Night Riding

[Zapf]

I am quite keen on developing some sort of cornering lights for motorcycles, after riding back from NP at night... not being able to see thru corners are not fun.

There is 2 general ways of doing this.

1.) Mechnical / Gravity. Keeping everything simple and use some sort of gravity / direction change + weights thing to alter the lights.
Potential material would be Nylon6 and Nylon bearing. Using Hella Micro DE fog lights.

2.) Electronic / Servos. Using either tilt / G / gyro sensors. which in turn works the servos altering the angle and direction the lights are pointing.

Looking for potenial partners in creating something for sale.

[sAsLEX]

2.) Electronic / Servos. Using either tilt / G / gyro sensors. which in turn works the servos altering the angle and direction the lights are pointing.

Looking for potenial partners in creating something for sale.

Gyros are getting rather cheap these days, alot of cars already have them in them, plus the system would not need to be too heavy with the actuators acting on the reflectors within the headlight arrangement rather than moving the whole thing it would only weight a few hunred gramms all up! Not much on a big tourer thats likely to get something like that!

Wouldnt be too hard for a uni student to do! Or someone like Allun!

Depends how trick you want it though, setting up a pair of auxillary lights on turrets say would be fairly simple, compared to making a design that altered the shape of the internal reflectors of the head lamp/

[Zapf]

Wouldnt be too hard for a uni student to do! Or someone like Allun!

Depends how trick you want it though, setting up a pair of auxillary lights on turrets say would be fairly simple, compared to making a design that altered the shape of the internal reflectors of the head lamp/

if its servo rotated then even 1 light will do. Have it mounted close to the center line of the bike. Which keeps the power draw down.

Just need a tilt sensor interfaced with 1 servo, and then it should be possible to link the servo and light using a link similar to a steering damper.

Any Uni student you recommend? think Allun is going to get a PM soon

one of these might be better?

[XP@]

The problem with lean angle or bar movement is that you want to see round the corner beore you commit to it.

How about a sensor which detects your head movement. This tech is quite easy, and has been round for years. Just add it to a servo and you light follows your gaze. Unfortunatly getting the light far enough forward and free of obsticles to handle a hairpin would be a tough one. the only way round that would be to head mount a light.

Would some High output led's on the lid be enough to give something more than black in the unlit area? The Police version of the Shoei flip up lid has a led built in, but I guess this is more like a torch for when they are filling in the tax collection forms. This is works for the brake light, but not the head light:
http://www.challengermotors.co.nz/We...stop_light.htm

Another really useful thing would be the ability for the light to change focus depending on speed (wide = slow, narrow = fast)

[Warr]

Depends how trick you want it though, setting up a pair of auxillary lights on turrets say would be fairly simple, compared to making a design that altered the shape of the internal reflectors of the head lamp/

I'm with Saslex on this one... Auxillary lights. Saw some of the guys on the Grand Challenge with a pair mounted each side last year.
To get an intelligent answer out gyro with all the forces going on during cornering mm. Ok.. well some tilt information could control a servo all stuck inbehind the headlight?? Guess I'd be interested in what someone could build

[Zapf]

The problem with lean angle or bar movement is that you want to see round the corner beore you commit to it.

How about a sensor which detects your head movement. This tech is quite easy, and has been round for years.

Another really useful thing would be the ability for the light to change focus depending on speed (wide = slow, narrow = fast)

yes this is quite correct. I was just thinking about it too. Question... how do you detect head movement?

re focus... this would require optics... $$$ ?

[XP@]

yes this is quite correct. I was just thinking about it too. Question... how do you detect head movement?

a sensor on the dash / bars area and 2 or 3 stickers on your lid.
still think it would be easier to attach a headlight to your lid.
it may need to be plugged in but it would offer the best directional beam (even a small light pointed in the right direction is better than a thousand watts pointed away from you.)

re focus... this would require optics... $$$ ?

if you had a 2 light system then you could lift and centre the beams for higher speeds.

[sAsLEX]

how do you detect head movement?

optical Recognition more than likely, small camera pointing back at your noggin from the headstock are, good thing is with a nice easyily distinguished shape such as a helmet or the stiker mention by XP is the processing would be alot easier! But now we are getting expensive....

A little micro to watch the lean angle turn etc could tell how much/rate of turn and sweep the light in front of that ie sense what your doing and predict your next move by working out the gradient of the last few measurements and following that through..... would be cheaper than cameras etc

Could use a little bluetooth sender in the helmet linked to a rate gyro thing up there to measure you head twisting and send that back down to the light and have one on the bike to isolate the rider from the bike movements to find where the head is pointing

many options!

[slopster]

Yeah heres a photo of my helmet mounted lighting. They are 50watt halogen bulbs like you would use for interior lighting but I had to order them in with a 10 degree beam (standard bulbs ar 30 or 45 degrees). Mounted in pvc pipes with velcro to helmet. They are good for normal riding but when you start hanging off the bike in corners the wiring can get caught between you and the bike. What I really need is a curly cord like a phone cord which self retracts. It has to be able to handle about 8 amps. Anyone got any ideas where I could get a heavy duty curly cord.

[sAsLEX]

Yeah heres a photo of my helmet mounted lighting. They are 50watt halogen bulbs like you would use for interior lighting but I had to order them in with a 10 degree beam (standard bulbs ar 30 or 45 degrees). Mounted in pvc pipes with velcro to helmet. They are good for normal riding but when you start hanging off the bike in corners the wiring can get caught between you and the bike. What I really need is a curly cord like a phone cord which self retracts. It has to be able to handle about 8 amps. Anyone got any ideas where I could get a heavy duty curly cord.

ahh they are 12 volt aint they! Be important to check the ability of ones power system before adding.

The first year engineers at Auckland Uni had to develop a system to attach a camera to a helmet, will find out what the winning design was as it could be used for some lights, with thier permission of course.

Then its just getting a slightly more professional housing for them out of plastic, and finding that suitable cord


curly cord here http://www.surplustronics.co.nz/shop...ct-PW0054.html

[slopster]

I'd be supprised if they draw much more than heated grips and I haven't heard of charging system failures due to these

[thehollowmen]

And people think the bugeyed V-Strom looks silly.

I put in some HID lights (H4 draw 65W 55W output equivilent: 130W and 110W) and when I put it on highbeam it is like riding in the day.

[sAsLEX]

I'd be supprised if they draw much more than heated grips and I haven't heard of charging system failures due to these

100W is a touch more than heated grips at a rough guess!


There site confirms they draw under 2A which is rouch as guts 24W those lights draw 8.33A

[sAsLEX]

And people think the bugeyed V-Strom looks silly.

I put in some HID lights (H4 draw 65W 55W output equivilent: 130W and 110W) and when I put it on highbeam it is like riding in the day.

aftermarket HID are illegal, only OEM are allowed

[thehollowmen]

aftermarket HID are illegal, only OEM are allowed

I asked about it and got passed on it just fine.

at full beam, everything in 90 odd degree arc has high lighting, everything in about 160 degrees has a low level of lighting.

And about 30 degrees or something up.

Brent_B says there is a fact sheet on the LTSA website.. I'll go looking.
EDIT: I'm running halogens, not HIDs. but yes, 110 and 130 W respectivly.