Anyone got one o' these new busch & muller light thingys?

[Geoff Crowther]

Ok, whilst speccing my new Thorn Sherpa the guys there suggested this:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/busch-an...ight-for-hub-dynamos-prod31108/#bottomsection
Evidently, it's not only a clever & powerful lamp wot'll run off the dyno hub on my new toy BUT it also has a USB output so you can charge a phone, satnav or whatever whilst your pedalling.
Thorn say they've only bin available for few months so they have no experience of how good (or bad) the charging is.
They steered me away from both the e werk charging device and also the biologic reecharge which they said was "not good" (not their exact words).
It's becoming clear that device charging is a relatively new pursuit on bicycles and all my research so far has brought a surfeit of technobabble, which I just can't understand, or tales of woe.
All I want is, say on a two week tour, to be able to charge my phone (Nokia Windows) and satnav (Edge touring). I have a Powergen 8400 mAH cache battery, which is good to top up the phone each night for a week. Ideally I'd like to charge that from the bike but it seems that's probably too much to ask. As a tight-fisted Yorkshireman I'm trying to avoid using b&bs just to charge devices; I want to camp. And no, I don't want leave valuable stuff in a loo block overnight; besides, I enjoy wild camping wherever possible.
Any thoughts?
Anyone got one o' these new fangled toys?

 

[CopperBrompton]

I have the standard B&M light and the E-Werk, which is excellent. Very small and unobtrusive:

Usually it powers my Garmin Virb Elite camcorder, but I sometimes use it to charge my iPhone.

 

[jhawk]

I'm hopefully getting a new one! But I loved the one I used when I first got my touring bike, it was used to only power the front and rear lights. But now has unfortunately stopped working.

If and when I replace the system, I'll get the E-Werk too.

 

[Geoff Crowther]

I have the standard B&M light and the E-Werk, which is excellent. Very small and unobtrusive:

Usually it powers my Garmin Virb Elite camcorder, but I sometimes use it to charge my iPhone.

Thanks Trikeman.
So my question is, why buy the e werk gadget for around £130 when, it would seem, the new B&M light does the same job without any extra gadgetry.
For those still asleep, the new light costs about £155, the previous model (without USB charging?) was around £130 if I understand correctly. So that's a saving of over £100 isn't it?
I just read on a US site that the ability to charge is reliant on the output of the dyno hub, rather than the efficiency of any interface. Thorn reckon the SON 28 dyno hub is the best available.
Am I missing something?

 

[Geoff Crowther]

I'm hopefully getting a new one! But I loved the one I used when I first got my touring bike, it was used to only power the front and rear lights. But now has unfortunately stopped working.

If and when I replace the system, I'll get the E-Werk too.

Cheers for the reply jhawk but see my response to Trikeman.
What do you think?

 

[CopperBrompton]

If I were buying my hub dynamo setup today, yep, I'd probably buy the new light (after comparing the outputs). It wasn't available when I bought mine.

 

[Geoff Crowther]

If I were buying my hub dynamo setup today, yep, I'd probably buy the new light (after comparing the outputs). It wasn't available when I bought mine.

'Sounds like a good answer. Research is suggesting it should be ok but advice seems to be to not using the light whilst charging and probably best for the device to be switched off.
Thanks for your help and comments.

 

[CopperBrompton]

'Sounds like a good answer. Research is suggesting it should be ok but advice seems to be to not using the light whilst charging and probably best for the device to be switched off.

That sounds like the light has lower output than the E-Werk, then: I use lights and charger simultaneously.

 

[John the Monkey]

Peter White Cycles has beamshots of the light;

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp

They're also available for £90ish at Rose, iirc. I'm torn between a Luxos U, and a Luxos B (£66, I think), personally.

 

[Geoff Crowther]

Peter White Cycles has beamshots of the light;

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp

They're also available for £90ish at Rose, iirc. I'm torn between a Luxos U, and a Luxos B (£66, I think), personally.

Yeah, spotted that Peter White stuff.
Thanks for the heads up about Rose. I'll take a look.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The light is the one that was on my OH's bike.

You can get it from Discount-bikes.de (here) for £89.89 plus postage of £4.99
Rose bikes have it at £87.06 with postage around £7... (here)

 

[Pale Rider]

I spoke to a long-distance cyclist (we didn't have much in common) who had a small solar panel on his rucksack.

He told me, if I recall, it kept his phone going but not much else.

Could be worth thinking about as a back-up to the B&M gadget.

Plus it would work while you were at rest.

 

[Wooliferkins]

From the B&M site,
"The Luxos U is not comparable with a normal mains charger for mobile devices, it supplies devices with power. Currently this may suffice for charging applications at high current loads, sometimes it is just enough to slow down the battery use. The higher the speed the more charging current is potentially available. At slow speeds, the buffer battery cannot recharge in charging mode because only limited energy is available from the dynamo (about 3 W at a speed of 15 km/h). Some mobile phones however, use up to 5W. This means that the cache battery is charged first, without that no power is supplied via the USB output. Once a certain state of charge is reached, the output will switch to the USB. If the mobile phone empties the battery, the power supply to the USB output is switched off at its minimum charge level and the buffer battery is only recharged. With these breaks in charging some USB devices indicate with the 'start of charging' sound.

We recommend buying the Luxos U from a bike shop where you can try your device to minimise exchanges if your device will not charge. If your primary use is to be the charging of mobile devices, we recommend the E-WERK. This device has no integrated buffer battery, which functions as a lock and generally a higher wattage is available than the Luxos U."

So if you're using your SatNav while it's in use the Luxos will just slow the drain on the battery. It'll be the same with a smart phone if you have tinterweb and the other bells and whistles enabled as the phone will hunt for connections. Turn off the phones GPS and data and it should charge OK. If you want to go totally off grid you might want to add a small solar charger which will trickle charge all day.

 

[CopperBrompton]

That confirms my earlier suspicion about less power being available from the light than the E-Werk.

 

[Geoff Crowther]

From the B&M site,
"The Luxos U is not comparable with a normal mains charger for mobile devices, it supplies devices with power. Currently this may suffice for charging applications at high current loads, sometimes it is just enough to slow down the battery use. The higher the speed the more charging current is potentially available. At slow speeds, the buffer battery cannot recharge in charging mode because only limited energy is available from the dynamo (about 3 W at a speed of 15 km/h). Some mobile phones however, use up to 5W. This means that the cache battery is charged first, without that no power is supplied via the USB output. Once a certain state of charge is reached, the output will switch to the USB. If the mobile phone empties the battery, the power supply to the USB output is switched off at its minimum charge level and the buffer battery is only recharged. With these breaks in charging some USB devices indicate with the 'start of charging' sound.

We recommend buying the Luxos U from a bike shop where you can try your device to minimise exchanges if your device will not charge. If your primary use is to be the charging of mobile devices, we recommend the E-WERK. This device has no integrated buffer battery, which functions as a lock and generally a higher wattage is available than the Luxos U."

So if you're using your SatNav while it's in use the Luxos will just slow the drain on the battery. It'll be the same with a smart phone if you have tinterweb and the other bells and whistles enabled as the phone will hunt for connections. Turn off the phones GPS and data and it should charge OK. If you want to go totally off grid you might want to add a small solar charger which will trickle charge all day.

Hi Wooliferkins
Many thanks for digging that stuff up. I've bin away for a few days and more or less decided to buy that lamp on my return. Your valuable info's changed my mind. Suspect I might well go for a cheaper light plus an E WERK gadget.
Very grateful, thanks.