MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 MR> "Roy J. Tellason" bravely wrote to "MIKE ROSS"
(29 Aug 03 
 MR> 20:01:16)  --- on the heady topic of "Vehicle LED's"

 RJT> MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Jasen Betts:

 MR> Might try switching to Nimh if I get tired of pedalling... ;-)

 RJT> That's the other thing I used to think about,  putting some sort of
 RJT> rechargeable battery on the bike so it'd stay lit when I stopped...

 MR> I think that it's not worth it according to my calculations. For
 MR> example say one used 4 x AA's of 100mA/Hr capacity... to just run
 MR> the light during a 2 minute traffic light (2/60 x .5A = 16mA/hr)
 MR> one would have to recharge at a safe 20mA/Hr (C/5) over more than
 MR> 50 minutes!!!

Actually I was thinking D cells.  

 MR> To use a larger capacity say 4 x C at 500mA/Hrs also adds a lot
 MR> more weight. The calculation for C size changes a bit since we can
 MR> now charge at 100mA but the recharge time still takes over 10
 MR> minutes PLUS the extra muscle power (almost 1 watt).

Well,  we're talking 25 years ago or so being the last time I was into
serious riding.  I didn't think much of putting 40-50 miles on it in a day.
 Not having a car had something to do with it back then,  too...

I don't think that would've made much difference.

 MR> I was toying with the idea of a small 5 volt dip relay that would
 MR> switch to a set of 4 x alcalines during stops but the extra bother
 MR> doesn't seem so worthwhile the more I think about it.

 MR> One would be better off with a small rechargable 2-cell Lithium
 MR> pack and a wall wart... forget the dyno! After the night ride just
 MR> plug in the battery pack and that's all.

Yeah,  that would've worked,  too.  Though I don't know that those were
available back then.

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