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.

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

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.

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

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

Zebee Johnstone writes:

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.

A couple of weeks ago my OEM bulb headlamp decided to get stuck on "dim"
instead of the more useful on/auto/off settings it started with.

So I finally got around to buying an LED-based replacement from bike24.
IIRC it worked out at AUD70, of which about a third was shipping. Meh;
I tend to view capital expenses as an investment.

Arrived Tue, installed it Wed. Brief panic because until I hooked up
the ground, the rear light was lighting up, but the front one wasn't.

Used it the last two nights and it's *definitely* nicer than the bulb
one, thanks for putting me onto bike24.

It's not *super* bright, but I'm OK with that. Assuming both spec sheets
are honest, I went from 17lux to 25lux. Most of my commute is under
street lighting anyway.

The light output is much whiter than the bulb, and the output is mostly
in two rectangles, with the upper-middle bit brightest:

+---+-------+---+
| | | |
| +-------+ |
| |
+---------------+

But it does some funky optics so there's also dimmer light spilling
around the edges (inc. straight down) as well. And it has a capacitor,
so when stopped or going up a steep hill, it stays on. That always
annoyed me with the previous one.

One thing I didn't expect, is that it flickers a bit even at speed,
whereas with a bulb that was only noticable when the bulb was only just
getting enough juice to light up.

The model I got was a B+M Classic (IIRC the "CSNDI" flavour).

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 14 Nov 2013 01:04:50 +1100
Trent W. Buck wrote:
Zebee Johnstone writes:

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.

A couple of weeks ago my OEM bulb headlamp decided to get stuck on "dim"
instead of the more useful on/auto/off settings it started with.

So I finally got around to buying an LED-based replacement from bike24.
IIRC it worked out at AUD70, of which about a third was shipping. Meh;
I tend to view capital expenses as an investment.

There might be cheaper places, but I haven't found anything much
cheaper as it seems to be more expensive EUR-AU than US-AU.

Arrived Tue, installed it Wed. Brief panic because until I hooked up
the ground, the rear light was lighting up, but the front one wasn't.

Used it the last two nights and it's *definitely* nicer than the bulb
one, thanks for putting me onto bike24.

Yeah, I found that going from halogen on my 'bent to the LED IQ Fly.


One thing I didn't expect, is that it flickers a bit even at speed,
whereas with a bulb that was only noticable when the bulb was only just
getting enough juice to light up.

HAven't seen that on mine, wonder if it's an effect of the low power?
OR maybe just a bad connection somewhere?

Zebee

On 14/11/13 01:04, Trent W. Buck wrote:
Zebee Johnstone writes:

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.

A couple of weeks ago my OEM bulb headlamp decided to get stuck on "dim"
instead of the more useful on/auto/off settings it started with.

So I finally got around to buying an LED-based replacement from bike24.
IIRC it worked out at AUD70, of which about a third was shipping. Meh;
I tend to view capital expenses as an investment.

Arrived Tue, installed it Wed. Brief panic because until I hooked up
the ground, the rear light was lighting up, but the front one wasn't.

Used it the last two nights and it's *definitely* nicer than the bulb
one, thanks for putting me onto bike24.

It's not *super* bright, but I'm OK with that. Assuming both spec sheets
are honest, I went from 17lux to 25lux. Most of my commute is under
street lighting anyway.

The light output is much whiter than the bulb, and the output is mostly
in two rectangles, with the upper-middle bit brightest:

+---+-------+---+
| | | |
| +-------+ |
| |
+---------------+

But it does some funky optics so there's also dimmer light spilling
around the edges (inc. straight down) as well. And it has a capacitor,
so when stopped or going up a steep hill, it stays on. That always
annoyed me with the previous one.

One thing I didn't expect, is that it flickers a bit even at speed,
whereas with a bulb that was only noticable when the bulb was only just
getting enough juice to light up.

The model I got was a B+M Classic (IIRC the "CSNDI" flavour).

I'm waiting for this one...

http://www.xxcycle.com/busch-and-mul...ndi-04,,en.php

--
JS

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

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.