Testing in the Old Pueblo, take 3

Posted byDave 12 Comments on Testing in the Old Pueblo, take 3

Every time I race OP it seems to be all about testing.  26 vs. 29 anyone?  How about the latest and greatest lights?

This time around is no different.  I’ve been impressed with the Ayups since seeing them at 24 hour worlds in ’07.  They are now making them with Cree Q5s or R2s which are quite bright and efficient, so I had to get a set.   

They ship with an on/off switch.  They are on, or they are off.  I like a bit more control than that, plus I’ve got so many batteries it made no sense to collect a bunch of Ayup batteries.  So, I made a little gizmo that runs 2 sets of Ayups from one of my batteries at 12 hours on high – both sets, one battery.  Should be 640ish lumens to go along with the bar light.

They will also run on lower power and work a charm for multi-days…

Nuthin like going with an untested setup in a race.  My fingers are crossed.  Of course the real question is will there be another end of the world storm?  It always rains in the desert for races it seems!  Oh well, SS’s keep truckin in that stuff.

Late edit:  looks like I need to post more details on the setup…

I’ve got a dozen or so 14.8v Lion batteries at 2600-5200mAh.  I’ve also got a couple bFlex units on hand.  The bFlex is a constant current voltage stepdown unit that works perfectly with my old light systems.  So, to use my existing batteries (that also have ~4x the capacity of the Ayup 6 hour battery) I wired the bFlex with a switch into a piece of aluminum square tubing.  Wires in = battery; wires out = 2 leads to the Ayups. 

The bFlex is set at 1000mA and the Ayups are wired in parallel – so each one gets 500mA, the same as what they are shipped with.  This is, however, well below their rated capacity.  All my Cree lights run at 1000mA no problem and the Ayups probably will too so long as they are moving.  Stationary they probably don’t have enough cooling for those currents.  I’ll find out eventually – with this setup I can also run a single unit at 1000mA and that is considerably brighter than the stock Ayups.  The advantage is weight, of course, the disadvantage is the Crees get less efficient at higher powers.

Matt, thanks for the heads up. 

I release all rights to this concept but am not responsible for on-helmet meltdowns :)

12 replies on “Testing in the Old Pueblo, take 3”

  1. That looks illegal! Someones going to think a train is coming at them in the middle of the night, in the middle of the desert. You really should consider starting a business pushing radical bike parts and designs. You seem to have a gift ;-) Good luck to you 2 at the OP.

  2. Now THAT is a light set-up I could totally LOVE and DIG riding with…. THAT would be enough light!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    BLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG x a BILLION!

    You are going to blind everyone from behind ;-)

    Jj

  4. That set up is too funny, a DH creation if ever there was one.

    I demo’ed set of Ayups at the VT125 in Sept. and really liked them a lot. Light, bright and right.

    Have fun at OP!

    Ed

  6. Other riders may think the Baja 1000 was re-routed. Your going to be casting some shadows with that setup.

  7. You are obviously operating with technology that is ahead of me. I love the AYUPs but have not gotten to the point to where I’m getting enough light for a multi-looped race. Vapor Trail or Kokpelli and my handlbar and helmet sets work well enough to impress me (somehoe got ~8 hours out of 6 hour batteries at VT). I tried running this at Temecula and was definately in a light deficit – I needed more and my poor eyesight could not function all that well. Are you just running an extra set on top of the helmet are these brighten than current off the shelf?

  9. I was curious if it was possible to add a dimmer and run them in parallel…..now I know! Provided it doesn’t set your hair on fire at 2am!

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