MetinUz

By the seller's own admission, this "30Ah" unit is really 15Ah, which I doubt. I am also guessing it will take days of sunlight to charge from empty to full.

CliffordK

I have one of those little solar chargers. I don't think it ever fully tops off the battery even if left in pretty direct sunlight for days or weeks.

It does work as an auxiliary battery, with the one issue that it won't function as a "float" battery, and will konk out if the attached device reports fully charged.

unterhausen

From what I have seen, the capacity of those ebay cells isn't very good. The calculus changes if they were using high quality cells, but that corresponds to a fairly substantial boost in price. I think the dyno will reign supreme for primary rando lighting for the time being. I'm not sure if my current collection of packs will make it through PBP without charging. I'll have to do some experiments.

Salubrious

That is true. But of course, it takes a while to discharge it, and as I mentioned, in two weeks of using it to charge my lighting, GPS and GoPro, in 2 weeks it had not even made it down to 75%. And of course when you get to civilization, you can charge it. I use a dual output USB wall charger, so one out goes to the battery and the other to my GPS.

I leave mine in the sun near a southern window and it charges to full no worries. On the road the attached unit that is being charged does have to draw enough current to keep the charging circuit in the battery active, otherwise it goes to sleep. But all that means is that your GPS or whatever is fully charged; in my case that means I don't need to push the charge button for another ten hours. I use a multicord like this one to handle all my devices:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-IN-1-Andr...YRjb:rk:2:pf:0

kingston 

I'm setting another bike up with dynamo lighting this winter. Schmidt hub, Edelux II headlight, B&M tail-light. I have the Edelux II on one of my other bikes with an SP hub. It's a good light.

83cannondale

Kingston - That's the way I'm going as well. As mentioned I settled on the Edelux II, Son 28 (existing) BM top light with brake light feature ( does that do any good I wonder? ). I also am trying the USB-Werks for USB charging. Will probably upgrade my GPS to Wahoo Element.

I'm also wondering if an additional backup battery would be useful? I'm thinking of the cinq smart power II. ( something I googled ) It should charge quickly and will charge and discharge at the same time. I'm a bit fuzzy if I will actually need additional battery capacity though. Any thoughts anyone? Looking at rando, hopefully 600km, with a little luck maybe 1200. Thanks - t

unterhausen

I have a cygolyte Expillion headlight and a couple of battery tail lights. I usually carry a spare battery taillight as well. Tail lights are really light. Eastern PA randonneurs has required a backup headlight/tail light in the past, and it seems like a good idea.

I bought the brake light version of the toplight by mistake. I really didn't want it because it seems needlessly complicated. I haven't installed it yet.

kingston 

For backup lighting I use the B&M Relite-D mounted to the left seat-stay. The Relite-D has been discontinued and replaced by the Secula. Both are powered by 2 AA batteries with a 20 hour runtime, which is enough even for a 1,200k. On the mac-and-cheese last year had a battery powered Toplight line (1 AA battery) and a Relite-d which both lasted the whole ride on one set of batteries. My backup headlight is an Ixon IQ Premium and my GPS is an Etrex20. Both powered by AA batteries, so everything that needs power on my bike takes a AA battery. Before I had a dynamo, I could do a 600k straight through with just 2 extra batteries for the GPS. When I replace the Etrex, it will be with something that has enough battery life for a full 600k on one charge. I'm just not interested in charging my GPS at every control when I have something that works fine without that inconvenience.

Hope to see you at some rides again this year!

clasher

I love my wahoo for rando, I think it's perfect for me. I don't mind charging it on a 400/600 since I usually stop somewhere there is electricity but I still bring a battery pack for those rides that don't end up with a hotel stop overnight... with the battery pack I can charge while sleeping in front of a bank machine... but with a usb werx you could probably just charge the GPS during the day and it would have enough power to last through the night and well into the next day when you can charge it again from the dynamo. I don't have any experience with those chargers but some folks charge a battery pack and then charge off the battery.

I had a B&M Toplight Line Brake Plus on my commuter bike just stop working one day... checked the wires with a multimeter and another light so I know it was just something in the light that failed but I have no idea what. I will always carry full backup lights on anything 400+ now. The cascade 1200 required full backup lights so I could see that becoming a thing on more rides. I use a battery secula as my backup and a b&m Eyro front light since it'll last through the night on low setting... it's not as bright as I'd like but it's nice because I can easily swap it with the dynamo headlight should the need every arise.

unterhausen

usually when B&M taillights stop working, it's the supercap coming off the board. Not sure why they don't glue them down a little better. Unfortunately, it's not easy to take the toplines apart, from what I hear.

kingston 

I had an Ixon IQ Premium replaced under warranty a few years ago. Check with the retailer to see if it's covered. The warranty on my light is 5 years.

rhm

I'm trying out this tail light now:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bike-Cyclin...1bdc:rk:4:pf:0

It gets its power from a magnet passing by on the spoke, like a bike computer. After a couple revolutions the LEDs start flashing, quite bright, and they stay on for a couple minutes. The electronics and the LED seem pretty good. Unfortunately the mounting hardware is crappy.

Salubrious

OK- maybe someone can explain this to me- If for such a short distance, why bother with the weight, drag and reliability issues of a dynamo since there are batteries that can do the time for that sort of distance and weigh less? I do electronics for my day job; am I seeing something that others aren't or is it the other way around?

kingston 

I agree with you. Batteries are a perfectly fine way to go for randonneuring. While you don’t really need a dynamo, it’s nice to have because you can run your headlight all night long and never run out of power. The weight and drag of the hub are negligible. With batteries, I either needed to keep my headlight on low power most of the night or bring an extra set of batteries. Neither one of which was that big of a deal.

Salubrious

I don't think you have to limit the brightness with how much batteries have improved these days (and FWIW, the Chinese have been leading the pack for at least a decade when it comes to lithium ion batteries, and each year they get better following Moore's Law) . I run my light full on and no worries with the battery. It is the size of a cell phone though (I have it mounted on my handlebars so its easy to hook up to whatever needs it at the time) and could run my light for well over a week without a recharge. That's plenty of time to go 1200km!

clasher

Dang, this light was ordered in 2012 or 2013 according to my email. Bummer.

rhm

Speaking for no one but myself here... I just hate batteries. I know they're necessary, and I have batteries in my cell phone and my gps and who knows what else... but I like to avoid them when I can. On the other hand i think dynamos are really elegant, and I feel good about using them.

Aside from that, a lot of the battery lights I've seen have poorly optimized light patterns. When I ride with other people, with battery lights, late at night I often get this sensation of riding through an endless Gothic cathedral with intricate barrel vaults overhead, an illusion created by our lights unnecessarily illuminating the arches of branches above. With dynamo lights I never get that-- there's no light on the trees at all. Plenty on the road, which is where I need it.

unterhausen

what battery light lasts a week? How much does it weigh? How long does it take to charge?

Salubrious

Not a battery light. A battery that can recharge your light via a USB connection.

I posted an example earlier on this thread. On a regular USB charger it charges at about the same as a cell phone to recharge from dead. The weight is about 1/2 that of my iphone 6 (and its about the same size) in an otter case. Recharging on solar only, it takes several days to charge up from dead, but by that time one can have made it back to civilization (such as it is; might just be a gas station) where its possible to use the USB charger. So I carry a USB charger that has dual outputs so I can top off the battery and whatever other device seems to need it the most. On my last trip I was on the road two weeks and only got to charge it twice, once in Elkford BC and the other time in Lincoln Montana. It never even got down to 75% of full charge but I was charging my GPS daily, my headlight about once every three days and my GoPro twice. I was on a mountain bike that weighed over 50 pounds with all the water I was carrying so my progress was not as fast as a typical rando where there's a lot of pavement involved. In retrospect I didn't need to charge the battery at all- at the end of my ride it would have been around 50%. I simply charged it because its prudent to do things like that when you're headed into the middle of nowhere. Given all the reliability issues I've read about dyno hubs from other racers on the TDR (which is one of the harder races in the world) it simply makes no sense to me to use one.

fietsbob

I've had no troubles with the toplight line, without the extra battery for brightening it when stopped,
read of that added feature being less reliable, than the same light without it.

a capacitor charges promptly, that is your stand light.. when you stop, keeps it on, without glowing brighter..





...

83cannondale

Kingston - Just a quick thought about Ixon Premium and other AA battery based gps, lights - It's my understanding that with the proper cable and maybe USB charger (?)( Peter White) the Ixon IQ can actually recharge its AA Lithium batteries from a dynamo! So, keeping an extra set of rechargeable AAs and swapping as needed might be useful. With Rando, maybe not so much because it's easy to buy AAs enroute Might be more useful on extended tour or bikepacking of some sort.

My Ixon IQ premium was a ride saver on a 600km where I tacoed a front, dynamo wheel. With a borrowed front wheel I was able to ride deep into the second night using my Ixon IQ, and get credit for the ride.

Say, my Ixon IQ premium handlebar mount isn't real secure. The light keeps rotating when I hit bumps, etc. Have you encountered that?

My backup lights are also battery. Secula rear light, Ixon IQ premium headlight, blinkies. The IQ also makes a convenient flashlight.

Tourist in MSN

Do you mean NiMH?

83cannondale

Dunno - good question though. Mostly I found it interesting that that particular battery lamp could be charged off dynamo.

Nice catch on the batteries though. Not good to have incorrect info.
t

kingston 

Yes. the ewerk with the ride-and-charge. I suppose it could be useful for touring, but retirement is still a ways off for me. For randonneuring It's easy enough to just keep an extra set of batteries in my bag. If I'm using a dynamo hub, I don't use a battery powered headlight anyway, so I don't really have a need to charge the batteries. (Side rant - Peter White's website is very informative, but his stubborn refusal to adopt e-commerce prevents me from buying anything from him. This is 2019, I'm not going to pick up the phone during his extremely limited business hours to order a bike part)

I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy myself. Probably why my randonneuring bike weighs 45 pounds.

When I'm using the Ixon for my primary light, I always use the fork-crown mounts which I have on all of my non-dynamo bikes. They are very stable. I just checked and see that I have 3 different handlebar clamps, so you could try a different one that might work better. I think the one on the right is the newest one. I have a new light still in the package and it has that mount. IIRC, the one on the left came with the original Ixon IQ that I got 7 or 8 years ago, so the ones with the tightening knob are probably better. I used the one in the middle, which I'm pretty sure I bought separately, with an eyelet stub on the low-rider mount of my fork blade last season and it seemed solid enough. I don't recall having to adjust it. If you come to the season opener, I'll let you borrow them and you can see if they work for you. I'd give you one, but unfortunately I'm a bit of a hoarder. Just never know when I might need four handlebar mounts that I don't use.




I hate blinkies. I'm glad I don't have to ride behind you

fietsbob

Ixon and Planet Bike* headlights QR mounts seem interchangeable the one on the left looks just like what comes with theirs..

4th (not shown above), is the one using a wire loop, like a wired headlight mount, so as to mount on fork crowns behind brakes & other bolt on situations..

* I noticed, UK brands many of the same products by a different importer's name..