"Roy J. Tellason" bravely wrote to "MIKE ROSS" (29 Aug
03  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...

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

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

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

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

 Mike
 ****

... Real techs don't lick nine-volt batteries!
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