FLASHING BIKE LIGHTS
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Flashing Bike Lights, retail $1.99 (www.cvs.com)
Manufactured by (Unknown) for Take One (www.take-1.com)
Last updated 03-12-12




The Flashing Bike Lights is a small wand that you clip to the spokes of your bicycle wheel; the motion of the wheel itself turns it on. It has five 3mm LEDs (two blue, one yellow, and two red) that light up quite brightly in a sequential or "chasing" pattern, and feeds from three LR1130 button cells - already included.

It comes in an all-plastic body, consisting of a yellow battery carriage/spoke clip, a transparent cylinder, and a small top cap - also with a spoke clip moulded into it.

This product was found in a CVS Pharmacy store in the central-eastern part of the United States (the state of Ohio, to be specific) in early-October 2007 for $1.99.

I was not able to find the product on the CVS website; therefore, the link above simply leads to their front door.


SIZE



To use the Flashing Bike Lights spoke light, first gently pull out the transparent plastic tab from the large end, and dispose of it. Don't just throw it on the ground, or else creatures like squirrels, rats, snakes, or birds might eat it.

Snap it onto the spokes of your bicycle wheel, orienting it so the larger of the two yellow plastic ends faces the wheel's hub (the center of the wheel).

From that point on, just ride your bicycle as you normally would. A motion-activated switch inside turns the lights on when you're moving, and turns them off ~10 seconds after you've stopped.



Using a very small phillips screwdriver (the #0 with a 1.4mm shaft diameter from a set of jeweller's screwdrivers did the trick here), unscrew & remove the small screw near the top of the battery cap, located inside the spoke well. Set it aside where you won't lose it.

Lift the battery cap off, and set that aside too.

You'll see a thin, square metal plate with a spring on its underside. Gently lift up on it (don't try to pull it all the way out or you'll break that little red wire - and if you do that you'll be SOL!)

At this point, you should be able to remove the used batteries.
Do so, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Insert three new LR1130 button cells into the chamber, orienting them so their button-ends (-) negatives go in first.

Gently press that litle metal plate into place (spring facing the batteries), slip the battery cap back on, rotate it until you see the screw holes line up, and screw in that screw you removed earlier.
Don't overtighten the screw; the threads in the screw hole will become stripped if you do.



This is a bicycle spoke light, not a flashlight. So I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, try to drown it in the {vulgar term for feces}bowl or the cistern, run over it, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout, a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or a pack-of-cards-sized instrument that Fergy Fudgehog uses), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or inflict upon it punishments that flashlights may have inflicted upon them.
So this section of the light's web page will seem a bit more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight that was born to be a flashlight and nothing but a flashlight.

Because I do not own or have access to a bicycle or other vehicle with spoked wheels, I cannot test this product in the manner intended, and therefore I cannot in good conscience furnish it with a rating.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the red LEDs in this light.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the red LEDs in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 610nm and 660nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 637.323nm.



Photograph of the red LEDs illuminated. Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow LED in this light.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow LED in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 570nm and 620nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 590.777nm.



Photograph of the yellow LED illuminated.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the blue LEDs in this light.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the blue LEDs in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 435nm and 485nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 455.926nm.



Photograph of the blue LEDs illuminated.

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.



Photograph of the product, illuminated of course.
Not all of the LEDs are shown turned on here because the product has a "chaser" circuit.

WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the product flashing.
This clip is approximately 3.7 megabytes (3,811,838 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than fifteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.




Video clip on YourTube showing the product flashing.

This clip is approximately 6.045656743 megabytes (6,288,524 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than thirty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.






TEST NOTES:
Test unit was sent by a fan of the website on 10-18-07, and was received on 10-20-07.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 00-00-00



PROS:



CONS:



    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Mainly decorative bicycle light
    LAMP TYPE: 3mm LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 5 (2 blue, 1 yellow, 2 red)
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: Integral motion-activated switch
    CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
    BEZEL: Plastic; LEDs protected by transparent plastic cylinder
    BATTERY: 3xLR1130 button cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Splatter-resistant at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
    ACCESSORIES: 3xLR1130 button cells
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    PRODUCT CANNOT BE USED AS INTENDED, AND WILL THEREFORE NOT BE RATED.





Flashing Bike Lights *






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