STVZO Lights (with lenses)

[anotherkiwi]

I share the road with a guy who rides a long wheelbase cargo thingy and it is his only means of transport. He has a powerful fixed white light with non blinding beam on the front and another on his helmet. Two or three fixed red lights in the rear.

He is much more visible in the pitch black than the roadies with their blinkers from the front and from the rear. Yes roadies do ride in the pitch black with only blinky lights here!

 

[Gringo]

ps I purchased from AliExpress - total cost £19.70, then Royal Mail charged £3.02 import VAT & £8.00 fee. So for anything over £15.00 it makes sense to consider ebay/amazon/etc.

You were unfortunate to get nabbed by the vat man, he was probably having a bad day.
I usually keep my purchases under £22 without issue. If it’s any more than that with multiple items then I try to buy them individually

 

[pajtaz]

My one arrived over a week ago (100 lux) and got round to fitting/wring it yesterday, tonight cycled around to Lidl and they are super bright (and that is on night lit town roads), can imagine on totally unlit roads they will light up the dark light something from Close Encounters. Nicely lights up the road and way ahead without to much spread out side of the general direction of travel, this one replaces the similar one I got from PSWPower with a complete KT kit and is a substantially superior upgrade.
I got the three wire one with horn as my KT controller has the wiring outlet for one, horn is loud but sounds totally naff.
Any one wanting a bright day time light for riding this I think would fit the bill very nicely, if you just get the light only option one then you don't need a light switch a sit has one on the rear.

I am looking for a light that can connect directly to the KT36/48 controller. I found this light that seems to be the one you got: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32856825116.html

Is this the one you got? Can I connect it directly to KT36/48 controller (it seems so, just confirming)? Are you happy with it?

I am sick of my Cree LED light with its own battery since I need to charge battery separately, I don't have indication that battery is running low until maybe 5 minutes before it goes out. Now is the time to just have the light directly connected to the controller so I know I always have enough power to come home.

 

[saneagle]

I am looking for a light that can connect directly to the KT36/48 controller. I found this light that seems to be the one you got: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32856825116.html

Is this the one you got? Can I connect it directly to KT36/48 controller (it seems so, just confirming)? Are you happy with it?

I am sick of my Cree LED light with its own battery since I need to charge battery separately, I don't have indication that battery is running low until maybe 5 minutes before it goes out. Now is the time to just have the light directly connected to the controller so I know I always have enough power to come home.

You shouldn't wire any light to the controller. It seems like a good idea because it's convenient, but it's fraught with potential problems, and you can only use low power lights.

It's just as easy to wire lights direct to the battery with their own switch, then you can use any lights you want that work at that voltage. Add a fuse for protection if you want.

 

[pajtaz]

You shouldn't wire any light to the controller. It seems like a good idea because it's convenient, but it's fraught with potential problems, and you can only use low power lights.

It's just as easy to wire lights direct to the battery with their own switch, then you can use any lights you want that work at that voltage. Add a fuse for protection if you want.

What potential problems are there with 48V light connected to the KT controller light output connector? I have KT LCD3 and it can turn on/off lights with press of a button. I am assuming it just tells the controller to send 48V to the light. I don't understand why there should be a problem.

 

[pajtaz]

You shouldn't wire any light to the controller. It seems like a good idea because it's convenient, but it's fraught with potential problems, and you can only use low power lights.

It's just as easy to wire lights direct to the battery with their own switch, then you can use any lights you want that work at that voltage. Add a fuse for protection if you want.

Ok I did a bit of reading and I finally found one page on a forum that says that light output can only supply 100 mA. I'll avoid using it.

What I did was get this light: https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/gp/product/B08NXJN71M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works up to 48V, it has on/off switch. Now what I can't figure out is where to wire this light. I have a 48V battery that is connected to the controller with XT60. Where do I get the 48V and GND for the light? Do I get it from the controller somehow? Can I get it from the battery directly? I have one of these bottle batteries: https://www.elecycles.com/48v-electric-battery.html

 

[saneagle]

What potential problems are there with 48V light connected to the KT controller light output connector? I have KT LCD3 and it can turn on/off lights with press of a button. I am assuming it just tells the controller to send 48V to the light. I don't understand why there should be a problem.

Lights are switched by a transistor on the controller's pcb. It's too easy to blow the transistor. Do you know the transistor's rating? Even if your lights are below the rating, it can blow because of spikes, inrush or shorts.

I'm passing you on experience from this forum. Do a search to see how many "my lights stopped working" or "my lights won't switch off" threads you can find.

You can splice into the battery wires or join the extra pins on the battery connector that aren't used.

 

[pajtaz]

You can splice into the battery wires or join the extra pins on the battery connector that aren't used.

Thanks. I just checked the battery cable that plugs into the 4-pin battery connector. It has only two wires and each of the wires is soldered to both sockets. Therefore both pins are being used. I was hoping I can use one pair for lights.

What I can do is solder another two wires to one pair of the pins and use that to make a connector for the light. Do you know if 1A fuse is needed, where to put it, and which one to get?

 

[pajtaz]

Thinking now, maybe I could simply solder the light wires to the XT60 connector pins of the motor controller. Is that reasonable?

Lights will maybe pull 0.3A, I can't see that they can do more than that. I can then put an inline 1A or 2A fuse on the 48V wire going from the XT60 connector to the light. Does this make sense?

 

[Nealh]

I successfully rode and used the KT 17/20a 6 mosfet controller with wired light/horn output for some 3 - 4 years via the paired horn/ light switch before I scrapped the hub powered norco hybrid bike because of a snapped seat tube. I wired the rear and front light in parallel using simple 36 volt lights that needed no step up/step down internal converters, never had an issue at all.

 

[matthewslack]

I use Anderson power poles rather than XT60, and this is my dc-dc converter that plugs in-between battery and controller when I need it to provide USB for charging small things.

If you can solder, then same principle gets you a power takeoff for your lights. I would include an inline fuse close to the XT60 end.

 

[guerney]

I use Anderson power poles rather than XT60, and this is my dc-dc converter that plugs in-between battery and controller when I need it to provide USB for charging small things.

If you can solder, then same principle gets you a power takeoff for your lights. I would include an inline fuse close to the XT60 end.

View attachment 55802

Did you crimp or solder the Anderson Power Poles? I might buy some rated 45A, because 15A and 30A look identical on ebay pics, unsure how one can tell the difference - is rating stamped on the terminals? I've read about plastic on cheap copies being brittle and easy to break, but I don't know how widespread a problem that is.

 

[matthewslack]

Did you crimp or solder the Anderson Power Poles? I might buy some rated 45A, because 15A and 30A look identical, unsure how one can tell the difference - is rating stamped on the terminals?

I solder them, and use the 30A rated contacts, which for my average current draw of about 3A is fine. They are quite small bits of metal, so if I was using much higher current I might change to XT60 or XT90.

I always buy the genuine Andersons, not the clones. The clones might be fine, I don't know, but I like the peace of mind on critical stuff.

I like the option to remove it when not in use too.

Edit: didn't read your whole question!

The 30s have a tubular end for soldering or crimping, the 45s have open ears rather than a tubular end, more aimed at crimping. No obvious difference at the contact end that I could ever see. I haven't noticed any markings.

 

[saneagle]

I successfully rode and used the KT 17/20a 6 mosfet controller with wired light/horn output for some 3 - 4 years via the paired horn/ light switch before I scrapped the hub powered norco hybrid bike because of a snapped seat tube. I wired the rear and front light in parallel using simple 36 volt lights that needed no step up/step down internal converters, never had an issue at all.

Many LED drivers have capacitors and inductors in them. when you switch on, the inrush can blow the transistor, and when you switch off, the induction spike can do it. Maybe you were lucky and had an LED driver that didn't work like that. Basically, the controller's light connector is only meant for low power LEDs in series. Anything else is dodgy.

 

[pajtaz]

So I am assuming I can just solder the light wires to the motor controller XT60? Then add a fuse just for the light wires. This gives me 48V and GND without having to add more connectors or solder to battery connector.

 

[saneagle]

So I am assuming I can just solder the light wires to the motor controller XT60? Then add a fuse just for the light wires. This gives me 48V and GND without having to add more connectors or solder to battery connector.

Anywhere you want that's connected to the black and red battery wires. Fuse is optional, but it might stop the wires for the lights melting if you get a short.