Ideas for light on a flagpole on a low recumbent

[jacktheclipper]

My friend just bought a 3 wheel Catrike and it's loooooow to the ground . It came with a fiberglass pole with a safety orange flag on it .
Great for daytime , but I'm thinking that a lightweight blinky would be much better for night rides . Preferably an off the rack item .
Any suggestions ?

 

[syc]

A friend carries her daughter in a Burley trailer, which is about as low to the ground as a Catrike. it has one of those flags as well - she runs Electroluminescent Wire up the flagpole and turns it on when riding at night. It has "ok" visibility, but isn't comparable to a decent blinky. You might try one of the higher brightness EL wire kits from specialty vendors.

I built one of these for my son's burley:

Side view by sychan168, on Flickr

But its definitely not off the shelf - involves using an oven to bend an acrylic rod and then mounting an off the shelf blinky on it, and working out a mount onto the trailer.

Another interesting project would be a pick up an EL panel and replace the flag with it. Would take a little bit of work, but looks like the ideal substitute - may do one of these myself.

 

[pe2er]

My friend just bought a 3 wheel Catrike and ...

Catrike?

Do not have a suggestion at the moment, but am faced with the same challenge on my own trike.

 

[panicmechanic]

You may want to search for the "Weber M-Lite", made for these poles.
I only heard a rumour it's not made any more.
Edit: but they're still advertising it.

 

[Steve K]

I love the idea of a light pipe! Is the bend at the top just to direct the light out to the rear?

A simple straight light pipe would be easy to implement, but something would have to be done at the far end to keep from just shooting the light into the sky. Maybe taper it into a cone and force the light out in all directions? Or just "texture" the pipe along its length sufficiently that all the light is leaked out the sides before it gets to the end? Lots of interesting possibilities!

How hard is it to find suitable acrylic rods?

regards,

Steve K.

 

[BrianMc]

Found it! This thread shows an LED strip available in colors. Should be light enough for a whip. Nominal 12 volt so an 11.1 V 3S1P Lipo pack would work. Likely a bit to wide angle to have any punch at a distance. Small reflectors or lenses on some (most?) of the LEDs would help that a bit.

 

[VegasF6]

Probably overkill but I have a couple of these: http://www.tribalwhipsstore.com/NightStalker-Whips_c3.htm I chose green since our eyes are most sensitive to that wavelength. You can read by them from several feet away on a dark night. I saw these from another forum and I kept thinking, well heck I could build those, probably better for less money. Then, I just ran out of time, and bought them and have to say, they are a darn nice product.

 

[jdp298]

Searching for whip lights got some odd results but also presented this: "Street Fx Atv Whip Light Red"

And in other colours. Would orange be the better option so as not to appear red from all directions?

 

[jacktheclipper]

Has anyone used one of the new Nitize small blinkies for an application like this ?

 

[pushy]

You may be able to attach a Fibre Flare to the flag pole half way up.

 

[syc]

Hi Steve,
Yes, the bend is to point the light back towards incoming traffic. I picked up the acrylic rod from Tap Plastics - they are a chain out here in California. I built a simple jig and then stuck the end of the rod in the oven - this image should be clickable to the details:

Bending the waveguide by sychan168, on Flickr

I love the idea of a light pipe! Is the bend at the top just to direct the light out to the rear?

A simple straight light pipe would be easy to implement, but something would have to be done at the far end to keep from just shooting the light into the sky. Maybe taper it into a cone and force the light out in all directions? Or just "texture" the pipe along its length sufficiently that all the light is leaked out the sides before it gets to the end? Lots of interesting possibilities!

How hard is it to find suitable acrylic rods?

regards,

Steve K.

 

[BrianMc]

IMHP the Nite Ize don't have enough punch to be seen well far enough away to increase safety enough. But it isn't my trike.

If you want to mount a standard blinkie or use one to power the acrylic rod I suggest the Radbot 1000 which reliably puts out about 25 lumens (more with fresh off the charger cells), twice a Planet Bike Superflash. Search for the thread here. If you want more, try a Dinnote 140R.

The fiber flare is interesting. For side visibility increase it might help. Not good enough for fast overtaking traffic would be my first guess, but I might get a pair to evaluate for side visibility.

Thanks for pushing them, pushy.

 

[pe2er]

This is what I have so far:

Picture with and without photo-flash.

Front center: 3 Watt LED spot (CREE XR-E R2) with modified optics to get some suppression of the 'above the horizon' light and increase side visibility.

Front left and right: Small 5mm LED based lights (modified flashlights) to show the width of the bike to oncoming traffic. Main attribute is low mass, because the mudguards can not support much.

Tail: Europe standard reflector/ taillight combi with 1 Watt red (Luxeon-like) LED retrofit. Spanninga ARCUS XB.

Power comes from 2x Li-Ion batteries - still need to make a waterproof battery pack.

The flag is a slightly modified delta-kite. The kite supplied the flag and fiber rods for the flag post. An ANSI vest was the donor for the reflective material on the flag. I Had both lying around unused, would probably order a 'Purple Sky Flags' flag if I had not.

No light on the flagpole yet, still thinking about how to solve that, no need to hurry as temperatures are still around 0° C in the morning over here, so I prefer to ride my Strada VM

Tires all have a reflective stripe as is required over where I live.

 

[jacktheclipper]

Great idea with the reflective vest !

 

[jacktheclipper]

I got one of these -Nite Ize Clip-On Marker - RED LED and it's pretty bright . I think the whip needs some reflective tape ( white ) . Does anyone know where to get some ?

 

[BrianMc]

If the white reflective tape used on Semis and trailers will do, Walmart has it. I'm not sure it is the brightest 3M product, as they switch out all the time.

 

[Steve K]

for all sorts of reflective material, check www.identi-tape.com, or go straight to their reflective stuff.

I think it's the SOLAS stuff I have on my panniers. Or else the high gloss vinyl trim from 3M? Pretty effective stuff!

Steve K.

 

[jacktheclipper]

Thanks for all the input !