Future lighting for bikes

[Constant Mesh]

https://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2006-1...ight-usat_x.htm

Maybe ten years in the future?

 

[yellowmagnaman]

It looks like a great idea. On my 05 FJR the Hella's I put on eat a good amount

of the few extra watts I have left! :assassin:

 

[Penforhire]

I can't predict the time frame but LED main lighting (and building interior lighting) is coming. One of my sister companies made Audi headlight prototypes. Geez were those expensive though -- 14 ultra-high-power LED's per module and they ran HOT!

 

[bramfrank]

Looks like a solution for something that isn't a problem.

Let's see - when were YOUR daytime running lights ever 150 watts?

How often do you change your headlight bulbs on your car (note, I said car).

How much do you spend on those bulbs if you keep them legal (none of that 'blue dyed cr*p)?

Last time I looked, changing the bulbs in my HIDs cost 110 for a pair (Canadian dollars) of D2S bulbs, not $800-$1000.

If you go to HIDs, the power savings disappear - because an 11 watt HID will be a lot brighter than a 10 watt LED bulb.

Maybe if that LED cost less than it's HID counterpart (an 11 watt HID costs about $100 at retail, ballast included) it would start to make sense.

One thing the article did say was that it gave the designers more latitude on their fascia designs - I could see a 'linear headlight' - a strip of focused light running transversely across the car used as a headlight - or maybe a headlight formed into the manufacturer's logo.

But it sure isn't for safety reasons.

 

[ionbeam]

I can't predict the time frame but LED main lighting (and building interior lighting) is coming. One of my sister companies made Audi headlight prototypes. Geez were those expensive though -- 14 ultra-high-power LED's per module and they ran HOT!

For several years I have been doing contract work designing LED power supplies for home and public lighting. The company I have been moonlighting for (so to speak) has some info here.
Yo, TWN, LED kitchen lighting is getting to be pretty big -- are ya on it?

LEDs are making good headway for passive lighting, I can't see them as being competitive for active lighting for some time to come. They can be made to fill that role, but why when there are other solutions that are so much better.

FJR content: Not on my bike!

 

[twowheelnut]

Yo, TWN, LED kitchen lighting is getting to be pretty big -- are ya on it?

I've used a couple of off the shelf systems, but I wasn't impressed. I'm working with one of my smaller vendors right now on some pretty cool lighting packages and we're looking at surface plasmon using nano-patterned metal films . Still, the system is rather spendy vs. halogen or xenon lights. Our biggest problem is trying to circumvent the Title 24 regs out here in Cali that, in short, demand a certain percentage of fluorescent output vs. incandescent. So far, the code won't allow substituting LED's and this pretty much limits LED use to task lighting at this point.

Fuckin' tree huggers! :angry2:

I know that GE, Philips and SunLED, to name just three, are jumping in big time and controls are in development by Lutron and others, so it shouldn't be too long before we start seeing some really cool product a a pretty descent price point.

 

[radman]

Our biggest problem is trying to circumvent the Title 24 regs out here in Cali that, in short, demand a certain percentage of fluorescent output vs. incandescent. So far, the code won't allow substituting LED's and this pretty much limits LED use to task lighting at this point.

That Kalifornya, is there anything they won't regulate?

Krazy, krazy I tells ya. :lol:

 

[valetz]

That Kalifornya, is there anything they won't regulate? Krazy, krazy I tells ya. :lol:

No Shit... I just bought a couple friggin pint glasses when I was out there, and there were warnings on them

(not about drinking beer, but that the friggin glass might be hazardous to your health...)

FJR Content: Lane splitting is friggin cool, wish I could do that on 494

-bvw.

 

[twowheelnut]

No Shit... I just bought a couple friggin pint glasses when I was out there, and there were warnings on them
(not about drinking beer, but that the friggin glass might be hazardous to your health...)

FJR Content: Lane splitting is friggin cool, wish I could do that on 494

-bvw.

That'd be lead content in the glass. I have a killer stained glass artist back home that I use to make leaded glass door inserts. Guess what? Lead is banned in these products here. Can't get 'em and the artist refuses to work in other materials. Yeah, like the client is gonna go lick the lead bead... oh, wait... this is california! :blink:

Which begs the question: What of fishermans' lead weights? :dntknw:

And, word. Lane splitting is bitchin'.

 

[Penforhire]

Same problem with lead in shotgun pellets. I hear the answers are different though. Tungsten for fishing weights and steel for shotgun pellets. Both are more expensive than the Pb being substituted though.

 

[Ignacio]

Same problem with lead in shotgun pellets. I hear the answers are different though. Tungsten for fishing weights and steel for shotgun pellets. Both are more expensive than the Pb being substituted though.

This line and others including alternate spellings of California are signs that things are starting to drift off of topic and into politics my friends. Please take your politics elsewhere and keep the topic reasonably within one logic leap of "future lighting for bikes".

 

[motorgod]

And, word. Lane splitting is bitchin'.

Its called "lane SHARING"