Smokinapankake

So I’m installing a Supernova E3 Pure 3 on one of my commuters, and I’m having trouble with the lead to the tail light. Mainly, what to do with it. I’m not using a dynamo powered tail light, favoring instead the simplicity and cleanliness of a battery powered blinky. In the future I may want to go that route, so I’m hesitant to cut the lead, but because the wire is kinda thick and kinda not really flexible I’m not sure how to coil it up and store it. I may cut it and install some kind of quick disconnect connector to make future installation easy but…

Any thoughts?

Pics for posterity:






Powered by a Panasonic (rebranded Sanyo H27 dynamo) hub:

pdlamb

Nice looking setup you've got there. I hadn't realized the Supernova lights came with front AND rear cables attached (Schmidt, OTOH, only has front cable attached with sockets for the rear).

While I'd probably hook up a rack light on the rear, because it's one less set of batteries I'd have to worry about. But if I weren't going to do that, I might cut off the rear cable about 4" from the light, and perhaps install the gold connectors (with heat shrink tubing around them) for a possible future hook-up. (Where would you store the rest of the rear cable so you can find it again in a few years?)

Smokinapankake

My B&M headlight mounted on another bike has a short lead (about 3”) with blade connectors for the rear light as well. I assumed this E3 light would be the same way. Probably just cut it and connector it. I keep a box on the shelf in the garage for every bike I have. Each bike has its own box. Anything that comes off the bike or is related to the bike goes in the box. That way if I ever want or need something I know where to find it. I’m confident I would find the wires somewhere down the line should I decide to go that route…

Tourist in MSN

I assume you know what the wire construction is from hooking up the wire to the hub. Thus, you should know if it would be easy to connect some connectors to it later if you cut it and later wanted to wire a taillight to it.

I have zero experience with Supernova, but it is my understanding that their taillights are different than other brands, thus you might be locked into Supernova for taillights if you want to add a light later. I am not going to research it, but I think the Peter White website should cover that topic.

My first dyno powered headlight was an AXA, it included several inches of wire and 2.8mm spade connections for a taillight. I put some electrical tape over the spade connectors to prevent shorts and wrapped up that excess wire into a tight bundle with a bread loaf wrapper wire twisty. A few years later when I added taillights, I was glad I did not cut the wire off.

Smokinapankake

Yes, I am aware if all those things you mentioned. I think you are correct in that Supernova requires only Supernova be hooked up to it. However, the tail light lead is not long enough to reach the rear of the rack where I would mount a tail light should I decide to. So it would need a connector anyway, So why not snip the wire short and install some connectors? Because it’s only new once, and once you cut it there’s no going back. And therein lies the problem - it’s too.short to install a rear light and too long to coil up neatly…

ThermionicScott 

Depending on how stiff the cable is, I'm thinking it could work well to leave a couple inches and tuck it through the light bracket for later use.

But I must say that full dyno lighting has been a game changer for me. It's nice to just grab a bike and have light whenever the wheels are turning. And after being a bit concerned about the standlight on a dyno taillight, I was really impressed by how soon it took a charge and lasted while stopped.

Pretty inexpensive to try, too.

Tourist in MSN

If it is too long to coil up neatly, zip tie it to the bottom of the downtube down towards the bottom bracket, or under the top tube. But leave enough slack so your handlebars can turn full right to full left without getting the cable too tight.

Smokinapankake

This is what I ended up doing:




Inelegant and clumsy, I coiled up the lead and hung it on the light bracket. Looks dumb but it’s out of the way without cutting the lead. Thanks for looking!

canopus 

I usually cut them close to the light and put female DEANS connectors for later use and hide it in some shrink tubing. I have the taillight on one bike right now.