# HID Bike Light



## lighting1288 (Mar 22, 2006)

Anyone out there,

Do Any of you own a HID bike light? I know Niterider makes good HID bike light, but dont know if its worth the money. it cost somewhere around $550.00.


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## moonkat (Mar 22, 2006)

NRs get dissed big time on MTBreviews.com.
Best rated HID is Jetlites...Jetlite.com ??
HID with NiMh batts for up to $400 deluxed.
Their site has videos of night snow biking.

http://www.mtbr.com/
http://www.jetlites.com/


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## gessner17 (Mar 22, 2006)

I had a Cateye Stadium 3, had a lot of flickering and startup issues, cateye replaced it with a Triple shot...while it doesn' t put out quite as much light, I love it, Its a great light and you can pick one up off ebay for close to $200. What kind of riding are you doing? You may like having a double shot and triple shot for trail riding or just a Triple works fine for road biking. Double shot is a great helmet light. Triple has 3+ hours runtime and Double is 5+ runtime.


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## chadne (Mar 23, 2006)

I just built the most awesome HID bike light ever. I could care less about weight since I'm fat as a house. My buddies and I night ride every Thursday night. I bought a trail-tech eclipse mr-16 30 watt HID light directly from trail tech, and mounted it on a Night rider bar mount and drive it from a batteryspace NIMH battery with the waterproof connector in the DYI section there. I can't wait to ride this thing tomorrow night. Way better than my Night Rider. I can't believe how bright. Blows my NR away! I'll post an update tomorrow! Total cost -- Under $300.


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## jtice (Mar 23, 2006)

Ive been thinking about getting a set of the 30W HIDs from Trailtech.
http://www.trailtech.net/atv_home.htm

They arent as effecient as other HIDs, but they arent as expensive either.

~John


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## lebox97 (Mar 23, 2006)

Light & Motion Arc HID here...

http://www.bikelights.com/Products/Arc.htm

check out - for shoot out....
http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/beampattern.shtml
http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/


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## Arkayne (Mar 23, 2006)

Tally up another vote for the Light & Motion Arc's


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## chadne (Mar 23, 2006)

Okay, so here goes the ride report for my trail-tech HID light.. I got the thing together enough to ride and put it on my bike. The cables are way too long, and the switch was just dangling (that's important for later). Awesome amount of light. See everything in amazing detail. I had some motion problems from the mount as the light would rotate a bit which I need to correct. Came to a rock garden, and blammy -- no light. Which, when you go from bright as the sun to nothing really stinks. This kept happening over rough sections of trail (I was also on my hardtail since my blur is being reconditioned in the garage). When I got back to the car, I started tapping stuff. Whenever I tapped the switch the light would go out. So, the least expensive part appears to be the source of my problem. Brightest thing on the trail by far. I was able to ride through the twisty sections of singletrack with reckless abandon. Remember, I own a Night Rider HID light as it is, but the trail-tech blows the NR away. Next project is a 500 lumen LED based head mounted light.

--Chad


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## gregw (Mar 24, 2006)

chadne, nice to hear that the Trailtech Eclipse SCMR16 works...  What battery pack are you using (volts/mah)? Does it have a voltage/current regulator like the Trailtech 10W HID helmet mount kit? 

I have a Trailtech 10W HID helmet mount kit, but the first one I received died permanently after only 15 minutes of use. :thumbsdow I just received a replacement kit yesterday, but I've only just turned it on for less than 5 minutes to make sure that it runs... I'll need to find time to do a runtime test on this.. 

BTW, how hot does the 30W SCMR16 get?


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## chadne (Mar 24, 2006)

I used a 14.4 volt 4800MAH pack. I could touch the housing at all times. I think the lens is probably pretty hot because I could feel heat off the front of the lamp without touching it. It was also a reasonably cool So. Cal night last night. I talked to tech support, and they said the 30Watt lamp had a voltage rating of 12-24 volts, so I did not get a regulator. They are building a regulating switch though, so I will get one when it comes out to help keep the intensity consistent.


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## gregw (Mar 24, 2006)

chadne said:


> I used a 14.4 volt 4800MAH pack. I could touch the housing at all times. I think the lens is probably pretty hot because I could feel heat off the front of the lamp without touching it. It was also a reasonably cool So. Cal night last night. I talked to tech support, and they said the 30Watt lamp had a voltage rating of 12-24 volts, so I did not get a regulator. They are building a regulating switch though, so I will get one when it comes out to help keep the intensity consistent.



That really sounds much better than the Trailtech 10W HID that I have... For the first Trailtech 10W HID that died in 15 minutes, the housing became hot enough within that time that I couldn't hold my finger to it.  Did the problematic switch come with the light or did you install your own? How about a picture of your setup?


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## chadne (Mar 24, 2006)

The switch was from batteryspace.com in their DIY section. I don't think it's the switches fault. I just let is dangle and did not firmly mount it to the bike or the light. as for pics, I'll get one as soon as it looks more pretty. Right now it's ugly..... Well, all except for the chrome headlight with the black trim!


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## hector (Mar 28, 2006)

Acro HID light (35 watts) taped to the handlebars, well, have to admit, it does effect the bike handling, but light is amazing.


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## 6061-T6 (Apr 15, 2006)

NOt sure if you're still looking but niterider HID is on sale at www.jensonusa.com for $249

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/prod...1406&x=y&utm_source=EM041406&utm_medium=email


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## k1_ (Apr 15, 2006)

I have a Vicious Arc, which is the same WA HID bulb with custom electronics for ballast and regulation. It's an amazing light, but pricey. If you're going to pop $500 for a light, I would consider it over a NR Moab or L&M Arc Li-Ion. One of my teammates rides with a NR Cyclone (precursor to the Flamethrower) and while it puts out a lot of light, it's heavy as heck.

However, there's another consideration, and that's how much light you really need (or want) for your style of riding. If you're doing 24-hour races where you can swap for charged batteries regularly, or you're going out for a couple hours of technical stuff and don't mind the extra weight for the extra output, then HID is a great way to go.

But if you're doing more enduro stuff, where you spend a lot more time climbing or rolling, and not so worried about high-speed descending, then HID could be overkill. There are a number of great LED lights available, and more all the time, which produce "just enough" light for a lot less weight (and maybe cost).

k1


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## RePete (May 6, 2006)

Hey Chadne 

Can you tell me what sort of run time your getting from the 4800ma battery running the 30w HID?

Batteryspace advsie using a 11.1 volt battery as the peak voltage of the 14.8 can be over the 15volt rating of the Lamp. It sounds like you dont have any problems with the 14.8v battery

I bet it is bright hey equivalent of 100watts halogen would be like a car headlight wouldnt it?

Thanks for the info 

Cheers 
Pete


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## mudmojo (May 21, 2006)

chadne said:


> I talked to tech support, and they said the 30Watt lamp had a voltage rating of 12-24 volts, so I did not get a regulator. They are building a regulating switch though, so I will get one when it comes out to help keep the intensity consistent.



That sounds wicked Chadne! 

For the SCMR16 30W HID light... if it's true that the operating voltage is 12-24V, would it be a good idea to use this 18.5V, 7.2Ah Li-Ion battery?
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2670

Here are some of the comments...
PCB built inside to protect the battery pack from over-charhing and *overdischarging.*
# Voltage : 18.5 V in working and *21V in peak *


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## picard (May 21, 2006)

HID bike light is just over kill. It cost too much for it. It is cheaper to use high power LED light.


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## batvette (May 31, 2006)

Obviously from the thousands sold, others think the cost is justified. Perhaps they ride faster on rougher terrain, or have more expendable income than you do. I like home audio, and often chuckle at the thought of $10,000 interconnect cables. Maybe if I had a $150k system instead of my trusty old Marantz which was a discard, I'd justify it. 
Anyway I use 3 led's on an older Trek singletrack I have set up for all road use, pretty light and speedy for a mountain bike. A dinotte 5w in the center and a pair of small 3w brinkman torches clamped to the bar ends. I like multiple lights, easier for a motorist to judge your speed. With 11watts of Luxeon LED light, it's acceptable, and comes in at just over half the weight of a cateye triple, 454 grams plus the mounts. I could live with brighter though. I was clipped by a car from behind last year, knocked me into a parked pickup truck. Now without insurance if I'd have broken a limb it may have been 5 figures for the hospital bill. Kind of makes $500 sound like a deal, huh?
I have a second bike I'm rebuilding , a Jamis Dakar, with some high end components I'm slowly collecting off Ebay like double crown forks, Morati Ti "W" handlebars, XTR controls and derailleurs, but am putting skinny slicks on it for an "urban bomber". (and will use 2 or 3 of the best locks out there should I park it, a Krp. NY Fahgeddaboutit "U", a Master SS streetcuffs, and maybe an armoured cable- yeah, all at once)
I've been looking at HID's and kind of wanted a one piece torch- style like the OMS dive light, though its costly. Just 8"x2.5" though.... 
I wonder about that 30w Trailtech.... would there be legal problems commuting with something so bright? Is the beam focused down or is it 360 degrees?


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## soupdragon (Jun 2, 2006)

You will end up paying alot for a HID light as the various companies add a premium cost for packaging the light so its bike friendly

As far as recomendations if you are after the best there is then Lupine lights are pretty much it for weight and runtimes 

For cost its hard to beat Lumicycle lights (a UK company btw) http://www.lumicycle.com/pages/default.aspx 

lumicycle started off life making home made halogens and the lights still have that kind of quality but in the UK are very good value


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