hotbike

This article might be useful for anyone who uses commercially available MR16 bulbs as headlights . The Halogen lights can be converted to LED.
IIRC, there was a halogen light called the Nightsun, which used MR16 bulbs. There may be others.


Quote:
Beam Angle
Beam angles of 12°, 25°, 35° and higher are often listed in the specification sheets provided by both halogen and LED manufacturers. The beam angle gives a more precise understanding of the beam than the beam spread. Here is a table of the usual ranges of beam angles associated with beam spread designations. Note the considerable range of angles within a typical beam spread designation. This illustrates how for certain types of directional lighting, particularly narrow beam accent lighting where beam accuracy is important, there is no substitute for knowing the precise beam angle of a lamp.

8° – 15° = Spot
20° – 35° = Narrow Flood
35° – 55° = Flood
60° and greater = Wide Flood

LINK to the Article:
https://www.topbulb.com/blog/guide-b...eid=2bb8998477

8° – 15° = Spot Is what MY Bikes use. You have to special order them. I use the 12 volt, MR16 base.

hotbike

This is a bulb with a narrow "Spot" beam , of 10°
https://www.topbulb.com/led/led-mr/5...tt-equal-3000k

VegasTriker

I dabbled in using an MR16 halogen bulb for a bike light about a decade or more ago. It was a DIY light that gave a really bright beam. It seemed to be a great idea but the need for a substantial 12V sealed lead acid battery to power the 10W halogen light was the downside. I abandoned the idea after a few months because of the weight of the battery, short run-time, and need to charge the battery every time I used it. I wouldn't repeat the idea these days as there are too many good but inexpensive LED bike lights that run longer than the run time for the halogen light but use lithium ion batteries. The last headlight I bought cost me $13 for the light and $11.50 for a pair of high quality Panasonic batteries to run it. The light, handlebar mount, and two 18650 batteries inside weighs 222 grams or 8.7 ounces. Output is approximately 1300 lumens with both LEDs working. Compare that to the Soraa bulb with 435 lumen output linked to in the guide. Bike light and batteries for less than the cost of the bulb and no wires to deal with. I use it or a simple CREE XML-T6 flashlight as my bike light.

If you are really into using this setup, avoid buying the replacement LED bulbs locally. The $23-$27 price for the Sorra 7.5W bulb is outrageous. I knew that they are available for less than $5 from overseas sellers on eBay because I just received one for use at the base of a Christmas tree. It came with a 12V 10W halogen MR11 bulb. The replacement is a 15 LED, 1W, MR11 bulb that cost me $1.13 shipped free from China. You can see similar bulbs with the MR16 base on eBay selling as little as $1.75 postpaid, depending upon the LED used and wattage. I doubt you would like using a spot bulb with 10 degree angle. You would have to aim it pretty far out to get a reasonable area lit.

hotbike

That's exactly what I'm doing, using a 10° beam angle AND a 35° beam angle side-by-side.
Winter Bike with Windshield by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

Each bulb has it's own switch, It's a High-Beam, Low-Beam setup.
Winter Bike with Winshield by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

Using a 12v, 7 amp/hour battery. Tried a 4 amp/hour MC battery , but it only ran 3 hours (though to be fair, it was like 17° Fahrenheit in my garage, that might have affected the battery performance).

Rear of the bike has red LEDS , red LED strips outlining the Triangle, and an old Signal-Stat™ that comes on when I press a button, or throw the silver toggle switch up front. The Signal-Stat™ has a 2 watt LED bulb , replacing the 50 watt incandescent .

Winter Bike with Windshield by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

But yes, I paid $26.76 for each bulb with a 10° beam angle. The Electric Supply shop had to special order them from Houston, Texas . They are normally only sold to Art Galleries.

Regular 35° beam angle MR16 runs around $11 to 13 dollars.
35° is my Low-Beam, 10° is my High-Beam, combination works great on unlit back roads.

01 CAt Man Do

OMG! That thing ^^^ is a monster! Just when I thought I'd seen everything.

Actually the part that really had me going was the windshield. While I might understand the need I think most people would of just went with a windshield on the helmet. Actually I use to have one of those. I don't know what ever happened to it. Came in real handy in the cold weather when riding on the road.

I'm going to agree that what I see being offered for MR-11 or MR-16 LED retro-fitting is really not going to be worth it. What really makes it not worth it is because more than likely you will have to procure a battery that it over 12V DC. While you could buy a decent 14.8 volt Li-ion battery for maybe ~ 30-$45, it would just be cheaper in the end game to buy a cheap Chinese LED lamp ( with a decent battery ) for around $45. The Chinese lamp will be brighter and because it has adjustable modes it will be much more efficient.

Of course if you are just looking to retrofit your old Halogen Marwi, NightSun, Niterider..etc because you like the retro look than yes, you can get LED replacements that might fit the lamp but you will still need a battery over 12V if you don't already have one. If I were to do something like that I would try using a 4-cell 18650 set-up ( 4S/1P ). More than likely the built in driver should be able to handle the extra voltage. If you're lucky you might get 400 lumen out of it but depends on what bulb you end up buying. Once again you get no dimming with a setup like that so unless you just like the retro look it really doesn't make a lot of sense.

hotbike

The windshield was made from the old refrigerator's crisper drawer ! That went on very recently, the time/date stamp of the photo will document that fact. It is mainly to keep rainwater out of the switches, I see over the top of it when riding. (though it is well positioned, and if I had a cold head wind , I would duck behind it in an instant...)
The tool that made it possible was the Dremel 193 cutter:
Dremel Steel High Speed Cutter 1 pk(193) - Rotary Tool Accessories - Ace Hardware

MikeyMK

You don't need a big lead acid battery for even the most blinding lights, i used a 12v Li-Po battery the size of a cigarette packet and it kept a 30w lamp going for several commutes between charges.

The latest Cree diodes give more light than 55w motor vehicle halogen main beams, and will run on a single 18650 battery.

hotbike

I've got Lead/Acid , 12 volt batteries. Some are 12 volt 12 amp/hour, left over from my experiments with electric assist (ebike).
The 12 volt 7 amp/hour is still my favorite.
I think I have a run time of ten or eleven hours with the 7 a/h battery.
I tried a 4 amp hour lead acid motorcycle battery, but had some issues with the extreme cold , temperatures below 20° Fahrenheit , which could be the cold, but also that type of battery is designed for "cold CRANKING Amps" (CCA) , so it does not have the run time that a normal AGM, SLA would have.
Heres a photo of the 4 amphour MC battery , at the bulkhead:
Model 317 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
Another :
Model 317 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
And it Lights Up:
Model 317 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

hotbike

I meant to say, the 4 amp-hour MC battery went to the "Velomobile" Bike , which I have been storing INDOORS, so the cold weather doesn't bother it.
Model 317 by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
And these lights don't draw any power, they can be on for an hour, and when I plug the charger back in , it reads "Full Charge" still...