Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - advances in lighting?

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satch
01-26-08, 07:53 PM
Im new here and this may have been asked before so sorry if so...but is there anything on the market today that is a light unit for the bike that uses your peddeling power or the turning of your wheels to power a light for the bike? It seems so easy to not have this on the market. If so can you point me to it? Thanks alot..

barba
01-26-08, 07:54 PM
Shimano makes a very nice generator hub: http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/lighting/shimano.html
BarracksSi
01-27-08, 05:27 AM
^^^^ What he said;

Generator hubs are the best thing to happen to daily-use bike lighting, IMO.

I had my sister's bike upgraded with a Shimano hub, halogen front light and LED rear with a standlight (holds a charge long enough to be seen while standing at an intersection), and she loves the setup compared to the tire-rubbing friction generator that she had before. I'm seriously considering adding one to one of my bikes.

operator
01-27-08, 08:20 AM
Im new here and this may have been asked before so sorry if so...but is there anything on the market today that is a light unit for the bike that uses your peddeling power or the turning of your wheels to power a light for the bike? It seems so easy to not have this on the market. If so can you point me to it? Thanks alot..

It's even easier to have a light which runs off batteries. Doesn't steal watts from your bike. Brighter and detacheable.
BarracksSi
01-27-08, 08:27 AM
It's even easier to have a light which runs off batteries. Doesn't steal watts from your bike. Brighter and detacheable.

I'm willing to take the hassle of maintaining batteries and trade it for always-on, never-have-to-worry-about-whether-the-batteries-still-have-enough-charge-to-last-for-the-commute ( ;) ) hub generator-based lighting.

For my fast road bike, sure, I'll stick with batteries and a couple really bright lights. For the bike that I take around town, I can easily give up a few watts.
operator
01-27-08, 10:31 AM
I'm willing to take the hassle of maintaining batteries and trade it for always-on, never-have-to-worry-about-whether-the-batteries-still-have-enough-charge-to-last-for-the-commute ( ;) ) hub generator-based lighting.

For my fast road bike, sure, I'll stick with batteries and a couple really bright lights. For the bike that I take around town, I can easily give up a few watts.

What sort of lumens/brightness can you get out of a say top of the line generator?
BarracksSi
01-27-08, 10:46 AM
What sort of lumens/brightness can you get out of a say top of the line generator?

My sister & her hubby tested it out a week or so ago. She took the streetcar ahead to the bank, then waited for him to ride her newly dynamo-equipped bike & meet up with her. She said she could see him from over five blocks away.

These things get up to fully usable brightness awfully easily. I had no problems picking out bikes with these lights on the streets where they're living in Germany.
znomit
01-27-08, 12:32 PM
Operator, the generator hubs act as current sources putting out 500mA. So for an LED light you get about 130lm for each LED. For a 3LED light you get about 400lumens(20w halogen equivalent). Its 5w of LED light, and about 10w of pedal power.

For a tutorial on possible outputs see here http://www.pilom.com/BicycleElectronics/DynamoCircuits.htm

See my led build based on that http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=186066