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Eyc headlight problem
On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would occasionally blink off then back on. At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface. Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second. But its very worrisome. I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if anyone wants to get a head start on speculating. (When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's a bad, bad sign.) -- - Frank Krygowski |
#2
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Eyc headlight problem
On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 11:40:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: I tried the switch (and I do dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would occasionally blink off then back on. At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface. Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second. But its very worrisome. I've seen similar symptoms with LiIon flashlights and battery powered bicycle lighting. My guess(tm) is a loose connection somewhere in the wiring system. As you mention, it could also be inside the light. The erratic intermittent behavior suggests that it's NOT an electronics component failure, which would be more cyclic. Most commonly (in flashlights), I see this caused by the LED COB. The LED is soldered onto the PCB (printed circuit board) forming the COB (chip on board). The PCB will flex as the LED heats up eventually breaking the solder connection. The solder doesn't really melt, but instead cracks. I fix these using a hot air SMD soldering station: https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+rework+station&tbm=isch Tear the light apart, and touch the LED or slightly bend the PCB while the lamp is operating. If it flickers, you found the problem. It can also be components other than the LED, which should be detectable by bending the PCB or visual inspection. Using the SMD soldering station takes practice. I suggest you find someone who knows how to use one. Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp, insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. The best way to find these is by probing with a DVM (digital volt meter). The catch is that you can only find a bad connection if the light is in failure mode. If it seems to be working normally on the workbench, you're probably better off taking the light and wiring apart and pulling on each connection. If the connection moves, stretches, or falls apart, you found the problem. Corrosion should be obvious. Also, look for annual rings (usually black) around wires that run through holes in the PCB. Such rings are cold solder joints, caused by the assembler being in a hurry, and need to be restarted. I've only seen one broken wire on a bicycle, which took me weeks to isolate. I finally found it by pulling on each of the wire ends. One wire seemed to stretch, indicating a break somewhere. I found where the insulation necked down from the stretching and spliced the wire. Problem solved. This wire was NOT under tension and showed no sign of corrosion, so my guess(tm) is that the wire was defective from the vendor. However, my initial wild guess points to the Union bottle dynamo. I haven't seen any failures with these because I don't use them. However, if it's as old as you suggest, it might be a good place to start. Try powering the light with a battery or power supply. Then, disconnect one of the power wires. The B&M lights usually have a stand light feature, which is basically a supercap to power the LED while the generator is NOT turning. If you disconnect the power wire, and the light goes into stand light mode, and slowly fades away, then it's working normally. Therefore, the problem is likely NOT in the dynamo or wiring that power the light. I would need to be after the stand light circuitry inside the B&M light. Good luck. Drivel: https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Dizoangphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Electrophobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/BMWphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Cyclophobia -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#3
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Eyc headlight problem
On 3/28/2021 10:01 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
snip Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp, insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. I'd first look for bad crimps. I crimp then solder for both a good electrical and good mechanical connection, except on crimp connections like Anderson Powerpole where it's not practical to solder after crimping. If the bottle dynamo uses a bare wire then hopefully there's a little extra length to create a clean connection. |
#4
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Eyc headlight problem
On 3/28/2021 1:01 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 11:40:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: I tried the switch (and I do dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would occasionally blink off then back on. At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface. Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second. But its very worrisome. I've seen similar symptoms with LiIon flashlights and battery powered bicycle lighting. My guess(tm) is a loose connection somewhere in the wiring system. As you mention, it could also be inside the light. The erratic intermittent behavior suggests that it's NOT an electronics component failure, which would be more cyclic. Most commonly (in flashlights), I see this caused by the LED COB. The LED is soldered onto the PCB (printed circuit board) forming the COB (chip on board). The PCB will flex as the LED heats up eventually breaking the solder connection. The solder doesn't really melt, but instead cracks. I fix these using a hot air SMD soldering station: https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+rework+station&tbm=isch Tear the light apart, and touch the LED or slightly bend the PCB while the lamp is operating. If it flickers, you found the problem. It can also be components other than the LED, which should be detectable by bending the PCB or visual inspection. Using the SMD soldering station takes practice. I suggest you find someone who knows how to use one. Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp, insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. The best way to find these is by probing with a DVM (digital volt meter). The catch is that you can only find a bad connection if the light is in failure mode. If it seems to be working normally on the workbench, you're probably better off taking the light and wiring apart and pulling on each connection. If the connection moves, stretches, or falls apart, you found the problem. Corrosion should be obvious. Also, look for annual rings (usually black) around wires that run through holes in the PCB. Such rings are cold solder joints, caused by the assembler being in a hurry, and need to be restarted. I've only seen one broken wire on a bicycle, which took me weeks to isolate. I finally found it by pulling on each of the wire ends. One wire seemed to stretch, indicating a break somewhere. I found where the insulation necked down from the stretching and spliced the wire. Problem solved. This wire was NOT under tension and showed no sign of corrosion, so my guess(tm) is that the wire was defective from the vendor. However, my initial wild guess points to the Union bottle dynamo. I haven't seen any failures with these because I don't use them. However, if it's as old as you suggest, it might be a good place to start. Try powering the light with a battery or power supply. Then, disconnect one of the power wires. The B&M lights usually have a stand light feature, which is basically a supercap to power the LED while the generator is NOT turning. If you disconnect the power wire, and the light goes into stand light mode, and slowly fades away, then it's working normally. Therefore, the problem is likely NOT in the dynamo or wiring that power the light. I would need to be after the stand light circuitry inside the B&M light. Good luck. Drivel: https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Dizoangphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Electrophobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/BMWphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Cyclophobia Thanks for the information. I've emailed Peter White and will say what he says before I dig in further. But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing. But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) -- - Frank Krygowski |
#5
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Eyc headlight problem
On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 18:08:44 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing. Good observation. I also mentioned it at the end of my rant. Whatever is intermittent is inside the headlight. But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) Bottles are usually designed to run 6 volts and 3 watts at about 15 km/hr. http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html 6V should work, but watch out that the light doesn't get too hot. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#6
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Eyc headlight problem
On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 6:08:50 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/28/2021 1:01 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 11:40:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: I tried the switch (and I do dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would occasionally blink off then back on. At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface. Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second. But its very worrisome. I've seen similar symptoms with LiIon flashlights and battery powered bicycle lighting. My guess(tm) is a loose connection somewhere in the wiring system. As you mention, it could also be inside the light. The erratic intermittent behavior suggests that it's NOT an electronics component failure, which would be more cyclic. Most commonly (in flashlights), I see this caused by the LED COB. The LED is soldered onto the PCB (printed circuit board) forming the COB (chip on board). The PCB will flex as the LED heats up eventually breaking the solder connection. The solder doesn't really melt, but instead cracks. I fix these using a hot air SMD soldering station: https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+rework+station&tbm=isch Tear the light apart, and touch the LED or slightly bend the PCB while the lamp is operating. If it flickers, you found the problem. It can also be components other than the LED, which should be detectable by bending the PCB or visual inspection. Using the SMD soldering station takes practice. I suggest you find someone who knows how to use one. Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp, insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. The best way to find these is by probing with a DVM (digital volt meter). The catch is that you can only find a bad connection if the light is in failure mode. If it seems to be working normally on the workbench, you're probably better off taking the light and wiring apart and pulling on each connection. If the connection moves, stretches, or falls apart, you found the problem. Corrosion should be obvious. Also, look for annual rings (usually black) around wires that run through holes in the PCB. Such rings are cold solder joints, caused by the assembler being in a hurry, and need to be restarted. I've only seen one broken wire on a bicycle, which took me weeks to isolate. I finally found it by pulling on each of the wire ends. One wire seemed to stretch, indicating a break somewhere. I found where the insulation necked down from the stretching and spliced the wire. Problem solved. This wire was NOT under tension and showed no sign of corrosion, so my guess(tm) is that the wire was defective from the vendor. However, my initial wild guess points to the Union bottle dynamo. I haven't seen any failures with these because I don't use them. However, if it's as old as you suggest, it might be a good place to start. Try powering the light with a battery or power supply. Then, disconnect one of the power wires. The B&M lights usually have a stand light feature, which is basically a supercap to power the LED while the generator is NOT turning. If you disconnect the power wire, and the light goes into stand light mode, and slowly fades away, then it's working normally. Therefore, the problem is likely NOT in the dynamo or wiring that power the light. I would need to be after the stand light circuitry inside the B&M light. Good luck. Drivel: https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Dizoangphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Electrophobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/BMWphobia https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Cyclophobia Thanks for the information. I've emailed Peter White and will say what he says before I dig in further. But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing. But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) -- - Frank Krygowski Could it be that a faulty sensor is registering something as getting too hot and shutting down even if for a second or so? Cheers |
#7
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Eyc headlight problem
Am 29.03.2021 um 06:22 schrieb Sir Ridesalot:
On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 6:08:50 p.m. UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote: But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing. But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) Could it be that a faulty sensor is registering something as getting too hot and shutting down even if for a second or so? More likely a loose element (broken soldering point) on the IC. At some tail lights, it tended to be the capacitor that broke loose; I've never heared of it happening to front lights as well. Rolf |
#8
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Eyc headlight problem
Frank Krygowski wrote:
But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) Not the AC-Eyc, RTFM. But how about a new lamp and some real circuit? http://tandem-fahren.de/Mitglieder/Framstag/LED/Wollmilchsau/ |
#9
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Eyc headlight problem
On Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:23:28 +0200, Sepp Ruf
wrote: Frank Krygowski wrote: But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) Not the AC-Eyc, RTFM. That was my suggestion. I assumed that anything with a bridge rectifier on the AC input would also run on DC. Nothing in the data sheet: https://www.bumm.de/en/products/dynamo-scheinwerfer/produkt/160rtsndi%20.html However, the instructions say otherwise: https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/LUMOTEC%20Eyc_Avy_IQ-XS.PDF The headlight can only be powered by a dynamo (AC). Connection to a DC power source (battery) is not possible. I don't have a schematic or headlight to dissect. I wonder what they're doing to prevent DC operation. There is a 6 to 42VDC Eyc version: https://curbsidecycle.com/products/busch-muller-lumotec-eyc-dc-front-light-e-bike which probably has a different DC-DC buck converter. I couldn't find this DC version on the B&M site, but did find this: https://www.bumm.de/en/products/e-bike-beleuchtung.html?info=1 In Germany before 2014, e-bikes had to have a regular bicycle dynamo powering the light system. Such a dynamo supplies 6 VC AC. If your e-bike is equipped with a dynamo, it is not suitable for use with an e-bike headlight. All our dynamo-powered headlights may be used in this case. I'm suspicious that this is a safety measure inspired by users connecting the AC dynamo version of the headlight to an eBike with a 12, 26, or 48 VDC battery and destroying the headlight. Nobody makes a 6VDC eBike making the risk quite real. However, to be safe and in case I missed something, I won't suggest that Frank plug his Eyc into a 6VDC battery. Peter White Cycles nothing about battery power in the Eyc section at: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php but does have a note about running the IQ-X on 5VDC from USB power. We have recently discovered, (April 19, 2017) that the IQ-X headlight and the Busch & Müller USB-WERK charger are not compatible. When the cache battery in the USB-WERK is charging, the IQ-X beam becomes quite dim. While riding, this can happen for about two seconds, every thirty seconds or so, and so causes a dangerous situation, since the rider will briefly not be able to see the road ahead. If you have the USB-WERK and plan to use the IQ-X headlight, you should be prepared to unplug the USB-WERK at night. I recommend using the Lumotec IQ CYO Premium T Senso Plus or the new IQ-XS with the USB-WERK, since they are unaffected by this. My guess(tm) is the IQ-X lights require the peak AC voltage (6VAC * 1.414 = 8.5V) to operate at full brightness or the charging current causes a voltage drop to below the IQ-X operating point. The Eyc might have a similar problem. But how about a new lamp and some real circuit? http://tandem-fahren.de/Mitglieder/Framstag/LED/Wollmilchsau/ Google translate did a good job of translating the German into English. I can't resist looking at the circuit but have only 15 minutes. Looks like you may have confirmed my low voltage theory: The Busch + Müller IQ-X E that was evaluated first turned out to be unusable in the dynamo emergency mode: up to 20 km / h it remains quite dark and above it flickers at approx. 1 Hz. Congrats, you created a relaxation oscillator. - I don't see an over or under voltage protection (battery management system) for the LiIon cells on the schematic. However, there's one in the photo of the red 18650 cells and mentioned in the text. However, the BMS mentioned in the text is not available in 2S. - If the red colored 18650 cells in the photo are from "GTL", I have a few and they are junk. The Samsung cells are much better. - I don't see the usual resistive divider and timing capacitors on the 555 chip (U2). - Do you have a LUX meter? If so, I have a lumens measuring experiment I would like to have you try. Details later. Thanks, good luck, and I'll be back with more tomorrow. -- Jeff Liebermann PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#10
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Eyc headlight problem
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:23:28 +0200, Sepp Ruf wrote: Frank Krygowski wrote: But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a 6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.) Not the AC-Eyc, RTFM. That was my suggestion. I assumed that anything with a bridge rectifier on the AC input would also run on DC. It's tempting, I know. But how about a new lamp and some real circuit? http://tandem-fahren.de/Mitglieder/Framstag/LED/Wollmilchsau/ Google translate did a good job of translating the German into English. I can't resist looking at the circuit but have only 15 minutes. Looks like you may have confirmed my low voltage theory: Hold on, Jeff, I'm sorry for the little misunderstanding. I only linked to Ulli Horlacher's latest work there, presented at de.rec.fahrrad on Fri, 26 Mar 2021 08:06:31 +0000 (UTC). Actually, I do not even agree with the concept of basing one's entire front lighting on one, single beam lamp, however expensive and reliable it may be. |
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