Adapting bicycle lights

[ThomD]

I'm looking for a way to get better aux lighting on my motorbike. I have Hella Micro DEs right now, but the 70W they draw are too much for my bike when I also use my heated liner.

I have not found any LED based lights for motorbikes that have a good beam cut off so that you do not blind drivers. All the LEDs I've found are "off road" only.

In the bicycle world, a couple of German companies make excellent LED based lights, with good beam patterns. These are generally designed to run from a battery pack or a generator hub (6V). Most are in the 3W - 20W range.

I'm thinking about taking 2 Inolight 10+ Headlights, 10W each, and running those. Peter White explains about using these with hubs:

With hub dynamos, a tailight and a special circuit must be used to prevent overheating of the Inolight. This is the Inoguard, which replaces the wire from the Inolight headlight to the taillight. $ 23.00 The Inoguard is not needed when two Inolights are wired in parallel to a dynohub.

So, how can I wire these up so that I do not fry them? Stick a voltage regulator in front of each one?

 

[ntsqd]

When the std. low beam headlight bulb is 55 watts, and some M/C lows are higher than that, I'm wondering if the combined 20 watts is worth the effort?

I would look into a quality HID conversion of your existing lights. That is the direction that most of the desert racing M/C's and the classes with low output alternators have taken. Might start with Baja Designs.

 

[ThomD]

When the std. low beam headlight bulb is 55 watts, and some M/C lows are higher than that, I'm wondering if the combined 20 watts is worth the effort?

I would look into a quality HID conversion of your existing lights. That is the direction that most of the desert racing M/C's and the classes with low output alternators have taken. Might start with Baja Designs.

Thanks,

These are my conspicuity lights for when I cannot use my high beams. My experience with the LED on my bicycle is that they are very bright for a "be seen" light.

My goal is to replace my existing aux lights (70W total), not my low beam.

-thom

 

[ThomD]

As I think about this, if they are for 6V (each) and I have 12V system, then I should wire them in series. Peter's comment was about using them on a 6V generator hub.

So if I have 2 6V lights, the amount of amps flowing through is a function of resistance, right? So if I measure the resistance of each and plug in Ohm's loaw, I should be able to figure out the current. Right?

 

[winkosmosis]

http://www.levineautoparts.com/ledheadlight.html

Standard 7" round LED headlight. The military uses those (may be some other brand)

 

[ThomD]

http://www.levineautoparts.com/ledheadlight.html

Standard 7" round LED headlight. The military uses those (may be some other brand)

Thanks, but that would look a little weird on the motorbike.