Lumos integrated lights helmet

[BobCochran]

Some thoughts:

The helmet looks good. I definitely like the absence of branding on the helmet, and I like the nice solid color. Those are the good points.

Does the helmet meet Consumer Product Safety Commission standards for impact protection?

How weatherproof is it? If someone wears the helmet and sweats a lot, and/or rides in rain and snow, will the person get electric shocks?

How long will the lights continue to work, if they are set to a steady glow rather than a blink? That is to say, how long before the batteries quit.

Are the batteries easy to replace?

I wonder how the helmet will feel, with a bicycle cap or balaclava on the wearer’s head.

I’m not sure if the randonneuring folks will accept a rider with a helmet that blinks so strongly, front and back. If you were riding behind someone with a lot of big blinking lights it might be bothersome.

The charging mechanism bothers me. You have to plug in the helmet to charge it up. That will be a problem for some. It probably would have been better to use AA alkaline batteries, or have some provision to switch over to alkaline batteries, when on a long ride.

[hozn]

It looks like most of the questions are answered on their home page:

https://lumoshelmet.co/

So about 3 hours of runtime it seems. While that isn’t a lot, most people don’t ride more than 3 hours on a single ride in the dark. I recharge my lights every couple days, so that itself wouldn’t be a problem. USB recharging is pretty standard these days. 410g is a heavy helmet but probably less than when I put my LM 360 light on my helmet.

If I rode in the city I would consider it. The price isn’t bad for what it is.

[BobCochran]

I guess we will see if helmet sales “take off”. I like working with electronics and LEDs myself.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12606[/ATTACH]

[Emm]

Good video, thanks for sharing! Ours are hopefully coming in the mail soon. My husband ordered 2 off kickstarter over a year ago so we’ve been patiently waiting…I just hope ours gets here soon so I can use it this season.

Thoughts:

• Not a huge fan of the front flashing when the back light flashes though–I know that can be distracting on the trail to have front lights flashing. Hopefully they’re not bright enough to actually be a distraction to other riders since it seems to be more of a “look at me!” light vs a “light up the path” option, but it still concerns me a little. Maybe it’s something that can be modified in the app so only the back lights blink. I’ll have to see.
• Kinda ticked the app is only apple. I have an ipad so it’s do-able, but I use droid phones so this isn’t ideal for when I’m away from home.
• I hope it fits. I have a big head…Especially when I add a hat under this may be an issue. I mostly ride in the dark when it’s cold out, so cold weather is when this helmet would be the most useful.
• This helmet is expensive enough that I’m going to be extra pissed off if I ever fall off my bike while wearing it…

Overall I’m really looking forward to finally getting mine in the mail soon!!!

[BobCochran]

@Emm 147762 wrote:

Good video, thanks for sharing! Ours are hopefully coming in the mail soon. My husband ordered 2 off kickstarter over a year ago so we’ve been patiently waiting…I just hope ours gets here soon so I can use it this season.

Thoughts:

• This helmet is expensive enough that I’m going to be extra pissed off if I ever fall off my bike while wearing it…

One reason I was asking about whether the helmet meets impact protection standards is because I don’t know if it has been tested, on crash dummies, to find out what happens if there is a terrific impact on the electronics. And yes I did skim the Lumos website. What will happen to the crash dummy’s head when electronic parts and perhaps wiring with a battery-driven electrical charge are slammed into it? I doubt the Consumer Product Safety Commission standards considered this scenario — of helmets with integrated electronic parts powered with live electrical charges. The point is, what happens to a person’s head when this helmet takes a terrific impact in the areas containing electronics.

Bob

[accordioneur]

@BobCochran 147778 wrote:

One reason I was asking about whether the helmet meets impact protection standards is because I don’t know if it has been tested, on crash dummies, to find out what happens if there is a terrific impact on the electronics.

The web site states that it is compliant with US (CPSC 16 CFR Part 1203) and European (EN1078) standards. I don’t know what that means in terms of integrated electronics, but it seems they’ve satisfied the regulatory requirements.

@BobCochran 147778 wrote:

powered with live electrical charges.

Since you work with electronics, you probably know that LEDs are low voltage, low power devices. I doubt the helmet presents a significant electric shock hazard.

What I wonder about is whether motorists, being unaccustomed to turn signals and brake lights on a helmet, will recognize them for what they are or just think they’re more blinkies.

[Vicegrip]

Likely using a protected LiPo and a voltage in the 3.7 to 11.1 V range. Protected LiPos shut off at the battery in an over-current condition. I build bike lighting systems and they are designed to use a Protected battery. A protected battery makes things much simpler as it will shut off before the voltage goes too low and causes damage and shuts off if something shorts out.

One thing about the helmet is it is a movable thing. I suspect the visibility is inhibited when worn by a rider in any kind of an aero position. Even with your hands on the hoods of a normal road bike the back of the helmet will be at best at a 45 deg angle and the bottom edge obscured by the riders back to observers from behind.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@accordioneur 147782 wrote:

The web site states that it is compliant with US (CPSC 16 CFR Part 1203) and European (EN1078) standards. I don’t know what that means in terms of integrated electronics, but it seems they’ve satisfied the regulatory requirements.

Since you work with electronics, you probably know that LEDs are low voltage, low power devices. I doubt the helmet presents a significant electric shock hazard.

What I wonder about is whether motorists, being unaccustomed to turn signals and brake lights on a helmet, will recognize them for what they are or just think they’re more blinkies.

Go ahead and touch both +tive and -tive of a 9-volt battery to your forehead. That helment is likely less bad than that if broken. Also, as far as any testing CPSC mandates SNELL and ANSI approval for helments sold in the USofA – in the EU, it’s EN, as noted above.

[BobCochran]

Folks, I’m simply asking questions that are quite valid about this helmet. Sometimes, looking beyond the cute technology stuff and asking about safety issues can at least make someone pause.

CPSC Certification: Has anyone even looked recent bicycle helmet recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission? I can say there are some. These “certified” helmets are hazards to the wearer. I skimmed a couple recalls last night — really just the headlines for them. How about checking into the test protocol used for bicycle helmets these days? I’ve skimmed it. It is very difficult to make sense of the protocol, and the requirements for certifying a helmet seem pretty weak. An importer of a helmet doesn’t even have to perform certification testing on the device, if I understand the rules correctly. The importer can rely on the foreign manufacturer to perform the testing. I have certain doubts about the value of a statement that a helmet meets the CPSC criteria for bicycle helmets.

Electronic devices can cause bad injuries regardless of voltage. What counts is not the voltage but the current that is being passed. There is no need to believe me, just check this out or Google for yourself. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/JackHsu.shtml gives an interesting summary. Since most LEDs need about 20 milliamps of current, I would say that much electrical power passing into the skull or brain following an impact is quite significant. It might not kill you but it won’t do you any good at all.

I would be even more wary of a helmet that has a lithium polymer (lipo) battery embedded in it. These batteries can and do explode and catch on fire. Again, you don’t need to believe me; just Google. The Lumos website does not post details of the battery chemistry on its website. It doesn’t discuss construction of the electronics built into the helmet either. Hopefully they have steered away from lipos. A battery with a protection circuit can still explode and/or catch on fire if a severe impact hits it.

The Lumos website makes no claims as regards actual safety testing of the helmet. It claims the helmet meets the CPSC standard which is what matters here in the USA. It does not detail the test results, nor does it discuss other safety issues. Sure, it looks great. Sure, the built-in LEDs are great. But is the helmet really safe to use if the wearer takes a spill and has a considerable head impact? I have doubts about that.

[hozn]

I can’t comment on the validity of these concerns — and I don’t feel quite qualified to peer review the CPSC’s testing protocols. But I might be worth noting that if there is some potential danger the lights introduce, there is also a potential safety benefit from greatly improved visibility (and, if effective to drivers, indicating turns etc.)

The drawbacks I see here are the issue with the flush-mounted LEDs being less effective when rider is in forward leaning position and likelihood that drivers wouldn’t understand or expect the turn signals. But even if they just see it as blinky lights, that must be better than nothing.

[accordioneur]

@BobCochran 147856 wrote:

What counts is not the voltage but the current that is being passed.

Bob, you’ll note that I described LEDs as “low voltage, low power devices.” If something is low voltage and low power, it is also low current (you remember Ohm’s law, yes?). I could have said “low voltage, low power, low current devices” but that wouldn’t have added any information. Also, voltage does matter to a certain extent, since low voltage electricity will not overcome skin resistance and penetrate the skin. I suppose you could postulate a case where a cyclist was in an accident significant enough to shatter the helmet and associated electronics, break the skin, and embed the exposed power wires into the skull. I agree that in this case there could be a risk of electric shock, but it would probably be the least of the victim’s concerns.

@BobCochran 147856 wrote:

CPSC Certification: Has anyone even looked recent bicycle helmet recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission? I can say there are some. These “certified” helmets are hazards to the wearer.

I don’t know much about how helmets are tested, but what you’re describing here is not an issue with this helmet in particular, but is (if valid) a systemic issue with bike helmet testing.

[Tim Kelley]

@accordioneur 147882 wrote:

I don’t know much about how helmets are tested

Did everyone know that the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute is located right here in Arlington???

http://www.helmets.org/

[Vicegrip]

Oh No! https://goo.gl/images/ZjbPu6

[RockstarBruski]

Hi everyone and greetings from Portland Oregon! This is Bruce (AKA RockstarBruski) and I’m the person who made the video review for the Lumos helmet I recently received. There’s some great discussion going on here in this thread so I thought I’d take a few minutes on my lunch break today and try to give a few more details of what I know, my experience so far with the helmet use, etc.

BTW I do not work for Lumos, I bought the helmet as part of their kickstarter program when they first announced the project over a year ago. In the video I do give a referral code CTDKFZ or referral link https://lumoshelmet.co/?referral_code=8028d6f6b39d8b34e654 that saves you $25 until 12/31/2016 as that was offered to any of the people who purchased the kickstarter to pass along the savings. I do get some credits for each helmet people buy with my referral code to purchase other products from Lumos but I don’t care about that much as my main goal for posting the referral code was to save people money and spread the word about a bike safety innovation that I like and use!

Answers to BobCochran’s questions / comments:
1. Does the helmet meet Consumer Product Safety Commission standards for impact protection?
Answer: Early on in the development Lumos sent a communication to the kickstarter investors that the helmet went through all the safety testing and certifying in order to sell it in the US and other countries.

Further, I know you are concerned about the electronics possibly harming a wearer in a crash (which is always a great question!) but personally I’m not concerned that much because I would rather avoid the crash by using a flashing helmet to keep vehicles aware of me. For my personal decision the benefit of possibly avoiding a crash outweighs the risk of electronics injury in the event of a crash. For crash testing you can find details out on their website at https://lumoshelmet.co/

2. How weatherproof is it? If someone wears the helmet and sweats a lot, and/or rides in rain and snow, will the person get electric shocks?
Answer: While I haven’t tested it in the snow or freezing conditions (yet) I do live and ride in the Northwest (Oregon and Washington) where it rains and rains and rains and rains…did I mention it rains a lot here? So far I haven’t had a problem with the helmet getting very very very wet. In the rain it performs just like my Specialized helmet and the inside cushioning dries out the same. I haven’t had any electronic problems even in heavy downpour rain or heavy fog conditions. One of the best things I think Lumos did was go to a magnetic coupling charger connection instead of using a micro-usb connection because they said they wanted the best water protection possible.

3. How long will the lights continue to work, if they are set to a steady glow rather than a blink? That is to say, how long before the batteries quit.
Answer: Recently I had the same question so to test I fully charged my helmet and then set the lights to steady on and it lasted about 3 hours. Normally, I use the rapid flashing mode and I ride about 9 miles per day (30 minutes commute time per day) about 5 days a week and my battery gets down to about 70% to 80% charged per week. I typically just charge it up once a week when I charge my other bike lights.

4. Are the batteries easy to replace?
Answer: I have no idea. But that’s a good question for Lumos that I think I will ask them about what the procedure will be.

5. I wonder how the helmet will feel, with a bicycle cap or balaclava on the wearer’s head.
Answer: The helmet feels very similar to my Specialized helmet. It has a adjustment wheel in the back and I when it rains I wear a small thin beanie under the helmet to keep the rain out of my hair and when I wear that the adjustment wheel is easy to make the helmet bigger to easily fit the beanie and my head.

6. I’m not sure if the randonneuring folks will accept a rider with a helmet that blinks so strongly, front and back. If you were riding behind someone with a lot of big blinking lights it might be bothersome.
Answer: I ride with cyclists in front and back of me and I already asked them that question and they said to me that they didn’t find it annoying. They said they were interested in getting one.

7. The charging mechanism bothers me. You have to plug in the helmet to charge it up. That will be a problem for some. It probably would have been better to use AA alkaline batteries, or have some provision to switch over to alkaline batteries, when on a long ride.
Answer: Personally, I’d rather not use AA batteries in anything and when I do I used rechargeable AA batteries. For this helmet I’m glad they didn’t use AA batteries as I find the charging cable easy to use and it also charges the left/right buttons as well. Like I said previously, I use my helmet in flashing mode and only have to charge once a week. I’m sure I could go to once every two weeks if I wanted to in my situation. If I’m going for a very long ride I would bring a portable USB charger battery as the charging cable end is USB on one end and magnetic on the helmet end and will work with that nicely and I can also charge my phone with my portable USB charger so I have it with me anyway.

Answers to Emm’s questions / comments:

1. Not a huge fan of the front flashing when the back light flashes though–I know that can be distracting on the trail to have front lights flashing. Hopefully they’re not bright enough to actually be a distraction to other riders since it seems to be more of a “look at me!” light vs a “light up the path” option, but it still concerns me a little. Maybe it’s something that can be modified in the app so only the back lights blink. I’ll have to see.
Answer: Yes it is a look at me lighting. I do not use the front light as a visual see light as I use a very bight bike light for that. I do not know if you can turn off the front light. The front white light does change to amber either on the left or the right when the signals on as you can see in my video.

2. Kinda ticked the app is only apple. I have an ipad so it’s do-able, but I use droid phones so this isn’t ideal for when I’m away from home.
Answer: Yes, I would like to have Android as well as I use android cell as my main phone. However, Lumos says that Android app will be out in 2017 I think? For now I have both android and apple so it’s not a big thing for me as once I set up my helmet the way I wanted it with flash beeps I rarely use the app unless I want to check the charge status.

3. I hope it fits. I have a big head…Especially when I add a hat under this may be an issue. I mostly ride in the dark when it’s cold out, so cold weather is when this helmet would be the most useful.
Answer: for size Check Lumos faq page at https://lumoshelmet.co/pages/faq and they have a link to a video on there about how to check your head size.
Also, I use this helmet in warm sunny or cold dark rainy weather and I use the flashing lights day or night.

Answers to Vicegrip’s questions / comments:
1. One thing about the helmet is it is a movable thing. I suspect the visibility is inhibited when worn by a rider in any kind of an aero position. Even with your hands on the hoods of a normal road bike the back of the helmet will be at best at a 45 deg angle and the bottom edge obscured by the riders back to observers from behind.
Answer: Good question. I haven’t had a person take a picture and / or video from behind me riding with this helmet as of yet but I plan to do that soon to see what it looks like. For my normal riding position my cyclists friends told me they can clearly see the lights both front and back but I’d still like to take some pics / video clips to demonstrate the view from vehicles and other cyclists.

Answers to Accordioneur’s questions / comments:

1. What I wonder about is whether motorists, being unaccustomed to turn signals and brake lights on a helmet, will recognize them for what they are or just think they’re more blinkies.
Answer: I’ve wondered that myself. It would be interesting to ask a few motorists what they thought. I do continue to use my hand signals while using the helmet light signals. A benefit of using the light signals is when I’m turning and sometimes need to keep both hands on the handlebars the light blinking signal on my helmet continues to blink which I think is nice and shows the vehicles my intention to turn or change lanes, etc. With that said, I’d still recommend cyclists to continue to use hand signals with the light signals and most important make sure the vehicle sees what you are about to do and slows or stops before you actually make that turn or lane change. Better safe than sorry!

Anyway, so far overall I really like my Lumos helmet. The quality of the materials feels really great and not cheap at all. Also, all of the questions / comments in this thread are really good ones and I’m glad to discuss whatever I know so far from my experience using this helmet. My hope for using this flashing helmet and letting other cyclists know about it is that hopefully there will be some crashes and injuries avoided as I’m a big believer in the saying: “be seen be safe!”

Happy and safe cycling! — RockstarBruski

Review video of Lumos Helmet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-k9Y9C4EFc

Lumos Helmet referral code CTDKFZ or referral link https://lumoshelmet.co/?referral_code=8028d6f6b39d8b34e654

[Author]

Posts