On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 07:59:58 -0800, sms
wrote:

On 2/24/2018 7:10 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Opinions vary:
- Frank wants brightness limited to avoid blinding oncoming motorists.
- SMS wants some upwards spill to help see overhanging branches.
- You seem to want (not sure) more beamwidth to help see the roadside.
- NASA wants even lighting and no hot spot so that press release
photos look good.
- Barry wants only the forward facing area to be considered (beam
lumens), discarding the dim spillage as useless light.
- I want megalumens so I can set fire to the riders clothes ahead of
me. I also want megalumens because my principle use is "be seen"
lighting, which means I want to get the attention of motorists.

That's not an accurate collection:

True. In the same way vendors try to condense the essence of bicycle
lighting into one number (lumens), I tried to describe the purchase
requirements in one line per rider. Half way through, I gave up and
added more lines. More is always easy. Less is not so easy.

- Barry's emphasis on NASA is unhelpful in marketing bicycle lights.

The problem is word association. When I think of NASA, I think of
expensive cost overruns, the Challenger disaster, inept Hubble
management, and some not so well know NASA screwups.

- Your desire to set fire to the clothes of riders in front of you will
not be achieved by LED lights. You could use a flame thrower, but to
achieve sufficient range would require a very heavy and cumbersome
system. You might look into laser modules, i.e.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071HB9LX5. Since you'd not need it to run
for long periods of time, you could run it off of a 4S Li-Ion battery pack.

Nice, but only 15 watts. This vendor claims they can supply 30 watts
in a much smaller form factor:
http://www.everyonetobuy.com/super-strong-30000mw-blue-laser-pointer-shop.html
It might not set the obstructing riders clothes on fire, but it will
certainly get their attention. Thanks for the idea and link.

- Jay's main concern is that whatever light he buy be on the bargain
table at one of Portland's famous bicycle shops.

Full disclosure. All but one of my various bicycles came from
dumpster diving, garage sales, or thrift shops. Availability from
discount houses and possibly counterfeiters would be nice.

Thanks for the additional topic drift.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558