New dyno headlights with high beams
 

I was looking at Peter Whites site and saw a newer headlight That has a high beam. While trying to find out more about it I saw that Bush & Muller has a simuller model that will be available sometime in 2024. Supernova Light Bush & Muller Light

The SuperNova Light is the M99 DY PRO I looked for YouTube videos and it is mostly not english speaking on info. I would be interested in more info as to how fast one needs to be pedaling before usable light shows up. They are stating that it puts out 700 lumen on the low beam. They state that once you reach 20K you can hit the high beam button and it will put out 1000 lumen. They state that you need 3w 6v and a USB charger will not work with it. They also state that a hub like The Son Delux would not be suitable . I currently have the Klite and it doesn't start up until 10K. I was thinking about the Sinewave Cycles Beacon a while ago and have noticed they are producing the Beacon 2 now. they have improved the startup speed and the low speed flashing on the new model.

I'm glad B&M is coming out with a light with a high beam, because I was really tempted to buy the Supernova even though I think they make sub-par lights.
That's interesting about the SoN delux, I would have thought that it would still work.

I would like to see Schmidt make another improved edelux with a high beam. They have higher standards than other manufactures.

The Luxos U, you could push a button and get 20 additional lux from the internal cache battery. I wonder if that is what the B&M light would do, draw from an internal battery? If so, the B&M high beam would have the same optics as regular beam, just more light coming out of it. And, you would not be able to run that higher output continuously.

I have not looked at the newer Sinewave, I think the old one had a flashlight type of beam, not a low and wide one like the German lights.

I'm pretty sure it's not a cache battery, these lights will be pulling more power.

I contacted Supernova about the speed at which their M99 DY PRO would start producing light. They emailed me back. To run the light you just need 4-5 km/h, high beam about 16 km/h.

Well here you go... Seems to be everything I'd want in a light.

The new Edelux USB-FL headlight with high beam function is set to hit the market in spring 2024. The charging electronics, equipped with a small buffer battery, are seamlessly integrated into the headlight housing and allow for up to 10 Watts power harvest from the hub dynamo. Even with the light on, you can still charge your smartphone – simply connect it using the magnetic cable to the handlebar switch and you’re good to go!

• headlight for common hub dynamos
• solid design and lighting technology based on the Edelux II
• bright low beam (120 Lux) and high beam function
• charging electronics and battery (1200 mAh) fully integrated
• handlebar switch includes USB charging port (up to 7,5 W/1,5 A) and status LEDs
• up to 10 Watts power harvest from the hub dynamo – more than any other common charging solution!

https://nabendynamo.de/en/new-edelux...beam-function/

This looks fantastic. If the buffer battery functions like I think. There will be no flickering and charging the phone won't be problematic. I was in the military in Germany in the early 80s. I had the old bottle generator with the incandescent lights. When I got the halogen headlight there was some improvement. I left the military and used battery powered lights. In 2013 I ordered a Rohloff equipped bicycle with the Son SL and the edelux II headlight. I had read about diode lights, this was fantastic how the road lit up with this tiny light. The light set option on my semi custom touring bicycle didn't come with a tail light so I ordered the Busch & Müller Toplight Line Plus Brake tail light. I hate flashing lights at night. I use a high powered flasher for daytime. The next light improvement I would like to see is a tail light with daytime mode. Klite makes a tail light that plugs into a USB and it appears to be very bright.

I don't think the cache battery really helps flickering much, it certainly never did on my Luxos U on anything longer than the shortest climb. I climbed one of the local mountains in the dark one time, and my battery light was dead. The flashing of the Luxos was probably the worst of any dyno light I have ever used. I wondered if that was partially because of the way the charged up the cache. Fortunately the IQ-X is much better.

It will be interesting to see If the cache battery helps on this setup. The Sinewave Beacon advertized initially that setting up a cache battery with there headlight would keep a solid light going.

I imagine that a circuit could be designed so a big enough cache battery would keep the light from flashing for quite a while. Good idea for a product.

The Sinewave Beacon had a very bad flickering problem without the cache battery. Sinewave apearse to have solved that problem, with the Beacon 2. All this progress is interesting to me.

I am a happy user of a Lumi-Con Bike Harvester. They ship without batteries to the US, so you put your own 18650 and I have there 2x3.5Ah=7Ah at any time at my disposal. The batteries charge from the dynohub whenever you ride and you can even charge them from a USB AC adapter if you deplete them heavily for whatever reason. It basically provides all I need and more. The only flaw that I can think of is a tad awkward shape, but then it nicely fits a pocket on a bottle pouch where I keep it on the bike.

wow!
That is impressive!
The ability to pull more than 3 watts from the dynamo is a big step. I'm curious to see what the customer reaction is. Will they notice the extra light? Will they object to the increased drag?
Will it be possible to disable that feature and just draw 3W from the dynamo?

I like that they are potting the electronics for better moisture immunity. I've used potting in commercial electronics and have learned the advantages and disadvantages of different types. For something like this,where there is mechanical protection from the world, I think a moderately soft potting would work well. The hard pottings have a bad habit of breaking some parts when exposed to wide swings in temperature. Potting does increase the cost and weight of the light, though.

Steve in Peoria

The new edelux setup that will be available sometime next year can leverage 7.5 watts from the dino hub. I have seen the light systems and USB chargers that pull more watts for several years. I am waiting till next year. The big three Supernova, Bush&Muller and Schmidt refining what has already been done and adding High beams is fantastic.

I recall that people have pulled up to 12w from a dynohub at speed, but my memory could be defective.

I'm sure low beam will draw less than 3w. The extra light from the Luxos U was nice. I have wanted more light from my lights before, usually while descending. In that case the extra power wouldn't be missed.

I ran some tests on my 1st generation SON in 2016. At 20mph, the max power I got out of it was 7.7 watts, using a 40 ohm load. This is something that could be achieved with a buck regulator instead of an actual 40 ohm load.

Higher speeds will permit generating higher power. I don't recall Schmidt saying at what speed they got 10 watts out of the dynamo. Even if it is only obtainable at 30mph, that would be helpful when descending hills.

Maybe the SONs have improved since mine was built?

Steve in Peoria

It has been explained to me that the headlights are the limiting factor on the power draw. Otherwise you would burn out those headlight diodes going 35mph + down a mountain. Even the Klite that claims to put out 1300 lumen has reviewers stating they don't notice an increase in pedal effort.

There are LEDs that can handle quite a bit of power. I've got some little 3mm x 3mm Cree XML2 LEDs that can handle 9 watts.
Newer LEDs, such as the Cree XHP70B, are larger (7mm x 7mm) and apparently can handle 20 watts (or a bit more).

The downside of the larger LEDs is that they require a proportionately larger reflector & optics to get the same control of the beam shape as with smaller LEDs.

A second issue of handling more power is that the body of the light has to be capable of dissipating that much heat. Plus.. there's less value in handling a lot of power if the user will very rarely be going fast enough to generate (or need) that much power.

As for detecting the extra power... I have a light that I designed to switch between 3 and 6 watts, and I never noticed a change in drag.
At the same time, I've known randonneurs who were very conscious of the amount of power that they needed to generate, and objected to leaving the dynamo light on if it wasn't essential. As such, there is a range of sensitivity to unnecessary drag.

Steve in Peoria

I noticed that the Supernova and the Bush&Muller headlights that have the high beam are larger Schmidt has stated that their headlight is still in development.

My edelux 2 headlight, was my first LED light. It is small and heavy. Probably needed for dissipating the heat.

I know that there is some added effort with the lights on but it is not a worry to me. The edelux 2 put out enough light to be noticable in daylight so I kept it on.

I suspect that Schmidt is waiting until B&M will sell them the optics from their light, like they did with the IQ-X/Edelux 2.
Maybe they have an agreement, and that's why B&M only makes crummy light housings and Schmidt only makes expensive ones.

I don't think Schmidt ever got the IQ-X optics? The Edelux 2 was just updated with brighter LED I thought.

Rick I currently have the M99 light it is not hooked up yet but knowing other Supernova lights it will be a good one. I will try to remember to update when I have ridden with it, I have some wheels coming from Astral with a nice SON hub so it will be installed very soon. It is very much like my current e-bike M99 but this is Dynamo which is awesome. It will just be run just with a front light for now with maybe a Sinewave charger at some point.

I also heard that Schmidt used the optics from B&M but only for the edelux. There are lots of claims about lumen and lux from different companies. I suspect different companies measure lumens and lux differently. I believe Schmidt will be conservative on there claims and their new setup will be superior to the other companies.

I thought for sure it was the optics. Next time I see one, I'll have to compare. Even though the Edelux 2 is supposed to be less bright than the IQ-X. it looks nearly identical to me.