Hub Dynamos in Australia

[Rodgerbiltit]

This may help?
http://peterwhitecycles.com/wiringinstructions.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[il padrone]

IP, what about the Secula, it has two terminals? How does that end need to be terminated?

The other end of the same dual-cable - two female spade connectors. Probably were supplied with the Secula ??

[Turq]

Good Morning,

I'd like to get some advice please. I have an Avanti explorer 3 (I believe it is in the 700C type as the wheels state that) it has disc brakes on the front wheels and is a hybrid. Currently no mudguards. I'm thinking of riding it to and from work. As I have no lights I thought a dynamo was a great idea.

I'd like to lights so I can ride on unlit bike paths also. Funds are not unlimited.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a bike shop in Melbourne that you would recommend to get the dynamo and lights installed set up. I live out on the west of the cbd about 20 km but can travel.

Will I need a new wheel or can they use the current wheel? Any recommendations re lights or dynamos' ? Are the dynamos able to cope with riding off paths and going over gutters etc. Would you recommend a dynamo over lights. I was put off by the limited light time of usb charged lights.

Finally mudguards should they be fitted at the same time ? Sorry for my lack of knowledge.
Cheers

[RonK]

Look back a few posts in this thread and you'll see St Kilda Cycles gets a favourable mention.

It may well cost less to buy a complete wheel than to have a dynamo hub fitted to your current wheel.

There is no reason for a properly built wheel with a dynamo hub to be any less robust.

Dynamo powered lighting is great - just turn them and forget about them.

SON have had the market to themselves for a long time. Shutter Precision (SP) have given them a good shakeup in recent years, and will be the most affordable. There are many lights to choose from, it will depend on your budget.

Mudguards can be fitted at any time. But if you are making a trip to the bike shop, may as have them fitted.

[find_bruce]

From memory Abbotsford Cycles have previously had a good deal on a wheel with an SP hub. I can't find it on their website after a quick look, but it is probably worth talking to them.

Edit: ronk mentioned St Kilda cycles - they currently have wheels with SP dynamos for $249 - Road (rim brake) or Hybrid (disc brake)

When you consider an SP dynamo hub will cost ~$200 in Australia, that is a great price for a full wheel.

[rangersac]

I went the dynamo option a couple of years back for commuting and have no regrets. I use a SP PV-8 hub which has about 10,000km on it and is still going strong, and I frequently ride rough gravel roads where it gets a beating. My light setup is a B&M Cyo Premium out front coupled with a Hermanns H-track rear light, both are excellent although the Hermanns needs a rack to be mounted on.

If you aren't confident doing it yourself any LBS should be able to fit lights when you get them, it's a pretty simple process that doesn't require specialist tools. For the hub, that St Kilda cycles deal is pretty sweet (although I'm struggling to see the difference between the rim brake and hybrid brake sets, given both rims will accept rim brakes, and the hub accepts a disc!) and I'd go the DM 18 rim option (hybrid) as they are pretty bombproof rims, I use them on my commuter and whilst they are not light they've outlasted offerings from Velocity, Mavic and OEM Giant and Orbea rims that I've destroyed in the past. As Ron has said if you are getting it all done for you might as well get the mudguards done at the same time.

[ianganderton]

SP hubs seem to be the goto option atm. What would folks currently recommend for front and rear lights

Specifications

Needs to fit on a bike without racks or mudguards. Needs to be pretty discrete to avoid theft and tampering when locked up around the city. USB charging very very desirable.

[Crawf]

Take the dual cable headlight end, and mount a female spade terminal on one wire, and the ring terminal (supplied with the Edelux) on the other. Crimp tight, solder if you wish, then cover with heatshrink. Spade terminal goes onto the male terminal - in the hole at the base of the light, next to the dynohub lead ; ring terminal connects to your light's mounting bolt........ thus:

This may help?
http://peterwhitecycles.com/wiringinstructions.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks all sorted, came out nice and tidy for a roadie, barely any visible wiring.
I had the initial issues and doubt as doing a quick mock up test with the cables draped everywhere with the ends loosely terminated was a no go. But soon as everything was properly soldered and terminated it worked!

[rangersac]

SP hubs seem to be the goto option atm. What would folks currently recommend for front and rear lights

Specifications

Needs to fit on a bike without racks or mudguards. Needs to be pretty discrete to avoid theft and tampering when locked up around the city. USB charging very very desirable.

If you want USB charging the only integrated light with USB port that I am aware of is the B&M Luxos. Otherwise there are several separate USB chargers that you can attach (bit of a list here). Front lights will generally fit on the fork crown from a bracket, as you have disc brakes check to see if you have a mounting point for this but there are alternative mounting options depending on the light. For the rear light a good option is the B+M Secula as you can attach this directly to a mudguard, seat stay or use a modified reflector bracket.

Theft wise you need tools to remove the lights as they are attached permanently, as and they require a dynamo hub to run they are not generally attractive to quick thieves, just make sure you lock up that front wheel securely!

[Espresso_]

If you want USB charging the only integrated light with USB port that I am aware of is the B&M Luxos.

It's also a rather large light, physically - the Luxos, so it is not discreet.

However, it is discrete

E

[wqlava1]

If you want USB charging the only integrated light with USB port that I am aware of is the B&M Luxos.

It's also a rather large light, physically - the Luxos, so it is not discreet.

However, it is discrete

E

I think the original meaning of the OP was he wanted it to stay attached rather than become discrete.

[ianganderton]

What I'm trying to do with my city bike is have something very functional but for it not to attract any unnecessary attention from thieves etc. Easier said than done!!!

Firmly attached is obviously good [emoji41]

[wqlava1]

SP hubs are only $150 delivered in AU from Bike24 - but if you want a package deal, cheapest yardstick are the built dynohub wheels with Shimano dynohubs from xxcycle in France, and lights from the same source. They have a couple of options with what they call 28 inch wheels with disk brakes - the lower priced one with the would probably be at least the same quality as the rest of the bike. I'd choose at least a 60 lux front light for paths - I have a few lights and the 40 lux light is marginal except for paths I already know well. Wheel plus IQ Cyo R light plus a Schwalbe rim strip delivered here should be about $250 for the cheaper hub (Shimano number ending with 35) or about $300 for the Shimano hub number ending in 72. SP is what you get for the best efficiency and SON for the best water sealing (what is said to be very good pressure equalization). If you want a rear dyno light they are a good source for those mentioned above as well, but I've always used cheap half watt rear battery lights - they are powerful enough with fresh batteries to hurt the eyes of people exactly behind, and the batteries last for weeks of commuting.

[Mugglechops]

I bought an AXA light that is 70lux and has usb charging. Used it for the first time this morning and it's no where near bright enough.

Thinking about an exposure revo now with 800 lumens but no usb charging.

[wqlava1]

I bought an AXA light that is 70lux and has usb charging. Used it for the first time this morning and it's no where near bright enough.

Thinking about an exposure revo now with 800 lumens but no usb charging.

The various battery powered lights available in the last few years from China with four-packs of 18650 lithium batteries (like from lt-box.com) spoil us for what a dynamo light can provide. But after several instances of the pack expiring halfway home or on a ride at night, you begin to greatly appreciate the dynohub as an excellent trade-off. I have a Trelock 885 (40 lux) that might have OK intensity where the beam shines, but the beam is so tight that i see nothing much else but the path in front - and I dread another wombat strike or a roo. My E3 pro is a bit better, and the Edelux 2 (80 lux) much better again, but none of them has quite as much light as a $35 battery setup. The cheap and nasty optics of the battery lights has the side benefit of spraying light sideways to give some chance of seeing wildlife. I'm willing to ride any of my dynohub bikes on paths though - within each of their limits. It's much less constraining not to be worried about when the battery might be used up.

I've seen some of the first amateur beamshots of the new IQ-X (which is now available at xxcycle but not yet at some German sites) in use and that looks very good (and the guy say it's much brighter than Edelux 2) , but still looks like it's quite limited along the path of travel (allowing wildlife to hide) as well as having a cutoff for oncoming traffic, like the Trelock 885.

[RonK]

Thinking about an exposure revo now with 800 lumens but no usb charging.

I have a Revo. It's a powerful light and beautifully engineered but is not without its quirks. At lower speeds only two of the four leds are lit. And it has no switch, you cannot turn it off and it takes 10-15minutes or more to discharge.
Oh - and you can get a USB adapter for them. Smart Port Boost cable in either Micro-B or Mini-B USB

[Ross]

Not sure if this has been covered before (CBF reading 16 pages) but is there a way of hooking up AYUP lights to a dynamo?

[wqlava1]

Not sure if this has been covered before (CBF reading 16 pages) but is there a way of hooking up AYUP lights to a dynamo?

With respect, maybe you should do a few searches and look it up. Yes the connection of battery light heads to dynamos and the mods to do it are known technology and have been discussed in these forums, but you show no respect to the rest of us in confessing you "CBF". Is your time really worth so much more than all of ours collectively, and are you really that important?

[find_bruce]

I have a Revo. It's a powerful light and beautifully engineered but is not without its quirks. At lower speeds only two of the four leds are lit.

That's not a quirk, it's a feature! Just quietly it is one that I would like to be able to emulate. A characteristic of dynamos is that, in simple terms, they produce a constant current ~0.5A while voltage will increase with speed. At 0.5A most LEDs require 2.2v, so more leds requires more speed. 4 leds will not produce any significant light below 6 or 7 km/h while full power for 4 leds is ~20km/h. You will get more light from 2 leds up until 10-12 km/h.

One or 2 led systems do not need to worry about that - they just produce more light until they hit maximum power at ~12 km/h. The reason the Phillips light which only has 2 leds is so highly rated is not because it produces a lot of lumens, but because the beam shape uses those lumens to maximum effect.

Not sure if this has been covered before (CBF reading 16 pages) but is there a way of hooking up AYUP lights to a dynamo?

Yeah but no but. ayups require ~1A & dynamos produce 0.5A, so you are not going to get as bright a light. There are fancy ways to produce more power, but efficiency at low speed is an important limitation.

[RonK]

I have a Revo. It's a powerful light and beautifully engineered but is not without its quirks. At lower speeds only two of the four leds are lit.

That's not a quirk, it's a feature! Just quietly it is one that I would like to be able to emulate.

Perhaps, but anyone coming from a battery light may not be aware and could be quiet dissatisfied with this "feature".

[wqlava1]

I have a Revo. It's a powerful light and beautifully engineered but is not without its quirks. At lower speeds only two of the four leds are lit.

That's not a quirk, it's a feature! Just quietly it is one that I would like to be able to emulate.

Perhaps, but anyone coming from a battery light may not be aware and could be quiet dissatisfied with this "feature".

If they were dissatisfied with the feature, they'd be marginally less happy with a simpler circuit using all 4 LEDS that had not been optimized, which would give them less light at low speed. You have to use use smart circuits to do this at low speeds whilst not wasting power (valuably generated by one's legs!) at other speeds.

[Ross]

Not sure if this has been covered before (CBF reading 16 pages) but is there a way of hooking up AYUP lights to a dynamo?

Yeah but no but. ayups require ~1A & dynamos produce 0.5A, so you are not going to get as bright a light. There are fancy ways to produce more power, but efficiency at low speed is an important limitation.

Thanks for your help Bruce.

[Mugglechops]

Stupid me had my light setup too low yesterday. I adjusted it this morning and it was far better.

It actually has a better beam pattern than first gen ayups.

[il padrone]

If you want USB charging the only integrated light with USB port that I am aware of is the B&M Luxos.

Also AXA Luxx 70 Plus

[il padrone]

Not sure if this has been covered before (CBF reading 16 pages) but is there a way of hooking up AYUP lights to a dynamo?

The down-side of Ayups compared to the top-quality (or even mid-quality) European dynamo headlights is that the Ayup is just a concentric beam - lacks any optics so half your beam output is wasted shining up at the possums