Dynamo light question

[User]

 

[MacB]

[QUOTE 1903712, member: 45"]Does the standlight only work if the lamp is wired the right way? I only ask because the standlight isn't working on my new lamp and I want to discount everything before I send it back.[/quote]

yep, I had to rewire three times via a combination of original setup error and moving between frames that had different conductivity.

You may still have a dud one but worth switching the wires around to test.

 

[Davidc]

Shouldn't but sometimes does.

I haven't worked out why.

 

[amasidlover]

Not only does the dynamo -> light connection has to be right, the connection between front and rear has to be right too... Like MacB it takes me a couple of attempts.

 

[MacB]

Not only does the dynamo -> light connection has to be right, the connection between front and rear has to be right too... Like MacB it takes me a couple of attempts.

Thankyou, it's not just me then, I even got some online help but didn't fully understand the answers, all that mattered was I couldn't damage the kit I had by miswiring it, so I just tried until it all worked correctly. But it was still wrong I just didn't know it, conductivity in the frame was closing a loop or something, when I moved the setup to a new frame it stopped working properly. Cue start all over again

I have a different setup now and it's all done correctly with fancy gold connectors and shrink wrapped etc. Thankfully the cables tend to come plenty long and give you spare end parts. I had to snip and start again twice with the new kit even after my hash of the first lot. The worst bit was getting to the end and then realising that I'd forgotten to slide on the larger shrink wrap tube that covered the entire joint, before making said joint....happy days

 

[MacB]

[QUOTE 1903850, member: 45"]The rear standlight works fine. I'm hoping I'll only need to swap the connections on the front.

My set-up doesn't ground to the frame. Is it supposed to?[/quote]

It varies, the one I refer to was an Alfine dyanmo hub, B&M Cyo front and Toplight rear. Part of my error was down to the rear also accepting batteries for backup purposes. This meant the standlight switched to them when not getting power...I think.

With a SON hub it's not the same.

 

[actonblue]

It should have a good earth i.e through the frame so run a wire from the earth connector on the lamp to the frame or back to the earth terminal on the dynamo. I have found that when you have a bad earth the lamp does not light or does not hold its charge for long.

 

[ushills]

With that setup no need to earth through the frame, twin cable from hub to front light then use the rear connectors on the front lamp to power the rear. Did you buy the Cyo with the standlight function.

PS it takes a few minutes to fully power the standlight.

 

[MacB]

Folks, I didn't mean that you altered the wiring based on frame conductivity, if you wire correctly then it should all work regardless of frame, and no additional wires needed.

What I meant was that it was possible to wire it incorrectly and still get it seeming to work due to frame conductivity. But it doesn't work quite right and I only realised this when I moved it to a frame with less/more(I really don't know) conductivity...at which point mine stopped working totally. I had moved it complete so hadn't actually disconnected any wires. Set it up loosely to test before taping down all the cables etc.

 

[ushills]

[QUOTE 1904241, member: 45"]I've got the Philips Saferide. I liked the sound of the better light pattern, it's all-metal, and it looks as though they've sorted out the problem of the dodgy bracket.[/quote]

Okay, does the saferide have connections for a rearlight. You should use these, or parallel wire the rear from the hub.

My rear need about 2 mins of cycling for the standlight to work for any duration, if I just spin the wheel it goes out as soon and the wheel stops, as the front draws all the current. You could try the rear on it's own as they are protected against voltage overload.