Its time for a lights thread

Ouija

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Would this hub:

be OK to power this light:

Clicky pics.

No. Doesn't generate the right voltage or anywhere near the necessary ampage to power the light. Though you can buy super bright LED's that run off the dynamo and store electricity so the light continues to run for a minute or so when stationary. Unfortunately, they cost an arm and a leg.

vermin

bendertherobot wrote:

I should add, I trust we're all using our rear and pedal reflectors?

It's really very different.

Showing blues on the road isn't just illegal, it's seriously uncool. Try to think beyond your own little bubble. When you choose your crime, you really should consider who your victim is and whether you are comfortable with that. In this case, your victim is all of us.

EKE_38BPM

bendertherobot wrote:

I should add, I trust we're all using our rear and pedal reflectors?

Touché.

bendertherobot

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

I should add, I trust we're all using our rear and pedal reflectors?

It's really very different.

Showing blues on the road isn't just illegal, it's seriously uncool. Try to think beyond your own little bubble. When you choose your crime, you really should consider who your victim is and whether you are comfortable with that. In this case, your victim is all of us.

It isn't. You can't pick and choose what laws apply to you or not. As I've said I believe that mine does comply under the RVLR. But lack or reflectors is a breach. Of course, this is where practicality comes into it.

I suppose I could, at a push, leave the blue light on solid.

bendertherobot

Oh, forgot to add, these are useful as well, for when your signalling. Makes your arms very visible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIRVD5jui-E

vermin

bendertherobot wrote:

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

I should add, I trust we're all using our rear and pedal reflectors?

It's really very different.

Showing blues on the road isn't just illegal, it's seriously uncool. Try to think beyond your own little bubble. When you choose your crime, you really should consider who your victim is and whether you are comfortable with that. In this case, your victim is all of us.

It isn't. You can't pick and choose what laws apply to you or not. As I've said I believe that mine does comply under the RVLR. But lack or reflectors is a breach. Of course, this is where practicality comes into it.

I suppose I could, at a push, leave the blue light on solid.

You can't pick and choose which laws apply to you, but you can decide which you elect to break. You appear bright enough (yeah, intentional) to understand the point I'm making, so I guess it's on your conscience.

bendertherobot

vermin wrote:

You can't pick and choose which laws apply to you, but you can decide which you elect to break. You appear bright enough (yeah, intentional) to understand the point I'm making, so I guess it's on your conscience.

It's my life as well. But I'm not picking. I'm saying that, in my view, a flashing blue light on a rucksack is not illegal. Lack of reflectors is. Your moral argument is a different one.

I will concede that there is an argument, but this applies mostly to motorcycles, that a rider can be part of a vehicle and, by extension, attachments to a rider can form part of that vehicle. But that's a grey area.

As I say, if I put it on solid, it becomes even greyer again. I suppose I could get the green one........

DrLex

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I have a query which will need a person with a greater knowledge of electrics and electronics than me (which isn't that hard) to answer:
I want to move over to a hub dynamo to generate electrickery to power lights and possibly USB for charging electronics (GPS, phone etc).

If you're buying a dynamo hub from rose bikes, add this £55 front light, as it includes a USB socket for charging in place of lighting. It'll have a proper, German standard-approved beam, and despite not being one gazillion lumen, will be fine for unlit roads. I use either a Philips 60 or 80 SafeRide and they're perfect for country lanes- no dazzling oncoming traffic.

Unless you make one yourself for about £10 worth of components, bike chargers to connect to dynamos appear to be almost £100 on their own, so the above looks like a deal. There is a more expensive version from B&M, if you don't want to cheap out...

All modern hub dynamos will power either lights or a charger; there isn't enough power to do both, do if you're planning on overnight riding with GPS, you'll be needing batteries on one device.

supersonic

EKE_38BPM wrote:

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

...And the flashing blue light makes people think twice......

Probably illegal though.

Probably not.

Either way, hugely irresponsible and unconscionably inconsiderate.

Why?

Because blues and twos are reserved for emergency services for good reason. If everyone decided to wear blue lights because they "make people think twice", then people would stop thinking twice upon seeing them and the emergency services would suffer, to the detriment of us all.

Which is why I said it is probably illegal.

I have a query which will need a person with a greater knowledge of electrics and electronics than me (which isn't that hard) to answer:
I want to move over to a hub dynamo to generate electrickery to power lights and possibly USB for charging electronics (GPS, phone etc).
Would this hub:

be OK to power this light:

Clicky pics.

I'm concerned about compatability with regard to voltage, current AC/DC. Would the light turn off when I stop? Could I power a rear light or would I need a battery light? Is charging USB devices possible? If USB charging is possible, how badly would it dim the light?

Lots of questions that I need the hivemind to answer before I pull the trigger.

What rating is the hub? Volts/amps/watts? is it continuous? Does it charge a battery or capacitor?

EKE_38BPM

supersonic wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I'm concerned about compatability with regard to voltage, current AC/DC. Would the light turn off when I stop? Could I power a rear light or would I need a battery light? Is charging USB devices possible? If USB charging is possible, how badly would it dim the light?

Lots of questions that I need the hivemind to answer before I pull the trigger.

What rating is the hub? Volts/amps/watts? is it continuous? Does it charge a battery or capacitor?

Yeah, those are the sort of questions.

DrLex wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I have a query which will need a person with a greater knowledge of electrics and electronics than me (which isn't that hard) to answer:
I want to move over to a hub dynamo to generate electrickery to power lights and possibly USB for charging electronics (GPS, phone etc).

If you're buying a dynamo hub from rose bikes, add this £55 front light, as it includes a USB socket for charging in place of lighting. It'll have a proper, German standard-approved beam, and despite not being one gazillion lumen, will be fine for unlit roads. I use either a Philips 60 or 80 SafeRide and they're perfect for country lanes- no dazzling oncoming traffic.

Unless you make one yourself for about £10 worth of components, bike chargers to connect to dynamos appear to be almost £100 on their own, so the above looks like a deal. There is a more expensive version from B&M, if you don't want to cheap out...

All modern hub dynamos will power either lights or a charger; there isn't enough power to do both, do if you're planning on overnight riding with GPS, you'll be needing batteries on one device.

And that is the sort of answer I was after.
As someone at NASA is reported to have said: "Yes, you can have it, but do you need it and can you afford it?"
It looks like what I wanted isn't what I needed, and even though I can afford it, it would cost more than I'm willing to spend.

Cheers Dr Lex

meanredspider

I need to find a different solution for my Brompton. Not only is the dynamo (came fitted to a secondhand bike) pretty flimsy and unreliable, when it's on, it's like riding through treacle. I don't enjoy riding the Brompton at the best of times but it becomes positively hateful when the dynamo is running. Any creative solutions or should I just stick my Lezyne Femto lights on it (remembering that this is NL and most of my riding is on dedicated paths and, what isn't, is well-lit and heavily populated by bikes (often unlit))?

rolf_f

meanredspider wrote:

I need to find a different solution for my Brompton. Not only is the dynamo (came fitted to a secondhand bike) pretty flimsy and unreliable, when it's on, it's like riding through treacle. I don't enjoy riding the Brompton at the best of times but it becomes positively hateful when the dynamo is running. Any creative solutions or should I just stick my Lezyne Femto lights on it (remembering that this is NL and most of my riding is on dedicated paths and, what isn't, is well-lit and heavily populated by bikes (often unlit))?

Haven't you just comprehensively answered your own question here?! Put it this way, you wouldn't be considering putting a dynamo on that bike if it didn't already have one would you? Personally, I'd get a new front wheel........

I'm looking at a dynamo setup for my tourer but only because I'll be touring with it and need to use it to provide power to a gps unit. For normal riding, battery or rechargeable lights are fine IMO and a small wheeled bike is hard work enough to keep moving without loading it down with a dynamo.

DrLex

EKE_38BPM wrote:

[...]
Cheers Dr Lex

You're welcome; keep an eye on Rose, as they occasionally discount a basic dynamo wheel (Shimano & A319 rim), so that one can get a full lighting package at well under a ton.

For good reading on dynamos, this ctc article is worth a few minutes of one's time.

meanredspider

Rolf F wrote:

Haven't you just comprehensively answered your own question here?!

Possibly - but I've never been much interested in lights so I wasn't sure if I was missing something. Previously I had a set of AyUps on the bike which were perfect for what I needed and incredibly reliable and a VIS360 on the lid which, again, did what I needed perfectly. Hence, I've not looked at any lighting threads in the last 3 years This is the first dynamo I've had since I was a kid.

Think I'll just stick to the Femtos. I have a stack of coin cells that they'd give away at my previous job extracted from test product.

I could, of course, just talk to my Lighting colleagues though I think those lights are overkill for my application.

leeefm

I'm looking for a rear light that will fit with my Topeak Mondopack. The Topeak lights don't look that brilliant to me, and the Mondopack hides my seatpost so finding it difficult to mount anything and have it visible.

arthur_scrimshaw

RichK wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

...

I've got something very similar to your link and agree it's a great light apart from the curse of the rubber strap. I bought a Hope mounting bracket which sorted that out.

...

Can you post any link/details on what you bought/did here as it sounds interesting/useful. TIA.

I bought this

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope ... -prod23533

On my Chinese light the bracket holding the rubber strap was attached with a small diameter allen screw which at a push I could have used to mount the light on the Hope bracket. I decided to dismantle the light and drill and tap the hole to take the Hope allen screw as this was bigger (M5 I think?)

HTH

vermin

leeefm wrote:

I'm looking for a rear light that will fit with my Topeak Mondopack. The Topeak lights don't look that brilliant to me, and the Mondopack hides my seatpost so finding it difficult to mount anything and have it visible.

Lezyne Zecto works well with mine. Has a clip built in that fits snugly into the light loop on the mondo, but also has a rubber band that fixes it to seatpost when not using mondo.

leeefm

vermin wrote:

leeefm wrote:

I'm looking for a rear light that will fit with my Topeak Mondopack. The Topeak lights don't look that brilliant to me, and the Mondopack hides my seatpost so finding it difficult to mount anything and have it visible.

Lezyne Zecto works well with mine. Has a clip built in that fits snugly into the light loop on the mondo, but also has a rubber band that fixes it to seatpost when not using mondo.

Cool, I'll take a look at that. Cheers

richk

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

RichK wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

...

I've got something very similar to your link and agree it's a great light apart from the curse of the rubber strap. I bought a Hope mounting bracket which sorted that out.

...

Can you post any link/details on what you bought/did here as it sounds interesting/useful. TIA.

I bought this

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope ... -prod23533

On my Chinese light the bracket holding the rubber strap was attached with a small diameter allen screw which at a push I could have used to mount the light on the Hope bracket. I decided to dismantle the light and drill and tap the hole to take the Hope allen screw as this was bigger (M5 I think?)

HTH

Ta

keyser__soze

Not dynamo-related, but someone up there mentioned Bromptons so I think it's fair game: anyone recommend a decent set of lights (front/rear) for a Brompton that don't need to be removed in order to fold up? Ideally something super-bright front/back as it'll be used on some pretty dark roads. The missus had been running Magicshine clones on her road bike but we can't find a decent mount for light/battery that doesn't interfere with the fold. S-type/straight bars.

asprilla

Keyser__Soze wrote:

Not dynamo-related, but someone up there mentioned Bromptons so I think it's fair game: anyone recommend a decent set of lights (front/rear) for a Brompton that don't need to be removed in order to fold up? Ideally something super-bright front/back as it'll be used on some pretty dark roads. The missus had been running Magicshine clones on her road bike but we can't find a decent mount for light/battery that doesn't interfere with the fold. S-type/straight bars.

I use an Exposure Joystick on the front and a TraceR mounted under the saddle at the rear. You have to set the joystick back a bit in it's clip, but it's designed to allow that.

keyser__soze

Thanks Asprilla, looks a good shout. Bit more expensive than the MS clones but hopefully more reliable in the rain!

Sharkyssurfers

I've always been interested in the dinotte range of lights, but never pulled the trigger when it came buying them

dodgy

DrLex wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

[...]
Cheers Dr Lex

You're welcome; keep an eye on Rose, as they occasionally discount a basic dynamo wheel (Shimano & A319 rim), so that one can get a full lighting package at well under a ton.

For good reading on dynamos, this ctc article is worth a few minutes of one's time.

"hub generator drag
is equivalent to
ascending only five
or six feet per mile"

Blimey, equivalent to an extra 500 to 600 feet over a hundred miles? More than I was expecting.

rolf_f

dodgy wrote:

DrLex wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

[...]
Cheers Dr Lex

You're welcome; keep an eye on Rose, as they occasionally discount a basic dynamo wheel (Shimano & A319 rim), so that one can get a full lighting package at well under a ton.

For good reading on dynamos, this ctc article is worth a few minutes of one's time.

"hub generator drag
is equivalent to
ascending only five
or six feet per mile"

Blimey, equivalent to an extra 500 to 600 feet over a hundred miles? More than I was expecting.

Only if the generator is actually running - and if you are doing 100 miles in the dark you'll probably be glad for the dynamo!

dodgy

Good point!

daniel_b

meanredspider wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Haven't you just comprehensively answered your own question here?!

Possibly - but I've never been much interested in lights so I wasn't sure if I was missing something. Previously I had a set of AyUps on the bike which were perfect for what I needed and incredibly reliable

What happened to your Ayup's?
All 4 of mine are still going strong after some 6/7 years.

meanredspider

Daniel B wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Haven't you just comprehensively answered your own question here?!

Possibly - but I've never been much interested in lights so I wasn't sure if I was missing something. Previously I had a set of AyUps on the bike which were perfect for what I needed and incredibly reliable

What happened to your Ayup's?
All 4 of mine are still going strong after some 6/7 years.

Absolutely - mine are fine too - but overkill for the Brompton in NL (where those dangly single LED key ring lights are considered adequate bike illumination - at least I assume so as they're sold in the railway station bike parking in slot machines)

elbowloh

bendertherobot wrote:

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

vermin wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

...And the flashing blue light makes people think twice......

Probably illegal though.

Probably not.

Either way, hugely irresponsible and unconscionably inconsiderate.

Why?

Because blues and twos are reserved for emergency services for good reason. If everyone decided to wear blue lights because they "make people think twice", then people would stop thinking twice upon seeing them and the emergency services would suffer, to the detriment of us all.

Well, I'm not using twos at all. I think using a siren is entirely antisocial and wouldn't advocate that at all.

Blue lights are reserved for emergency vehicles not people. I wear a small blue light on a rucksack. It emits a very small amount of lumens and provides a contrast to the reds on the back. It's the contrast that makes people think twice because it's noticeable. I've no idea if they think I'm a police CYCLIST or not. But I'm fairly sure they're not thinking I'm a fire engine.

Since it's probably not illegal I'll carry on. I don't think it's quite as unconscionable as the situation in Gaza, for example.

Sorry for jumping back a bit. All the Pro-vis stuff (bags and jackets with built in LEDs have flashing blue lights on.

I have a pro-vis back pack.

vermin

elbowloh wrote:

Sorry for jumping back a bit. All the Pro-vis stuff (bags and jackets with built in LEDs have flashing blue lights on.

I have a pro-vis back pack.

Looking at the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, most of the regulations banning the use of blue lights relate to lights fitted to vehicles, so lights worn on a cyclist's body/bag appear to be exempt.

However, this regulation seems greyer:

"27. No person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road any vehicle on which any lamp, hazard warning signal device or warning beacon of a type specified in an item in column 2 of the Table below is used in a manner specified in that item in column 3.

Column 2: Warning beacon emitting blue light and special warning lamp
Column 3: Used so as to be lit except–
(i) at the scene of an emergency; or
(ii) when it is necessary or desirable either to indicate to persons using the road the urgency of the purpose for which the vehicle is being used, or to warn persons of the presence of the vehicle or a hazard on the road. "

I would argue that a blue light attached to a cyclist's body is a lamp being used on a vehicle on a road and is therefore illegal. I may be wrong.

I still don't like the idea, as it puts the individual above the community. I never thought I could sound so socialist!