Originally Posted by
Rob_E
Update: My bike continued happily with its weird, never-quite-off light until this weekend. On Friday I tried, for the first time in probably 5 or 6 months, to charge first my phone, and then a cache battery using my Luxos U. The phone didn't seem to be charging properly with the inconsistent power output, so I switched to the more forgiving battery. Batter blinked it's charging sequence for a while. The Luxos U switch showed red (for cache batter full, I think) for a while, then the red light went to blinking, and then it went off. And nothing has worked since then. The light continued to have that slight, never-quite-off glow until at least Sunday night. I haven't checked since then. The red, cache light battery never returned on a 40+ mile ride home on Monday, and the headlight has ceased to function. Changed front wheels to make sure the generator hub was not at fault, but, no, it's the light. It's not passing power through to the tail light, either. I think the tail light has protection against over-volting, so I can wire my tail light directly to it while looking for a new headlight and continue to get some use out of the set-up. Or maybe if I bypass the switch, I can get the headlight working again? ....
I recall reading on a different thread that someone described the cache battery failing and they had the skills and knowledge to replace it. I just found it again:
Luxos U not showing red cache light & not charging
That is the kind of thing I would try if it was mine.
Originally Posted by
Rob_E
..., but going forward I won't try another headlight/USB combo solution. It leaves me with two things to replace at once when it fails.
I have a total of three USB chargers, two combined with a headlamp and one separate charger. For bike touring where I would typically be relying on the USB charger for several hours each day, I bring my Sinewave Revolution, a pass through cache battery to use with it, two battery powered taillights and a low quality dyno powered headlamp.
Part of my theory when bike touring is that I will be using the USB charger during part of every day, I might want to have a flashing taillight on while doing that - thus the battery powered taillight(s), and the reason for a low quality headlamp is that I almost never am riding my bike in the dark while on a bike tour but I might need a light for a tunnel. In other words, the light is one that I am not relying on very much, so I bring one that if it gets damaged I won't get too concerned. I think the Sinewave Revolution is one of the best waterproofed chargers there is, the electronics are encased in epoxy. That is why it is my go-to charger for bike touring where I will be relying heavily on a charger.