Kickstarter light technology
 

Has anyone seen this http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ergy?ref=live?

It looks pretty good - I think I'll jump in on this one...

Lawrence

Very cool! Thanks for the link!

Man, I like the concept.

I love my dynamo, but a system that allows generation with no extra moving parts is pretty cool in my book.

This has been tried before.

Eddy current fields decrease as A*e^x from the surface. This will work only for very very true wheels.

Secondly the lights are only visible from one side.

Riiight. :lol:

There is a lot of mixing of terms here that indicates they don't really know much about what they're doing.

I do however think that the brake light function is very cool.

That is my biggest concern. Can't be seen from the other side of the bike. You'd need 1 for each side.

The website mentions other systems out there and the post above (#4) says this has been tried before... anyone have a link to existing systems? I couldn't find anything online...maybe because I don't know the best terminology as "dynamo" seems to bring up hubs more often.

I think something like this would be a good supplement on my wife's and my commuter bikes. I wouldn't expect anything super-bright, just something visible to drivers.

My concern as well.

Reelight stuff works good enough, magnetic induction ..
Made in wind generator manufacturing Denmark.

It would be fine while riding the neighborhood streets or through the park on well defined paths- even more so if the tires were reflective.

But I can tell from the video that it wouldn't cut it as a 'to see by' light for me.

I would be tempted to get the rear one just for the brake light feature- though I wouldn't depend on it as a primary. But if you used a rack...

Very cool. I think I know what to ask for for my birthday.

The closest I've seen is this one.

http://handlebarhelper.com/

I've been tempted to get one to try out, but haven't done so yet.

Once one sees "deceleration" spelled as "decelaration" there's no need to read any further. It is one of those things that's usually more than a mere typo.

Vaporware.

I like that the front and rear light are combined.

Ideally there would be a model with the generator only next to the wheel and a wire running up to a handle-bar mounted lamp, which would also allow the lamp to be adjusted as one rides. I ride a Moulton and the generator is too far down to reach while riding due to the 20" wheels, also the suspension might well shake it to bits! The lights themselves probably weigh nothing compared to the generator, but I guess it would help reducing the weight of the generator a bit. My only real concern is that the light shuts down when I stop. It would be nice to have some LiPos that received a charge when running and power the lamp when still, but not sure if there would be enough output for something like that.