My first dyno; hints, tips, recommendations?
 

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My LBS just finished building up my first dynamo hub'd wheel. This one is for my commuter, so I chose a Shimnao DH-3D72 (36H) and a Lumotec EYC Senso Plus (50).

I've got a few questions, if you folks would be so kind as to enlighten me and anyone else who reads this, THANKS! :D

First of all, any suggestions for a good online resource (preferably non-video) that covers setting up dynamo lights, running the wiring, connecting everything? I have some experience wiring different things, but this particular flavor is new to me.

Second, anyone have a recommendation for an attractive tail light?

Lastly, I'll be building up at least one more bike with a hub dynamo, this one my for my tourer, so I'm thinking of going with a hub with better slow speed functioning (I move really slow in hilly terrain with all my camping gear), and also will want to recharge my phone. Any recommendations? This bike will see some (mild) singletrack use as well, and will get handled by train personnel, any tips for particularly durable routing/runs for the wiring?


Many thanks!


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Peter White has a page on wiring up lights. Your Shimano is incredibly easy to hook up to the hub, just follow the directions that came with the hub. (Although I think they reversed the normal white/black grounding scheme.) Check out https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/wiringinstructions.php

The Busch and Muller Toplight rear lights are good. I've got two of them, although they're 6+ years old so I'm not sure which I've got or what the nearest current model is. Check out https://www.xxcycle.com/dynamo-rear-light,en.php for some examples.

Most of my tours are done in the day, so I haven't needed a dyno setup for touring. Perhaps someone else can give you some recommendations for charging phones and GPS.

Shimano hubs are grounded to the fork. If your touring bike uses an SP hub, they are not. That means you might be able to be a bit less careful how you wire a bike with an SP hub.

Taillights, dyno powered lights do not flash. If you want a flashing taillight, you should stick with battery. I initially stuck with battery taillight for that reason. I often use flashing taillight in daytime.

I got my first dynohub in 2013, not for lighting but predominantly for touring and charging up batteries, etc. I use my headlight so little for touring that I am considering not putting a headlight on my bike on my next tour, thus my dynohub would be used exclusively for charging devices. I would carry a small battery headlamp that I can strap on if I have to go through any tunnels or ride in fog.

That said, for riding around town I leave my headlamp (and taillight if fitted) turned on when not charging batteries because the extra drag on the hub is so minor that I can't feel it, so it does not hurt to have it on.

I eventually got a dyno powered taillight, not for primary use, but as a secondary to my battery powered (flashing) taillights. I like the Secula Plus, but that is not a rack mounted one so if you mount a light on a rack you would be looking for something else.

For charging when touring, some devices are very picky about their elecrical source, others are not. Some people can plug a phone or their other devices directly into something like a Sinewave Revolution without using a pass through cache battery, but some devices need the pass through cache battery to work well. More at:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/best-dy...fer-batteries/

My GPS will not charge off of my Sinewave without a pass through cache battery. The batteries I use for that purpose are no longer made, so I am not saying which ones I use for pass through cache battery purposes.

And some people just use a really big power bank that can store several days worth of phone charge. They charge the power bank when riding, and at night charge their devices off of that power bank. In most cases a powerbank does not need a pass through cache battery, so that simplifies things.

But in most cases when touring you are best off leaving your phone in airplane mode or off.

Most, headlamps and taillamps used for dynohubs have a vent hole in the bottom. If you wash off your bike with a sprayer, that can be a problem if you are not careful. And if you do not have fenders on the bike you should be concerned about tire spray throwing water on the bottom of the lights. But, dirty bikes are less likely to be stolen so ... ...

I like all of the B&M tail lights I have used. The rackmount lights are an obvious choice if you have a rack.

I am running a Spannenga pixeo light now, it's pretty amazing given the size. I wanted to put it on the back of a flimsy plastic fender, so being small is good.

piercing the darkness
 

I'm using a Schmidt Delux hub ..& headlight (Bike Friday, Just for Lights, myself) with B&M Toplight, Line Tail light

in the past ("Classic hub") there was a 20" and a 28" , now with LED lights the power demands are less..


Read Peter's site... he is the North American Importer /distributor of Schmidt... which is German made..

So, sells; wholesale to shops, and retail to individuals.. He hand builds wheels too..



Others like the SP, it is made in Taiwan , with so much more of the bike biz.. there..

I like the SON spade connectors better than the folded over bare wire plugs use by Shimano, SP , SA, and so on..
a thicker wire than standard B&M Twin Lead.. may help for a tighter fit..

I've had the Shimano plug shake off , JRA around town... I went to a new wheel on my Brompton...
and finished the wiring for spade connectors ... cured that ...

(extra nice , hub, designed for for straight pull radial , using DB spokes )



....

FWIW, end This Summer, one Tour bike ending up here , had both a non blinking German tail light ,
and a USB battery powered blinking tail light..

They had a wire to the USB plug on the tail light l to recharge the internal battery plugging it into the AC to DC USB converter
on the top of the threadless steerer tube ( where the preload cap usually is,...

May have brought more Electronics on the tour, But they took that all Home, with them.. I was Shipping bike back ..

For the LBS..





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I think the best dynamo rear light is the B&M Topline Plus:
https://www.harriscyclery.net/produc...light-3133.htm

It puts out a red straight line behind you, rather than just a red dot like most lights do. When I'm a driver it's the most visible non-blinking light I've seen. I really like a dynamo rear light because it turns on automatically when the front light turns on, and you don't have to worry about the battery running out (a bigger issue because it's behind you and you can't see it).

Here's a listing of some other dynamo rear lights though like I said I think the topline is the best:
https://www.harriscyclery.net/produc...aillight-1520/

For the front light, I personally would have gone at least for the IQ-XS (70 lux):
https://www.harriscyclery.net/produc...iq-xs-5790.htm

They also make a brighter one the IQ-X (100lux):
https://www.harriscyclery.net/produc...-iq-x-5291.htm

The Lumotec Eyc at 50lux seems a bit weak in my experience, though how much light a person feels they need varies from person to person. It just seems kinda silly to spend $150-$250 on a wheel+dymamo, then go with a cheaper light.

I personally just paid the bike shop to do it, I don't know what your time/money ratio is, but I know that bike shops are always much better at wiring stuff onto my bike than I am.

Lastly, I'll be building up at least one more bike with a hub dynamo, this one my for my tourer, so I'm thinking of going with a hub with better slow speed functioning (I move really slow in hilly terrain with all my camping gear), and also will want to recharge my phone. Any recommendations? This bike will see some (mild) singletrack use as well, and will get handled by train personnel, any tips for particularly durable routing/runs for the wiring?

My experience with a single hub is it's the light itself that determines how well it works at lower speeds, not the hub. Admittedly I haven't used other hubs but I have switched lights. My B&M Cyo worked perfectly fine at walking speeds (less light output obviously but you're going slower so you need less) whereas my Schmidt Edelux (an expensive and supposedly high end light) worked pretty poorly at walking speeds with a lot more flickering and such.

There's a few things with using a dynamo with single track:
- Most dynamo lights are "shaped" beams like a car's low beam where it doesn't put any light "up". This may not work well for mountain biking though you can buy "round" dynamo lights as well, Supernova sells at least one.
- They can provide sufficient light for biking by yourself, but once you're biking with others it can become a lights arms race where you have trouble seeing with your light because the guy behind you has a much brighter light, and your eyes adjust to the light output of his light.

I've always been curious to try a dynamo light for mountain biking but have never quite gotten around to doing it.

Agree. The difference between different hubs is quite small, it is mostly the light.

There are a couple lights that add some additional close up LEDs at slower speed so you can see better close in at low speeds. Of the huge number of lights out there I am not sure which B&M lights do that and which do not, so I won't elaborate.

I have an AXA Luxx 70 Plus (not sold in USA) that lights up some additional close up LEDs, they come on if my memory is correct at about 8 mph and slower. Faster, the close in LEDs turn off and the distance LED gets a bit brighter.

My wife has the Eyc headlight. It's bright enough for her or me, for seeing and for being seen. I think it's great. Some people just have an appetite for more light, more light, more light.

depends on what I'm doing. For general road riding, I want as much light as I can get, so I use a 100lux IQ-X. For commuting, I have been happy with a crummy 20 lux Lyt

There are a few of them in my community, but they want a lot more power than a dynohub can put out. And they seem to misunderstand why blinding the oncoming traffic creates a hazard.

I ride a lot on a path without motor traffic. It might be an ideal place to see the problems of blinding light, since I often suffer it. Maybe a cyclist ought to get a taste of his own medicine. But some people seem to tolerate it better than others. And it may even be worse for a motorist than for me to have a light like that in the eyes. I often check the top edge of my beam and make sure it's at the neck or below. But I suspect I'm more mindful than the average bear.

Spanninga
spanninga.com/en/product-category/rearlights/?swoof=1&pa_power-source-type=dynamo-en

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First of all, a quick thanks to everyone for all the great replies!

Sorry for the delay in my response, work surprised me by being insanely busy the past week, so I haven't had my usual downtime to be on the internet.

Thanks again!

Individual responses to follow...

Thanks! Especially appreciate the heads up on them reversing the normal color/grounding set up!

Thanks! I run a flashing light on the back of my helmet, so solid-on is fine for a fender light for the commuter and a rack light for the tourer. Thanks for the heads up on the vent holes, I should be good, I wash my bikes by hand, but still, good to be aware of.


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Ah, I hadn't thought of the Pixeo. I had a battery mounted one on a plastic fender for a time, it didn't occur to me that there is a dynamo version available. I REALLY liked the side visibility it provided by the clear part filling with red light. The fender did okay with it back there, but the light appears to now have a short in it. I'm going to assume that was rough use on our part, and not hold it against Spanniga.


Thanks!


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I'm sick of being blinded by everyone else's miniature suns they've mounted on their bikes. I run a helmet light too to help with spotting potholes, and this is my commuter bike, where other than a couple of short sections on good paths, I've got the city's lights to help for almost all of it. In short, I'm not worried about the front light being underpowered, but definitely want to avoid an overpowered one. It's not about saving a couple of bucks on the light.

Interestingly, some of Spanniga's lights feature "Light Line Technology" which sounds similar to what the Topline does.


Despite being pretty poor, I often go out of the way to spend $ at my LBS, because I'm lucky enough to have a great one, and want them to survive, but in this case I'd like to learn this skill. Also, I'm never quite happy with how even the very best shops end up doing some of the smaller things, so knowing me, I'd probably end up rewiring it just to get it looking cleaner or tidier to my mind. As it is, I've paid my LBS to build up this wheel and will for the others, so he's getting a good chunk of the action anyway.



I should've been clearer. I'm not anticipating actually mountain biking at night with either of these rigs, but expect that I will end up taking at least one of them on some mild singletrack at some point, and was just wondering if there's any particular tricks to routing the wiring to keep from getting snagged by a branch or something. Like, does anyone ever wrap the fork leg where the wire is running up in bar tape or rubber?

If I ever manage to get back into shape for mountain biking, I'll probably get around to getting set up to do it in the dark, because it's dark a lot up here, but my impression is that is a whole different realm of lights other than dyno lights, and given that it's going to take at least a couple of years for me to get to that point, technology will probably have changed by that point, so I'm not worried about researching that right now.

There was an article online somewhere comparing different dyno hubs I was reading not long ago that stated that one of them (the Shutter Precision? It wasn't any of the Shimano hubs) performed better at very low speeds. Given how slow I travel when loaded down with my camping gear and climbing through hilly/mountainous terrain, it seemed like that smart move to go this route. IIRC, several of the hubs basically stopped working below the speed that I find myself traveling for decent stretches at a time.


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Interesting. I had no idea they had gotten that intricate.

Thanks!


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Exactly! And as much as I'm a crazy gadget gear hound, I have no interest in joining the ever escalating light wars. Adequate is plenty for me.

That's good news, thanks!


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That's very encouraging, thanks!


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Thanks so much! This is an excellent recommendation! Like I stated above, I liked the battery operated Pixeo we had, and didn't realize they had dyno offerings of not only it, but quite a few other models, several that are quite good looking.


Thanks again everyone !


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Spanninga Pimento or Supernova E3 Tail Light
 

I'd fall in love with the Pimento ;)
This straight line of broad and clear pure red light is just awesome!
spanninga.com/en/product/pimento/
spanninga.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Spanninga-Pimento-UK-Taipei-Show-Daily.pdf
SPANNINGA | Weltpremiere | EUROBIKE Show

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02572269db.jpg
Spanninga Pimento taillight


Maybe the Supernova E3 Tail Light could be interesting for you.
supernova-lights.com/en/products/tail-lights/e3-tail-light-2/
shop.supernova-design.com/shop?category=28&order=plth
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0f2a8f0e52.png
Supernova E3 Taillight


The SON rear light is like Supernova an german manufactured light:
nabendynamo.de/en/products/rear-lights/son-rear-light/
bumm.de/en/products/dynamo-rucklichter/parent/53234/produkt/53234ask.html
peterwhitecycles.com/taillights.php

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eb05e9fb13.jpg
SON rearlight

quote=Medic Zero;20715039]I'm sick of being blinded by everyone else's miniature suns they've mounted on their bikes. I run a helmet light too to help with spotting potholes, and this is my commuter bike, where other than a couple of short sections on good paths, I've got the city's lights to help for almost all of it. In short, I'm not worried about the front light being underpowered, but definitely want to avoid an overpowered one. It's not about saving a couple of bucks on the light.[/quote]

Your call of course, but nearly all dynamo lights use a shaped beam pattern that specifically avoid shining light up into people eyes and annoying them.

Like here a pic of the IQ-X beam pattern (they've all very similar in B&M dynamo lights in order to conform to German StVO regulations):
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/1...ux,%20IQ-X.jpg

I ran across another page for a different light that has a lot of pics describing it:
https://www.outboundlighting.com/pro...-road-edition/

Typical Light:
https://www.outboundlighting.com/wp-...am-Pattern.png

Light with a cutoff:
https://www.outboundlighting.com/wp-...am-Pattern.png
Another one:
https://www.outboundlighting.com/wp-...cutoffline.jpg

Video talking about it:

From best to worst light patterns for oncoming traffic:
1. (best) Shaped beam with cutoff
2. "flashlight" style beam
3. (worst) Wide angle mountain bike light

You're already going with the best beam pattern for avoiding hitting any oncoming bikes/pedestrians with your light. Obviously it's your call, but given the beam pattern I don't think oncoming traffic would know the difference between any of the lights that you can attach to a dynamo, they're all already about as good as you can get.

Yeah, sounds like the same thing. A bit annoying that they don't put the reflector and light flat together like the topline does, on the other hand they look a little better.

Cool. It's generally just lining the wire up on the bike then zip tying it. I got it wrong the first time and had to cut everything off and do it again...then I switched lights and needed a little more cable that I didn't have. Was a bit annoying.

I cannot figure what you're trying to say...sounds like "I'm not anticipating mountain, I'm just going to ride my bike on some mountain bike trails". So...you're going to go mountain biking? Confused.

Ah, I'm not aware of anything extra in particular. But a new bike with internal cable routing? :D

Tech has slowed down a lot, but it's definitely a totally different topic. Lights that are very good for mountain biking are usually very obnoxious to anyone in front of you riding towards you on the road.

I know my Shimano Alfine hub with a Lumotec Cyo put light out at walking speed, because the other person I was biking with got a flat and wanted to walk home, and it worked while walking.
It's hard to tell with some of those whether it's a real thing, or whether it's someone theorizing a lot of stuff that isn't really true. Sometimes people get overly caught up in hype and make big claims they don't really know anything about, it's hard to tell.

Some testcharts from german sites:
fahrradzukunft.de/1/labortest-nabendynamos/
fahrradzukunft.de/14/neue-nabendynamos-im-test/
Vergleich der Wirkungsgradmessungen
Marktübersicht: Nabendynamos » Fahrradbeleuchtung Info

Interesting, I hadn't seen the Pimento when going through their online catalog.

Although I appreciate the minimalism of that SON offering, I do actually like having a reflector, and for this first build, my commuter, the rear light will end up on the fender. I manage to run my commuter with no rear rack.

Poking around more online, I've come across Herrman's offerings, made in Finland, and VERY inexpensive compared to the other offerings available. What's not to like?

I'm thinking the Herrmans H-Trace Mini Dynamo LED Tail Light for the commuter:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e36d2cc7f3.jpg



And now that I've done some more research on the B&M Toplight Line Brake Plus, I have to admit that I'm enamored with the brake light feature. That, combined with the rest of its merits means it's probably getting the nod for the rear rack for my tourer.





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