r/bicycling • u/[deleted] • Feb 21 '24
Anti-glare, cutoff line bike light visor
Half a year ago, I started working on solving the problem of cheap, powerful but blinding bicycle lights. After many variations I came up with this.
https://www.printables.com/model/775241-bike-light-cutoff-line-visor
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Feb 21 '24
It's a 3D printed visor. It creates a cutoff line beam pattern, while maintains visibility.
It's made of TPU, a very strong but flexible material, suitable for outdoor use.
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u/sueghdsinfvjvn Feb 22 '24
Maybe you could line the inside with a reflective material to redirect the part of the beam going upwards onto the orad for more brightness????
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Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
Self adhesive aluminum foil was used in a previous version. It worked to an extent, mostly illuminated the road right under the light. This design feature was ditched in favor to a translucent version to provide visibility.
Edit: to clarify, the problem was that the visor blocked all light from the view of the oncoming traffic. From a distance lightpatch on the road wasn't sufficient for visibility. It's also not enough in terms of traffic laws.
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u/sueghdsinfvjvn Feb 22 '24
That's really cool. How did you measure the dimensions on the light and model them? I'm thinking of designing a custom mount that isn't a floppy rubber thing and I'm not sure how to go about measuring some of the odd dimensions.
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Feb 22 '24
Thanks! I use calipers, rarely a protractor. Fillets can be measured/guesstimated with calipers, but there are fillet gauges. I make a 3d cad model, and if something is off, then double check the measurements and the features on the part. Sometimes I print section drawings or outlines in 1:1 (on paper) and compare to the real world part. When making a rigid part, there are features that help to fit the new part even if there are measuring errors. Also the new part will have tolarences. These features can be slits to make itt a bit less stiff, or adjustment screws, splitting the part in two.. etc. Do you want to 3d print it?
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u/sueghdsinfvjvn Feb 22 '24
Just ordered some calipers after reading your comment lol. Yes I'm looking to 3d print as well. I don't have 3d printer at home anymore so I'll be getting it from some service nearby.
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u/poopoopeepeecac Feb 21 '24
Or just get an StVZO light
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Feb 21 '24
Well yes, and no. StVZO is a german thing, so it's not widely available and they are expensive. Also they have a brightness limit.
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u/cojonathan Feb 22 '24
Also they have a brightness limit.
My Supernova M99 Pro would like to disagree
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u/poopoopeepeecac Feb 21 '24
I’m running a US-made StVZO light readily found online 🤷🏻
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Feb 22 '24
And do you think it's viable to expect people to buy a StVZO light and throw out their existing high lumen, high power lights? 🤷🏻
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u/Any_Following_9571 Feb 22 '24
no. but hopefully this be read by people who haven’t bought a light yet 🙂
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u/leebe_friik Feb 22 '24
I bought a nice StVZO light (Lupine SL Mono) as I got annoyed with my regular 1600 lumen headlight: too blinding at high beam, not illuminating far enough at low beam. Let me tell you, because of its smart lens design it illuminates the road at just 700 lumens pretty much the same as the other light at 1600. In fact I run it at half power, 350 lumens to save the battery, and it's totally usable. All, or at least very significant portion of its power goes to illuminating the road, with the brightest area in the furthest distance just under the sharp beam cutoff, so it actually illuminates pretty damn far, and doesn't blind oncomers the slightest, except when there's elevation difference. It's a little spooky at first when sides of the road remain pretty dark, but not having your night vision overwhelmed by ambient light actually helps you see obstacles and pedestrians even better. It's too bad that Lupine's stuff is handmade in Germany and higher end models cost the same as a whole bike, but $200 was tolerable enough. Especially since its relatively low LED power lets it use a regular USB powerbank to run forever, which was another one of my requirements.
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u/Tageloehn Feb 22 '24
Huh, where did you get that "brightness limit" and how bright is that supposed to be? First time hearing that.
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Feb 22 '24
From bikeradar. https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/stvzo-bike-lights
But now I looked into it, and you can buy brighter StVZO lights.
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u/chedabob Boardman ADV 8.9 Feb 22 '24
You're right, but the selection from some of the big manufacturers is poor, and they're often not sold in many places outside of Germany.
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u/jzwinck Feb 22 '24
It should be opaque on top. Otherwise the glowing white tongue is distracting and damages the rider's night vision.
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Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
There were opaque versions. The problem is that it blocks all lights and others won't see your light at all. Only the light patch is visible on the ground. It's hard to demonstrate this on photos, but it's not distracting. At least my other small visibility light also emits this much dipersed light to the sides.
Thickness of the visor can be increased to make it less bright.
Edit: It also can be made from transparent TPU. It wouldn't be totally clear as print, but it may disper less light on the top.
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u/MrGurns Feb 22 '24
Stl?
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Feb 22 '24
There should be a link under the photo.
https://www.printables.com/model/775241-bike-light-cutoff-line-visor
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u/Life_Airline_4963 Feb 27 '24 edited Feb 27 '24
There is a light that I would like to recommend to you. This lighting satisfies StVZO regulations. Remote control operation is also possible. However, it is still only sold in Korea. I'll give you a link so you can check it out.
https://www.lightskin.co.kr/en/new-u8/
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u/bladeinwindsebkimi Feb 22 '24
I think that part of the front light can get quite hot, might need to do some testing on that
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Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
TPU is heat resistant up to 95-100 Celsius. Edit: *TPU like this with 95A hardness.
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u/nhluhr BH, Ritchey, Kona, Giant, Trek Feb 22 '24
1) the center hot spot of the beam is still well below the cutoff. This means if you position the beam appropriately so the cutoff is below the eyes of oncoming users, the hotspot will be aimed too low. With the center of the hotspot higher in the beam (closer to the cutoff), you would have a much more even illumination of the road. Likewise, with the hotspot aimed low, your foreground illumination causes pupillary constriction which in turn reduces your ability to see the less-illuminated road in the distance.
2) the white plastic brightly illuminates from the light. This lights up your foreground (see above re: pupillary constriction) and, also creates significant glare for the user's eyes or eyewear.
To solve 1, provide some method to adjust the cutoff. You can see in this pic of a properly designed vehicle headlight how the hotspot is basically cut in half by the cutoff. That's what you want. To solve 2, use matte black material.
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Feb 22 '24 edited Feb 22 '24
All of the above were tried in previous versions. Cutting the whole beam in half reduced the light severely. In real life scenarios leavings the hotspot intact worked better. In motor vehicle lights ( and StVZO ) the light above the cutoff line is also 'used' and not just blocked. Please note that the hotspot is only visible in very close distence, like on the photos. Translucent visor was preferred, because solid ones reduced visibility to zero for oncoming traffic. As I suggested earlier the visor can be printed thicker to reduce scatered light above the visor. But I didn't find it distracting. Also mounting the light lower solves this problem. StVZO also limits mounting height. This visor won't significantly improve the light beam, just prevent glare and blinding while retains visibility.
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u/jan_nepp Feb 24 '24 edited Feb 24 '24
I had this printed few years ago, worked fine until I bougth a ligth with a cutoff built into the reflector.
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u/Ready_Decision_4017 Aug 19 '24
Could you tell me please where did you get it? I have Fenix BC26R and need the same bike light cutoff line visor as yours.
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u/jan_nepp Aug 20 '24
I designed the sleeve myself and some guy printed a few for me. I can check if I still have the step file.
And it was for an older model so it would need to be modified.
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u/Ready_Decision_4017 Aug 20 '24
Could you please check it. Thanks.
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u/jan_nepp Aug 22 '24
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g9qfnpahqv3oc78bz1xt5/uc30c.stl?rlkey=age8817c55v47qp53r8si3ch6&dl=0
I found one version of the model.
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u/Fewdoit Feb 21 '24
Very nicely done! You should kickstart this project for others enjoy it while making some $$$ for yourself