Review: Solidlights 1203d (long)

[SMS]

Andy M-S wrote:

> Generators, hub and/or bottle, are an excellent way to light the road;
> but they've been handicapped by inefficient lights--incandescent
> lights, including halogens, honestly work better with batteries. With
> LEDs, generators come into their own, and no complex circuits are
> needed to make things work.

Yes, it seems that with the Solidlight, or equivalent homebrew LED you
can finally get a decent amount of light with a dynamo system.

What is the voltage out of the bridge rectifier? Do you use a capacitor
to smooth the peaks or not bother? Are the LEDs regulated at all? There
must be a series resistor either built in or external.

The difficult issue with the high power LED lights is dissipating all
the heat from the semiconductor junction. It's a common misconception
that LED lights generate no heat, while in fact the high power LEDs
generate significant amounts of heat.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <120920071650177832%[email protected]>,
Luke <[email protected]> wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, Tim
> McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > This has been debated at length in other threads and doesn't need
> > to be repeated here. Basically, enough light is enough light and
> > more is not necessarily better. Most battery powered lights have
> > suboptimal optics for cycling, since the lamps they use are not
> > designed for that application (I can't speak for the DiNottes since
> > I haven't seen one in person);
>
> <snip>
>
> This is just an open request. I used to have a link to a site
> comprising night photos of the Dinotte's as well as other LED and
> IIRC HID and Halogen light beam profiles. I remember the site was the
> work of an enthusiast (not affliated with magazines) and the photos
> were part of a comprehensive review of 4 or 5 battery powered lights.
> Does anyone have a link to such a site?

I think I remember that site. It had two scrollable columns of photos
so that different lights could be compared side by side. It was a bit
outdated, last I saw it, but still interesting. There used to be a link
on Peter White Cycles' web pages, but I didn't see it in a quick
look-through. The pages have been updated since last I looked at this
site:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm

 

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:49:07 -0500, Tim McNamara
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <120920071650177832%[email protected]>,
> Luke <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> In article <[email protected]>, Tim
>> McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> > This has been debated at length in other threads and doesn't need
>> > to be repeated here. Basically, enough light is enough light and
>> > more is not necessarily better. Most battery powered lights have
>> > suboptimal optics for cycling, since the lamps they use are not
>> > designed for that application (I can't speak for the DiNottes since
>> > I haven't seen one in person);
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> This is just an open request. I used to have a link to a site
>> comprising night photos of the Dinotte's as well as other LED and
>> IIRC HID and Halogen light beam profiles. I remember the site was the
>> work of an enthusiast (not affliated with magazines) and the photos
>> were part of a comprehensive review of 4 or 5 battery powered lights.
>> Does anyone have a link to such a site?
>
>I think I remember that site. It had two scrollable columns of photos
>so that different lights could be compared side by side. It was a bit
>outdated, last I saw it, but still interesting. There used to be a link
>on Peter White Cycles' web pages, but I didn't see it in a quick
>look-through. The pages have been updated since last I looked at this
>site:
>
>http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm

Dear Tim,

Possibly this site?

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Komponenten/Scheinwerfer/vergleich.htm

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 12, 1:54 pm, Dane Buson <[email protected]> wrote:
> In rec.bicycles.misc Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> > Tch! You're just being silly, Tim. Surely /everybody/ knows that neither
> > LED lights nor dynamo systems are suitable for actually seeing where one is
> > going at night.
> > </thudding_irony>
>
> Funny. That's not the opinion of the fellow who flipped me off last
> night and yelled at me "Dim your lights asshole!". I didn't think it
> was *that* bright, but evidently I was mistaken. I'll have to be much
> more careful of other cyclists on the commute this winter than with my
> old light.

Hmm. Sounds like the Solidlights unit could benefit from a proper
front lens! If it's blinding oncoming people, it's definitely wasting
light.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Alan Braggins) wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, Tim
> McNamara wrote:
> >>
> >> Until a generator system offers comparable convenience and power
> >> -- 5W/200 lumens --
> >
> >This has been debated at length in other threads and doesn't need to
> >be repeated here. Basically, enough light is enough light and more
> >is not necessarily better.
>
> That's not the issue. You can get a 5W/200 lumens generator system,
> what you can't easily get is one _at the same price as a comparable
> battery system_ (and Luke did say "at the Dinotte's price"), at least
> so long as you can usually use rechargeables in the battery system.
> The dynamo system will be less hassle, but different people with
> different riding habits will value that differently.

As I said in reply to another post, that's the calculus.

> >I'm also interested in the Solidlight 1203D but there are no
> >unfortunately photos of the beam on their Web site.
>
> http://www.meiring.org.uk/pdm/Audax/SolidLights_Review.shtml has some
> beam photos of the 1203D.

Thanks! That's very useful.

> >> Consider: a significant benefit of the Dinotte is that it can be
> >> switched between my several bikes in less than 2 minutes - no
> >> exaggeration; it's also relatively cheap, (on sale the Dinotte
> >> Ultra 5, complete with 4 NiMH AAs and charger, cost IIRC $120 @
> >> westernbikeworks.com), lightweight, durable and waterproof (so
> >> far!).
> >
> >At the risk of it being on the wrong bike if you get caught out at
> >night when you weren't planning on it.
>
> A dynamo system is harder to swap from bike to bike, and if you put
> one on all your bikes the cost goes up further.

It's easy to put a lamp on each bike and just swap the wheel (this of
course means a hub generator). That's been my solution. The one bike
with a different wheel size has its own generator which I happened to
get for free.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
CoyoteBoy <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 12 Sep, 13:17, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]>,
> >
> > CoyoteBoy <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On 12 Sep, 05:12, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > > Good grief, what a blessed nuisance to have to carry four sets
> > > > of batteries and swap them out every two hours. Why not just
> > > > use a generator system?
> >
> > > I have no issues carrying extra batteries and swapping them. I'd
> > > like a dynamo but they dont do 40w 12v ones for less than the
> > > price of my lights and several sets of fairly lightweight
> > > batteries so it just isnt sensible.
> >
> > Why the *********** do you think you need a 12V 40W lighting system
> > on a bike? Unless you have night blindness that is major overkill.
> > 10W lights are already bright enough to screw up your vision at
> > night, 40W would just be much worse.
>
> At 30-40mph off-road with jumps I like being able to see. It screws
> up other peoples night sight, sure, but they all crowd in behind me
> on descents so they can see better

Testosterone poisoning must adversely affect one's eyesight.

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 12, 4:13 pm, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dane Buson wrote:
> > Why not? The only time you need the very top of the watt range is going
> > downhill. Anyone can coast down a hill.
>
> Perhaps that true for you, but don't presume to speak to the vast
> majority of transportatinoal cyclists in the U.S..

What an odd thing for Scharf to say! For years now, he's been
claiming that _he_ knows what's best for all transportational cyclists
in the U.S., and denying the experiences of the many who disagree!

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
Dane Buson <[email protected]> wrote:

> In rec.bicycles.misc SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Dane Buson wrote:
> >
> >> Funny. That's not the opinion of the fellow who flipped me off
> >> last night and yelled at me "Dim your lights asshole!". I didn't
> >> think it was *that* bright, but evidently I was mistaken. I'll
> >> have to be much more careful of other cyclists on the commute this
> >> winter than with my old light.
> >
> > Sounds like there's finally a decent dynamo light available. I see
> > that they make similar battery powered lights as well. What's
> > particularly good is the beam pattern with a center spot, combined
> > with sufficient beam spread out to the sides; a broad pattern is
> > where most dynamo lights fall short, but they have to concentrate
> > their limited output in
> > a center spot.
>
> Actually, in some ways, it's too much of a good thing. It has some
> of the same problems every battery light I've seen has. It beam is
> not shaped as well as the dynamo headlights. The dynamo headlights
> really do have better optics.
>
> > The Fenix, mentioned earlier, with the 3W Cree LED has a similarly
> > good beam pattern for cycling. All that needs to be done is to hook
> > up one or two Fenix flashlights to a dynamo, via a buck/boost
> > regulator.
>
> The newer LEDs are really outstanding. I really wish the companies
> would move a little faster getting them into bike products.

And develop a good lens/reflector system to maximize the utilization of
the light, as we already have with halogen bulbs.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
SMS <[email protected]> wrote:

> I tend to agree with the statement on Peter White's web site "Only
> Busch & Muller makes a 12 volt dynamo that meets the German StVZO
> requirements for safe and efficient bicycle lighting system."

Bully for you. I am sure that B&M will be delighted to hear it.
Unfortunately this is one of those statements that only sounds like it
means something.

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <[email protected]>,
Chris Gerhard <[email protected]> wrote:

> SMS wrote:
> > M-gineering wrote:
> >> SMS wrote:
> >>
> >>> It's too bad there are no 12V/6W hub dynamos yet, not that I've
> >>> found anyway.
> >>
> >> Of course you /could/ Google on '12v/6w AND dynamo', but that
> >> wouldn't be sporting
> >
> > Which would show you 12V/6W bottle dynamos. Sure the SON can be
> > pushed to that at higher speeds, but it's not practical for many
> > users.
>
> My son is wired for 12V

Ehhh... his name doesn't happen to be "Fester," does it?

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 12, 4:24 pm, Chris Gerhard <[email protected]> wrote:
> SMS wrote:
> >
>
> > Sure the SON can be pushed
> > to that [12 V, 6 W] at higher speeds, but it's not practical for many users.
>
> My son is wired for 12V and only when the speed drops below 10mph does
> it fade, but then at that speed it is really not a problem.

Two comments: First, getting 12 V, 6 W is also possible with at least
some roller dynamos. I do it with my Soubitez roller unit. It's
probably less likely to be successful with a bottle unit, though,
because the smaller diameter roller is more likely to slip under the
heavier load.

Second, if your two headlights in series do go too dim under 10 mph
(or whatever speed), you can cure it by wiring a shunt switch in
parallel with the second headlight. Close the switch to short across
it to take it out of the circuit at low speed, putting full power
through the one lamp. Open the switch at higher speed for both
lamps.

I've done this, with the switch mounted at my handlebar, near my
thumb. In fact, the version now on my commuting bike has a single
pole, double throw, center off switch, wired so I can select either
headlight, or both. It works pretty well.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[[email protected]]

On Sep 12, 7:21 pm, David Horwitt <[email protected]> wrote:
> ... I suspect 'most' dynamo-enlightened cyclists have used battery driven
> lights, and found the dynamos more useful for their particular situation.

Absolutely. For me, the charging and replacing (and forgetting) of
batteries was just not worth it.

Can you imagine doing that to get headlights on your car or
motorcycle? "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't bring the batteries for our
car's lighting system, because I didn't think the movie would be so
long. We'll have to walk home."

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, SMS wrote:
> Are the LEDs regulated at all? There
>must be a series resistor either built in or external.

Only in the sense that you can't practically wire a dynamo with
superconductors. You can't get enough current out of a hub dynamo
to damage a high-power LED with proper heatsinking. There's no
need to put in additional resistors or regulation, as there would be
with a battery system.

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
>Absolutely. For me, the charging and replacing (and forgetting) of
>batteries was just not worth it.
>
>Can you imagine doing that to get headlights on your car or
>motorcycle? "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't bring the batteries for our
>car's lighting system, because I didn't think the movie would be so
>long. We'll have to walk home."

A friend of mine did have an ancient AJS with magneto ignition and
no dynamo or alternator to charge the battery, so did have to take the
battery off to charge it. In the end he just took the light off altogether
and only used it on fine days. It wasn't, obviously, his main mode of
transport, and plenty of cyclists do the same, at least with some bikes.

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Tim McNamara wrote:
> [email protected] (Alan Braggins) wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>, Tim
>> McNamara wrote:
>
>> >> Consider: a significant benefit of the Dinotte is that it can be
>> >> switched between my several bikes in less than 2 minutes
[...]
>> >At the risk of it being on the wrong bike if you get caught out at
>> >night when you weren't planning on it.
>>
>> A dynamo system is harder to swap from bike to bike, and if you put
>> one on all your bikes the cost goes up further.
>
>It's easy to put a lamp on each bike and just swap the wheel (this of
>course means a hub generator). That's been my solution. The one bike
>with a different wheel size has its own generator which I happened to
>get for free.

If all your bikes have similar wheel sizes and tyres, that's still not
as convenient as swapping a typical handlebar mounted battery light
with spare mounts on the other bars. Though if you keep the oher bikes
without a front wheel, the chances of your riding off in daylight and
forgetting to fit a front wheel are lower than the chances of forgetting
to swap a light.....

 

[Chris Gerhard]

[email protected] wrote:
> On Sep 12, 4:24 pm, Chris Gerhard <[email protected]> wrote:
>> SMS wrote:
>>> Sure the SON can be pushed
>>> to that [12 V, 6 W] at higher speeds, but it's not practical for many users.
>> My son is wired for 12V and only when the speed drops below 10mph does
>> it fade, but then at that speed it is really not a problem.
>
> Two comments: First, getting 12 V, 6 W is also possible with at least
> some roller dynamos. I do it with my Soubitez roller unit. It's
> probably less likely to be successful with a bottle unit, though,
> because the smaller diameter roller is more likely to slip under the
> heavier load.
>
> Second, if your two headlights in series do go too dim under 10 mph
> (or whatever speed), you can cure it by wiring a shunt switch in
> parallel with the second headlight. Close the switch to short across
> it to take it out of the circuit at low speed, putting full power
> through the one lamp. Open the switch at higher speed for both
> lamps.
>
> I've done this, with the switch mounted at my handlebar, near my
> thumb. In fact, the version now on my commuting bike has a single
> pole, double throw, center off switch, wired so I can select either
> headlight, or both. It works pretty well.

Indeed the Schmit E6-Z has exactly that arrangement and is the light I use.

I used to be a dynamo bad person until I tried a modern one since then I
would not want to go back to batteries. For commuting and general use
having lights permanently attached to the bike that always work is a winner.

--chris

 

[Peter Clinch]

SMS wrote:

> Yes, it seems that with the Solidlight, or equivalent homebrew LED you
> can finally get a decent amount of light with a dynamo system.

I use a (considerably cheaper and off the shelf) B&M D-Oval Senso Plus
and I get a decent amount of light. How do I know it's decent? Because
I use it on unlit country lanes and get where I'm going with no
particular bother!

> The difficult issue with the high power LED lights is dissipating all
> the heat from the semiconductor junction. It's a common misconception
> that LED lights generate no heat, while in fact the high power LEDs
> generate significant amounts of heat.

Well, I just put the off-the-shelf unit and off I go, and it works, and
it gives me enough light. B&M did the engineering bit (aside from
tightening the mounting bolt), and seem to know what they're at. I
guess that's why they do it professionally, for thouands and thousands
of riders...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Peter Clinch]

SMS wrote:

> Perhaps that true for you, but don't presume to speak to the vast
> majority of transportatinoal cyclists in the U.S..

> There are so many half-truths and downright untruths that are taken as
> gospel by some dynamo advocates that I don't know where to start, but
> your statement is as good a place as any.

BOOOOOOM!!

What was that?
Oh, just my ACME irony-o-meter blowing up with some degree of force...

Dynamo advocates are typically dynamo advocates because they use dynamos
and find they work very well, including in the situations you asure them
that they don't. They have nothing to gain by lying about them, and if
they are as "unsafe" as you make out then all they'll get is killed.
But it doesn't appear to be happening, so the evidence isn't really on
your side. You still seem to think that if you adopt a calm, reasonable
tone then you /must/ be right, but tone is not related to actual
content, and your content with respect to dynamo adequacy is "so many
half-truths and downright untruths". How do I know? Direct empirical
experience, along with direct empirical experience of one hell of a lot
of dynamo using transportational cyclists, who you seem happy to think
you can speak for.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[[email protected]]

On 13 Sep 2007 08:19:12 +0100 (BST), [email protected] (Alan
Braggins) wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>>Absolutely. For me, the charging and replacing (and forgetting) of
>>batteries was just not worth it.
>>
>>Can you imagine doing that to get headlights on your car or
>>motorcycle? "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't bring the batteries for our
>>car's lighting system, because I didn't think the movie would be so
>>long. We'll have to walk home."
>
>A friend of mine did have an ancient AJS with magneto ignition and
>no dynamo or alternator to charge the battery, so did have to take the
>battery off to charge it. In the end he just took the light off altogether
>and only used it on fine days. It wasn't, obviously, his main mode of
>transport, and plenty of cyclists do the same, at least with some bikes.

Dear Frank & Alan,

In the 1970's, some Honda single-cylinder 4-stroke short track racers
were modified to run a total loss ignition, removing the magneto and
using just a battery for spark.

The advantage was that without the magneto flywheel, the beast would
rev up faster, an example of rotating mass that really did make a
difference.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>On Sep 12, 1:54 pm, Dane Buson <[email protected]> wrote:
>> In rec.bicycles.misc Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>> > Tch! You're just being silly, Tim. Surely /everybody/ knows that neither
>> > LED lights nor dynamo systems are suitable for actually seeing where one is
>> > going at night.
>> > </thudding_irony>
>>
>> Funny. That's not the opinion of the fellow who flipped me off last
>> night and yelled at me "Dim your lights asshole!". I didn't think it
>> was *that* bright, but evidently I was mistaken. I'll have to be much
>> more careful of other cyclists on the commute this winter than with my
>> old light.
>
>Hmm. Sounds like the Solidlights unit could benefit from a proper
>front lens! If it's blinding oncoming people, it's definitely wasting
>light.

I've only tried the Solidlights 1103. It is a symmetrical beam, not shaped
like a Lumotec or similar, but certainly no worse than many MR-11 based
halogen lights. (The 1103 was not putting as much useful light on the
road as my cheap 10W halogen when the halogen battery pack was fully charged,
but not wasting anything like as much splashed around. An hour later, the
unregulated halogen was putting less light on the road.)
The 1203 will be brighter at full power (two LEDs, not one), but I wouldn't
have thought it was excessive if reasonably aimed.