Anyone use a dyno hub & front light?

Only just started to consider one for a winter/touring/audax bike.

Just looked on the SJS site, the hubs bit seems straight forward, but I don’t know how the light units perform. And what about when you stop in traffic?

Look at use revo

I’ve got a Schmidt dynohub and headlamp and Busch & Muller rear light. They have a built in capacitor that keeps the lights on for five minutes or so after you have stopped. Fit and forget.

There was a good deal on one the German bike sites, a Shimano dynamo hub on a Mavic A319 rim for around £80, a back light is about £20.

I’m a recent convert….Shimano hub and £120 (RRP) of B&M lights, best money I’ve spent for a while.

Most (all?) LED lights stay on when you stop in traffic. May not be at full brightness but more than enough to be seen.

Most dynamos kick out 6V, 3W. This is to power a front and rear lamp.
Some kickout 6V, 2.4W – this to power a front lamp only (although with modern LED lamps this is probably enough to do front and rear too)

SON hubs can be set up with a second front lamp that can be switched in at high speeds. Shimano can’t. Used to be popular but no longer necessary. Other hubs are availabe.

I’ve used a hub dynamo for 10yrs or more. Wouldn’t use anything else. Spend some money on some decent cable and put some effort into the lamp connections (double-wire, spade connectors etc). For a front lamp I run a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Fly – bright enough for unlit paths at walking pace. At the rear I use a Busch & Muller Seculite Plus Rear Mudguard Dynamo Light – very bright (I also use a battery LED lamp on flashing just in case a cable gets unplugged)

Got two dyno light setups are the mo.

Commuter: Alfine dynamo hub + B&M Cyo RT Senso Plus front, Philips Saferide rear
Winter/Audax bike: Shutter Precision PV-8 + B&M Cyo Senso Plus

I love it! Not having to worry about charging batteries on the commuter is ace. Plus not having to remove the lights each day when I lock it up at work. The Philips Saferide rear is pretty cool – had quite a few people comment on it, both cyclists and pedestrians. A dyno setup is definitely the way forward for no hassle commuting.

The Cyo’s have a standlight so stay on for 2 mins when you stop, hence works in traffic.

Got my Shutter Precision direct from Taiwan (on ebay), supposedly its what the USE hub is. A lot lighter than the Alfine dyno hub.

I think there’s a new B&M light out which is brighter than the Cyo; worth a look if your buying now.

Wow dyno lights are sexy as **** who’d have thunk it.

I like the idea of a front hub as the bike I’m building is a touring fixed/free frame. If that becomes a mare I can swap it over to a geared frame.

Oh, you want some pics? 😉

DamItamit, one of these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SP-hub-dynamo-dynohub-P-SD-8-24-28-32-36h-The-most-efficient-and-lightest-/271153474853?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f2201ad25

I’ve thought about a second dynamo hub for my Fargo. How long have you had yours? Looking for something cheaper than a Schmidt with long term reliability.

I have two. One Shimano one with a homemade front and rear light – both massively bright – front is good enough for both slow and fast riding on unlit roads and paths, the rear red light is bordering on anti-social, but at least means I’m seen. Most of the roads I ride have virtually zero trafic, so the cars hurtle along at top speed. With my lights they see me well in advance.

I also have an SP PD-8 (I think?). It’s much smaller and lighter, it’s red, and very good looking! That one drives a Supernova E3 Pro, which in turn has a 6V supply coming off the back of it which drives another homebrewed rear red light, again devastatingly bright.

I made the rear lights by just glueing a 20mm optic into short pieces of copper pipe – cheap and functional, and look ok too. The dyno hubs are constant current 500mA, so there’s no need for drivers etc – just a rectifier, some capacitors, and put all the LEDs in series. There are some more complex boost circuits around but not really worth it – two LEDs up front and a single red at the rear are easily good enough for unlit roads.

Wise man remove silly amount of headset spacer before post internet bike pictures online 😛

Mcmoonter, yep that one except I’ve got the non-disc version. I estimate I’ve done about 2200 miles on it since July. Seem’s to be working fine, but I’m gonna hold out judgement for a bit longer.

Makes a fairly light road wheel…

Wise man remove silly amount of headset spacer before post internet bike pictures online

I knew someone would comment! :p

In my defense, there’s a fairly big saddle bar drop

Good to see the scale, think I’m sold.

I’ve just converted. They’re ace!

Got a SP PV-8 from ebay and built my own light with two xp-g leds and a supercap standlight.

Really impressed with lack of drag sensation and there’s plenty of light even at slow speeds. standlight stays bright for 3-4 minutes then dims but is still glowing 2 hours later.

I really like not having to worry about charging batteries or whether I have enough juice to get home from work. Also it’s nice not having a battery pack cluttering the bike.

🙂

I have an Alfine and think it’s fantastic. That said the Schmidt ones are even nicer and their warranty / attitude to fixing them when they do eventually need work is excellent…I dealt with them regularly at SJS. The Schmidt is worth the difference if you’re serious about it and the SON20 is a beautiful little thing, much more attractive than my Alfine.

Also I’m not a massive fan of the Shimano connector block and much prefer the conventional spades used on the Schmidt.

I’ve got a SP PD8 driving a Exposure Revo and Redeye. About to go on McMoonter’s old Planet X.

They’re amazingly bright, only used them on-road, but good enough for 40mph down Hartside Pass on saturday night. Standlight means they stay on for ages when you stop, although interestingly the Redeye kills the front light off within 15 minutes, compared to hours without.

Biggest grip with the Revo is there’s no switch, so when you stop, the light stays on until the standlight runs down. My old B&M Cyo had a switch so the standlight could be left charged, giving you instant-on when you needed it, rather than riding 10 yards in darkness.

Oh, and there’s no fork-crown bracket for the Revo, so I either need to buy the Supernova multimount which looks smart, or bodge something up as I don’t want it on my road bars.

Can’t wait to get the SP hub in 15mm bolt-thru form for the mtb.

Been using a USE revo over the winter on my winter mtb
Get used both off road and on and I’m a convert its great
When I got it the lack of off switch was a surprise
But does not worry me any more.
The only time off road it’s lacking is long slow uphill , but I use a helmet light anyway

This is the wheel McMoonter refers to:

Dyno wheel from ze Garmans

I’ve had one running a B&M Cyo 60 lux headlight and a B&M Toplight rear. Fantastic for unlit country lane/bridleway commuting.

My Exposure Revo pushing out a few hundred lumens from its standlight:

The standlight also keeps the rear light on, a standard cable Redeye, too:

The lights are currently seeing daily commuting service and have been bombproof (and, importantly, always there!)

More about my setup here

Beware, my Schmidt hub expired after about 8 years with no apparent way of fixing it. Now an expensive paperweight (the rim having been re-used). Battery lights so good now (and rapidly improving) I don’t think I’d bother again.

I keep wanting to like dynamo lighting, but for me it just doesn’t make sense. My current commuting lights are a converted Philips LED Bike Light as a dipped beam, and a modded Lumicycle with a triple X-ML as a main beam. With both on full, they draw over 22W, whereas dynamos typically only produce 3W.

My Li-Ion bottle battery really isn’t that heavy, and will do me a full week of evening commutes on a single charge – and I’d have to ignore the warning light for about 3 days before I actually run out of charge.

I’m sure I could make do with 3W of lighting, but I don’t particularly want to. Which is a shame as it’d be a good excuse for some more wheel building and other bike fettling…

I keep wanting to like dynamo lighting, but for me it just doesn’t make sense. My current commuting lights are a converted Philips LED Bike Light as a dipped beam, and a modded Lumicycle with a triple X-ML as a main beam. With both on full, they draw over 22W, whereas dynamos typically only produce 3W.

No they don’t. Dynamos produce 500ma current, but much higher than 6v output. Things like the exposure revo won’t be quite as bright as your lumicycle, but will be blooming bright. Even my pretty basic front/rear setup is more than 3w.

pdw… my Revo is like having a small sun on the front of my bike when I am going fast. Sure, it’s not so bright when going more slowly, but it’s still plenty bright enough to ride singletrack quickly. It’d be more than enough for commuting.

Dynamos produce 500ma current, but much higher than 6v output.

I stand corrected. I had a quick look at the PD-8 which is listed at 3W, so I assumed that was the maximum. My Philips light is 7W, although that’s with relatively old inefficient LEDs (that could be next year’s project…)

plenty bright enough to ride singletrack quickly. It’d be more than enough for commuting.

I’m happier using less light off-road than I am on-road. On road the speeds are much higher, and you’re much more sensitive to minor obstacles like pot holes on a road bike.

On road the speeds are much higher, and you’re much more sensitive to minor obstacles like pot holes on a road bike

which is why GOOD lights, are not torches but rather use prisms/lenses to focus the light. You don’t need much power to get a bright light if you use it well.

Shameless plug: I’m selling an Sp dynohub wheelset If anyones interested?

Sorely tempted by those fixie wheels! Not ridden mine in about a year though… 😕

everyone still happy with their Revos ?

its coming to winter now , i am tempted.

also DO use do any of their “defusers” for the revo ? having been sideswiped last year with several lights on – even side visable ones im looking for side visability as a key point – not that i expect it will make 1 iota of difference.

i’ve got a SP (disc one) and a B&M IQ cyo.

great set up – it’s bright enough to be used on it’s own commuting – the shape of the light makes it seem brighter.

Job for the weekend is to sort out the commuter…

Good timing,I have been looking at an SP hub for my new tourer/commuter build.Is it easy to use them for charging auxiliary stuff during the day?

I saw Rob’s post on this set up a while back and then rode with a couple of guys this summer who used dyno (SP I think) hubs on bikepacking set ups.
It’s a great system, thinking of getting a set up myself but the one thing I noticed is how they dim at off-road climbing speeds, say under 8mph. They then get really bright when descending. I’ve got my LED/battery light on my fork crown now as one way to avoid glare and odd shadows that play tricks on your eyes when you’re really tired. The bright-dim variation of a dyno hub seems like it’d bug me in the same way. Any electronics /headlights available to overcome this?

Beware, my Schmidt hub expired after about 8 years with no apparent way of fixing it. Now an expensive paperweight (the rim having been re-used). Battery lights so good now (and rapidly improving) I don’t think I’d bother again.

Flapjack, mine’s about that old. The bearings seized completely last year so I sent it back to Schmidt (via SJS Cycles), who replaced the internals FOC. Got to be worth a go.

im looking for side visability as a key point – not that i expect it will make 1 iota of difference.

Using reflective sidewall conti tyres on my road-tripper now for this reason – reassuringly visible from nearly all angles.

I’d sort of thought that might be a problem. I guess that means two lighting systems. A small AA-batteried light would be good enough for uphill speeds and could be switched off to preserve battery life when speeds increase. More weight of course…….

as i said – i dont think itll make much difference , the day i was hit i was riding a bike covered like this with reflective pish and a Maxx D outfront plus a dinotte 200L and a joystick on my head PLUS a hi viz vest – boy just didnt look. but its still a concern for me when buying new lights .

like the look of them B & M ones actually , easy enough to wire in a rear stand light to them ?

The bright-dim variation of a dyno hub seems like it’d bug me in the same way. Any electronics /headlights available to overcome this?

Think the B&M Luxos and Exposure Revo both have a proper battery, rather than a capacitor, to power the standlight. The B&M also has some elaborate gubbins that gives it a wider beam at low speeds. See review here:

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=74806

Trail_rat, yes, they’re dead easy to wire up with a rear light, and if you get a B&M one they all have built-in reflectors as well as a standlight. There’s even one that acts like a brake light and gets brighter as you slow down.

Some more info: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/dynamos/SP_8/index_en.html