Connecting lights to a Bosch e-bike system

[dev]

Hi everyone!

My Crescent bike has a Bosch Performance motor, but it doesn't have any light connected to the Bosch system. I've read that it's possible to add the lights: is there anyone here that already did it? How difficult is it? Is it true that I need help from an authorised Bosch vendor to activate the function?

 

[Wander]

According to this link yes you do need an authorised service centre to activate it.

You probably need a couple of these as well.

 

[dev]

Yeah I found that article (and the cables) myself some time ago, and exactly that made me think it's necessary to activate the button. Nothing else around on the subject. I just wonder if someone has their own experience to share.

 

[Wander]

Found this in one of KudosDave's old posts. Explains why this is so:-

There is one other regulation that makes it difficult for non German e-bike suppliers to sell into Germany-the lights must be powered by an independent power source which must maintain the power for 2 mins after the bike is stationary.

 

[Gringo]

I was looking into this just last week and was ready to do it, my bike shop said the function just needs turning on in the software and I was going to do the rest myself ( take the motor covers off and run the wires through the frame)

I decided to stick with my separate battery powered lights when I looked at the Bosch output.

0.6w rear and 8.4w front light, a little dim by modern standards.
As I want a tail light that stand out during the day and front that shows my way on unlit trails, I have a 1w rear light and on full power the front runs at about 12w. So switching to bike power would be a step backwards.
The Bosch system would best suit lights that are normaly powered by a hub Dynamo.

 

[JamesW]

I was looking into this just last week and was ready to do it, my bike shop said the function just needs turning on in the software and I was going to do the rest myself ( take the motor covers off and run the wires through the frame)

I decided to stick with my separate battery powered lights when I looked at the Bosch output.
View attachment 12126
0.6w rear and 8.4w front light, a little dim by modern standards.
As I want a tail light that stand out during the day and front that shows my way on unlit trails, I have a 1w rear light and on full power the front runs at about 12w. So switching to bike power would be a step backwards.
The Bosch system would best suit lights that are normaly powered by a hub Dynamo.

I've looked at that too - it's rather *** isn't it!
better off having a spare USB charged light and running it from the display connector if it dies and a couple of these style of lights:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/290940436543?hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&device=c&chn=ps&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80
(they tend to last over an hour on a charge and a pair mounted on the handlebars gives you lots of light for seeing with your Cube.) I need to get another. I'm thinking I'll ride with 2 lights and 3 batteries so I have a spare battery for when the lights die to get me all the way home. - there are lots of sellers of these and they are very cheap.

 

[Gringo]

ATM I have this pr http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cycling-Bicycle-Bike-3-LED-Head-Front-Rear-Tail-light-USB-Rechargeable-4-modes-/281678143170?var=&hash=item4195535ec2 they run for over 4 hrs flashing but I need to remember to charge every trip ( I do favour longer rides)
For my main beam I have a similar USB light to the one you've shown that pulls 2 amps on full, along with a whole bunch of lipo's so duration is no problem.
On order I have one of these 2 x 0.5 w LED lights, runs on 2 x AAA's (I've got quite a few high end AAA Nimh's)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141713374184?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The whole running off the bikes battery idea was just a flash in the pan

 

[JamesW]

ATM I have this pr http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cycling-Bicycle-Bike-3-LED-Head-Front-Rear-Tail-light-USB-Rechargeable-4-modes-/281678143170?var=&hash=item4195535ec2 they run for over 4 hrs flashing but I need to remember to charge every trip ( I do favour longer rides)
For my main beam I have a similar USB light to the one you've shown that pulls 2 amps on full, along with a whole bunch of lipo's so duration is no problem.
On order I have one of these 2 x 0.5 w LED lights, runs on 2 x AAA's (I've got quite a few high end AAA Nimh's)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141713374184?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The whole running off the bikes battery idea was just a flash in the pan

Its a beautiful thing when it does work. I doid it to my conversion kit as soon as the 1 year warranty was up and having lights on all the time was great, I never had to adjust my range to compensate as a learnt what it was and everything came on at the turn of a key. Problem is all of my old lights were 12v ones , the front one was a 10w light so way above the power limit and not suitable for off road. I think it can be done, you just need high-end lights (circa £200?). I seem to recall seeing a post where someone was upgrading their system with the help of Martin from ebike shop to do the S/W mod to the Bosch system and supply the cables. (It might have been SRS or mfj197). I'll try and track it down so we can cross reference who has knowledge of a lighting setup that works!

 

[JamesW]

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/bosch-lighting-connection-whereabouts.13998/
'twas SRS!

 

[mfj197]

Its a beautiful thing when it does work. I doid it to my conversion kit as soon as the 1 year warranty was up and having lights on all the time was great, I never had to adjust my range to compensate as a learnt what it was and everything came on at the turn of a key. Problem is all of my old lights were 12v ones , the front one was a 10w light so way above the power limit and not suitable for off road. I think it can be done, you just need high-end lights (circa £200?). I seem to recall seeing a post where someone was upgrading their system with the help of Martin from ebike shop to do the S/W mod to the Bosch system and supply the cables. (It might have been SRS or mfj197). I'll try and track it down so we can cross reference who has knowledge of a lighting setup that works!

But well remembered, I did ask about it too! The power limits got me, and in the end I've gone for a conversion rather than a Bosch bike. I haven't fitted my lights to this bike yet but I will be powering them from the main battery. I'm running 20 watts at the front and have an RC battery eliminator circuit to give me 7V (at up to something like 20A) from the main battery, from which I can drive the lights.

Michael

 

[Deere John]

I bought the cable and installed it the other day. Was to my LBS and had the system upgraded to the eMTB software and also said he could activate the light also. It was just a flip in the program then it was done. Great.

Routing the cable was easy, first I tried to pull a thread with the other cable, but that was hard. So I went the other way, see photo, then on the other side of the motor so it got perfect in the end.

One question on the lamp though, I thought the light output was only rated 8,4W for the front light. But the Lupine headlight is 16W! How comes that? I don't understand this, something fishy here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lupine-E-Bike-Headlight-SL-B-Bosch-StVZO-Front-light-for-Bosch-Pedelecs-/391702654025?hash=item5b334c2c49:g:dD0AAOSwopRYgz52

 

[Deere John]

I bought the cable and installed it the other day. Was to my LBS and had the system upgraded to the eMTB software and also said he could activate the light also. It was just a flip in the program then it was done. Great.

Routing the cable was easy, first I tried to pull a thread with the other cable, but that was hard. So I went the other way, see photo, then on the other side of the motor so it got perfect in the end.

One question on the lamp though, I thought the light output was only rated 8,4W for the front light. But the Lupine headlight is 16W! How comes that? I don't understand this, something fishy here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lupine-E-Bike-Headlight-SL-B-Bosch-StVZO-Front-light-for-Bosch-Pedelecs-/391702654025?hash=item5b334c2c49:g:dD0AAOSwopRYgz52

ok, now I have found something, it seems a software update tripled the light power output to 18W. At least according to below page:
https://electricbikereview.com/forum/threads/wiring-up-bike-light-to-bosch-system.6774/

 

[Deere John]

Have now tried a little with various lights. Soldered a DC-plug there and use battery lamps. They have all in common that they run from 2S battery packs. (8,4V fully charged). So the models that don't have some low battery safety feature works well. The 3-LED model there pulls 1.5A and that equals 9W. So if the light output is rated for 18W I could have twice as much power! Damn, that's one serious lamp then if it pulls 3A! quite satisfied with this, only minor thing is you have to push two buttons to power on (first time on the ride, next times during the ride the lamp switch is enough). Great!

 

[Deere John]

...it didn't work really well with newer MagicShine running on 6V. It senses low voltage and reduces power. Noticed that when using same lamp with battery.

But there is a solution for everything. I took the easy way and bought a DC-DC adjustable step up converter (MT3608). With this solution I can adjust output voltage to whatever I want up to 28V. A more effecient solution would have been to open up the lamp and try to change a resistor there to make it run on 6V. But that would make it bad when using it for batteries so this was better in terms of compatibility.

Unit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/282140775295

On first photo here I have only soldered the output pins to the lamp and feeding through my DC Power Supply set to 6V. Set the resistor so that the output voltage is ~7.8V. Running the MagicShine 1-LED model (1000 lumen).

Some trial and error concluded that when setting the output voltage to lower, like 7V it pulls less amps, tried 7,4V and got current of 1,16A. This variable resistor measured to ~4.34kOhm. And it works good on full power.
I also measured the voltage on the light output from Bosch to 6.23V.






Have wrapped in electrical tape and just pushed it into the frame before assembling the motor.

Got an assembly guide with the new motor. There is one page here with technical data, saying it can deliver a maximum of 1.4A (~8W), (don't know if that number is actually true according to last posts information).