Nicelite NL336R 0.5W LED Bulb (£8.75 inc p&p) - Discontinued

[gaz]

Continuing my efforts to bring my 90's lighting into the 21st Century I decided to install a LED bulb in an old mudguard mounted rear light.

The "bulb" produces a red light and is obviously intended for use in rear lamps only.

The light itself is unbranded and came from an ESGE mudguard set, almost certainly an original fitting, complete with reflector. It was intended for dynamo but conversion to DC supply was straightforward. Both the light and reflector have "K" markings, IIRC the German standard of the time.

All pictures were taken about 1/2 an hour ago in the gloom of the garage, as viewed it was gloomy rather than the black of the pictures; that's cameras for you especially old cheap ones. All the pictures are from about 5m behind the lamp. They've all been resized to upload but had no other manipulation.

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There's no doubt that the LED is substantially brighter. I don't believe it's so bright that it will cause dazzle. IMO a good buy.

Edit: Title, the 0.5W LED bulb was discontinued some years ago but the threadcromancers keep digging this one back up.

[JohnW]

Your penultimate comment is interesting and raises a thought Gaz.

A rear light needs to be bright enough to be seen and recognised by the motoring fraternity - particularly an HGV driver who may be 10ft above you and looking straight ahead and not down (even if he's awake).

On the other hand, when riding in a group, a decent rear light usually does dazzle your companions who are riding behind. This is worse if the rear light is flashing. Is there a compromise? - given that weight and battery size and battery life could be issues for significantly larger diameter lights.

Motor vehicles seem to have much larger rear lights, but not as intense, and they don't seem to have the same tendency to dazzle. This isn't wholly true - some car rear lights can dazzle, especially when the brake lights go on. Indicators can often dazzle.

I've noticed that 'bus rear lights are very large diameter and don't dazzle at all.

[gaz]

What I should have done, had I been thinking about it, was to take a shot of my 0.5W SMART rear LED as a comparisson.

It was giving thought to how bright I feel the SMART is that made me not buy a 1W red LED. IMO the SMART is bright enough; I don't want weapons grade lighting.

It's many a year since I last rode regularly with any group after dark; bright rear lights didn't exist back then.

Only time will tell if I stick by my initial opinion on dazzle, early evening dark is drawing nigh so it shouldn't be too long before I receive some feedback from other riders.

[JohnW]

There's not many people picking up on this thread gaz - which surprises me.

I hold the Smart lights in high esteem.

On one of my bikes I have three Smart lights - all set to different modes. I think they're quite effective - the only weakness that I can think of is whether they're effective enough to be seen high enough to be clear to HGV drivers (even when they're awake).

My LBS-man has a theory that LEDs are so efficient that the batteries last so long, and rear lights are improving so quickly, that if we keep upgrading to the latest improved models we'll never need to buy new batteries.

[gaz]

Your LBS man has an interesting way to generate sales .

From a quick garage test anecdotally the rear lamp with the Nicelite LED is brighter than my SMART, but not much. The mudguard lamp is certainly mounted lower than my SMART, I don't plan to use it as a sole lamp.

I'm not too surprised that the thread is attracting little comment. I can't imagine there are many people looking to convert battery bulb lights rather than buying something better off the shelf of their LBS.

[mjr]

Also, red LEDs have been useful longer than white ones, so there are even fewer rear bulb lights left to convert.

[JohnW]

Your LBS man has an interesting way to generate sales ...............

We have our own ways in Yorkshire..................

I always have three rear lights - I believe we need two, and the third is for if one of the other two go "phut" on a ride in the dark. Sort of insurance.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Your LBS man has an interesting way to generate sales ...............

We have our own ways in Yorkshire..................
I always have three rear lights - I believe we need two, and the third is for if one of the other two go "phut" on a ride in the dark. Sort of insurance.

Another boy scout

[JohnW]

Hi,

Your LBS man has an interesting way to generate sales ...............

We have our own ways in Yorkshire..................
I always have three rear lights - I believe we need two, and the third is for if one of the other two go "phut" on a ride in the dark. Sort of insurance.

Another boy scout

again.

[niggle]

I have a rather nice looking Soubitez dynamo rear rack light with 0.6W filament bulb and integral reflector. I have not tested it but I really don't want to rely on a filament bulb, so was looking to see if there are LED alternatives- so far I have only found the Nicelite who do a 1W dynamo rear replacement bulb, the NL437R, which works out at £13.75 posted.

I am not keen as I would think 1W will be too bright, 0.5W would perfectly bright enough and take less power away from the headlight, and anyway I can get a complete LED rear rack light with standlight function for similar money.

http://www.reflectalite.com/LEDpage.html

http://www.bikeco.co.uk/index.php?mod=p ... ur=e&cur=p

[gaz]

The model I purchased and reviewed is designed for a DC supply and is no longer available.

I agree that 1W would be unnecessarily bright.

I am in the process of dipping my toe back in the water of dynamo lighting, I've already got a hub generator and front lamp with some suitable fittings on the way from SJS. I've also been looking for an equivalent 0.5W screw fit LED dynamo "bulb" without success. Most likely I'll end up with a whole new B&M unit from Rose.

At the time of making my purchase Reflectalite were offering a 0.5W AC compatible version, although I have no recollection of the model number. You might try an ad in the Wanted section.

[niggle]

Hmm just found this at Compass Bicycles, a whopping $42.50 with the cheapest postage to the UK, not much detail either, no power rating, but does have a standlight function for 'at least a minute':

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2011/12/ ... solutions/

https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/compo ... ofit-bulb/

EDIT: this is cheaper (but still approaching £15 posted) and rated 0.6W but no standlight: http://www.systart-webshop.de/bike-led-rear-light-e10

EDIT 2: given up and ordered a Spanninga Solo https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00RN4NNAA/ ... 71_TE_item, more compact and lighter weight than the Soubitez and has a proper 4 min standlight.

[Boyd]

I go with multiple rear lights but most use AAA batteries and don't feel safe using rechargables in them. So I used an old rear light someone was giving away which used 4AA batterie and replaced the bulb with a nicelite LED. Then I put in 2nd generation rechargeable NiMh. Far far brighter than the original bulb but it didn't appear dazzling..... until I lent it to someone and I was cycling behind them. I wouldn't say it was ludicrously bright and I am more worried about it dazzling car drivers, they are after all the threat! I also liked the fact that I could use 3.7 volt lithium batteries as well. The light bulb doesn't get any brighter it just uses less amps. It is really quite staggering how technology is advancing.

[SA_SA_SA]

If using NiCd/NiMh cells Iit would be best to only use 2 in series unless you have a low voltage alarm that 'sounds' at 1V per cell i.e. 4V for 4 such Ni cells. This is because such Nickel based cells do not like being reverse charged. In a long ago Chris Juden article on lighting he mentioned this and that 2 cells are OK as just one non-empty one cannot overpower the empty one....