From: bonham@jade.ab.ca (Mike Bonham)
Subject: Re: Headlight Advice Sought (ASCII graphic lamp quick-release,LONG)
Followup-To: rec.bicycles.tech
Organization: Jade Simulations International, Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada
	<BuEGwA.KLE@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
	<P.Etheridge-140992142233@130.123.3.76>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 05:44:49 GMT

> news@massey.ac.nz (USENET News System) wrote:

> > flip@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Phillip Russell) wrote:
 
> > I'm one commuter that looks for lights that can be taken off when I reach
> > my destination. What's the use of having these nice expensive lighting
> > systems if they get stolen while you're working?
> > 
> > The cateyes are great because they can be quickly taken off and carried
> > in with you.

> Nightsuns have a quick release so that you can do just that.  

> The BLT set (which I have) requires tools to remove, although this can be
> done quickly if suitably equipped.


I also have the BLT gel-cell / Union halogen light system, and
find it very well suited to commuting in winter.

The battery is enclosed in a standard water bottle and clips into
a water bottle cage, making it easy to take with you when you park
your bike.  It has an RCA socket on the battery, and you disconnect
this from the plug on the wires to your lights when taking the
battery with you.  The system as sold leaves the lights and wires
attached more or less permanently to the bike.

The mounting hardware that comes with the set consists of an
arm which (semi-permanently) clamps onto your stem, handlebar or
fork using nuts and bolts, and the wire makes a direct connection
to the bulb socket inside the outer shell of the lamp assembly.

To make it into a quick release system, I used threaded nylon
`compression' plumbing connectors intended for joining half-inch
copper/plastic pipe to 3/8 inch.  I rounded the 1/2 inch side
to conform to the rounded top of my handlebar stem, and cut a
slot through both sides so it could be mounted on the stem with
a hose clamp.  The 3/8 inch side got an RCA socket mounted in
the hole, with the wire inside coming out the side, running to
the lamp, which was clamped onto the same 3/8 nut in the usual
way.  There's a hole at the bottom of the `U' of the headlight
clamp arm, where a small screw can go, which helps keep the thing
from popping off the hexagonal nylon fitting.

I terminated the free battery wire with an L-shaped RCA plug.
The L-shape guides the wire off to the side instead of sprouting
straight up from the stem.

To take the lamp with me, I disconnect the RCA jack, then unwind
the nylon connector about 3 turns.  Takes 10 seconds total.

After a significant number of connect/disconnect cycles the
threads of the nylon adapters became somewhat loose and the
lamp's left-right alignment wandered while riding.
A little plastic plumbing tape in the threads fixed it so that
the light doesn't wiggle but can still be removed when necessary.

Notwithstanding all this, I don't usually remove the light when
dashing into the store for a short while -- I do take the battery
and my cyclo-computer.  The `quick release' sees more duty when
I decide not to bring my light on a trip at all, and then put it
back on for regular riding.  On most of my (commuting around town)
trips I have a place to park in secure locations.



                    ____
                   / ___|====.      RCA plug & wire to battery
         (         |_|        )
          )         U        (      RCA socket
         (         _[]_	      )
  wire    `=======|____|     (      3/8" O.D. adaptor fitting
  to             _#____#_
  lamp          |{#====#}|          threaded sections
                |{#====#}|
                |{______}|          1/2" O.D. adapter fitting
               /|/      \|\
              | /        \ |
  hose        ||   stem   ||
  clamp       ||          ||
  strap        \\        //
                \\______//
                 >=====~'
                  (___[]
                             hose clamp screw head



Works for me!
-- 
  Mike Bonham        bonham@jade.ca        Jade Simulations International
``Perfection is achieved, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
  when there is no longer anything to take away.'' (like this .signature?)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.marketplace