We’d never discount the beauty that is the SpokePOV bike wheel kits, but if you want to just turn your bicycle into a blinding blur, [depotdevoid] has the solution for you. He had a CCFL tube left over from an abandoned LCD monitor backlight repair, and decided to see what it would look like as a wheel light. The result turned out fairly well. He had to figure out how to mount the 8 batteries plus step-up board. He says the extra weight isn’t really noticeable and the light output is quite bright. CCFLs can be incredibly fragile, so take care when you do the actual mounting.
one could also use a small battery powered tesla coil to light the tubes. wireless power transmission ftw.
Thanks for picking up my instructable, I’m glad you liked it!
By the way, I didn’t just use a bare CCFL, this is one of the computer case lights, so it’s encased in an acrylic tube. I know they’re still fairly fragile, but it’s a lot better this way than just the unprotected CCFL.
These might be useful for this idea. I noticed Eric had green and red ones earlier, they probably sold out but Eric can probably restock on request. They’re EL instead of CCFL, might not be as bright. http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/illuminations-el-light-sources-c-32_30.html
macegr,
Those aren’t “EL” they are actually the exact same CCFL lights I used for this. But man, the price is fantastic!
check your local laws before doing something like this – many jurisdictions ban vehicles from having strange lights, or restrict which colours are legal.
usually that’s limited to mimicking police. In any case, if all you worry about is how you’re going to get into trouble, you’ll never get anything done.
solder first ask questions later ;)
Do you ever take that thing off any sweet jumps?
personally, I would like to see it powered by the user when he is in motion.
I think it would be a better hack that way. that way you don’t have to keep re-buying batteries just for when your riding your bike
Emanuel,
That’s a good idea. I don’t like the idea of buying batteries for it all the time, this was just a quick hack to make something awesome. How would you go about it? You’d have to find a way to set that up though.
Do you think you could set up an arrary of permanent magnets mounted on the frame, where the wheel actually attaches, and them add coils to the spokes? I’m no expert at turbines, but it seems like that should work. You could then either set that up to charge a battery pack or run the output through a voltage regulator for a maximum of 12 volts plugged directly to the voltage step up board.
Of course, a simpler solution (that might actually be lighter weight in the long run) would be to wire this up for 10 AAA’s instead of 8 AA’s and use rechargeable 1.2 volt batteries instead.
-depotdevoid
Well after some quick googling, this seemed like the most likely solution.Only issue I see is mounting it, but if you put the magnets on the stationary parts of the bike that support the wheel. that should do it.
but anyways here are the links, they are all about the same product but the some have better images, you can look at it from different points of view.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/10/reelight-magnet.html
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/03/15/reelight-bike-lights-powered-by-magnetic-induction/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/09/reelight_reliab.php#perma
http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/09/14/electrodynamic-bike-light-cuts-down-on-batteries/
tell me what you think of this, seems do-able.
nothing personal but its not much of a hack
a ccfl on a wheel
i realy liked the innovation with the pov wheel on a prev post, this was an alright idea but expand on it, add more ccfls, maybe a micro controller and accelerometer…etc
I KNOW what would make it a fantastic hack for the hall of fame!
a baseball card hitting against the wheel. what a CRAZY concept, making it sound like it has a motor or something.
scary kinda thinking about it. it would be the hack of the month!
but on a serious note, I would not mind seeing this flash on and off while in high speed, may lead to people having seizures or something.
good thing bush is not going to be president for long, because he may declare that a weapon of mass destruction.
i have a fun bike, too, and i put some lights on the spokes. but i use a UPS battery, a 12-volt, 7.2 Ampere-Hour maintenance-free battery to power them. try to see some pictures at http://www.picturetrail.com.
user: kokoye_lee
anyway, thanks for having this site. cool….
biker from iloilo city, philippines :-)
I was dippin down the street one day with these 2 sets of christmas lights on my bike and I got pulled over. Are you on probation or parole? No. Do you have any drugs, weapons or paraphernalia on you? No. Then you won’t mind if I look? I never consent to searches, but if you have the right to search me, I won’t resist… Usually they will just go on their way or write you a ticket for what they already caught you doing. I got a ticket for not having a headlight on a bike once, and it was a correctable offense, go to CHP station for free sign off on correction shit. I didn’t even bring my bike, just the light.