Originally Posted by
Robert
See if my photos load correctly, then I can edit in my comments.
So you want to take a nearly "eyesafe" weak laser and boost its power and use on a bike without understanding how to install a new diode and boost the power? This is not going to work. Five milliwatts of dim red laser light is just not noticeable in traffic. That is a Class III or Class Three R device. Its weak to say the least.
As a experienced biker with electo-optics design skills, I'd suggest going with off the shelf products with one watt AUTOMOTIVE AMBER rear facing LEDs. If you have two devices on the rear flashing out of sync, you will be much more noticeable then with the laser. Automotive Amber/Yellow is chosen to be right on the peak of daytime eye sensitivity. Its only 10% off the of the night-time peak wavelength which is in the green.
A hint, a primitive part of the human brain, looks for half cycle to two cycle per second flash periods. This corresponds roughly to rapid predator/attacker motion. Driver's brains are hard wired to look for flashes corresponding to this period from the peripheral vision. If you'd like, I can dig up Navy and FAA studies on why you want this flash rate.
The above is why commercial traffic and aviation signals blink at that rate, or even multiples of that rate.
Use multiple bright LEDs on the back and sides instead of the laser. Put a high quality headlight on the front in blink mode, alongside one in steady mode. It also helps if you have fixed arrays of five or more leds strobing left to right.
A 1 Hz strobing beacon with a 10 to 30 percent duty cycle will get far more attention then a nearly continuous laser line.
My bike is set up so the lighting scheme annoys even cops. Using multiple leds that are NOT synced and spaced 12 inches apart at the rear. One of those lights is on a rubber mount to allow it to bounce a few degrees of up and down. That scheme works.
Another Bike hint. Don't run everything off one battery. From basic statistics, two devices on the same battery power source and wiring will have roughly TWICE the failure rate of two devices on their own power sources.
Yellow led rim lights on the wheels help dramatically as well. So do reflectors.
You'll live longer using LEDs.
Steve
Last edited by mixedgas; 10-09-2014 at 12:41.
Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
When I still could have...