Re: [Paddlewise] Being Seen At Night--LEDs etc.

While I hope that none of these tests will lead to additional future
regulations, I salute the combined teamwork and effort of the
government, commercial interests, and individuals involved with your
project.  Note: I don't advocate _additional_ regulations, but I insist
that we as paddlers have an obligation to follow the same rules as
everyone else.  (And I hope I haven't opened a can of worms with this
statement!)

If some good recommendations come out of this study, and some
manufacturers can be enticed to produce lighting products that are
commercially attractive to paddlers, you will have hit a home run!

>If you have any ideas on this, let me know.

I am consistently amazed at how bright and clear the new LED brakelight
clusters are on some commercial trucks (FedEx seems to have most of
their fleet outfitted, if anyone hasn't noticed these yet).

Also, many left-turn traffic signals now are green LED's.  As you said
in your later post, brightness of LED's is possible at levels
previously only found in incandescent lighting--the problem is cost.

I know that LED power consumption is significantly less than that of
incandescent, but wonder how much less is possible.  12V at 5A, or 60
watts is not a problem in a car or truck, but would quickly degrade a
kayak battery (especially when you don't have an alternator providing
continuous power).

I wonder if LED's are available that, when clustered, would have an
acceptably low power consumption, yet sufficient brightness to be
noticed.  I'd love to find such a system--I might even consider
glassing banks of red and green LED's into the bow of my next wood
kayak (LED's also have a much greater service life than that of
incandescent bulbs). A cluster of 360* visible lights on the end of a
removable fiberglass whip on the back deck would be great!  If the
wiring could be sufficiently protected from water, such a permanent
system might really be feasible.

If you have an electric bilge pump system, an LED lighting system
should n't provide so much draw as to render useless the important
safety backup of the pump.  I'm thinking that multiple sets of
electrical systems would be impractical--one sufficiently large gel cel
battery should be able to provide all the power you'd need.

>Oh, another thing.  We are trying to establish lighting
recommendations 
>for the following categories:
>
>1.  Just-in-case lights for a paddler to always have with him/her just

>in case they get caught in low light situations at the end of the day 
>because of delays caused by winds or illness.

A waterproof super-bright LED flashlight, maybe with some sort of
removable mount.  If you're out after dark with a bum arm, you don't
want to have to use your only good arm to hold up a light--you need to
be paddling, or stabilizing your boat if you're being towed!

>2.  Lights for an individual to have when he or she sets out 
>deliberately for a night paddle trip.

I think a lighting scheme like I described toward the beginning of my
post would be great, if it were affordable (I'd pay $60-80 without the
battery) as well as rugged and efficient.

>3.  Lighting schemes that a group may want to employ as it paddles as
a
>bloc.

I like the moving blue/yellow/white light schemes.  You could even
employ a low-brightness solid-colored LED in a case similar to a flare.
Clipped to the shoulder of a PFD, you could have blue for leaders and
yellow for group members.  If it were low enough in intensity, I see no
reason why red and green couldn't be included--if the light is only
visible for 20-30 yards, you're less likely to be mistaken for a nav.
light.

Shawn

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