Dynamo lights?

[mjr]

I told you I was stupid . Found one in Halfords at £84.95, will have to go with battery lights.

Halfrauds have an interest in keeping cyclists in this country using crap battery lights, especially now that non replaceable internal batteries mean most people buy new ones every few years.

If you want dynamo lights, you pretty much have to order from Germany to get decent lights at a good price. £80 should get a decent hub dynamo wheel and lights. £50 a bottle/tyre dynamo set.

Eddy current dynamo lights are catching up but were only useful as in- town marker lights a couple of years ago when I last tried some. Not yet up to seeing with. Plus you needed pure aluminium rims without steel strengtheners and non-steel forks, else the magnets wouldn't spin freely.

Also, friction-free? Could say the same for hub dynamos - it's all just magnets.

 

[Paul Gee]

Googling "No friction bike bicycle lights dynamo generator" as mentioned above, I came across a company which sells a magnetic 'dynamo' complete with front/rear lights and all wiring etc for just £12 delivered.

Has anyone bought from this company, Freelights, and is the product any good?'

 

[freiston]

Dynamo lights are more likely to be 'legal' than battery lights, as practically all available dynamo lights are manufactured to the German StVZO standard - which is allowed because it is an EC standard that is as demanding as BS6102/3 - but most battery lights on the market in the UK do not conform to either BS6102/3 or StVZO. Most (if not all) manufacturers don't bother manufacturing battery lights to BS6102/3 - so you're not likely to find any anywhere. I would recommend anyone buying new primary lights to go for StVZO (they have a 'K' mark on them), whether it be battery or dynamo - because they are good and they are legal.

I have a dynamo front hub and dynamo lights; they stay lit for a few minutes when I stop and the front lamp outperforms an 18650 battery front lamp that I bought - it puts out a little less light altogether but the beam pattern is more useful. These StVZO lights have a rear-facing led that is reflected forwards very much like some modern car lamps.

 

[freiston]

Here's a link for some information on what's legal:

http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/chris-juden/lots-of-brilliant-lights-but-still-illegal

 

[freiston]

I bought my lights online from Rose Bikes (German-based) - here's a link to their battery lights:

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/product...tery-powered/?order=topseller#anchor_products

 

[Low Gear Guy]

Perfectly legal.

Phew, I don't need to hand myself in to the police

 

[rogerzilla]

The good thing about dynamo lights is that you always have a full-strength power source, so the lights don't dim when a battery is on the way out and you don't need to worry about recharging. However, bottle dynamos are usually unsatisfactory, slipping in the wet (or chewing up tyres if you fit a wire brush roller to get round the first issue) and hub dynamos need to be built into a wheel. Also, you are carrying the weight of the dynamo all the time, unless you have another wheel for "summer" use. The drag of a dynamo is very small but makes a difference on a 100 mile+ night ride, IME.

I use rechargeable AA batteries in a Hope Vision One for commuting these days, although I did use a dynamo for many years. The only issue there is that the batteries are usually very tired after 2 years, not holding much of a charge, and need to be changed.

 

[mjr]

Oh here we go again. Not all bottle dynamos slip in the wet or chew tyres and most of the other points are similarly variable, except for the need to build a hub into a wheel.

The Hope Vision One is a fairly good example of why dynamo lights are better: it isn't enough to make you legally lit, has a narrow beam that forces a choice between low speed because of the low aim and dazzling oncoming road users and worst of all, it eats a set of fully-charged batteries in just 2-3 hours (so much for your 100 mile+ night ride unless you carry many batteries and keep stopping to swap) but it stupidly just switches off without warning when the batteries run down - not immediately obvious in town and potentially dangerous in the countryside! Yes, you can go far with such lights, but dynamo light sets really are so much nicer once you get over the initial hurdle of fitting them properly.

 

[rogerzilla]

I get a week's commuting from a set of 2700mAh AAs in my Hope Vision 1. I run it on low power in streetlit areas. Agree about the beam shape but I think B&M have a patent on the IQ technology.

It easily lasted a Dunwich Dynamo on lithium AAs. That's 112.7 miles.

I don't know what "isn't enough to make you legally lit" is all about. The Hope is 3 or 4 watts, the same as a dynamo light. There's no minimum power requirement in UK law anyway; there used to be a *maximum* power for a front light, of 2.4W for halogen, but the law is pretty slack now; you can even have a blinky.

 

[freiston]

I've done many all-night rides (FNRttCs) and always ended up with charge to spare in my Hope 1. It may deplete batteries quickly if used on full beam all night, but I've never tried that, as it would be a daft thing to do.
Only the old models switch off when the battery gets low. Mine (purchased about 2 or 3 years ago) is one of the newer ones that goes into flash mode on low battery.

I get a week's commuting from a set of 2700mAh AAs in my Hope Vision 1. I run it on low power in streetlit areas. Agree about the beam shape but I think B&M have a patent on the IQ technology.

It easily lasted a Dunwich Dynamo on lithium AAs. That's 112.7 miles.

I run my dynamo front light on full power all the time - don't even bother to turn it off in the daytime. Haven't bothered counting the miles but it hasn't run out of power yet

I don't know what "isn't enough to make you legally lit" is all about. The Hope is 3 or 4 watts, the same as a dynamo light. There's no minimum power requirement in UK law anyway; there used to be a *maximum* power for a front light, of 2.4W for halogen, but the law is pretty slack now; you can even have a blinky.

There is a requirement in UK law to conform to BS6102/3 or an EC standard that is as demanding (and the lights have to be marked as such). Although it is a British company, I can find nothing on the Hope website to say that their lights conform to any standard that would make them legal as a primary light.

 

[mjr]

I get a week's commuting from a set of 2700mAh AAs in my Hope Vision 1. I run it on low power in streetlit areas.

I don't enjoy toggling lights up and down and struggling to see under old streetlights or whether they're a bit too far apart. I prefer simply switching the light on and riding.

Agree about the beam shape but I think B&M have a patent on the IQ technology.

Well, Axa and others seem to manage it too. Even Lidl with battery lights. Maybe they're all paying B&M but I doubt it.

It easily lasted a Dunwich Dynamo on lithium AAs. That's 112.7 miles.

...with lots of Dynamo users lighting much of the way for you!

There's no minimum power requirement in UK law anyway

There is, but it's weak and not generally enforced and I don't think it was a point I was making anyway.

The biggest problem for me with dynamo lights is cost. To have a wheel built with a decent dynohub, and to buy a good set of lights to go with it would set me back over £200.

Funny. My current setup with a Sturmey XL-FDD, Axa Pico and Axa Riff cost £60. My wife's with the same lights and some Shimano hub cost £80. Maybe you don't think those are decent hubs or good lights, but then I think your choice smells funny

 

[mjr]

All the same, you factor in the cost of a rim, spokes and wheel building I doubt you'd be looking at less than £100 for the most basic setup.

Ignoring the USB bit, which it seems would add £40 at the moment, here's today's price for a basic setup: factory-built hub dynamo wheel + front light + rear light = £33.15 + £15ish (delivery) + £17.93 + £6.26 + £5.32 (p&p) = £77.66, plus a few quid for wire, heatshrink and other sundries.

 

[mjr]

Thanks for that. So £77 + 40 (for the USB) is a smidge under £120

Sure, but I think it's difficult to argue that USB is part of "the most basic setup", so it really is less than £100 for basic.

But you try to find a UK bike shop selling the cheaper dynamos or lights Have they got too much invested in flogging everyone an expensive new battery light every two or three years?

 

[confusedcyclist]

The problem with comparing dynamo lights with similar equivalent light output to LED battery lights is you are really comparing apples and oranges.

One requires the constant hassle of charging, clipping and unclipping, and remembering when to charge but requires relatively minor capital outlay. And the other costs a fair bit more but you've got the convenience of never having to remove the light from the frame, charge, or worry about failing lights in the middle of a long ride. If you commute 10 minutes to work once a week in the dark, stick with battery.

If you ride day in day out, 2 hours a day like I do the case for spending a bit more on a hub dynamo setup is stronger. I went through about 3 or 4 battery lights at about £30-40 a pop (plus mounting accessories, spare batteries etc) before making the switch, invariably, the cell or the USB port always fails within a year or so. I suspect my hub will wear out before my lights do, which are permanently bolted to the frame by the way, so minimal wear to be expected there. LEDs are usually rated around 10,000 hours or so before they die. That's 13 years from now based on my typical usage.

I learned to build bicycle wheels so I could fit a cheap hub, all I paid for was the hub and spokes and eliminated the labour cost of the wheel build. I used my existing rim.

My B&M IQ-X setup is definitely on the luxury end of the market, but then I get output like this:

 

[mjr]

But you try to find a UK bike shop selling the cheaper dynamos or lights

Good old Decathlon. Dynamo wheel for hybrids for £30 https://www.decathlon.co.uk/28-front-hybrid-dynamo-wheel-id_8133890.html - not checked for lights yet.