sacr

Just to add to the virtue of dynamo lighting: I did upgrade the original lamp that came with my sanyo BB kit, it would only get full output if maintaining a speed of 30 km/h, and that output wasnt that impressive(by today's battery powered lights). I tried changing over from the original filament to an LED globe, but couldnt get the globe positioned correctly in the reflector housing to maximise the LED output. Bit the bullet and bought a Busch & Meuller led unit for dynamos. Basically full output at 10 km/h and a good beam. Unfortunately the lamp decided to only work intermittently, randomly turning off when riding. The warranty had expired, but I emailed Busch & Meuller in germany about the issue and with no hesitation they sent me another to here in Australia. Put it on the bike and left the old "intermittent" one there, was interested to see if the dynamo could power both of them. Yes, it could so getting twice the light output, I also added a rear led dynamo light to the setup. The original B&M still goes off at times, so couldnt survive without the replacement one that was sent, but having both allows me to focus one close to the ground in front of the bike to see more closely any nasty(slippery metal cover, screws/nails, etc) coming up(I think that is the biggest peril about riding at night) and the second lamp focusses about 20 m ahead.

I do also run high intensity battery led front flashing lights for daytime operation, so well aware of the rigour needed to keep them charged etc. Possibly I could connect up a device to the dynamo to charge up the battery lights when needed, but havent got to that yet. Just being able to flick on the dynamo when needing to ride in the dark means the bike is ready to go at any time, even after not riding for several months.