Riveting

I have a dynamo, but not because I worry about charging the batteries. I have it because I'm worried about when I FORGET to charge the batteries. The peace of mind of always-on lights during dark commutes is priceless.

BTW, I did downtube wiring, and under the BB, since there's less chance of me snagging the lighting wires on the downtube.

Tourist in MSN

If you start using it, just don't do what a friend of mine did, he said he wanted to test his brake light so he wanted those of us behind him to say if it worked. He then slammed on his brakes and came to a very sudden rapid stop and we almost ran into him. We expected him to slow down like you normally would, not a panic stop. It worked better than his brain was working that day.
​​​​

Yeah, that is true.

In my case, I needed the second set of nuts, so I described what I did.

It is not designed to be disassembled, so I had to break it open to remove the <insert expletive here> bolts, put new stainless bolts that were not form fit in the plastic case, I needed the extra set of nuts to hold the bolts in place before I glued the case together again. And then used a second set of nuts. Thus, in my case I will need to use two wrenches to remove it later. Perhaps my frustration that you pay top dollar and they give you crappy rust-prone nuts resulted in my overly excessive suggestion.

I forgot to say, the second set of nuts were nylock nuts, so they stay on even if the are not threaded on really tight.

unterhausen

I haven't seen too many reports of IQ-X failures, maybe a couple where the switch stopped working. I'm not sure the fact I never use my switch is going to help with that or not. I have seen reports of issues with the brake light topline. Maybe not too many of those either

I have had stainless fasteners get stuck in stainless nuts. Stainless is a bit of a misnomer, it's corrosion resistant. If the nut and bolt are the same alloy, galling is a possible reason for them to get stuck.

Tourist in MSN

One of my bikes has S&S couplers, which are stainless. They recommend a special grease for those couplers that costs a fortune.
DuPont Teflon Bearing Grease

I also used this grease on the bottom bracket threads on my titanium bike.

unterhausen

Yeah, they should make the S&S parts out of different stainless alloys because they definitely suffer from galling. Maybe just the nut should be different.
I don't think most engineers know about that issue, and I'm not sure there are any engineers at S&S.

JaccoW

I have one where the light still works but audibly make an arching noise where it is much brighter than usual.

B+M blames the SP dynamo but I haven't taken the time to try it with different dynamo wheels.

unterhausen

That seems really unlikely to be the problem. Did they ever have the light in their possession, or are they just making up excuses?

For whatever reason, dyno lights have gotten really complex and it isn't surprising that some of them fail. The IQ-X has had some failures, but it's not prevalent enough that I'm concerned it will fail on the road like I am with my Luxos.

JaccoW

My thoughts exactly. I will test ride it in different configurations some time. I have plenty of dynamo wheel by now.

Tourist in MSN

Earlier I said this:

Started a new thread with my photos at:
Wiring up a dyno powered lighting system with USB charger

noglider 

That's why I love dynamos for headlights. I *think* I charged my headlight yesterday, but it turns it was the day before, and now it crapped out during a ride. This is not OK. Dynamo headlights are supremely reliable. Just roll, and you have light.

Taillights are less important because they can go weeks between charging and also because I like blinky taillights better. So I have a dynamo taillight AND a battery taillight, for the best of both worlds.

steelbikeguy

Dynamos are great and reduce my worries quite a bit.
However... one universal rule is "everything can break", so I also carry a small spare headlight in case I have a dynamo wire break or the headlight goes belly up. Side note: I make my own headlight and taillight, so I'm aware of the potential for human errors causing malfunctions.

In the same way that bringing an umbrella reduces the odds of rain, I suspect that by bringing a spare headlight, I'm reducing the chance of my dynamo lights failing. So far, this has worked! The downside is that I have to periodically top up the charge of the spare light and verify that the run time is what I expect.

Steve, tempting fate in Peoria

noglider 

Agreed, @steelbikeguy. I also carry a spare battery headlight. But I'll tell ya, my dynamo headlight fails less often than anything. Once I tested it before heading home and saw it wasn't working. Someone had hit the switch on it. I figured out why: I locked the bike up, and the light was still shining from the charge in the capacitor. They probably thought they were saving my battery. Does that count as a failure?

Also, maybe the wire has come out once or twice, but that's over several years.

My dynamo taillight has failed a bit more often because there is more wiring to go wrong. Still, it's very reliable compared with other things. It's because of their nature: the lights are bolted on, and the wiring is lashed on. I didn't realize how unreliable battery lights are until the failures stopped happening.

PaulRivers

I chuckled a bit as this is what you'd need to cover all the things that could break...


Dynamo lights - in my experience - are as reliable as the other things I don't worry about like frames, crank arms, shifters...

steelbikeguy

being able to ride with a second bike is a pretty handy skill. I've done that a number of times.

but.. stuff does break, and the more you ride, the more stuff you see break.
I think my worst failure so far was a fork blade that broke while commuting home. This led to a 5 mile walk home (no uber, etc. available).
Last year I had a rear derailleur spring that broke and let the chain jam between the spokes and freewheel. That was just a 3 mile walk home, but I had to carry the bike. No fun.
That was a close tie with a damaged rim that ended up shaped like a Pringle's chip and the wheel wouldn't rotate. That was a walk home carrying the bike too, but I did get a ride from a passing car before long.
Clearly, there's no practical way to carry spare gear to fix these issues.

I've been working with electronics and vehicle wiring since the late 70's, so I know how easy it is for wires and connectors to fail. I also know all of the best practices to minimize the causes of wiring failure, so I'm probably in better shape than most. A spare light is a minor burden, since I'll need a light to fix a flat tire at night anyway. Haven't had to do that yet, but it's been close. I did have to fix a flat at sunset when it was 8 deg F out.

Steve in Peoria

PaulRivers

I've had a frame break without a crash and a crank arm that must have been defective break in a minor crash - it can happen - it's just the question of how much extra backup gear it's worth carrying with you.

Car can break down to, run out of gas, some part stops working, etc.

steelbikeguy

it is important to realize what could go wrong and how you would address the failure. For key systems, it is good to have redundancy. Cars and bikes both have redundant brakes, which is a good idea. Cars have redundant headlights (hi and low beams), so I don't think some level of redundancy of bike lights is a problem.

Of course, each person's situation is different. My bike commute was through rural areas with no lighting, so a loss of lights was definitely a safety issue. In an urban area, this might not be the case.

Steve in Peoria

Tourist in MSN

Maybe you are lucky. A friend of mine snapped a steerer tube, spent some time in the hospital. But he was lucky too, the helmet cracked instead of the skull.

steelbikeguy

Luck is a funny term..
When something bad happens, but the worst-case scenario didn't occur, people will say you were "lucky".
I think a better description would be "coulda been worse".

anyway.... that particular incident was on a recumbent that I was commuting on. I think the fork design was flawed, as I heard of others breaking in the same location.
The fork used aluminum blades, and it always broke at the guide for the disc brake cable housing. Bad treatment of the welded area, maybe?

a quick photo...


it was barely out of warranty, but the manufacturer replaced it with a steel fork. Definitely heavier, but I felt better.
It had cantilever brake bosses in addition to the disc brake mount, so I used one canti boss as a mounting point for the headlight. Fitting lights to a dynamo is a bit weird due to the fact that your feet are where the headlight usually is.



one advantage of the recumbent is in regards to fork failures. In the worst-case scenario of the fork steerer or crown failing, the first part of this bike that will hit the pavement will be the crankset. Not exactly sure how bad that would be for my feet, but at least my dental work and gray matter won't hit the deck for another second or so.

Steve in Peoria

tyrion

This is not the snapped steerer tube thread, this is the happy, clean, well lighted road thread.

Harhir

I am also a proponent of dynamo powered lights. Maybe because I grew up with them in Germany. But also because battery lights only last so long. I do regular 5-8h rides and battery lights have gone dark on me. That does not happen with dynamo powered lights.
And the new bight LED ones are nothing like the old dim 6V bulb based lights. I have the B&M IQ-X on two bikes and another B&M on a third bike. Unfortunately the selection of dynamo powered lights is not great here in the US. Well whenever I take a trip back home I normally bring some back. Heck I even brought a 20" wheel with hub dynamo back from Germany because it was so much cheaper over there. It is now the front wheel of my Phantom recumbent which is my commuter bike. But I also do use battery lights since you cannot run most if not all dynamo lights in a flash mode. Flashing bicycle lights are illegal in Germany.
I know there are plenty of folks who love the minimalistic approach by keeping their bikes as "naked" as possible. I am just the opposite. Dynamo lights, fenders, racks, kickstand, panniers, bells, battery lights, bottle cages, trunk bag, trailer hitch, tools, spare tubes, pump, 1st aid kit,... My bikes are all cluttered with stuff... lol

Tourist in MSN

Almost all of my dyno powered lights and a variety of other components were shipped to me from Europe. If you are looking for lights, try Bike24. The shipping fee of 20 Euros to USA that Bike24 charges is not cheap, but if you are ordering very much, it can be a bargain. And when shipping to USA, you do not pay VAT. Some manufacturers block European sellers from shipping to USA, Ortlieb is an example, but many do not. And there are others like Starbike.

2_i 

xxcyle has a reasonable selection of dynamo lamps, quick delivery times and low shipping rates. My last item came in under a week time, for $5 shipping.

znomit

I finally got around to wiring up my B&M Secula today. I installed the Eyc front light three years ago and was waiting for a rainy day....

The bike has a nexus 8 speed rear hub so I just followed that cable down the downtube and along the chainstay, using the zip tie brackets all the way.

For running up the mudguard bracket I used a few lengths of heat shrink. All in all a tidy wiring path. Not quite as nice as running along the inside of the mudguard but much easier.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to fit the little plugs that come with the Secula (I remember doing it nicely on my other two bikes) so I resorted to black RTV, which should be just as good.