Hello, are there headlights mounted on the handlebar with a cable to charge from the hub dynamo? My headlight broke after the bicycle fell and the handlebar turning hit the lamp against the frame, not the first time. As well it's anyway harder to reach to turn it Off/On and adjust angle of light, so I don't want a low-mounted lamp anymore. Moreover, a low mounted lamp beam is blocked by the front fender so blind spot is created. The rear one is fine, but it has to be connected to the front lamp for power via two leads. Maybe there are lights also with a USB charging socket to charge e.g. phone or speedometer? It would be nice to have a good lens/reflector to distribute the light properly (or even focus the light) and made of metal and rainproof. I also don't like that hub dynamo alternating current is causing flickering so current needs to be efficiently directed or headlight to have built in ultracapacitor/battery energy storage so that it works even after full stop.

I'm also looking to get a second same lamp but on a travel bicycle without hub dynamo.

For most dyno Lights, GoPro adaptors are available. Also handle bar mounts are available. E.g. Busch& Müller offers them.

Regarding the USB Port: i know two lights, the Igaro and the SON Ladelux. Both are far from cheap.

The Ladelux is not available yet. the Igaro C1 ,Sinewave Cycles Beacon 2 and KLite are setup with USB chargers.

If USB charging is that important to you, consider getting a separate USB charger.

Generally speaking you get very little power out of the USB charger when the light is on. My USB charger (a Cycle2Charge V3) will only charge when the lights are turned off. I used to use a Sinewave Revolution, that would at best charge at 25 percent capacity if the lights were on. I have a Luxos U headlamp (discontinued) that has a USB charger, that puts out very little charge if the light is on.

Igaro C1 is completely flicker free and is currently your own option. We don't know about SON Ladelux until we find out what happens when its battery is dead (but it's likely it will flicker as it wont have the space for significant capacitance as it's taken up by the battery).

If USB is a requirement you wont beat the Igaro C1 now and the future, that's factoring all lights and all separate USB charging solutions.

Both options are indeed expensive.

igarocom: How many minutes does the C1 stand light run? Will the Bush&Muller Toplight Line Plus Taillight work with your headlight?

Hmm, fully charged and on 1% output (which still beats many other dynamo light stand lights) then it's be several hours. Default shutdown is two minutes but like everything on the C1 you can configure it.

Can't say on the B&M but probably. 3rd party rear lights have electronics and super-caps in them so you lose efficiency and control (like flashing modes). You've seen the Igaro R1 right? Few Igaro C1 riders are without an Igaro R1 since we released it and the feedback is very positive.

igarocom: Thanks for the quick reply. Does the C1 power the R1 in stand light mode? You have a default of 2 minutes. I would configure it to 7 minutes. I don't use flashing lights at night. I do have a very bright tail flasher that my friend says he can see from over a mile away.

Yes.

I think the max we have is 4m 20s. Nobody has asked for longer but if they did we'd accommodate. You could also disable auto-shutdown and just turn it off when you're ready.

I will stick with my taillight. I purchased it in 2013 and it has a 7 minute stand light. It also has a built in reflector and its mounting screws allow me to mount a setup for my tail flasher.

I see none of the models mentioned using power supply from dynamo hub generator.

elfmachine: look at the links in post 3.

All mentioned lights in this thread are designed for dynamo hubs...

For curiosity let's run the maths. I'll do it excluding regulation losses focusing on the storage (capacitance).

This B&M light - 2 x 0.47F 2.7v capacitors, typically coin batteries of this capacitance have an ESR of 4 ohm.

Igaro R1 (powered by Igaro C1) - 2 x 100F 2.7v capacitors, ESR 0.025 ohm

To get 4 minutes for StVZO regulation out of small capacitors have to run a low current. 20mA is ok for a red led (for reference this is 4% of the R1 power setting in the App config).

A red LED at this voltage level will be around 1.8v. Let's assume the capacitors are at exactly this level and connected directly.

Math ...

W = I^2R, W = VI

LED wattage = 1.8v * 20mA = 36mW

B&M super capacitor heat loss = 20mA^2 * 8 = 3.2mW
B&M eff = 36 / 39.2 = 92%

Igaro C1/R1 super capacitor heat loss = 20mA^2 * 0.05 = 2e-05mW
Igaro C1/R1 eff = 36 / 36.00002 = 100%

So Igaro R1 is 8% more efficient (and has over 100 times the storage capacity to draw from).

Your imagination can do the rest.

igarocom: I looked on your site and saw the taillight mounting bracket. It looks like I can setup everything and also mount a rear reflector with an additional bracket attached on the rear. I believe the Supernova front reflector will work with your headlight. I like no flickering and the stand light that doesn't dim. I need more than 4 minutes on the stand light. So when I order your light Who do I contact for getting it setup for a longer lasting stand light.

Fire it over to the general email address on the contact page (I'm not sticking it here due to crawling spam bots). It's an easy change so won't take long.

However, maybe it's worth trying the light first? I'm not diminishing your need for a long stand light it's just sometimes you will want to turn it off quicker than 8 minutes? For example when I'm riding I like a couple minutes but this then becomes annoying when I put it away in the garage and turn the lights off and the C1 senses the darkness and lights up the garage. Another example is when I was in Africa this year I'd use the stand light for ~20 minutes to assist in setting up camp, so I set the standby to disabled and turned off the light when I was inside the tent (the novelty of doing this will never wear out!).

This is how I use it, disabled with manual turn off, but everyone is different. With a phone it takes less then 10 seconds to open the App and hit the toggle switch in the top right corner.

Just a suggestion, I had one of these taillights (the non-brake light version) where the nuts rusted onto the bolts. Did severe damage to the plastic body when I tried to remove it.

If you used the nuts that came with the light and your nuts have not rusted onto the bolts yet, remove them and replace the nuts with stainless.

igarocom: I keep my bicycle indoors with me. I have covers for the lights if necessary. I still want the seven minutes on the stand light. When I'm ready to purchase I will contact you on your email.

Tourist in MSN: I replaced those nuts with SS nyloc nuts and SS washers. Two years after I purchased my bicycle some women texting sideswiped me. In my attempt to help prevent this from happening again, I purchased the brightest taillight I could find at the time. I have the tail flasher mounted above the tail light. I didn't think those nuts were up to the task of holding my setup that is attached to the same screws that hold the tail light on.




I have an upside down Tubus Mudguard Holder mounted to the back of the tail light and a tubular Nitto light mount with the 5m bolt in it. This allowed the Dinotte hardware to work.

The StVZO regulations for the rear light are designed for limited output lights, so they chuck most of it out the rear with not so much at the sides or above/below the horizontal. It's why high powered StVZO rear lights are blinding from the rear but low powered StVZO lights are difficult to see from the sides (potentially not reducing the risk of side swiping). The key is not to blind but to be seen earlier and the StVZO spec is not necessarily suit for purpose in that regard.

Back in the incandescent era, the taillights were 0.6 watt. I suspect that they still are designed for that power supply.

Touring in MSN: In post 19 when I mentioned the brightest light, I meant the brightest tail flasher that is only used during the day. It was in daylight that I was sideswiped. I don't like flashing lights at night.

igarocom: I hope your taillight is as visible as the B&M one that I currently use. I will miss the braking feature on the B&M taillight. mine brightens up when slowing and I believe the newer ones flicker when slowing.

would you mind giving an example for a high powered, blinding, StVZO approved rear light? Since i am living in the country of StVZO and i never encountered such a light, i am really curious which lights you have in mind.The only blinding rear lights i regulary notice are not StVZO approved..

I didn't even know there were approved tail lights. Are all the B&M lights approved? Spanninga? I have a supernova taillight that is really bright. Too bad the headlight is so anemic.

Rick - visibility is what it does best, it's got a uniform spread. It'll also do 1.2W in terms of output which is double what some of the best rear dynamo hub lights do. Wouter is riding around Ukraine and has one now, wait for his comments on youtube?

There's nothing stopping us doing a braking style feature for the Igaro R1 and releasing it as an Igaro C1 update.

Polyphrast - I was referring to Rick's flasher light which can be seen "a mile away". No idea if it's StVZO approved or not. StVZO can still be blinding as there's no restriction on the output, but it's unlikely for anything dynamo powered.

Unterhausen - anything coming from Germany will be.