Dynamo Light; Spring Returns, Again
February 16th, 2012
I got the Blaze 1-Watt Dynamo Light this week, and got to installing it last night. Wowza! Dynamo lighting is everything I imagined, and more! (Well, it’s pretty cool, anyway.) I had it on while riding in this morning, and definitely noticed the extra drag; once I switched the light off, I could feel a little boost going up the Longfellow Bridge.
I’m still waiting for more inspiration on my homemade light; now that I have a baseline light for comparison, it should be a little easier to push myself to finish it up. I think for iteration 1, I will just attach a 350 mA buckpuck (cheating, I know), and save stand lights and voltage doublers for another time. I may also rely on some tool help to get the mounting for the light all set up.
Weather and Clothing
The beautiful conditions this morning call for a “fair weather” tag on this post. It was definitely on the lower end temperature-wise, but I could have gone down to a spring jacket and been quite happy (with gloves). With a high of 54, the day today is undeniably good for biking.
Temperature: 41
Road Condition: Mostly dry, still wet on the Longfellow Bridge for some reason.
Clothing: Heavy winter coat, EVO gloves, Timberland shoes
Comfort: I didn’t zip the coat, and I was still pushing the upper limits of comfort. Tomorrow will call for some lighter clothing (and rain).
I’m back on my commuter bike, with only a back rack (the horror!), although I rarely load anything onto it aside from panniers. Last night I switched back to my 3-season tires and ditched the studs, which will have to wait a while to see some ice.
February 16th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
If you’re thinking of getting a generator tail light, I just learned that B&M has started to make a “braking” tail light, that flashes brighter when you slow down (it responds to the drop in power coming from the dynamo when the front wheel starts to slow down.
If I needed a tail light, I’d definitely get this one, as it’s a super cool idea. Peter White in NH carries them, Probably Harris too, although they’re not on the website, so call before you go.
February 16th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
That’s a really cool feature! The tail lights are cheaper than I expected, actually. (Many of the headlight options, too.)
I picked up a used B&M Seculite Plus in the parts bin at Broadway Bikes last week. It may be residing in said bin because it is dead, but who knows? Stay tuned.
February 16th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
The B&M Securelite Plus is a very nice light, for the connectors you’ll need to talk to Harris, peter White, Longleaf, or other B&M dealer to get the impossible to find 3mm(?) connector.
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:51 pm
[…] TweetI hate to repeat myself, but bright lights are for safety. With a few days of riding on my new dynamo light, I now have another anecdote to share. Yesterday, while riding down Mass Ave north of Porter […]
February 27th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
hmm,
I bought my connectors from Harris (bought a ton because they’re cheap and easy to mess up. However I’m pretty sure you can get similar at Radio Shack, and many of the B&M lights have push-to-connect terminals as well, which are easier short term, but harder to disconnect if you ever need to.
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:23 am
[…] riding: cold (28 degrees) and snow. Unfortunately, my bike was already set up for spring, as I removed my studded tires two weeks ago, and I had some pretty plain vanilla road tires on it. The road […]