Anyone make a hood for your headlight?

[bentbike33]

@anomad 154181 wrote:

Or maybe the bicycle light manufacturers could just recognize the need to make their products a little more thoughtful? Like headlights with a clear cut off on top of the beam.

German manufacturers already make such lights (mainly for dynamo systems) as required under German law.

See: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm

[anomad]

I used a light from him for an endurance event in Utah. It had a good cutoff but no hood.

I see they offer “glare protectors” now. That is pretty much what I want to make. Maybe something a little bigger than you could swivel up and down as needed?

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@bentbike33 154183 wrote:

German manufacturers already make such lights (mainly for dynamo systems) as required under German law.

See: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm

[Vicegrip]

Yes a couple of them. I use Nightriders and they project forward well with little light leaking back so to speak. Made some early attempts at saving money by buying cheap lights. Made upon any potential savings by repeatedly getting junk that did not work well and trying to make them better. I made molded black plastic cones that directed the light mostly forward.

For my Nightriders I made and used a flip down dark tint flap for a while. I would flip it down when others were oncoming. I had a fair amount of full power light almost straight down to see the ground and a dimmed down foward beam that did not fry oncoming riders. That setup disconnected itself from my bike one day without notice. Using my unmodified backup of the same model light I found that flipping the light sideways to the train side did almost the same.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Oh I am so gonna do this. My headlight does have a wide throw*, and I’ve come across one or two cross traffic whiners at night. All you’d really need is an opaque sliver of plastic and a springy length of stainless wire to make a pinching clip I’d think.

*I have access to a light meter here at work and decided to test my light, and the outer throw ring at 12 feet from source comes up around 1-2 footcandles (18 lux), and the center throw which is about 3 feet wide at 20 ft out is only 18 footcandles which really makes me lol at the whiners even harder.

[anomad]

@Vicegrip 154186 wrote:

Yes a couple of them. I use Nightriders and they project forward well with little light leaking back so to speak. Made some early attempts at saving money by buying cheap lights. Made upon any potential savings by repeatedly getting junk that did not work well and trying to make them better. I made molded black plastic cones that directed the light mostly forward.

For my Nightriders I made and used a flip down dark tint flap for a while. I would flip it down when others were oncoming. I had a fair amount of full power light almost straight down to see the ground and a dimmed down foward beam that did not fry oncoming riders. That setup disconnected itself from my bike one day without notice. Using my unmodified backup of the same model light I found that flipping the light sideways to the train side did almost the same.

Totally with you on “cheap” lights. However, Nightrider pissed me off back in the halogen days and I’m still holding a grudge… I should probably let that go by now.

Got an empty pop can and some tape here looking at me.

[anomad]

Here’s where I am going with this idea. Thanks for the inspiration!

[bentbike33]

@anomad 154190 wrote:

Here’s where I am going with this idea. Thanks for the inspiration!

Be careful not to interfere with the heat-sink properties of the light’s case or you may fry the LEDs.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Cool!
I made a prototype out of a piece of bent coathanger and a bit of thicker plastic. Tried a soda bottle first but the plastic is too flimsy. Colored it with a sharpie. I wonder what the final shape of the hood will need to be.
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[anomad]

Thanks. These things aren’t cheap. Do you think the aluminum will act like a cooling fin if I don’t get too carried away with the tape? LSG’s bent coat hanger idea or safety wire would dissipate heat since it would be all metal.

On the Amoeba you can see it has cooling fins under the driver. I think that is where most of the heat is generated. I might email the maker of that light and get his 2 cents.

@bentbike33 154195 wrote:

Be careful not to interfere with the heat-sink properties of the light’s case or you may fry the LEDs.

[DismalScientist]

You know, by changing the focus of these lights, you can achieve a nice square pattern of light, and, if angled sufficiently downward, you can be sure that you won’t get the direct light into oncoming traffic.

[anomad]

How do you go about that? Open up the light and re-position the LEDs? You can see my electrical engineering technical skills may be limited to duct tape and an old pop can

@DismalScientist 154202 wrote:

You know, by changing the focus of these lights, you can achieve a nice square pattern of light, and, if angled sufficiently downward, you can be sure that you won’t get the direct light into oncoming traffic.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

I realized on the way home one could very easily swap out a hood and turn the throw pattern into WuTang or the bat signal

[BobCochran]

@anomad 154190 wrote:

Here’s where I am going with this idea. Thanks for the inspiration!

I think the metal hood will serve as a good heat sink. Just do not slice your hands up on the hood by accident. The metal is probably sharp, right? Electrical tape (the high quality kind, anyhow) has to withstand fairly high temperatures and since you will be moving along on the bicycle, the tape should just conduct heat to the soda can hood. And this time of the year the device will have quite cold air swirling around it. I think you will be okay from a heat transfer standpoint and at risk of enduring a trip to the nearest emergency room if that hood cuts your hand.

Speaking for myself, I simply point my own headlight downwards at the pavement. I get enough of a pool of light that I can see the pavement ahead of me and others can see me.

Thanks a ton

Bob

[anomad]

Thank you BobCochran for pointing out the safety concern of the aluminum can’s sharp edges. I rounded off the corners and touched it up with sandpaper to dull the edge. Still not ideal, but I am comfortable enough to give it a try for Gen1. Wearing full finger gloves this time of year adds a barrier too. The tape is just 3M stuff from a big box store, probably not the worst or best out there.

Can you think of a different material I should consider for future generations?

Plastic is an obvious choice, but doesn’t form nicely. I have a couple sheets of kydex in storage somewhere that could be formed (I have used it for making knife sheaths). I wonder if the lights get warm enough that it would lose its shape? Fiberglass or carbon fiber would be slick.

GenN+1 will have a hinge opening it up to hopefully catch the attention of taxi drivers when I hit the streets. Then flipped down when I get to the bike path to be friendly to fellow path users.

[BobCochran]

@anomad 154215 wrote:

Thank you BobCochran for pointing out the safety concern of the aluminum can’s sharp edges. I rounded off the corners and touched it up with sandpaper to dull the edge. Still not ideal, but I am comfortable enough to give it a try for Gen1. Wearing full finger gloves this time of year adds a barrier too. The tape is just 3M stuff from a big box store, probably not the worst or best out there.

Can you think of a different material I should consider for future generations?

Plastic is an obvious choice, but doesn’t form nicely. I have a couple sheets of kydex in storage somewhere that could be formed (I have used it for making knife sheaths). I wonder if the lights get warm enough that it would lose its shape? Fiberglass or carbon fiber would be slick.

GenN+1 will have a hinge opening it up to hopefully catch the attention of taxi drivers when I hit the streets. Then flipped down when I get to the bike path to be friendly to fellow path users.

I think you have a good set up here, and it sure makes the experimenter in me curious! The materials here should work fine — of course field testing and your preferences will guide you. As to other materials the only one I can really think of is maybe one of those silicone baking sheets that so popular now. You lay one down on a cookie sheet and put your cookie dough on the silicone sheet and pop it into the oven? Well perhaps cutting an appropriate sized hood from one of these might be useful…but I would think they are too soft and too flexible. Besides which your significant other may not appreciate such an experiment making use of the baking sheets in the kitchen.

Good luck and post some photos when you have a chance!

Bob

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