Talk to me about dynamo hubs

I guess I need a 3W one that will still put out enough power when I’m grinding up 15% inclines at 5kph at 3am.

Ah yes. Dynamo roulette. Light dims as you climb and then you reach the summit. You start down the other side, but there's a delay between reaching speed and the light getting bright enough to see where you're going 😂

My only advice is to take a back-up, battery-powered light to supplement the dynamo for those occasions.

I've used both Exposure Revo (rebadged SP) and a Shimano XT (can't recall model number) hubs. The latter is noticeably faster to get to a good charging current. Other than that, much of a muchness.

I've used Shimano and SP hubs and they've always worked great. You can spend more for SON but they will all provide the power you need. The exception would be the 1.5W Shimano hubs, these are ok for lighting but won't charge devices, so make sure you're getting a 3W model!

I've been running an alpkit love mud one for about 10 years. It won't have done massive miles but has had a continuous diet of gritty water in that time. I think they are rebadged shutter precision dyno hubs and I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend. I think they can be serviced at the factory but not DIY if that makes a difference. I've got a shimano xt in the house as well, also been faultless.

Yeah, they are both 3w which is what you want.

Where you getting your sinewave from - and what rear light are you using - that's the only thing holding me back from ordering what seems like the best option.

I've come to the same conclusion for my bike for the future as I kill Dyno-usb converters for fun it seems.

I've 3 sp Dyno hubs. One with Revo one with an IQx

And I've a deore level Shimano unit with a lesser b+m light.

All work well all been reliable and all keep me charged and working well the Achilles heal appears to be the rectification for the usb charger and over speed.

want hub spacing / axle std you need?

following

I've been using a 3W Shimano something or other for the last few years on my commuter/winter bike and it's been good running two rear lights and a basic AXA headlight that you can see by adequately on unlit roads in the dark (but in the absolute depths of winter I often supplement the front with a battery powered bar light) the Shimano seems to keep that lot going till I trundle to maybe ~8mph (guestimate) They normally claim you need to be doing 10~12mph IIRC, both Rears have a stand light capacitor that seems to keep them lit for a good 5-6 mins after a ride.

Just bought This SP-PD8 as I'm going to be running a disc on the front going forward and it's quite heavily discounted, built the wheel I just need to finish the rest of the bike.

For road riding?

However for the hub – I guess I need a 3W one that will still put out enough power when I’m grinding up 15% inclines at 5kph at 3am. Sondelux look good although again, pricey. Anything else to consider? Are there any other lights I should consider apart from the above?

Never had an issue with the hubs I've had - SON, SP or other Asia-sourced hubs. Have worn out an SP and replaced the bearings on the Asia-sourced hub. The SON is only 4 years old now, still as new. With all of them the light's not bright at 5-6kph, roughly similar to a 250-300 lumen torch beam, but you don't need much at that speed anyway. The SOM hub has a bit more output at lower speeds but they're all similar over 18-20kph.

What's important on road is the light beam pattern and spread. For that the B+M IQ-X and SON Edelux 2 are better than a round torch beam imo/ime. There's other refracted beam front lights out there but the pattern those 2 produce is mostly excellent. It's only a bit lacking on the inside when coming into tight or hairpin corners, could do with wider spread in the near-ground I think.

My 2p, like most things there's a minimum viable product from Shimano, and then there's the anodized bling where it's hard to argue that they're any better, but they are bling.

Similarly for lights it's hard to beat the catchy named B+M IQ-XS, 80lux which is plenty of light, and half the price of the next incremental step up the range. If it's on-road, get a road light, the off-road ones are cool, but you're mostly wasting 75% of your energy lighting up the sky and hedgerows with an off-road pattern.

My older model XT hub + IQ-IQ doesn't dim/flicker at all whilst riding except on the most vomit inducing of gradients, and fires up pretty much instantly when you speed up. I commute on it, and it lives outside 365 days a year. The only failures have been hub connectors getting ripped out by from dangling pannier straps, and a light unit blew up it's capacitor (mid winter so possibly water, possibly just bad luck the replacement has been fine).

There are various USB powering widgets out there, just bear in mind that any solution is only as robust as the USB connector, even without external power plenty of people have killed Garmins on multi-day rides in the rain. For a one off ride (and you don't need to submit a .gpx for all points north?) you may be better with a powerbank so you can quickly charge it at dry times or while you sleep?

Ive got an SP hub, running a B&M Ixon light which is the road beam - if more off road you might want a more floody beam.

Had no real issue with lag when starting a downhill on road. No noticeable srag, but I'm not quick anyway.

With hindsight, should have gone for a set up including a charging port.

If running a rear light, think where you place it in relation to whatever luggage you will use - not that easy to rearrange with internal cabling

If running a rear light, think where you place it in relation to whatever luggage you will use – not that easy to rearrange with internal cabling

It makes sense to either fit really sturdy metal mudguards that can have the light bolted directly to them, or just fit a pannier rack IME. I've got a seatpost mounted secula on one bike and it's a bit of a pain to arrange luggage around it so tend to treat it as a (incredibly good) backup and put a clip-on light somewhere more all-round visible.

I like that you can charge other things on the go too (the battery on my edge explore is awful but that’s just about the only thing wrong with it, apart from crashing which seems all Garmin’s do, therefore loathed to create more e-waste when I can find a workaround for it).

Another thought occurs (and I've no direct experience of USB charging from a dynamo) but you'd probably want to be charging a power bank as a bit of a buffer from the light's USB output rather than plugging the Garmin in to it directly. you can actually get Dynamo specific power banks like the B&M 'USB-Werk' or the (neat but expensive) Cinq5 'Plug 5 Plus'...

I just remember last time I looked at Dynamo USB charging/power bank options the accumulated costs just put me off, Vs Mains charging a power bank at home and using that to top up GPS/Phone on the go (the length of time you're out really dictates how useful this can actually be).

The Sinewave you've linked is absolute top whack price wise, but does includes a feature that would probably be an extra £100-150 as a separate (less neat) item, but would you still want a power bank to supplement it? does the capacitor in it smooth out USB current when stop/starting, or is that for the stand light only?
Alternatively if you're not going to be out for more than three days at a time, spend ~100 quid less on a light and buy a decent power bank...

To all those saying just get. Apower bank.

I do that too. But when i don't have my Dyno - usb working it's pretty shit especially forced extended stops -or a heavy battery pack.

I use one about the size of a pack of 4aa's gives me 5000mah of back up and buffer between the charger and the device. When the dyno-usb is working . No stops needed. Infact. I only had to start charging after my igaro didn't agree with sustained 50+ mph down sunshine pass. With only a week of tour left. The first 2 weeks I didn't have to charge at all the igaro covered my battery pack my phone and kept the Garmin charged + lights when needed.

Never killed a usb yet and done some horrible days - careful routing don't have Them facing up helps a lot. Killed 5 different units across 3 different designs /2 different brands .... But never the usb.

I have an SP. Fine but in theory bearing replacement is a factory  job and the wheel needs dismantling. Also some hubs eg SP badged as Exposure didn't come into the UK through the official importers and they won't get involved in the advertised back to factory service. You can do it yourself though but I was told to post it with nil value declared to avoid import duties. Hmmm . I did it myself, easy but it doesn't generate any more! No idea why so it's still on the bench. Also use a Shimano Alfine. Fine again but it is a bugger to do the generate side cones and you risk braking a fine stiff wire. I didn't breal mione, it broke itself and I have yet to bother about it.

Son etc seem to have a better reputation but you would say that if you had paid those prices I guess.

I've got an Exposure Revo hub with the front and rear lights on my commuter. It's been out in all weathers with no maintenance and barely any cleaning for 17000 miles and is still going strong. I would highly recommend it.

That was kind of my point TrailRat - if the OP is doing multi-week tours then a proper dyno/USB charging solution makes good sense but he mentions doing APN24 as a goal, that's a ~72hr-ish event innit.

Just playing devil's avocado if APN is the upper limit, would a nice fat 20,000 mAh bank (~£50 from Anker) cover that edge case (pun intended) with a substantial bit of margin, especially as there's no need to be charging Dyno lights...

Ah yes. Dynamo roulette. Light dims as you climb and then you reach the summit. You start down the other side, but there’s a delay between reaching speed and the light getting bright enough to see where you’re going

They do dim as you slow down but that's generally not a problem (I usually dim my battery lights when climbing anyway). The light I have is immediately responsive to any increase in speed. In fact I can't say I've had any problems with the most budget thing Shimano do (I think it was £30 for the full wheel!) and an XT hub I've used. I've also got a Son Deluxe but not actually connected it to anything yet. Dynamos are great, I love them.

I've been looking at dynamos recently, more out of curiosity than anything.

As above, a decent cache battery seems to last me 3 or 4 days  until I find a campsite. By that time, I need a shower anyway!

Ever so slightly, a bit of a hijack. Has anyone tried a rim dynamo? If you have, do they work on mountain bikes with dirty rims?

How do they compare to dynamo hubs?

Seems to be a nice option. Easy to remove. Don't have to change my wheel. Cam leave it behind on shorter rides.

Unlike the op. I am more interested in charging a battery than powering a light.

https://www.cyclingabout.com/rim-dynamos-can-now-generate-more-power-than-hub-dynamos/

Thanks

Unlike the op. I am more interested in charging a battery than powering a light.

This is apparently specifically for rim/bottle type dynamos is nice and cheap could be handy if you want to at least try out the idea

Thanks all for the insights and thoughts this is all really helpful.

To clarify a couple of questions above - it'll be for a 100x12 thru axle fork, and I'll be using it pretty strictly on road.
Rear lights I hadn't really thought about, would depend on which hub and front light I got so thought I'd sort those first.

I really like the look of the SP hubs although having to delace and relace the hub to service it sounds like a pain. For the Shimano one it looks to be easy to service the NDS and possible but high risk of junking the hub by servicing the DS. Some further googling found a common suggestion the Shimano ones come too right from factory, sounds like it could be a faff having to sort out preload from new with a risk of breaking the wires before it's even set up with a light! Think I'll end up plumping for an SP...

I think with the Sinewave I got a bit startled by shiny-shiny factor, and I really like the idea of charging devices off my own power. I used a power bank on a 400k audax at the end of May which worked well for allowing me to use the Garmin overnight whilst running the backlight, and after one night it has barely made a dent in power left in the power bank after charging both my Garmin and my girlfriend's.

The b&m lights do look good and a heck of a lot cheaper too, so you guys are right, maybe being able to charge devices off it is a bit unnecessary.

Will keep researching, and chat to some local wheelbuilders to see if they'd be happy to help with the dynamo if it ended up needing warrantying.

I really like the look of the SP hubs although having to delace and relace the hub to service it sounds like a pain

I'm not an accomplished wheelbuilder but I've delaced one side of a dynamo hub to remove the coil and replace the bearings, it's not too difficult if you have a basic jig and some soldering ability if needed. Would do it again rather than send it all off. The SON would go to Germany just for warranty/trust reasons but I expect it's got 7-10 years of good use in it, maybe more, before that's likely.

Re. Batteries Vs a USB charger, I've used both but I do love the self-sufficiency of a front and rear dynamo light and a USB-Werk powering everything on my rides. Wouldn't go back, for me it's an essential in a touring/long distance bike and well worth the initial investment.

I used to run a very decent AXA rim dynamo on my Brompton and the tandem. Used a variety of rubber wheels, correctly aligned, it ran very well. But it did have a tendency to slip in the wet. Cleared by breaking to clean the rims. I’d always go hub now. SON would be my first choice. A very mature product which I couldn’t afford years ago. Would be my first choice on an audax bike.

Yeah, I used the Son refurb service through SJS cycles, which was all round excellent. Quick turnaround and you got back an effectively new hub. About £60 as far as I remember. £60 every ten or 15 years?