxeon III puts out 60 to 65 lumens at 700mA and 70 to 80 lumens at 1000mA (according to datasheet) - a single Cree Q5 puts out 214 to 228 lumens at 1000mA... eeesh... So lets say running 3 x at 600mA would give you 180 lumens max. The forward voltage at 700mA is 3v to 4.4v with 3.7v average. So to run 3 in series you would need 3x3.7v = 11.1v / 600mA = roughly 6.66 watts (efficiency losses of buckpuk not calculated.) So at 6.66watts you get 180 lumens optimum. You'r package cost around R750 + time to assemble. For 180 lumens at the LED's and how many hours? 4 to 4.5? I'm busy putting together some budget packages for guys not able to spend $$$$ on a light. I take a flashlight and put some magic goodies inside. A Cree Q5 LED driven at 1000mA, giving 214 to 226 lumens. It only weighs 230g with batteries and runs for 5 to 5:30 at 1000mA or 6+ hours at 800mA (190 lumens) Uses aluminium textured reflector = very smooth beam. Uses 2x li-ion batteries with protection circuit. Use it as a flashlight at home, when camping/hiking, even for security cause it's so bright, and use it as a bike light. Comes with bar mount, 2x 18650 3.7v 2400ma li-ion batteries + charger in an attractive package - for Only R1100, considering the time you save and the fact that it kills every single LED light you can find...and makes any maglite look like a candle - puts the blackburn x6 to shame, the Sigma Karma's light disappear when you switch this baby on. It's brighter than the 10W halogen of the Sigma and gives good light 30 to 40m up the road... See the beamshot of the flashlight I modify with one Cree Q5, the white object in the photo is a hard hat (safety helmet) @ 40m... I have also finished a prototype of a 1 LED (Cree Q5 or Seoul U-bin) (same as flashlight above 200+ lumens) in an anodized alu housing, textured alu reflector (same as light and motion stella), glass lens, o-ring sealed, bar mount or helmet mount, 7 led battery level indicator, 2 power levels... and this is specially designed to work with existing sigma lead packs and ni packs. I'm waiting for parts for 10 more. Gives more light than sigma 10Watt and burns for 3.5 hours off sigma nipack on high beam. I'm still playing with dim level, will probably be 8 to 9 hours. Will sell for R900 roughly. A real value upgrade... use your old batteries and toss the inefficient halogen... supports use of 4 AA's too : 3 hours on 2000mah AA's I'll take lux measurements on weekend. Want to have a sigma 10w and sigma Karma handy when taking measurements. I've got dozens of cheaper led's lying around here, some wasted, some ok, and how many reflectors and optics... it's took 2 years to buy everything I could find and figure out what works best... that's how I learned... tried the cheap way but I was never satisfied. Just my few cents. Brighter-Lights2008-05-05 14:55:50

Well, I'll give you a good reason to mix...I got to dislike the plastic P-knuckle on the X9 rear der. Pivots wear out excessively fast with lots of mud riding. I changed back to Shimano rear der because all the main parts are aluminium with more durable pivots/bushes. I love the feel of the twisters (I have X0's fitted with the harder grips of the X9's) So I had to find the twisters SRAM made to work with Shimano. And that was good for 2 years and many miles. But after feeling the new XT and XTR triggers...They have a smoothness and precision that's unlike any ever manufactured... (I grew up with Shimano 200GS and Alivio Rapid Fire in the early 1990's... so I've mostly used triggers since then... ) So I have to admid that although I sweared that I will never ride anything else than twisters, the new shimano has made me change my mind.

I use SRAM Rocket Twisters (Exact same as X9 Xo tiwsters) on Shimano. The rocket's ratio is different and distances between each click at the shifter is much shorter than the normal sram twisters. After feeling the new shimano operate I'm not so sure about twisters anymore. But the rocket's have been performing well on my shimano ders.

I've tested brand new Li-ion 18650 cells in 4S3P and 4S2P and some cells started showing imbalance effects after only 7 cycles.... Battery is held in a water bottle with plastic type break-away bracket which easily attaches to bar via knob screw. No Helmet mount. I'm working on a new housing like the yellow anodized one and will offer different colors in the future. For now it's a gun metal color. At R3800 I'm not making money considering the cost of a li-po battery and digital balance charger. But it's worked for me for over a year of testing and that's what I prefer. It's taken a year and much trial and error to source the LED's... Nowadays they are all over the place, although some lie about the binning, gotta have a light meter to measure what you actually got. I'm also in the proccess of putting together a 1 LED kit to work with existing sigma batteries. Using a Cree Q5 at 1000mA. At least 215 lumens from LED, using 8 degree optics or alu textured reflector. Working on the low battery warning indicator for now.

Like I said before, don't get carried away too much with the latest claims en hype, even though I have some of those LED's right in front of me, they come at a price. The visual difference between 600 and 800 lumens are not much on the trail. Many of the lights I build using P4's with 86 lumens at 350mA still performs and will last many years. Following this trend will have you end up in the endless pit of spending on bike stuff, and light stuff... it keeps improving... Many of these guys make nice lights, I think Lupine Wilma and Betty are the best commercial lights you can buy, but they don't come cheap. Nightlighting has a very nice package too. But before anyone start using balance chargers and lithium-polymer packs, I say it loud and clear... they are not using the best battery technology. Packs with many cells in series needs to be balanced... especially larger capacity packs. When new, it's not really a problem, but when getting older, internal resistance of each cell changes and the pack becomes unbalanced, with some cell voltages higher or lower than others...Charging with a wall adaptor type charger only senses the overall voltage of the cells in series and after a while, some cells are being over charged to compensate for the low voltage cells. When draining this pack, it suddenly looses power when the weak cell collapses at it's critical low voltage.... Read about it here... http://www.brighter-lights.com/battery.htm

1000 lumens in theory - Cut**r Electronics have been marketing the 4 LED R2 head as 1000+ lumens but my light meter shows that after optical losses a 4 x Cree R2 realisticly gives 880 lumens if that much. At this output they're driven at 1000mA which creates all sorts of problems with heat. They take the Lumen rating of the R2 from the datasheet, which btw is 114 to 119 lumens at 350mA or 100 lumens per watt. What nobody does is taking a light meter and actually measure their output. Thats why we see single LED systems advertised as 280 or 290 lumens on ebay... bullsh*t = lots of word meaning nothing... I've tested outputs of every LED you could find since 2006... I have Cree R2's here, U-bin Seouls... I'm busy constructing a page with real light measurements of different manufacturers. This is what my 4-Led head look like... anodized and machined in house. Still testing with Cree R2's one crazy bright baby.

Dankie Johan Everybody are suddenly manufacturing high output LED lights and I sit back and grin at their marketing crap... interesting how they come up with catchy names and special features for something so simple. I've been building lights with this technology for more than a year. Before I built the first light, I researched the technology as it became available and improved for nearly 2 years. In 2006 top output was 45 lumens at 350mA, in 2008 it's 120 lumens at 350mA. Everybody are using lithium-ion batteries but my bench tests have shown that lithium-polymer gives about 10 to 20% better capacity per weight... With lithium polymer battery chemistry and efficient switching regulators a 400g battery can give you 4 hours at over 800 lumens or 60 hours at 90 lumens... 90 lumens are still brighter than almost all of these LED toys on the shelve. I guess the mass producers will never use the best technology available, because that would put them out of business. I don't care because it's my hobbie, I pay a price to own the best and the deal is, it performs, and lasts. HID's days have been accounted for many months ago already. The latest LED's put out 100 lumens per watt... The best of halogen systems put out 30 lumens per watt where 15 to 20 lumens per watt is more realistic for halogen. Any light using Lumiled's Luxeon LED's are not using the brightest LED's. Luxeon III's are lacking way behind in lumens per watt output. Luxeon Rebels which put out 100 lumens at 350mA were called back... so the Lumileds company are still at 80 lumens at 350mA. Cree R2 is currently the leader with Seoul Semiconducters P4 U-bin close behind. Seoul has announced that a U2 bin P4 will be released in 2008. They now have the P7 becoming available at 700 to 800 lumens for a single LED (4 dies in parrallel) Lupine and nightlighting use Seoul P4's, I use Cree Q5's or seouls, depending on the application. Seouls have a wider primary beam and a green tint to their pure white bin. Cree's white bin is white to off white... I prefer them. I find anything near 600 lumens sufficient for riding really fast at night, above that, the eye starts compensating for the overly bright surroundings. You notice this when switching from max setting to a lower level... Initially the dim beam looks dim. After a while, it appears brighter because your eyes have adapted to the new light exposure, switching back to high beam appears exessively bright for a while, before the pupils becomes smaller to compensate for the extra light. Even when testing 2x revelation-4's with a combined output of over 1600 lumens, the crazy amount of light appears dimmer after riding some minutes, not exactly dim LOL, but dimmer than the initial appearance. Llumens are only a measurement of amount of brightness from a light source. A 600 lumen source with a 18 degree secondary reflector will appear much dimmer than a 600 lumen source with a 8 degree secondary reflector... it's all about what you do with the source and how you direct and focus the light. These new LED's are already widely used in appliances.... your cellphone's flash for example. Commercial lighting, street lighting. The problem is... it's very expensive. With 100 000 life hours, it's worth it... but by the time 10 000 hours are done, much brighter LED's will be available again. (like computers, your 2 year old pc is OLD... even though it's still working and could probably work for another 10 years... I have a 286 x 12mhz laptop from 1988 still working off it's adapter!!! - battery long gone) After just one year I'm upgrading lights with the latest LED's... those LED's have probably not even worked 50 hours, I utilize them for other projects like helmet lights and home lighting. JG www.brighter-lights.com