some cheap lights for experimenting

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a couple of people at work told me about these

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a buck each at a place called family dollar here, but they could be in other places.they have three button batteries in them, and an on/off switch at the tail end. could be a two edged sword though. cheap enough to buy, but not worth building an idea around if they don't last more than a bit of time.

i just got them last night. picked up a handful, both for experiments, and also for replacements if i come up with with an idea i like but it turns out they're not very durable.

so far i've found if you break the mounting part off, it fits with a little play into 3/4" emt. that's where my first experiment idea is forming. maybe get rid of the switch and button batteries (just something about button batteries i don't like), hard wire to the light, slip it into some kind of holder made from the emt with maybe a set screw (or it may pressfit with a layer of tape around it or epoxied in), and power it from a generator or battery pack. just metering the three batteries it measures at 4v.

i also broke one of the little clothsepin looking clamps apart and it looks like it could be epoxied to the forks or handlebars or something. the light body pops out of the clamp body so even if the light wasn't very durable you could just pop on another. that would leave use of the stock switch and battery replacement too.

just figured i'd post them up in case someone else is interested. maybe someone else might come up with another or better idea that i can stea... er... consult... yes consult on. to see if there's some other way they could be used.
 
had to do a quick search. yeah, that's it. has it held up well? do the batteries last very long? my initial plan for these will involve welding my housing idea to the frame i'm working on so i want it to be worth doing. thanks.
 
Philphine said:
had to do a quick search. yeah, that's it. has it held up well? do the batteries last very long? my initial plan for these will involve welding my housing idea to the frame i'm working on so i want it to be worth doing. thanks.
It worked well for 6 months or better before I sold the bike but it wasn't very bright at all. If you make it with enough access that you can switch the light in the event of failure it would be great. Also with mine I noticed the light would sometimes flicker from bumps and vibration.
 

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