View Single Post
  #62  
Old March 8th 17, 06:22 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default More About Lights

On 3/8/2017 9:40 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, March 6, 2017 at 11:58:20 PM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 5:11:29 AM UTC+1, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/6/2017 9:37 PM, sms wrote:

This light http://supernova-lights.com/en/supernova-e3-triple-2 claims
640 lumens at 4.5W. 4.5W is definitely possible from a nominal 3W
dynamo. It claims 800 lumens peak.

Note that his light, while sold in Germany, is not "road legal."
because, according to reviews, it doesn't suffer the problems of StVZO
lights, "It has a very broad light output that is closer to a floodlight
than a focused beam, and so doesn’t give the ‘tunnel’ effect of some of
the powerful battery-powered lights. This means it’s great for
illuminating branches and hazards above you and off to the side." As we
all know, the problem with StVZO legal lights are related to the
extremely focused spot beam.

Here's an example of an StVZO headlamp (2013 model) with the "extremely
focused spot beam" the Scharf complains about.
http://peterwhitecycles.com/images/p...lux-II-800.jpg

See that tiny spot? ;-)


--
- Frank Krygowski


That is the headlight I use and it looks exactly the same on a pitch dark street. So again I don't understand why people find this amount of light insufficient.


I clearly have a defective hub or light or something -- or else I need a pitch dark forest road with reflective gravel.

I couldn't see a godamn thing riding home last night -- again in a rain storm, with a death grip on the bars because I was getting blown over. Wet pavement swallows light, but the real problem is all the point-source light pollution -- blinding car headlights when riding in wrong-side bike facilities. I actually yelled at some guy on a bike with a mega-flasher. Pop, pop, pop go the retinas. WTF? How could anyone possibly think that was O.K.? This was in a wrong-side two-way bike facility, so I'm staring into car lights on the left and bike lights on the right. Maybe I should get some of those polarized night-driving glasses.


Two nights ago, I was driving home from a distant small town on a rainy
night. I noticed that, as I've mentioned, I couldn't really see my
car's headlight beams on the wet road. Instead, the road was visible
because its smooth wet surface reflected all the other light sources -
car headlights, car taillights, street lights, porch lights, etc.

I don't think there's any way to make a vehicle's headlight beams
prominent on such a wet smooth surface without scorching everyone else's
eyes.

It's like pointing a flashlight so it glances off a mirror. The surface
of a mirror doesn't light up; at best, if there's any dust on that
surface, you'll notice that. Grab a flashlight and try it.


--
- Frank Krygowski
Ads
 

Home - Home - Home - Home - Home