B&M 80 Lux Cyo IQ Premium Senso Plus

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 1:15:12 AM UTC, sms wrote:
On 12/11/2013 5:03 PM, James wrote:

On 12/12/13 10:09, Andre Jute wrote:



About the exposed terminals on the wire for the rear lamp. BUMM lamps

used to be designed so that the lamp body shielded the terminals,

which was then surrounded by plastic when properly attached to the

receptors on the lamp.



For all the hype and expense, I found the choice of connector disappointing.



Even though it seems counter-intuitive, there is a reason to have the

female connector on the device and a male connector on the wire.



It is worth keeping the wire to the rear lamp for a rear lamp, and a

particular one at that, the Toplight Line Plus, which is currently

probably the best rear lamp available for a reasonable price. It's

better than any common lamp, and better than probably 99% of exotica

too. I doubt whether the rear lamp wire will charge anything

worthwhile on USB; it's very likely an 0.6W max connection (for

historical reasons), limited by electronics inside the front lamp. Be

brill if it will, but...



It appears to be AC voltage, and varies as the wheel speed changes. I

think it may be just a parallel connection to the dynamo. I saw 8V AC

when I gave the front wheel a spin. Perhaps it goes through the switch,

perhaps not. I'll find out if I get time.



There are also very good reasons to keep all the circuitry in the lamps

and just deliver AC rather than try to get clever and rectify anything

outside the lamps.



There's enough power to charge a low current USB device as long as

you're not running a lamp at the same time. I'd use four Schottky

diodes, a capacitor, and a 7805SRH-C or VMP3201-5V for the simplest and

most efficient 5V charging.

On another conference I mix with serious tourers all the time, guys who're out of touch in the back of beyond for days and weeks at a time. They are crucially interested in what a SON/(BUMM,AXA nano, etc, only German and Dutch brands need to apply) combo will charge in a full day's hard riding. Their combined experience and wisdom is that you'd better not count on charging even an emergency phone, never mind an iPhone or a GPS. They all have other solutions. Frankly, it seems to me that, while what you say is theoretically correct, there aren't any devices useful to a cyclist that can be charged in tandem with a switched-on lamp. I say again, these guys are major tourers, on the bike from before dawn to after dusk, at a brisk rate, cadences like hummingbirds. You can forget charging anything off a hub dynamo in the hour or two or three most of the posters to RBT actually ride.

Andre Jute

On 12.12.13, 12:09 AM, Andre Jute wrote:
The LED in the front lamp, and in the rear lamp, are rated 50K hours or better, in bicycle terms practically forever,
so you can just turn the lamp on at the switch on the lamp (if it has
one) and forget messing about with a flimsy switch
on the handlebars, and then you just never turn it off again. These
lamps make good daylight running lamps,
but even if you don't care one way or the other about DLRLs, it's a
convenience to have lamps that are on whenever the bike moves.


Good advice. I also stopped switching off the lamps. Here in
Switzerland, as of January 1 motor vehicles will be required to run with
lights on. I think it's also a good idea for cyclists, at least if you
ride in traffic.

Turning the wheel with a flick of the finger suggests that there isn't
any appreciable difference when the lamp is on vs. off, at least
compared to the forces applied when pedaling. And, according to the
rating given by the manufacturer I could ride an hour per day for 27
years before the lamp had reached its rated lifetime. For me at 69 years
old that's long enough...

One thing to note: After some years the lamp stopped working until I
moved the switch half a dozen times. Perhaps some corrosion that was
then scraped away.

Ned

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 9:48:21 AM UTC, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 12.12.13, 12:09 AM, Andre Jute wrote:

The LED in the front lamp, and in the rear lamp, are rated 50K hours or better, in bicycle terms practically forever,

so you can just turn the lamp on at the switch on the lamp (if it has

one) and forget messing about with a flimsy switch

on the handlebars, and then you just never turn it off again. These

lamps make good daylight running lamps,

but even if you don't care one way or the other about DLRLs, it's a

convenience to have lamps that are on whenever the bike moves.





Good advice. I also stopped switching off the lamps. Here in

Switzerland, as of January 1 motor vehicles will be required to run with

lights on. I think it's also a good idea for cyclists, at least if you

ride in traffic.



Turning the wheel with a flick of the finger suggests that there isn't

any appreciable difference when the lamp is on vs. off, at least

compared to the forces applied when pedaling. And, according to the

rating given by the manufacturer I could ride an hour per day for 27

years before the lamp had reached its rated lifetime. For me at 69 years

old that's long enough...



One thing to note: After some years the lamp stopped working until I

moved the switch half a dozen times. Perhaps some corrosion that was

then scraped away.



Ned

Thanks for that, Ned. Trivia: There was a time, a decade or more ago, when the older models of hub dynamo from Shimano included one that caused more resistance when switch OFF than when switched on! But an approximation today is that a good hub dynamo by a top maker will cause drag equivalent to roundabout an elevation of a foot (say a third of a metre) in a mile (1.61km). That's pretty much imperceptible. Good luck to anyone set on devising a scheme to measure and quantify so little drag without lashing out on expensive precision equipment.

Andre Jute