I want to get a front fork mounted light, however I don't have the option of a hub dynamo, and I'm not keen on a side dynamo wearing my tires down (have I made that up?)
Do most LED dynamo lights run on around 5v and therefore would a USB battery pack run them? I am assuming that as they are an LED and dynamos produce A/C current, that they have regulators in there for stopping the current on one cycle anyway.
I could stick to a bar mounted light, but I really want the convenience of being able to leave it at the front, uncluttered on the bars.
I see various cheap solarstorm USB lights on the market, but I don't see how a 5.5V would power them from a USB pack, and I can't find a mount for the forks.
Anybody done this?
6v 3w is output from most dynamo
eBay have a whole heap of fork mounted led battery lights.
I've also fork mounted various regular lights using home made brackets over the years
You may well find this very useful:
https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m-lamp-holder-for-ixonixon-iq-ixon-pure/aid:409690
[img] 
[/img]
Apparently as well as working with B+M lamps it also connects with Smart and PX Phaart lamps to. Nice!
https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=80633.0
Dynamo outputs are unregulated. I've measured a SON28? hub with an oscilloscope,
You get an AC voltage of upto 50V with no load at 40mph!! You will need a rectifier, smoothing capacitors and switched mode DCDC converter for the best solution.
I made a GPS power supply for robcollivers tour divide so I've looked into this thouroughly!
Dynamo powered lights are designed to accept this, not sure if a USB power pack will work, worth a try though
eBay have a whole heap of fork mounted led battery lights.
Not really sure what one to look at.
I like the idea of a large USB battery pack, although I suspect that might not be possible.
Are side dynamos as bad as I remember when I was a kid or have they much improved? Will they shag my tires?
a shimano hub dynamo is 31 quid.
Could you rebuild your wheel ? they really are awesome !
If you were closer i have a 700c wheel with a non disk shimano hub set up im looking to flog. but your out in the far east(of the world) aint you ?
I use the ebay Chinese usb cree lights , they are plenty bright enough, I was using them with a power bank and worked well but the connection was a bit iffy, i just use 4 aa rechargables in a battery holder and the normal connecters
a shimano hub dynamo is 31 quid.
Unfortunately I have a weird proprietary bolt thru axle on the bike, so it won't work. I knew a dynamo was one of the things that I knew I would miss once I started looking into it.
It seems most B&M dynamo lights will run from 7.2-7.5V DC. They might work from 5V USB, but it won't be very bright. Probably better just to use a battery pack, with about 7.5V output, and some sort of a regulator to control the voltage.
See https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=43791.0
As far as I know those bottle side tyre dynamos are still every bit as bad as they were in the 70s and 80s lol 🙂
Unfortunately I have a weird proprietary bolt thru axle on the bike, so it won't work. I knew a dynamo was one of the things that I knew I would miss once I started looking into it.
You can get dynamo's hub for bolt though axles, I use a Fat one on my 29er+ because of the fat fork on it and it runs the really good K-Lite very well
Do you work for travers ?