Rear light German instructions CL-R19

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I have looked for a rear light which goes on the cycle rear rack, with panniers etc, no option any other area likely will get covered.

Local shop only has two lights and one needs a dynamo so had to buy a USB charged rear lamp, however all instructions are in German, it should last 360 min on a charge and has a 300mAh Lithium-Ion battery.

It will not switch on while charging, and when on charge there is a green light which seems to stay on all the time while on charge.

The problem is some times it works all day i.e. does the 6 hours it should do, however some times within minutes of setting off it simply went off, it did not give any warning going dim, it went off. The shop have to give them their due replaced it for a new one, so the problem may be cured.

However one does not see when a rear light fails, and I wonder if I could read the instructions if there is any way to know when fully charged or getting low on charge, does the green light just say connected or should it tell on more as to state of charge?
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
If you could find an instruction manual on line you may bring able to translate it with on line tools like Google translate.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
When I was commuting, I always used two rear lights for the reason you mention above. You never know when it goes out.
Always use reflective slap bands round the ankles as my fallback strategy - these can be more noticeable than lights.

Stay safe
 
OP
OP
ericmark

ericmark

Senior Member
I did wonder about translating the German instructions, but my OCR scanning software is set up for English. I also used a USB amp/volt meter and the charge rate is very low, now miss placed the meter so can't retest new lamp. I had hoped that the green charging LED would switch on/off, or change colour to show when charged, not completely discharged the new one yet so may be green does mean fully charged but not seen the green light go off.

The German instructions seem to cover more than one model, with varying mAh rating making it clear more than one model, I had just hoped that some one would have said green light means charged or should start to flash before it is flat or some thing giving a warning.

I have got a light on my helmet but there is simply no place to mount any other light on the bike its self, it looks at quick glance the same as rear light on my wife's electric bike. Until it failed I thought how bright and good it was, but although now using a replacement it worries me that it may stop working without my knowledge, front lamp not a problem if that stops working one knows, but rear lamp if it stops working you simply don't know.
126118-496049_1_Large.jpg
This is what it looks like.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
To fix rear lights, I've adopted cheap led rear lights by drilling a couple of holes on the base, then thread zip ties through and then they can be fixed to the rear of a pannier/saddle bag etc.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
A little OT but in case anyone is watching this thread and thinking of a rear rack light, Cateye do various suitable options. All you need to do is get the rack bracket which Cateye also do for your light to slot in and out of. I bought my daughter a set which is USB rechargeable.

Smashing little thing and really simple. (The light :rolleyes:)
 
I have looked for a rear light which goes on the cycle rear rack, with panniers etc, no option any other area likely will get covered.

Local shop only has two lights and one needs a dynamo so had to buy a USB charged rear lamp, however all instructions are in German, it should last 360 min on a charge and has a 300mAh Lithium-Ion battery.

It will not switch on while charging, and when on charge there is a green light which seems to stay on all the time while on charge.

The problem is some times it works all day i.e. does the 6 hours it should do, however some times within minutes of setting off it simply went off, it did not give any warning going dim, it went off. The shop have to give them their due replaced it for a new one, so the problem may be cured.

However one does not see when a rear light fails, and I wonder if I could read the instructions if there is any way to know when fully charged or getting low on charge, does the green light just say connected or should it tell on more as to state of charge?

If you can put a copy on here I can try and translate it.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Don't need to OCR. Just take a picture of the appropriate bit. It hopefully mentions grun or Licht or something similar ;)

I've lights where the green indicator means charged and others where it goes out when fully-charged. There seems no consistency beyond German lights having to have an indicator, which is one step above British ones (or Dutch or Danish, for that matter).

And I do paranoically check I can see a red reflection in a post or fence or sign when I'm stopped at traffic lights, even when I can't see the rack-rear light for panniers. Only once has it not been lit in I don't know how many years. Compares very well to the bad old "never ready" lights which went out over every bump.
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
Lithium batteries die if discharged too far, so it's normal that they turn off before reaching that stage. There should be a previous indication of low charge, but on a rear light, you aren't going to see it when riding.
Furthermore, a battery (of any type) will recover to some extent when not used for a few hours, which may give rise to a misleading absence of low battery warning when first turned on (or, in the case of AA/AAA, a misleadingly bright light). The warning will come on in a minute or two, but it's quite likely you've started riding by then.

Ideally, you should check your lights before turning them off at the end of the ride.
Not only does this mean that you are more likely to see a low battery warning, you've time to do something about it.

The CLR-19 says it's got a 300mAh battery, which ought to take a bit under an hour to fully charge on a mains USB charger.
However, some computer USB ports may not supply over 100mA unless the device being charged requests more, which is usually done by having the data pins shorted. If the lead supplied with the light shorted the pins (rather than having them shorted inside the light), and you use a USB lead originally intended for a phone or something else that used the data lines, the pins won't be shorted and the charging time could go up to 4 hours or so.

(There's no sign of a manual on the XLC website)
 
OP
OP
ericmark

ericmark

Senior Member
I was not using the lead that came with the light as it was very short, and it would be dangling off the wire when plugged into the many USB charging points built into 13A sockets around my house, non rated less than 2.1A.

I will try to scan instructions, I was surprised only in German, most things do seem to use English even if no Welsh translation, and with so many things it is law to sell things with instructions in language of the country sold in, I know there has been a problem with caravans sold in Wales without a Welsh translation of things which could cause danger, like the electric hook up.

I would have thought anything in the instructions which guided one to how to ensure rear lights don't fail should if sold in Wales have both English and Welsh translations if not also Polish and Romanian as it seems that is spoken more on the streets than Welsh. No objections to them, this area would grind to a halt without them.
 
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