Bicycle Lights

One of the things that drew me to Breezer bikes, the brand I currently ride, is the integrated lighting system.  A generator driven by the rear wheel and pre-mounted and -wired lights for the front and the back meant I never had to worry about running out of battery power.

After riding for several years, though, and dealing with being hit by a car (during the day) while on my motorcycle, I have come to the conclusion that brighter is better.  These integrated lights are nice but if I'm serious about riding my bike at night, I need to do more so that I can ride safely.

For a while I had a helmet-mounted light powered by a battery on the frame but wiring was a pain to deal with at times. I had to run the cord down my back and plug it into a I had installed jack beneath the seat.  It worked pretty well and it was nice to have a light the followed the direction I turned my head.  The light fixture I had made for the helmet and wiring were not durable enough, though, and it became clear a better solution was needed.

While I was convalescing I came up with an improved solution, ordered the parts, and yesterday I finally put all the pieces together.

Two LED "headlights" up front, one always pointed the same direction as the wheel and the other the direction of the frame (straight-ahead).  

These rear lights are some LEDs that I have had for over a decade and I think I've finally found the perfect home for them. They started as some night-time dim light for my bedroom in Boise and were previously used at my nerd desk before I upgraded the lights there.  These lights are clusters of red and green LEDs and for rear lights I'm not powering the green ones.  The canisters for the lights were just a little bit too large to fit into the milk-crate grill and had to be filed down.

This is the main junction box for the system.  The red/green/white wires are coming up from the rear lights and enter the box through a hole in the bottom.  The switch powers both front and rear lights.

Just below the junction box is the battery for the system, strapped on the bike rack and the milk crate.  It is well beyond the needs of lights in terms of capacity but it means I won't need to charge it very often.  Speaking of charging, the yellow terminal sticking out the bottom of the junction box is used to do just that; there is a matching terminal on the other side.

UPDATE:  Here's a view of the lights at night.  Note that the headlight is illuminating the area directly in front of the bike as well as to the left, where the front wheel is pointed.