Super Bright Flashlight for Bike Light

I've been experimenting with a lighting setup that is as bright as a Dinotte, but way cheaper. It is based on a replacement LED bulb that an inventor I work with has just come out with. With this insert, a 60 lumen Surefire flashlight becomes a 240 lumen monster. The batteries also last longer, due to a heat sink that improves efficiency.

This light is brighter than a car light, because I've driven at night in a car, shined the flashlight ahead onto the road, and you can see the spot in the pavement illuminated by the car headlights. It is unbelievably bright. I was camping next to a huge rock outcropping and I lit up the whole rock with this little tiny flashlight. When I drive down the street on my bike in the morning, all the reflective signs bounce light back at me. I took it into an REI store and compared it side by side to a Dinotte, and they were about equal.

Here is the setup on my bike, the Catrike recumbent shown in posts below:



The parts are shown in the picture below, with where to get them listed below the picture. The picture below shows two Surefire flashlight setups. One has a converter, available on ebay for about $8, which allows it to take longer batteries which last longer. The regular batteries last about 1.5 hours, the larger ones about 2-2.5 hours.

 

The parts of this system are as follows:

Flashlight Setup 1 : Surefire 6P flashlight (about $60) (or SureFire 6Z, C2, M2 and G2 or Cabela's 6 v flashlight ($32); from Surefire, Amazon, ebay or Cabela's.

Malkoff M60 insert: about $50: (replaces the fragile bulb that comes with the flashlight), from Tactical Design Labs (http://www.tdlabs.com/ if link doesn't work, under the "New" menu tab.) They are selling the Malkoff device as an upgrade for police, who use Surefire flashlights extensively. They say "It will easily illuminate objects at 350+ feet and will blind opponents within a 100 foot radius." I believe a Malkoff flashlight will easily to that.

2 CR123 Batteries, AW Brand protected rechargables from Lighthound.com, $7 each

Flashlight Setup 2: same flashlight and Malkoff insert as above, with

Surefire converter, ebay for $8, allows use of the longer 17500 batteries.

2 Batteries, AW Brand-17500-Protected-Rechargeable-Lithium-Battery from Lighthound.com, $11 each.

Fenix 360 Bike Mount, light holder, $15, this is high quality in fit and finish, but rattles. A small rubber band between the top half and bottom half stops the rattle. A no-name brand is also pretty decent, on ebay for $4 shipping, titled: New Bike/Bicycle LED Flash Light Mount Clamp Holder. These are a little loose on the Surefire, so I put a section of inner tube around the flashlight body, for a tighter fit.

Charger: Ultrafire WF-139 Charger for 3.7 volt Lithium Battery Charger, from Lighthound.com, $18.00 (charges several sizes of batteries)

I hope someone tries this setup and tells me how it works for you.

Comments

[Pinnacle Flashlights]

Nice write-up. I've been using AW's cells in a bunch of my lights and they have been great!

[JL]

Just ordered the $4 mount from Ebay, thanks!

[Mio Navman M400]

Pretty nice post. I just came across your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!