As a first post to THIS group, I thought I'd pass this on and ask if
anyone has tried this light. From all the pointers, it seems pretty
fantastic. Any idea whether ACP will require spare bulbs for LEDs next
year?

Ken

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [AltoVelo] Lighting systems
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:21:58 -0700
From: Ken Nishimura <kiwikat@...>
To: jkerouac@... <jkerouac@...>
CC: Dan Connelly <djconnel@...>, John Franklin
<jtfrankl@...>, altovelo@yahoogroups.com
References: <20060828231859.58349.qmail@...>
<44F44BDA.3010302@...> <44F48D05.3030700@...>



I second the cleverness of the DiNotte. Perhaps the best feature is
that they use user replaceable batteries. There are other similar
lights (including one from our sponsor), but they seal the battery pack
within the lighthead. When one of the four cells inside fails, you have
an expensive paperweight. The explanation is that they want to preserve
the environment by discouraging the use of alkaline AA cells. That line
made my cynic meter go off :-) Given that the LED itself has a long
lifetime, the batteries are clearly the weakest link. Even though they
claim a 100,000 hr life on the LED, the batteries will be lucky to see
1000 hours of total runtime. Another plus is that you get to improve
runtime as battery technology gets better. Finally, in a real pinch,
you *could* throw a set of alkaline AAs in there -- just be sure to
properly dispose of the used cells :-)

Ken

On 8/29/06, *jkerouac@... <mailto:jkerouac@...>*
<jkerouac@... <mailto:jkerouac@...> > wrote:

The DiNotte is the best execution of a Luxeon 5 headlight that I've
seen, with a nice job on the electronics to get the long burn times
they achieve. If I were to buy a bike light this is what I would get.

For older halogen setups, consider these conversion bulbs:
https://www.ledtronics.com/ds/MR16-42acdc/
They drive on from 8 to 24 volts, AC or DC, allowing many battery
options.
Barry




Dan Connelly wrote:

> John Franklin wrote:
>> I was looking for a new lighting system and came across this on EBay:
>>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARC-LI-ION-ULTRA-LIGHT-AND-MOTION-856-0092-A_W0QQitemZ140023\
531122QQihZ004QQcategoryZ42317QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>>
> Very funny...
>
> I just saw a review for this, which looks quite good. The LED
> systems are certainly getting
> better every year:
>
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/?id=2006/reviews/dinotte_ultra_5
> http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Lights/product_127188.shtml
> http://www.dinottelighting.com/
>
> In San Francisco, really, for what I do, a "be seen" light is all
> I need: my old halogen systems
> aren't getting any use. The new bright LEDs, though, combine
> compactness (or run time) with brightness.
>
> Dam
>