Hello everyone! Sorry that its been so long since Ive had time to visit. I thought Id share my experiences while using the King as my new mega-bikelight. For the price, there probably isnt anything better suited if a high-powered bikelight is needed. It has very bright flood where its needed and a large blinding hotspot for descent range. The simple on/high/low/off UI and top mounted power button are much better suited for bicycling than lights with tail switches or more modes. A medium mode simply isnt needed and the low mode is still bright enough without blinding oncoming traffic.
I figured out a way of temporarily mounting the King to my bicycle without using shaky hose clamps. Ive previously been using two of these (one on each side of the gooseneck) for my duel C8 XML flashlights:
I was able to cradle the King between the two mounts and lash it down with a long boot lace.
Ive been running the flashlight in high mode continuously the past 4 nights while bike ridding, and it actually runs noticeably cooler than my C8’s! Ambient evening air temperatures have been 68-75 degrees F, and I usually dont go any slower than 15 mph. Although the King gets quite hot while walking around with it in my hand, the air moving past it during bike rides is more than enough to keep it sufficiently cooled. The large surface area of the King does a fantastic job of exchanging heat into the air. I was quite surprised at how well it did; because I had been planning to further cool it with a pair of CPU heatpipe heatsinks if it ran to hot.
The light runs brightly for the first half hour before the batteries start to sag. Ive been using Xtar 2600 mA 18650’s. After being on continuously for around 1.5 hours, its still brighter than my dual C8 XML’s on fresh batteries (ran at 3A+), but not as blazingly bright as when the batteries were fresh off the charger. Ending resting battery voltages from the King have been around 3.75V after the rides… not bad for a long continuous high amperage burn.
Still, it would be even better if voltages above 4V could be maintained throughout the entire ride. I will be looking into adding a remote charging/power connector to the tail end of the host, and also adding an additional 9 x 18650’s in a tail bag under the seat. 13 x 18650’s should do the trick! Since the batteries run in parallel, I can use a simple remote charger to recharge them all at once without removing them from the bike. This will also eliminate the beating the driver takes from the positive 18650 contacts scraping against it each time long cells are swapped out. I’ll terminate charge around 4.16V to get longer life out of the cells.
I was thinking about using 3 of these in my tail bag (1S3P with protection):
and a voltage monitor at the tail end of the bag:
By removing the bottom rail from the battery tube, one of these should work for a sturdy adjustable center mount on the gooseneck:
It uses the standard 1/4 x 20 camera thread, and the host has sufficient aluminum between the battery slots to tap it. The mount has great reviews.
What do you all think? Comments or suggestions are welcome.
….2016, 3d printing is here to help on these projects! Here is my recent little work:
