Dyno hub power difference

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JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Depends on the wattage of the lights. If they require more than 1.5W, yes it will affect the lights. That affect depends on the type of light but could range from slight dimming to not working at all.
 

C R

Guru
Location
Worcester
As @JhnBssll says, it will depend on the lamps. An incandescent bulb would be half as bright with the 1.5 than with the 3, but an LED may not switch on at all.

As both are six volt you would expect half the current from the new one. The 3W dynamo should deliver 0.5 amps, while the 1.5W would deliver 0.25 amps. Check the rating of the lights to see what the current draw (how many amps) they need. As long as it is below 0.25 you will be fine.
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
Half as many watts.
Will that affect my lights in any way?
Yes it will; they won't be as bright.

Low powered dynamos started about 5 years ago, after the German authorities noticed that modern LED lights were easily producing more than double the brightness required by the StVZO tests. The intention was to encourage the use of smaller, lighter and cheaper low power dynohubs in place of the less reliable side wall generators that were still found as OEM on most German utility/town bikes.

As @JhnBssll says, it will depend on the lamps. An incandescent bulb would be half as bright with the 1.5 than with the 3, but an LED may not switch on at all.
WRONG

An under powered incandescent bulb may give no more than a dull red glow, but an under powered LED will merely be less bright..

Hub dynamos are best thought of as being a current source. They are rated using a simple 12 Ω resistor, with a standard (3N, 3W nominal) dynamo giving 0.5 A, and a low power (1N, 1.5 W nominal) dynamo giving about 0.35 A.

A standard front bulb has a resistance of 12 Ω, so 0.5 A from a regular 3N dynamo will give 6 V across the bulb, and 3 W power.
Using the same bulb in the same light on a 0.35 A 1N dynamo will give only 4.2 V across the bulb, and 1.5 W power.
However, the bulb filament doesn't have to get so hot to radiate the reduced power, so an even higher proportion than normal will be radiated as invisible infra red, leaving very little to see with. You could shift the emitted light back towards the visible by fitting a different bulb, but finding something in a suitable flanged fitting wouldn't be simple.

In contrast, using an LED light, the driver electronics ensures that the voltage across the LED itself is the 3.5V (approx) required, and brightness is proportional to current, with no spectrum shift to worry about. In fact, you'll get a little more than half the brightness with half the current, as the LEDs are more efficient when they are cooler.
With an LED, what energy doesn't come out as visible light doesn't get emitted as IR - it goes into making the LED itself hot. Most powerful LED lights will automatically turn down the power to protect the LED(s).
 
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midlife

Guru
Yes it will; they won't be as bright.

Low powered dynamos started about 5 years ago, after the German authorities noticed that modern LED lights were easily producing more than double the brightness required by the StVZO tests. The intention was to encourage the use of smaller, lighter and cheaper low power dynohubs in place of the less reliable side wall generators that were still found as OEM on most German utility/town bikes.


WRONG

An under powered incandescent bulb may give no more than a dull red glow, but an under powered LED will merely be less bright..

Hub dynamos are best thought of as being a current source. They are rated using a simple 12 Ω resistor, with a standard (3N, 3W nominal) dynamo giving 0.5 A, and a low power (1N, 1.5 W nominal) dynamo giving about 0.35 A.

A standard front bulb has a resistance of 12 Ω, so 0.5 A from a regular 3N dynamo will give 6 V across the bulb, and 3 W power.
Using the same bulb in the same light on a 0.35 A 1N dynamo will give only 4.2 V across the bulb, and 1.5 W power.
However, the bulb filament doesn't have to get so hot to radiate the reduced power, so an even higher proportion than normal will be radiated as invisible infra red, leaving very little to see with. You could shift the emitted light back towards the visible by fitting a different bulb, but finding something in a suitable flanged fitting wouldn't be simple.

In contrast, using an LED light, the driver electronics ensures that the voltage across the LED itself is the 3.5V (approx) required, and brightness is proportional to current, with no spectrum shift to worry about. In fact, you'll get a little more than half the brightness with half the current, as the LEDs are more efficient when they are cooler.
With an LED, what energy doesn't come out as visible light doesn't get emitted as IR - it goes into making the LED itself hot. Most powerful LED lights will automatically turn down the power to protect the LED(s).

Just out of sheer curiosity, if the LED gets hot why does it not emit IR radiation?
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
Just out of sheer curiosity, if the LED gets hot why does it not emit IR radiation?
It does, but the amount of IR radiated by an LED running at 100° is small compared with that from a bulb filament running at 3000 to 5000°.
Most of the heat generated in the LED gets conducted away into the body of the light and lost in the cooling air stream as you ride.
 
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