Recommend me some bike lights.

[The Artist]

I need some bike lights. Brighter the better. Recommend me some please!

I have 12V and 48V power sources on the bike and would rather use either of those than batteries so I am open to any solution.

[G]

Do you mind getting a bit fiddly with some soldering?

What's your budget?

I would be tempted by something like this added to a cheap XM-L (ideally you want genuine U2 XM-L2s, but T6 XM-Ls are decent enough)... make sure it has a decent heatsink.
https://www.taskled.com/hboost.shtml
I'm tempted to get one his modules for one of my 12x LED torches (rewiring the torch to 12s to make full use of the amps if needed - it's currently 6S2p - 120W or so LED torch should be VERY bright.)

For easy, get a 7x T6 bike front light with battery.

For the record, XM-L and xM-L2 are the model of the LED, with L2 being the second version.
When they're made they're thrown in to 'bins' based upon how good they are (brightness per watt). The scale goes T4, T5, T6, U1, U2, U3 with U3 the brightest I believe.
Most you see are T6. Genuine U3s tend to be not worth the expense.
XM-L2 tend to be one step better, so a T6 XM-L2 would probably be similar output to a U1 XM-L.

[The Artist]

[G]

The board above can be added to an existing torch.

I do fancy making my own housing for a push bike, but much easier to buy an existing one.

I've got a similar head torch to your linked one and it does a decent enough job.

The one you linked to seems to be exceptionally good value, which is a bit concerning.

It's probably not going to be able to handle too much over the 8.4v it's rated at.

[The Artist]

[Seb]

Even if that puts out half of the light it claims, as long as it's reasonably focused that'll be pretty sweet light.

I'd be ultra paranoid about the quality of the battery and charger though.

Personally I run an 800 lumens exposure strada. Really neat lamp but pretty spendy by comparison.
____________________
2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[G]

It won't put out half the light it claims if they are genuine XM-L2 U2s. Well, possibly it could JUST do that with just the right setup.
Think a really well setup XM-L T6 should be around 1000 maybe. 1000-1250 for two might be more realistic at a guess.
As an ideal, my 12x XML T6 torch probably does a real 4000 or so from seeing other people's reports. That's still brighter than my truck headlights (not quite as wide spill)! It is quite underdriven too - maybe about 45w at a guess.

Hopefully the batteries would just be well underspecced (as an idea, you're paying more than that total price just for two 18650 batteries, while it has four or six of them. But could, of course, be dangerous too.

[The Artist]

Yeah, I am not expecting 5000L but anything even remotely close is far more expensive. I will report back once I get it with some pictures but I have no idea what to compare it to or how to measure Lumens.

[KevTM]

The one you posted the eBay link of, I have two of these and find them the best bang for buck! The spread of light is good, I'd recommend one for the bike and one for your head. I've tried others with 6 leds etc but they're not any brighter and the beams weren't up to much, plus they sucked more juice! The quality of the one you posted is ok, definitely waterproof and the heatsink is adequate as long as it's in free air space. The charger does ok but it is a basic charger and may not get the best life out of the battery but mine is still very good after 2 years

[G]

I missed there was postage ontop of that price, actually. Price not quite so unreasonably cheap.

For a head torch, I'd go for one which has 2x18650s on the back and a red LED in that unit.

Althought the price has gone up slightly since I first looked at it, one of these is probably a good choice:
https://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/B00NMEFPDS/
Not as big reflectors, but two LEDs in a compact package and the read light, a good choice for head-mounting.

[The Artist]

It arrived today. Very bright. Has 4x 18650's in a pack. Came with a battery holder pouch and all looks decent quality. I don't think I could get much better value for £16 delivered. Even got a free rear basic LED light.

https://i.imgur.com/YjhdmMh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nUQLAzm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/dQ756BH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Gj96Sd8.jpg

This was taken in a fully lit room so you can see it is pretty bright.

https://i.imgur.com/HYm0nMd.jpg

[kramdra]

People usually neglect the rear light which I consider far more important if riding in traffic at night, especially if Im commuting 20 miles on country roads in rain and fog. 3 little red leds are no good and flashing is shit. I want cars to think Im a motorbike (or car with a light out) and therefore slow down appropriately to leave the correct gap and plan overtakes properly.

And for front light, the amount of lumens is quite irrelevant if not in the correct places. Too much up close will make it difficult to see the small amount of light reaching the distance. A small H4 motorbike low beam housing with an XML swapped in would probaby give much more useful light than 7-xml-in-all-direction jobs.

I got these, very impressed so far. Plan to add a brake switch to alter the resistance on the driver circuit (xl6009) allowing maybe 2-3 watts normal, 12w while braking. Plan on adding a couple to my CBR6 as it has a habit of blowing rear bulbs. Ill probably put in top box for now. Also got some amber ones Ill be using for cbr6 indicators.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291187146302

For a housing, glue the LED onto some alu sheet. Cut the back off a cheap rear light, and glue the sheet in (epoxy). Alu sheet also makes it relativity theft proof. To power it, using a 5v usb powerbank which allows me to charge easily at work. The lights bypass the 5v converter, and Ive got a small led voltmeter attached so I dont over-drain it.

[Andy9934]

Those cheap CREE LED ones are good, I've got a single one on the front of my bike and they always provided good light and pretty decent battery life with a pack of four cells, which came with it.

Unfortunately the plastic wrap on the battery wasn't so good and water got in, which caused the wiring to corrode. I re-soldered it and then wrapped it in a sandwich bag but it's still needed fixing once again since.

In conclusion, try to keep the battery pack indoors so it can dry thoroughly.
____________________
Surrey
Honda Varadero XL125

[Ste]

https://www.hopetech.com/product/district-plus-rear/

It's very excellent in every way, bar the price.

[G]

From what I can see, that District plus is £165 for a 1w or so LED light. (On high - 15 hour battery life it seems. I assume that's 2000mah used, as the 2600mah is likely the total capacity and allow in a bit of exxageration along with the standard discharge to 80% gives us 2000mah. So that's 133mah used by the torch, which is 0.96wh)
You can get a 1w rear light for around £10.
Ok, you'd want to separately get some rechargeable AAAs, but it'll weigh a good bit less.

I've got a 'cherrybomb' rear light which is 1w I believe - it's certainly very bright and does the job fine, though I'd like a more defuse pattern to provide a better idea of vector - likely going to use a RGB light strip around panniers for this.

[The Artist]

[G]

To my motorbike - I've had LED strips on bar muffs as running lights, then red for tail lights and extra amber connected to indicators.

That was the 'lego' style strips - I do have a fancy new-style RGB strip which I'd initially got for interior lighting (until I found said lighting was running at 24v not 12v), so now planning to stick it on the push bike.

[The Artist]

I have 2x 12v white led strips and 2x red strips on there way. Going to put them on my push bike in series so I should be able to run them off my main 48v supply. Each strip is 25cm using 15x 5630 LEDs.

[cagiva gezzer]

[G]

[covent.gardens]

P7 and P7.2 have nice and easy beam adjustment making them great for a pushbike headlight (I have a P7.2 as a work torch and hadn't really thought about using it on my little used bike before - but I might now). P7.2 isn't rated waterproof though, although looking at it, it looks pretty sealed up and rain resistant to me. If someone didn't have a P7.2 already I wouldn't recommend buying one just to use as a bike light though.