Al's Blog-o-Sphere

After a couple months, I finally broke down and bought the Dinotte 140R bicycle tail light. It is by far, the brightest LED tail light available and has been shown to be effective, even during daylight, in being seen by cars approaching you from the rear. The light is painfully bright, so much so that it gets attention other lights don’t get. Maybe it’s curiosity, maybe it’s annoyance, but drivers wake up and give you a wide berth when they see it. Video of the lights is at the end of this post.

Some other innovative bicycle lights have come across my computer screen. I haven’t tried any of them, but they are worth considering if you’re in the market for such a thing. Continue Reading…

While outfitting my new bike, I had to choose a taillight for nighttime use, or in case I get caught out at dusk. I’ve always used a blinking LED taillight in the past and they are pretty good at getting you seen in the dark. The flashing LEDs really stand out. But this time I wanted a little more because the recumbent is so low to the ground and might not be recognized as a moving object in the dark.

I had seen some lights that were really bright, so much so that they are actually of use in the daytime. I went in search of one online. It’s really hard to get real information about how bright these really are. You can see photos or watch YouTube videos, but because cameras adjust to the light available, they all look blindingly bright individually. Only side-by-side comparisons are useful. They’re hard to find, though.

Typical generic LED tailight You’re probably familiar with lights that look like this. I’ve had dozens of them in the past and recently threw away a bunch that had quit working and couldn’t be revived by new batteries. Some are good quality, others are cheap knock-offs, but they’re all about as bright as the other. I bought four of them a while ago for $1.25 each at a flea market. Continue Reading…

So, my LED flagpole turned out so well, I’ve decided to see if others would like one as well. I’ll try a limited run and see if it’s practical to produce for sale to my fellow ‘bent riders.

GREAT NEWS! I have completed a batch of Pixel Poles and am ready to sell them. They will be available in  my Tindie store in a matter of days. What is Tindie? It’s a place for makers to sell their crafts. Everything you’ll find there is tech stuff and the site handles the transactions and keeps things safe. Kind of like Etsy for Geeks. Click the badge below to go to my store.

Continue Reading…

20 watt solar panel

USB Detector

22.5Ah battery pack

USB AA Charger

I’ve written before about solar power for camping, especially camping from my bicycle. You may have seen my post about my trailer with a solar panel and battery. That is a 12 volt, 22AH system and was intended for powering a small Ham Radio station as I camp. It also would effortlessly charge all those little accessories that we seem to need to live these days: cell phones, computers, iPads, and all those bicycle accessories that seem more and more to charge off a USB port. But, the downfall was it is big and heavy.

I also wrote last year about my USB based solar charging system. Continue Reading…