How should I position my bike lights?

Generally speaking, lights should be positioned as far apart as possible. The further two points of light are away from each other, the further away the eye can distinguish them. Separating lights vertically also ensures that you will be seen by people in low and tall vehicles alike. For headlights a good setup is to have a primary handlebar mounted headlight, and a secondary light on the helmet. Good helmet lights should have a narrow beam and not be too bright - you want to be able to light up a specific area where you're looking without blinding everyone around you.

 

For taillights, a rack or seatpost mounted light in addition to a helmet light provides good coverage. More details on taillight placement are available on the recommended taillights page.

Should I use my bike lights in flashing mode?

Although you will find many differing opinions, and we've yet to see a bicycling-specific study on this , these are our recommended best practices for when to flash:
 

• Daytime riding: In broad daylight there is a lot of ambient light, so a steady burn light is unlikely to stand out. During daytime riding, it's a good idea to use your lights on the brightest, most attention-grabbing pattern they have, because it's easy for drivers to judge your position when your whole bike is visible, and you want to grab attention quickly.
• Riding at night: High-intensity forward-facing lights should not be flashed alone at night, especially if they put out over 200 lumens. You run the risk of disorienting oncoming traffic (be it on 4 or 2 wheels), and make it difficult to estimate your position and speed. Having one flashing light and one steady light is a good compromise — you can grab drivers' attention but the steady light helps improve distance estimates. Avoid extreme strobe patterns though, and opt for a pulsing light.

Rear lights tend to be less bright, and are therefore more appropriate for flashing at night; however, the same principle of distance and speed estimates applies. If rding with just a single light, using it in a medium-speed pulse mode is a good compromise. Using two taillights is strongly suggested though, using one in flashing mode and the second in steady burn. If you're upgrading to a new light, consider one with a rechargeable battery to use in steady mode, and use your old light in flashing mode.

What do lumens, candlepower, and lux mean? How are they measured?

The three primary brightness units are Candela (luminous intensity), Lux (luminous flux per area, aka illuminance), and Lumens (luminous flux).

 

Candela measures absolute brightness at a point. In other words, it measures the amount of brightness going in only one specific direction. This unit is sometimes used to define maximum brightness of a light. The value for candelas is the same regardless of distance from the light, but will be different depending on the angle from the light.

 

Lumens measure total luminous flux, in other words the total output of a light source in all directions that it points. If you were to integrate the candelas measured in every direction around a light source, you would get lumens. Lumens are measured using an integrating sphere, a scientific instrument that uses a reflective sphere to normalize the light beam and measure its intensity.

 

Lux is lumens per area. If you project a light onto a surface and add up the total amount of light hitting it and divide by the area of the surface, you get lux. The brightness in lux depends on the distance at which you measure it. Illuminance is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, so in order for lux to be a useful measurement you must know the distance at which it was measured.

 

Lumens are the most commonly reported value for bike light brightness. Many manufacturers use an "estimated" or "specified" brightness based on the LED's specifications at a certain power level, but the actual brightness will depend on the circuitry used, how efficient the light's optics are, the temperature the light operates at, and the quality of the LED. Many lights' claimed lumens are 10-40% higher than the actual brightness. The ANSI FL1 Standard specifies a specific, repeatable method for measuring the brightness of a flashlight or bike light. Lights certified by the manufacturer with the FL1 Standard are marked with an "FL1" logo on the Bike Light Database.

What makes RAYPAL bike light surpassed others?

It’s all User-Centered Design and with patent protection. It’s light, bright, small compact, smart and auto that are all user friendly.

RAYPAL bike light was designed according to automobile road safety standard as bright as headlight of cars. Not only it has cut-off line to avoid offending the eyes of incoming riders but create low beam for wide-field road vision for riders. That is utterly different from the traditional bike light or flashlight was installed on handle bar to glare and blind the people on the road that might cause accidents.

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