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Old May 3rd 18, 02:00 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Dynamo/LED power conditioning

On Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 10:49:23 PM UTC-4, bob prohaska wrote:
I finally caved and bought a Shimano dh-3n72 hub for use on my
exercise bike. It works fine, but the LEDs flicker quite noticeably
at all speeds. The circuit puts series trios of LEDs in inverse
parallel across the dynamo, so each trio lights on alternate half-
cycles. The flicker wasn't visible with the old Soubitez roller,
because it was working at about 6x higher frequency. The circuit is at
http://www.zefox.net/~bob/bicycle/schematic.gif
The point of the design is to eliminate rectifier losses, which are
substantial at low voltage.

The new setup might be ok for fast riding. At low speeds and in traffic
I'm less sure I'll like it and fairly certain bystanders won't like it
at all, especially at night. As a DRL it certainly aids conspicuity 8-)

Can anybody point me to a discussion of what outfits like B&M use in
their dynamo-powerd LED headlights? I've searched intermittenly but
never hit the right keywords.

Thanks for reading, and any guidance.

bob prohaska


I am an EE. I recommend that you buy B&M front and rear lights. There's more to lighting than simply the electronic circuit. Optics play a crucial role.

You already went the expensive route by going with a hub dynamo, when you could have used a bottle generator. The key is in the light source and projection not the electrical power source. You will recover the extra cost, when you avoid your first pothole.

The only caveat is that the B&M connectors are not readily available. The B&M route the rear light through the front, even though they are in parallel.. The rear light's over-voltage protection isn't sufficiently robust. Should the front light connection fail, the rear will blow. Also, the rear feed should go through the front on/off switch for a hub generator.
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