I’ve got 2 Shutter Precision PD8 hubs. One on the road bike and a PD-8X on one of the mtbs. I use an Exposure Revo front light which I switch between bikes.

Issue 1:
On the road bike, I recently installed a Busch and Muller Toplight View rear light on my pannier rack. Previously used an Exposure Redeye, but on the seatpost it occasionally gets blocked if I have stuff on the rack. I can’t see the light properly as I ride, but spinning the front wheel up by hand whenthe bike is on the workstand, or having a look when stopped and the light is powered by its standlight, its franly crap. Compared to the Redeye which is like the sun, I can only get one of the two LEDs powered up, and that only dim. I’ve checked the polarity of the connector (the other way it didn’t work at all) and the checked the current of the output of the Revo when stationary at the plug and at the rear light and its pretty much the same, so no major losses in the wire. As I say, the same output power up the Redeye to painful brightness. Any suggestions?

Issue 2:
Riding the other night, I got a branch caught in my front wheel. It pulled the plug out of the socket and also pulled the hub-connector around the axle a bit. Reconnecting, the front light, it didn’t turn on when I got going again. Sure enough I’ve checked and one of the wires got pulled out of the connector, put it back in and still nothing. Using a multi-meter, my hub isn’t producing any current at all (for refernce, the road-bike hub produces “some” noticeable current when spinning up by hand).
Again, any suggestions?

Issue 1 : Any rear light compared to a redeye will look puny, a rear light does not need the output of a small sun so whilst you may not be impressed with the output of the busch/muller toplight view, rest assured that cars will see you. As long as you have it wired up with the correct polarity (which it sounds like you have) then unless you buy the more powerful Busch/Muller Toplight Line you’ll have to put up with it.

Issue 2: It sounds like you have moved the contact rings inside the hub that transfer the output to the outer contacts – I’m unsure how the hub looks inside so you may have to contact the importer to see if it’s an easy fix – it may be something as simple as loosening a locking on the contact side and moving the plug/contact area back to the previous position – i have absolutely no experience with these hubs but you may be able to find an exploded image online that will show you the internals.

Thanks Somafunk. Makes sense.

Its actually my second PD-8X hub, it was a warranty replacement for failed bearings. The downside of SP is they’re not user-servicable, so it means taking the wheel apart to send the hub back to Taiwan. I’ll drop them an email to enquire.

The downside of SP is they’re not user-servicable, so it means taking the wheel apart to send the hub back to Taiwan.

Even for a wheel bearing replacement?

Blimey.

If it’s definitely not working then you have nothing to lose by having a fettle yourself, good luck! 😀

Got some good answers on the BearBones forum too:
http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5199

I’ll check the resistance in the hub. Then it looks as though Ison are distributing them, so I might get away with sending it back to them instead of direct to Taiwan.

Bandito – for your rear light, you want to bypass the Revo and splice the cable to power the rear light.

This will mean that unless the rear light has an inbuilt standlight it won’t stay on while stationary, but will be getting the correct voltage.

Cheers, Rich

Thanks turboferret. The rear does have a built-in standlight, so that should work.