Rallye navigation bracket photo thread

[pfb]

Originally Posted by Geek

Paul: do you have some rigids? Lets get together.. I'll bring a good camera that we can lock all the settings on and we can take a bunch of comparison photos?

Can do. The Rigid's come off the truck pretty quicly so we can also look at how they might work with Paul's new setup. But remember, all FOUR of my rigid's were about the same price as a single Squadron. They are also all flood's... In retrospect, two dually spots and two dually floods would have been a better combo for the truck.

[Geek]

The extra distance the squadron throws the light is definitely worth while to me (safer going fast in the dark)...

I don't know if 2 squadrons has any extra value (I won't until I get to try it.. I'm hoping to get the second one hooked up tomorrow); perhaps if I could throw the light wider with the second light (hence the classic combo of pencil beam and driving beam or fog beam). The other thing I was going to talk with Paul about is if we could try a slight shimming of each light to aim each one 10 degrees off center to each side (because it throws light so far) - the two would then cover a huge amount of area maybe?


The bigger issue I personally have with "too much light" is when you have to drive on a public road at night. You have so much light you turn night into day (which is great!) but then when you meet oncoming traffic and have to dim all that light to a legal level, your pupils have contracted and you are essentially blind until you can get the lights back on. I find I'm especially sensitive to this as I've had lasik (twice).

I'm going to love it up on Kingston Peak at night this summer & goofing around in LHC... but not so much when I meet oncoming traffic dropping down the canyon afterward.

[Geek]

Originally Posted by pfb

Can do. The Rigid's come off the truck pretty quicly so we can also look at how they might work with Paul's new setup. But remember, all FOUR of my rigid's were about the same price as a single Squadron. They are also all flood's... In retrospect, two dually spots and two dually floods would have been a better combo for the truck.

Do you find that all four lights being the same gives you a huge amount of light @ the same distance but essentially blinds you outside of that throw range?

Perhaps we should test swapping a flood & a spot to figure out the best combination

[Geek]

Any idea what LED the D2 is using?

I think the squadrons are using the Cree 1000 (900) XML.

[crankshaft]

I'm doing the Black river stages rally in September and the first day is mostly night stages, so I'll be able to test the lights at speed. I've seen 90+ on some of the straight sections and the stages are pretty much through the forest

I was beginning to worry that the Squads wouldn't compete with my 8" HID but I'm starting to feel better after all the feedback!

[pilo]

Making some progress with the 450x prototype...this setup looks to be excellent. It really is a work of machining art.

If you recall the setup I took to Jimmy's class.


With two squadron lights this setup looks to be at least a couple of pounds lighter than the 8" with roadbook holder.


Awesome layout and clean location for the RAM mounted GPS


276 mounts like it was meant to be there.




I'm going to pound this through 1400 miles of the Tour of Idaho in a few weeks. If it survives that pounding, it's ready for prime time.

[Yellow Pig]

In my opinion w/ Pauls's (HDB) 2 squadron set up the trick will be to have one be a sopt and the second a flood.

The flood would be pointed down and infront of the bike and run on a PWM dimmer with a high beam by pass so it acts as the low beam on the road at night. Then for high beam or offroad riding the flood would come on at full power filling in the area in fron of the bike and to the sides, wile the spot LED would give you long distance lighting. I would put the flood up top pointing down so it can bette fill in the dark spots behind bumps or when the front wheel is lofted.

The lower LED would be the spot pointed straight down the trail.


It would be super easy to mount one of these on the roadbook mount:


http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hst...ith/Detail.bok

SPECS:

Rotary control of led output.

Dimming is accomplished by PWM.

Rotory detent in off position. CCW decrease light output until off position.

Connect your high beam to provide full light output when you turn on the high beams.

Includes connectors male/female for 2 lights.

Includes connector for 12v DC power (male and female).

1.5"x1.3"x.8" or 38mmx33mmx20.3mm

IP67 waterproof

Suitable for up to 6 amps or 72 watts.

[Yellow Pig]

PS I have a D2 dually sitting on the work bench waiting to be tested side to side w/ the Squadron.

[cyborg]

Originally Posted by crankshaft

I'm doing the Black river stages rally in September and the first day is mostly night stages, so I'll be able to test the lights at speed. I've seen 90+ on some of the straight sections and the stages are pretty much through the forest

I was beginning to worry that the Squads wouldn't compete with my 8" HID but I'm starting to feel better after all the feedback!

Crank, I custom made a mount for the Squadron on my Berg, writeup here.



I'm not doing the roadbook thing you guys are right now, but I can tell you the Squadron on full power is an amazing amount of light for 44watts, probably as much as the BD 8". On pavement I took it up to 90 and could not out-drive it. Awesome light. I use a small Skene Designs dimmer to control the light for dual-sport use and ridden by many LEO cruisers day and night and no problems.

[wrk2surf]

Originally Posted by pilo

Making some progress with the 450x prototype...this setup looks to be excellent. It really is a work of machining art.

If you recall the setup I took to Jimmy's class.


With two squadron lights this setup looks to be at least a couple of pounds lighter than the 8" with roadbook holder.


Awesome layout and clean location for the RAM mounted GPS


276 mounts like it was meant to be there.




I'm going to pound this through 1400 miles of the Tour of Idaho in a few weeks. If it survives that pounding, it's ready for prime time.

Nice work Phil and thanks for adding photos .. the more the better!!

[theantipaul]

Originally Posted by Yellow Pig

The flood would be pointed down and infront of the bike and run on a PWM dimmer with a high beam by pass so it acts as the low beam on the road at night. Then for high beam or offroad riding the flood would come on at full power filling in the area in fron of the bike and to the sides, wile the spot LED would give you long distance lighting. I would put the flood up top pointing down so it can bette fill in the dark spots behind bumps or when the front wheel is lofted.

The lower LED would be the spot pointed straight down the trail.


It would be super easy to mount one of these on the roadbook mount:

That is how I've been testing mine, spot on the lower and driving on the upper, the way I remember it on the driving Squadron 2 of the reflectors are flood and 2 are spot.

Steamboat stopped by last week and had that dimmer on his 950, it was very slick because it has a separate wire lead for a high beam over ride that you could wire up to a switch for full power and about 1/4 the size of the BD dimmer. I was sold.

As far as the Squadrons go, I'm done looking, they're built for racing so they might not be for everyone, but for me it has everything I'd spec out if I was building one with the exception of a built in dimmer for the driving version.

Phil, can't wait to hear how it goes!

[theantipaul]

Originally Posted by cyborg

Crank, I custom made a mount for the Squadron on my Berg, writeup here.



I'm not doing the roadbook thing you guys are right now, but I can tell you the Squadron on full power is an amazing amount of light for 44watts, probably as much as the BD 8". On pavement I took it up to 90 and could not out-drive it. Awesome light. I use a small Skene Designs dimmer to control the light for dual-sport use and ridden by many LEO cruisers day and night and no problems.

That even looks stock, doubt you'd ever have any problems, good job!

[pilo]

looking back at the pics I noticed two things...

1) my garage is a mess (am I the only person that has a picture of their corvair on the wall?)

2) my grass in the front yard was green two months ago and now looks burnt and nappy...at least it hasn't caught on fire yet like everything else around here.

[pilo]

One other thing looking back at my post...this isn't MY prototype, this is Paul's prototype from HDB. It's in the title of my post but that sometimes get's overlooked. I'm not remarking about the beauty of my own work...I only do that after I mow the lawn.

[beechum1]

the mess means majic is happening.