My Bike Lights - Info, Teardown pics, Beamshots, Current Measurements, etc. . .

Link to the thread with my Convoy M1's intended for helmet mounted use. I compared a build with an XP-G2 vs. a build with an XM-L2.

-Garry

Link to ImA4Wheelr's Custom Mod Thread for my HD-016. My beamshots start at post# 149.

-Garry

Beamshot Comparison between un-modded and modded HD-016. I was in a rush to beat a storm coming, and didn’t notice the first shot was way out of focus (I did almost get some shots with lightning strikes in the background!) Also, the original beamshots had a wrong white balance setting and appear more blue than they should (should appear a crisp cool white). My modded beamshots are with the KD driver programmed at levels 2,7, & 10 (I think low is “2”, but I never confirmed that after my accidental reprogramming). Keep in mind the stock light was only driven at +/- 1.4A per emitter and now it’s modded to 2.4A per emitter. Original beamshots are only with both LEDs on (no sense comparing single throw / single flood shots).

Modded Beamshots, distance to the two trees is approx. 185 feet (I aimed at the tree to the left). Approx. 275 feet to the house off to the left of the tree.:

Low:

Med:

High:

Wooded simulated bike trail

Low:

Med:

High:

Mouseover’s with original Un-modded Light (Mouse Out=Original, Mouse Over=Modded):

Yard:

Wooded:

-Garry

Here’s an interesting comparison, Nitefighter BT40s on Turbo vs. my modded HD-016 on high (note: photos on different dates):

Yard:

BT40s:


HD-016:



Wooded Setting:

BT40s:


HD-016

Mouseovers (BT40s = Mouse Out, HD-016 = Mouse Over):

Yard:

Woods:

Very similar performance, with the BT40’s having some more throw. (Remember the BT40s is 4xXP-G2’s at roughly 1.0A per emitter.)

-Garry

That BT40s sure washes an area with a nice even light. Seems like a nice candidate for the 90+CRI 219C's when they come out.

This is not criticizing as you take much better pictures than me. The perspective is slightly different on the yard shots. Your much more into the beam on the BT40s as the spill hits the bottom of the picture. The HD the bottom of the spill is about 20% up into the picture. That being said, it appears that the beam of the BT is wider. Sure is nice and even, that BT beam.

Yeah, they were taken on different dates so it was hard to match them up (right now I at least have a spot of "dead grass" where I know to position the "table" (not my photo) to do my shots). I'm surprised they matched up that well, especially the wooded shot! I would have taken shots of the BT40s at the same time, but I was in a rush last night. I almost need a "fake bike frontend" to mount the lights to to simulate in the beamshots (that's going a little far I think; my wife would really question my sanity if she saw that in our backyard!). Perhaps I can at least put something semi-permanent on the ground to mark where to place the light and where to set the camera tripod (and keep record of my tripod heights used to keep that consistent).

-Garry

LOL. You could call the permanent fake bike front end modern yard art.

Of course, if your wife is smarter than you (like mine is compared to me), that won't fly for a NY second.

As much as I like high cri emitters for some things I prefer the sharper contrast that a cooler tint like 1D gives for night trails. That mod sure turned out nicely though.

I've been slacking off on keeping this thread updated. I've picked up one of the most popular and probably best bang for the buck bike lights out right now, the NiteFighter BT21 sold by GearBest (currently only $22.19 which is a steal!). It comes neutral white (3C I think), with very good thermal properties (i.e. mostly solid wall behind the emitter plate) and the full kit comes with a very good battery pack built with BAK cells. It pulls about 2.80 on Turbo (on an 8.4v pack, so 2.8A per LED). It can also be modded with various optics available. The only real issue with it is the plastic mount has very thin plastic where the screw attaches it to the lighthead. I've replaced mine with an aluminum one from DX, but plan to do a custom finned vancbiker gopro mount (see MTBR's Lights & Night Riding forum). The MTBR thread for this light is here.

My Current #'s:

Low: 0.12A
Med: 0.48A
High: 1.26A
Turbo: 2.70A

Modes are L-M-H-Turbo-L-M . . . with off being a long press from any mode. I believe there is a hidden strobe activated with a quick double-click (can't remember for certain).

I don't have any beamshots myself yet, but here are a few pics. I've just finished "modding" mine with LEDDNA 10 degree optics for a tighter beam on a helmet. The stock optics are frosted and I'd guess 15 degree. They've been measured to have significant light loss compared to the LEDDNA optics and others.

Optics swapped with white holders removed:

Stock optics (right) vs. LEDDNA 10º optics (left):

DX Mount (right), stock (left):

Optics holders trimmed to fit (to help reflect more light back out):

I had to trim the back side of the optic holder to get them to seat down far enough to get the faceplate to seal:

Final Light (yes, front o-rings pushed out a little - the LEDDNA optics don't have that nice indent for the o-rings to seat on):

Will have to update with beamshots. Sorry I won't have before & after though. In stock form the optics work great for bar use; a nice wide swath of light maintaining some decent throw.

EDIT - see post#45 below for beamshots.

-Garry

Nice info. Thanks for sharing. Really like the look of the host. Looks quite sturdy (not counting the mount). Sounds like the UI is very close to what you were seeking before that KD driver came out.

Thanks Garry.

How does it compare to the current “good” Yinding?

As it’s night riding season again, I’ve been making good use of my FrankenDale flashlights.

It's pretty much better than the Yinding all around. Better build quality, more mass for heat management, "off" out of the mode cycle, and a bit more output current (Yinding at 2.4A per LED IIRC). Apart from the BT70, Nitefighter is really producing great lights for really good prices. I'd easily pay $35 for just the lighthead.

Hmm . . . It seems I forgot to list my Yinding in this thread. I'll have to add that too soon.

-Garry

I see gearbest is out of stock for the BT21…

A good light?
I was wondering to snap it up, but no reviews had been posted. I guess I should have looked at MTBR
I’m not a modder so I would just use it as is.

Snagged a few beamshots of my BT21 with LEDDNA 10º optics last night. Same location as my other beamshots. I used 2 batteries at about 75% charge in my modded Fenix case (so Turbo may be a hair dimmer than max). Distance to the two trees is approx. 185 feet, approx. 275 feet to the house off to the left of the tree:

Low:


Med:


High:


Turbo:


My wooded setting:

Low:


Med:


High:


Turbo:


For comparison, here are mouseovers with the BT40s on Turbo (mouse out=BT40s, mouse over=BT21 (note: photos takes on different dates):




Might as well throw in some mouseovers with my modded HD-016 (mouse out=HD-016, mouse over=BT21 (note: photos takes on different dates):


-Garry

Modded my Nitefighter BT40S to the new Nichia 219C's. Here are some beamshots with mouseovers.

Mouse Out = Original Stock XP-G2's, Mouse Over = Nichia 219C's:

Wooded setting:

And wooded shots of the Nichia modded with the light mounted below the camera so as to get that darn bright button out of the photo! Low, Medium, High, then Turbo:

The yard shot doesn't show it too well, but in the wooded shot it appears that after the Nichia mod that the light lost just a tad bit of throw and gained a little more flood. The color rendering does in fact look better, even though it wasn't that bad with the original NW XP-G2's. (Look at that first large tree to the right.) I can say that those leaves and foliage look exactly like they do to my eyes in the daylight.

Next up, boosting the driver output higher.

-Garry

Quick comparison of my custom HD-016 (dual XM-L2 T5 5B1 emitters) vs. the Nichia modded BT40S.

(mouse out=HD-016, mouse over=BT40S Nichia Modded):

Hmm . . . I still like that 5B1 tint!

-Garry

Garry… I’m following your post for some time now. Enjoying it! Thanks for your effort! Great seeing the 219Cs in action.

Great info and pics. Thank you for all the hard work this all must have taken.

I initial impression was that you lost a little throw going to the 219C, but I think all the added flood and cooler tint threw me off. If you look at the dark area beyond the visible beam (first picture in Post 46), more items are visible in the 219C shot. Has something changed out in that area to make those objects better reflect light?