steveW99

Hi,

I would like to know if a lighting system with front and rear lights exists that can be mounted on a bicycle with controls at the handle bar. Perhaps one button to turn on both. Then, if the system has its own battery that powers both lights, the battery can be recharged using only one cord.

Does something like that exist ?

ptempel

I've only seen a complete light system with a dynamo front hub setup so far. Benefit of that is you won't need any battery. Drawback is that the brightness won't compete with newer LCD lights and its more expensive (since you have to rebuild a front wheel in addition to buying all the other pieces). I'm sure that this has been discussed here in many a thread. I'm only using a Light and Motion Urban 900 front light (this was replaced by the 1000):

https://lightandmotion.com/collectio...-1000-blacktop

and a Cygolite Hotshot Pro 80 rear light:

https://cygolite.com/product/hotshot-pro-80-usb/

They're not connected and each have their own battery. Both can be connected to a laptop or desktop computer via mini USB cable for charging. Batteries are so small nowadays, that you don't really need a system that connects the two, IMO. If money was no object, then I'd be getting the DiNotte front and rear lights:

https://store.dinottelighting.com/2020-xpl-3-white-headlight-with-quad-red-taillight-package-p211.aspx

I used to commute with a few guys that use them. But $359 is not cheap compared to $160 or so the the top two together.

Tourist in MSN

If you had a dynohub on the front wheel and a B&M Luxos U headlamp which has a remote switch on the handlebar and a taillight wired into the headlamp, yes that exists. Light is powered from the alternator in the hub, no need to charge batteries. If you want the taillight to flash, that won't happen, the taillight is on continuously.

CargoDane

At some point I found a system where both the rear and front light was not powered by internal batteries, but by a battery pack. For the life of me, I haven't been able to find it since. I'd really like to buy a front and rear from them.

Failing that, I wondered if I could buy some Kellermann Atto lights to run them on 5v (2.4A output), but they have never replied to my requests if they could run on 5 volts. I bet they think I'm pulling their legs. Nothing about voltage in their documents available online.

noglider 

At least one person reported running lights intended for dynamos with a battery. I plan to try it eventually. Those USB rechargeable batteries are universally available now, and I could “plug” one into the bike and power those nifty lights with it.

ptempel

Here's a site that I ran into again with some dynamo hub lighting resources:

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.php

Really nice hubs there.

Mista Sparkle

Not sure if it meets your requirements but there are some ant+ lights that can be controlled through some head units.

ex the bontrager flare rt /ion lights

They do still need to be recharged but it might be feasible to power them off a dyno hub.

CargoDane

I lost my Niterider Solas the other day, so I bought a Trelock Vector Signal. I was very surprised to find that you can use it even while charging (I had given up on that particular want). Anyway, it's still light outside, but I'm looking forward to trying it out in the dark (it arrived today).

It doesn't blink (it's street legal in Germany), which suits me perfectly as I don't use strobing light settings on my lights.

ptempel

I usually prefer the solid settings on both front and rear lights. Looks more like what a car or motorcycle would have. My front one has three solid brightness levels with the fourth blinking slowly. The rear one is the opposite: only one setting solid and many with different blinks.

Laseranimal

Lezyne smart connect lights link front and rear via bluetooth and both lights can be controlled from the front light, phone, or head unit. Not off of one battery though

CargoDane

I frigging found it - by accident even! It is these lights:

https://www.orfos.us/collections/pro...21801405186131

Truth be told, they aren't as great as I remember them. No cut-off shield, for instance. They do run on an external battery pack but now that I lucked out with that Trelok tail light I just bought - which can be charged while using it, maybe the advantage is completely gone. They are also just a tad too expensive these days compared to other tail lights etc.

Jmpierce

Look at dinottelighting.com they have a system with a rechargeable battery that is wired with a switch that controls both front and back lights. Not sure of the model. I have one.

scubaman

I ride with Orfos lights on my hydration backpack: yellow on the front of my left shoulder, red on the back. These lights are terrific for being seen, and really not designed for seeing. They're very light, and one can power them directly from a USB power bank. Note that they have no on/off switch - if they're plugged into power, they're on. They do have buttons to control light pattern and intensity.

alo

Why do you want that? Having a wire running from the front to back is messy. I turn my tail light on before I get on the bike. I can turn the headlights on the handlebars, on or off while riding. I use solar lights, so they are charged when exposed to sunlight. I don't need to do anything to recharge them.

chaadster

Man, I just pitched a ~25 year old Niterider system with front and rear wired to a shared battery. That was top of the line back then.

vmaniqui

not an on off switch on the handle bar but this LIGHT might be a good option for your need. I have this set on 2 of my bikes and like it a lot.

biker128pedal

Trek has an ANT+ controller for their Bontrager lights. I don’t have one so cannot attest to its reliability but may be what you want. Like others indicated there are apps for head units too. Cross brand reliability may be an issue though.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

mrv 

This thread is good timing. I was trying to talk myself into a Peter White lighting set up, but just can't stomach the cost - even with the $300 closeout price for the front wheel with SON hub.
I'm looking for what the OP is looking for, a single battery pack carried somewhere on the frame, or toptube bag or something. Powering both front and rear light. Struggling for a budget oriented solution so far. I've seen very few tail lights that accept external power (that aren't DYNO lights (or A/C powered lights).

Head Lights:
- Light & Motion RANDO light that accepts charging power in "low power" 125 lumen mode: https://lightandmotion.com/products/...20d4d97f&_ss=r

- Busch + Muller IXON IQ -- this contains rechargeable batteries, but can be externally charged at the same time. B+M want you to use the E-WERK box powered by a DYNO hub. But they sell those.... so there you go. I would think a battery pack as an external supply would work, just got to figure out the voltage range and amps.
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/P...UMM_151027.pdf https://www.bumm.de/en/products/akku...1922qmla.html?
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/P...E-WERK%20l.pdf

- Busch + Muller LUMOTEC IQ Cyo -- this is for dyno hubs, but the PDF says if "you" reverse the polarity on the power, it can run DC, so I think that must be the set up for using on e-bikes. I'm still kind of investigating that:
https://www.bumm.de/files/Produkte/A..._IQ_Cyo_RZ.PDF https://www.bumm.de/en/products/dyna...ent/1752.html?

- Magicshine looked interesting - a lamp with a 10Ah external pack you can pull power from for a tail light: https://www.magicshine.us/product/ma...ike-led-light/
but under the FAQs, it says not to worry if the light gets "super hot" - like 75C -- I mean holy hothouse, Batman! what the heck are they wasting so much energy on!!
Probably this would work well for me. I'm on dirt roads and what not. So 800 lumens is plenty. I'm guessing they don't have the B+M beam pattern down, so more likely I'll go B+M. That's if I can figure out how to safely add a battery pack to the B+M light.

I want an external battery pack later. I'm OK if I don't have it "now", but I'd like lights I could use with an external pack.
Then for long bike tours I am thinking I can add one of these - if I can find it a bit cheaper: https://pedalcell.com/
-- OR https://www.velogical-engineering.com...ight-efficient
-- these are probably A/C, so it might work with the E-WERK thingy box, then plug lights and phones into that. More to investigate. Looks like I'm dumping my investigation in this thread.

UPDATE (12/31/20) ----------------
LEZYNE -- ALSO: they sell some integrated and wireless controls, so you can turn on/off with a button on the bar. I think it has to be set up with a cell phone app.
-- They sell a 20Wh battery pack (like 4Ah at with a 5V rated load, like a cell phone or other USB device). They offer select lights that will run with the with this pack, which means with the right cable you can connect any source to it. I am assuming a 5V source, but the documentation doesn't not specify the voltage for the cable.
-- Unbelievably they call it the "INFINITE LIGHT POWER PACK". They will get sued. If Red Bull can loose a lawsuit for not actually giving people wings, LEZYNE will loose.
PACK: https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/...led-pwrpk-v104
COMPATIBLE Light: https://ride.lezyne.com/products/mega-drive-1800i or the helmet light that comes with a pack: https://ride.lezyne.com/products/1-led-27f-v104
-- Still looking for a tail light I can plug in and run at the same time.
-------------------------------
I have 5 or 6 year old CYGOLITE Metro (360 lumen). I can run that light full bright AND plug in an external pack. I do that for winter riding now. But something is loose in the light as it will flicker when the battery gets low. So I run a second bar light for anything over an hour, a SERFAS 600 thing. But it shuts off if I apply external charging power. Right now rear lights I have a handful of cheap lights, some USB chargeable, some AAA batts.

Those DiNotte lights look interesting.
Any suggestions are much appreciated.
happy new year.

adamrice 

This is a bit of a tangent to the original question (on Bikeforums? Perish the thought), but as far as I can tell, there aren't a lot of lights that can operate while they charge from USB. Or if there are, the manufacturers don't see fit to mention this feature. My wife and I have a Lezyne and a Cygolite headlight; the Lezyne will not run while charging; the Cygolite will, but the charge port has such a weak grasp on the cable that there would be no way to ride with the cable securely inserted.

Outbound Lighting has an off-road headlight, the Hangover, that has a small internal battery but is specifically designed to run while connected to a power bank. If they had a road version, I'd be all over it.

On the original question, the simplest alternative is to get a helmet light with front and rear emitters. These are extremely common.

Geekage

I have a Cycliq Fly6 CE that can charge and run at the same time, so long as the light's internal battery hasn't run down too much. But it's a camera+light, so it's much more expensive than a regular light. At least it seems to charge while running it. The power pack I had would die early, but just charging the power pack brought it back to full power, so I assume it's the power pack and not the light that's the problem. The manufacturer is coming out with a new version if the light which I assume will also charge and run. I believe the Fly12 will also.

There's also a brand of light called Ravemen, and some of their front lights charge and run at the same time. They call the feature "Battery Run Time Extension". They also have a front optic for a slightly nicer beam pattern than other lights, but there's still a bit of spill up.

noglider 

@adamrice I noticed the same things. My B&M Ixon Core (original version) accepts a charge while it operates. They don’t say so, but it’s a good feature. The light finally just failed on me after a few years. It lights up well but the charging plug (micro-USB) falls out. I have to position it extremely carefully to charge it. I haven’t decided if I’ll still keep it. The battery still holds a charge extremely well. Are there well known fixes to bad micro-USB jacks?

Geekage

If it's only an intermittent connection, then maybe it's possible to replace it. When the connector is torn out, then usually the copper traces have been broken and it requires a bit more surgery to get it working. I usually need the stereo microscope at work to do that kind of repair.

There are also magnetic adapters that might extend the lifetime of a connector, but that's only before it starts to go bad. And the adapter usually prevents any port cover from closing, so water resistance suffers.

noglider 

@Geekage, thanks. As it turns out, I had two bad micro-usb cables, not a bad jack. I tried a third cable, and my light is charging fine now.

Alphamoose

I'm not sure that this is an 'off-road headlight'. It's a helmet light. I have one and have used it on the road, the beam pattern was very nice.

polyphrast

If you want to run B&M lights on a battery, get an e-bike dedicated light from B&M. The usually accept 6-40V Input current, same for their e-bike taillights. If Peter White doesn't list them, for sure one of the german online shops will ship it to the states.
Forgot the IQ, take the IQ Premium. The "Cyo Premium" uses the same optics as the IQ Premium. I'd recommend an IQ-X(E), of if you like an integrated high beam, grab a IQ-XM

A self contained dedicated road light (similar in style as the hangover, but with different optics) was announced by Outbound for Summer/Fall 2021, as well as a tail light. He wrote this in one of the Outbound Threads on mtbr.com. And for mid 2022 he vaguely announced a road light with integrated high beam (but probably w/ external battery)

It is an offroad light, because you'll blind oncoming traffic with it. The focal road edition is a proper roadlight with cut-off (i have one and i tested once a hangover)