2016-09-09 10:21:06
8
Ghost Bike Blinkies: any tech-folks care to suggest?
this is not a Crucial Thing as much as a NiceToHave. When we put out Ghost Bikes,
sometimes there's a front-and-rear cheap blinkie put on the bike which I really like.
It calls the attention of night-time drivers to the ghost bike.
I'd like to have a solar-powered blinkie that turns itself on-off during the day/night cycle.
The closest thing I've found is this:
https://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-SW75738-4-Solar-Combo-Light/dp/B0030RS6IS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473429962&sr=8-1&keywords=solar+power+bike+light
which is a solar-powered blinkie set, but it doesn't turn on when it gets dark out.
2016-09-09 10:15:14
Maybe you could just use a regular solar panel battery charger and connect a light that turns itself on automatically at night?
I think you'd want more solar cell surface area than you'd get with a bike light. And since the bike is stationary you don't have to worry about a compact and portable solar power source.
2016-09-09 10:59:55
I may be in the minority here, but I think putting blinkies on a ghost bike is counter-productive in the sense that it desensitizes drivers to blinking lights (white or red). I think a solar garden light or something would be a nice way to draw attention to the ghost bike at night, but I want blinkies to say to drivers - be careful there is a human ahead.
2016-09-09 11:07:56
+1 Marko82
2016-09-09 12:27:08
Tempted to agree with Marko. The fewer nighttime distractions, the better.
I already have a seed under my dentures about dusk-to-dawn lighting in general, being an amateur astronomer. Stuff that should not matter should not draw one's eyes away from stuff that does matter. I don't like flags being lit up, I don't like parking lots being lit up, or buildings, or bridges, anything decorative. I don't like any light anywhere that points sideways instead of down. I like it dark. Then, once it's dark, light up the things that really need to be lit. That does not include ghost bikes. Ghost bikes do not merit 24/7 lighting, or more accurately 12/7 artificial lighting.
2016-09-09 14:33:01
i don't have any opinion on the merits, but as for the technical aspect i think there's something solar-powered going on at susan's bike in Oakland--I haven't looked closely or recently, but i seem to recall some sort of small solar panels (like the aforementioned garden-lighting), perhaps in the basket...
so perhaps find out whoever set that up (Courtney E? Anne-Marie?) and talk to them...?
2016-09-11 00:37:00
Since posting that, I got to tour a couple of cemeteries (for entirely unrelated reasons). I noted the existence of the aforementioned solar powered flowers. Maybe two square inches of solar panels, and the flowers are about the size of a big rose. I would need to see them up close at night to see how distracting they are.
2016-09-11 14:04:47