ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] Night Riding

[endurance] Night Riding

Roger Kurrat (kurrat@surface.mat.ethz.ch)
Tue, 3 Oct 1995 09:57:31 +0200

Hi to all night riders,

here in Switzerland I have the same problem. By the time I get
out on the trail it's dark outside.

Well, as an engineer I thought I should do something against it
and found a good solution. Have you ever driven a car by night ?
If so, you probably switched on the lights. Why don't you do
the same when you are on horseback ? You say, you don't have
any lights on your horse. Well that's easy to solve...

I took two 12 Volt batteries with 8 Ah (Ampere hours) each and
attached them to the back part of my (Orthoflex) saddle. One
on each side of the saddle (keep it balanced and make sure they
are really fix to the saddle and cannot hit the horse, the total
weight of the batteries is ca. 5 kg)
Next, I took a breast collar and placed two halogen spots right
on the part in front. You know these small lamps, ca. 2 inches
in diameter. One has 20 Watt, the other 50 (which is the same
as the headlight of a car). Finally I took some switches and
cables and that's it. 20 Watt is OK for walk, trot and slow canter.
50 Watt is great for fast canter and even jumping.

Now, with the system I use, the 20 Watt halogen gives me ca 9 1/2 hours
of light and the 50 Watt nearly 4 hours of light. When using the 20 Watt
and sometimes switching to 50 it's something in between.

The battery needs about 20 hours (when it's fully empty) to recharge.

If you want to know more (and how to do it on your own) send me a message.

Happy trails,

Roger

---------------------------------------------
Roger Kurrat <kurrat@surface.mat.ethz.ch>
Oberflaechentechnik
Sonneggstr.5 NO-H55.1
ETH Zuerich - SWITZERLAND
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