bulbs to LEDs
 

I have a Gazelle Toer Populair from about 2010, which has hub powered
lights. And I like that. I don't have to remember to swap the
batteries once a week. I don't even have to remember to turn it on,
because it has a photoresistor in it somewhere.

BUT! The front light is a bulb, not LEDs. Not a big deal, I can just
buy a new bulb. Except that on the bulbs that jaycar and bunnings
stock, the glass bit is sliiiightly too wide to fit in the housing.
(The jaycar bulb says it's "pre-focus" and I want more like
"lens-ended".)

In theory I just go to Bike Life (my LBS) and say "me bike no work. u
mak fix pls" and they deal with it, and I don't have to care. But in
this case it seems even Gazelle's australian mob don't know how to get
the flipping bulb.

All this has reminded me that I'd really prefer if the headlight was an
LED array anyway, so I'm wondering has any opinions on whether that's 1)
possible; and 2) sensible; and if so, 3) how to do it.

AFAICT I can't just get LEDs in the bayonet bulb form factor, and just
plug it in, and be done. I can handle a soldering iron if I must, but I
don't really want to have a lunchbox of loose bits duct-taped to the
handlebars.

I suspect the responses are all gonna be "I hate dynamos! Batteries are
not that hard, just HTFU" so I haven't bothered to dig up hub specs &c,
but I'll do so if there's interest. The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

bulbs to LEDs
 

In aus.bicycle on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:41:15 +1000
Trent W. Buck wrote:
I have a Gazelle Toer Populair from about 2010, which has hub powered
lights. And I like that. I don't have to remember to swap the
batteries once a week. I don't even have to remember to turn it on,
because it has a photoresistor in it somewhere.

BUT! The front light is a bulb, not LEDs. Not a big deal, I can just
buy a new bulb. Except that on the bulbs that jaycar and bunnings
stock, the glass bit is sliiiightly too wide to fit in the housing.
(The jaycar bulb says it's "pre-focus" and I want more like
"lens-ended".)

UNless someone makes a bulb with the right fittings you might want to
just say bugger it and buy a dynamo light with LED already in it.

The dollar's just dived so it ain't as easy as it was, but look at
bike24.de and see if there's anything you can come at.

TYpe dynamo into the search engine (after clicking on the union jack
to get English).
eg
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=25154
or
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=16472

of course the shipping can be a bugger, so you could try
sjscycles.co.uk for either a halogen bulb or a new LED light and see
if it works out cheaper.

(or see if a friend wants something from bike24 and share shipping)

Zebee

bulbs to LEDs
 

Zebee Johnstone writes:

In aus.bicycle on Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:41:15 +1000
Trent W. Buck wrote:
I have a Gazelle Toer Populair from about 2010, which has hub powered
lights. BUT! The front light is a bulb, not LEDs. Not a big deal,
I can just buy a new bulb. Except that on the bulbs that jaycar and
bunnings stock, the glass bit is sliiiightly too wide to fit in the
housing.

Unless someone makes a bulb with the right fittings you might want to
just say bugger it and buy a dynamo light with LED already in it.

The dollar's just dived so it ain't as easy as it was, but look at
bike24.de and see if there's anything you can come at.

TYpe dynamo into the search engine (after clicking on the union jack
to get English).
eg
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=25154
or
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=16472

Ah, that looks ideal, thanks. I think the lamp part of my current one
is also a lumotec - it looks almost identical to the pic in the first
link.

of course the shipping can be a bugger, so you could try
sjscycles.co.uk for either a halogen bulb or a new LED light and see
if it works out cheaper.

Eh, I'm happy to drop more money on a capex if it avoids the need for
ongoing ****ing about.

bulbs to LEDs
 

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 07 Aug 2013 11:10:14 +1000
Trent W. Buck wrote:
Zebee Johnstone writes:
The dollar's just dived so it ain't as easy as it was, but look at
bike24.de and see if there's anything you can come at.

TYpe dynamo into the search engine (after clicking on the union jack
to get English).
eg
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=25154
or
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=... roduct=16472

Ah, that looks ideal, thanks. I think the lamp part of my current one
is also a lumotec - it looks almost identical to the pic in the first
link.

have a browse around, because the more expensive lights put out a lot
more light. I have
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=...1400,1410,1411
on the Brom and it is very bright indeed.

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=...00 ,1410,1411
seems to be a good place to start. Skip the battery lights in the 20s
and get up to the 60s or so where the dynamos start again.

But do be aware they have a horribly high starting shipping cost, so if there's
anything else you need, get it at the same time!

Zebee

bulbs to LEDs
 

On 2013-08-07, Zebee Johnstone (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
have a browse around, because the more expensive lights put out a lot
more light. I have
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=...1400,1410,1411
on the Brom and it is very bright indeed.

And this is german, so they're real lumens and not happy go lucky lumens.

But do be aware they have a horribly high starting shipping cost, so if there's
anything else you need, get it at the same time!

I wonder if this is a strategy? Because it's certainly worked on me
to transform a $25+shipping order into a $200+shipping order.

--
TimC
It was... weird. Death was smaller than I imagined
I have nothing to say, I just can't resist quoting this out of context.
-- Steve VanDevenver replying to Satya on ASR

bulbs to LEDs
 

On 06/08/13 18:41, Trent W. Buck wrote:
I have a Gazelle Toer Populair from about 2010, which has hub powered
lights. And I like that. I don't have to remember to swap the
batteries once a week. I don't even have to remember to turn it on,
because it has a photoresistor in it somewhere.

BUT! The front light is a bulb, not LEDs. Not a big deal, I can just
buy a new bulb. Except that on the bulbs that jaycar and bunnings
stock, the glass bit is sliiiightly too wide to fit in the housing.
(The jaycar bulb says it's "pre-focus" and I want more like
"lens-ended".)

In theory I just go to Bike Life (my LBS) and say "me bike no work. u
mak fix pls" and they deal with it, and I don't have to care. But in
this case it seems even Gazelle's australian mob don't know how to get
the flipping bulb.

All this has reminded me that I'd really prefer if the headlight was an
LED array anyway, so I'm wondering has any opinions on whether that's 1)
possible; and 2) sensible; and if so, 3) how to do it.

AFAICT I can't just get LEDs in the bayonet bulb form factor, and just
plug it in, and be done. I can handle a soldering iron if I must, but I
don't really want to have a lunchbox of loose bits duct-taped to the
handlebars.

I suspect the responses are all gonna be "I hate dynamos! Batteries are
not that hard, just HTFU" so I haven't bothered to dig up hub specs &c,
but I'll do so if there's interest. The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

Interesting that the bulb is rated for such low voltage.

What is the rating of the hub dynamo you have?

Most dynamos and the required bulb are rated something like 6V, 3W.

I resurrected an old Sanyo Dynapower dynamo, and built a headlamp with 4
CREE LEDs and lenses.

Here's the dynamo on my mounting bracket, complete with spray guard made
from a piece of PVC water pipe...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5510267...6758/lightbox/

If you look closely you can see the 4 LED lenses in front of the
handlebars..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5510267...4090/lightbox/

Note there is no stand light, but that doesn't bother me. I ride about
3 nights after work each week for 60+km in total darkness on Melbourne
main roads each time.

If I bought something, I'd get something good but expensive, like ...

http://supernova-lights.com/en/products/e3pro2.html

--
JS

bulbs to LEDs
 

James writes:

On 06/08/13 18:41, Trent W. Buck wrote:
I suspect the responses are all gonna be "I hate dynamos! Batteries are
not that hard, just HTFU" so I haven't bothered to dig up hub specs &c,
but I'll do so if there's interest. The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

Interesting that the bulb is rated for such low voltage.

What is the rating of the hub dynamo you have?

Most dynamos and the required bulb are rated something like 6V, 3W.

Now you've got me freaked out, because I tried a "HPR53 4V0.85A JAPAN"
in it, and it didn't light up *at all*. (A replacement bulb finally
arrived from LBS, and that's working, hooray.)

The hub has written on it "SHIMANO DH-3R30-N 6V 3W 646-716mm".

It's also powering an LED taillight, but it seems a bit wonky that
that'd be using up half the volts...

PS: hm, I looked at the 4V bulb even closer and now I see the filament
is broken, so that'd be why it didn't light up.

bulbs to LEDs
 

On 12/08/13 16:43, Trent W. Buck wrote:
James writes:

On 06/08/13 18:41, Trent W. Buck wrote:
I suspect the responses are all gonna be "I hate dynamos! Batteries are
not that hard, just HTFU" so I haven't bothered to dig up hub specs &c,
but I'll do so if there's interest. The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

Interesting that the bulb is rated for such low voltage.

What is the rating of the hub dynamo you have?

Most dynamos and the required bulb are rated something like 6V, 3W.

Now you've got me freaked out, because I tried a "HPR53 4V0.85A JAPAN"
in it, and it didn't light up *at all*. (A replacement bulb finally
arrived from LBS, and that's working, hooray.)

Ah, well that's good. Perhaps the light housing has a voltage limiting
zener diode or similar, to protect the 3.6V bulb from the full 6V. Or
perhaps the original lighting circuit had the front and rear bulbs wired
in series, so that the 6V was shared across two bulbs. I can't tell
from here.

The hub has written on it "SHIMANO DH-3R30-N 6V 3W 646-716mm".

After looking at the PDF from
http://www.shimano.com.au/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/HubDynamo/DH3R30_DH3R35/SI_2ZL0A_001/SI-2ZL0A-001-ENG_v1_m56577569830658011.pdf
it seems the head lamp and tail lamp bulbs should be 6V each, indicating
that they should be wired in parallel. If your head lamp bulb is really
3.6V, there must be some electronics in the housing to protect it, and
it's not the original head lamp by the looks.

It's also powering an LED taillight, but it seems a bit wonky that
that'd be using up half the volts...

Indeed.

PS: hm, I looked at the 4V bulb even closer and now I see the filament
is broken, so that'd be why it didn't light up.

;-)

--
JS

bulbs to LEDs
 

On 06/08/13 18:41, Trent W. Buck wrote:

The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

I think you may have misread the markings on the bulb. From what I can
see on the internet, it's likely something like "HPR60-HS-3-6V-2.4W PHILIPS"

Indeed a 6V bulb.

http://www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/b...103~narva.html

--
JS

bulbs to LEDs
 

On 2013-08-13, James (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
On 12/08/13 16:43, Trent W. Buck wrote:
James writes:

On 06/08/13 18:41, Trent W. Buck wrote:
I suspect the responses are all gonna be "I hate dynamos! Batteries are
not that hard, just HTFU" so I haven't bothered to dig up hub specs &c,
but I'll do so if there's interest. The bulb claims to be a Philips
HPR60, 3.6V 2.4W.

Interesting that the bulb is rated for such low voltage.

What is the rating of the hub dynamo you have?

Most dynamos and the required bulb are rated something like 6V, 3W.

Now you've got me freaked out, because I tried a "HPR53 4V0.85A JAPAN"
in it, and it didn't light up *at all*. (A replacement bulb finally
arrived from LBS, and that's working, hooray.)

Ah, well that's good. Perhaps the light housing has a voltage limiting
zener diode or similar, to protect the 3.6V bulb from the full 6V. Or
perhaps the original lighting circuit had the front and rear bulbs wired
in series, so that the 6V was shared across two bulbs. I can't tell
from here.

Dynamos are current sources (not voltage sources). LEDs are current
sinks (not voltage sinks).

Your 3W LED will typically have about 3 or less volts across it, and
if you wired it up to a non-current limited 12v power supply, it would
blow. If you hooked up an appropriate resistor in series with your 3W
LED, and then the un-current-limited 12V power supply, then you'd end
up with a voltage divider and the appropriate current flowing through
the LED that caused it to have a ~3V voltage drop (with 9V and most of
the power being dissipated by the resistor). But in the ideal case of
having a current source, then the LED will just sink as much current
as the source supplies. Both will match their voltage if you've got
no resistor or anything else in the circuit. But of course, you don't
presumably know the actual current limit of the dynamo - at least I've
never seen it documented before. But given they are ~3W, it should be
more or less right. The LED won't work perfectly at 2.9W and blow
catastrophically at 3.1W.

LEDs of different types *have* to be wired in series (the current
source will just double its voltage output in order to maintain the
same current going to 2 equal LEDs in series). You can get away with
very similar lights being in parallel, until they age. Then one will
start taking more current, until the power supply starts overpowering
it, and there'll be thermal runaway and that LED will completely short
out, rendering you with a Dark Emitting Diode.

--
TimC
My mom says you shouldn't encourage me. -- Theresa Willis