Wired bike lights
- Thread starter Anthonyexmouth
- Start date
I found this some weeks ago...
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/wiring-lights-yamaha-motor-giant-2016.25560/
Piccies are missing but you'll get the drift
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/wiring-lights-yamaha-motor-giant-2016.25560/
Piccies are missing but you'll get the drift
D
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I don't know for certain, but normally, the connections for lights are switched by a very small transistor, so you're limited on how much power you can take out of that 6v supply. If you overload it, the transistor will blow. You need to consult the manual. Personally, I wouldn't bother because the lights are likely to be expensive and useless. get some proper battery lights instead.
kinda liked the idea of having some lights that were always attached for popping out on lit roads and then having my good battery lights for planned dark playtime off road or unlit lanes. maybe its a silly idea
Definitely not a silly idea. Wired lights on an electric bike should be the 'gold standard'. I've never understood why folk are happy to mess around with charging separate lighting packs. Imagine having to faff around with auxiliary lighting packs every time you wanted to drive your car at night.
The problem here is the 6V/low current supply from your controller which seriously limits your choice of lighting. If possible, you'd be better off taking a separate feed direct from your battery to power your lights.
The problem here is the 6V/low current supply from your controller which seriously limits your choice of lighting. If possible, you'd be better off taking a separate feed direct from your battery to power your lights.
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Yep - 6v will give you legal but otherwise useless lights. Good to have so you've always got lights providing your main battery has charge. However if you actually want to see where you're going you need something more serious.
I agree, life is to short to have to worry about yet another thing.. Apparently the every early cars used paraffin lamps with wicks and all.. your chauffeur would have dealt with that class of thing. . . If the lighting set could be economically powered from the battery pack , that is a solution , or as i have it on my bike, a hub dynamo set. Ultra reliable, the dynamo is a set and forget system.
The fundamental problem is that the main battery pack at 36 to 40 v is much to high for any led lighting which expects 3.5 v accross the led device... 1.8v accross the red lamp. There are only two ways this can be managed from a battery pack. 1. Take a feed from accross from one of the cells, thus potentially unbalancing the pack, or 2. take a feed from the entire pack and step it down to a suitable value. Again there are two ways of during that, the cheap and wasteful way or the slightly more expensive electronic way. The cheap way uses a resistor or transistor configured as a voltage dropper and wastes 90% of the power in the lamp, or the more expensive way is a dc to dc converter which only wastes 10% ..
Some bikes are actually supplied with wired lights. I suppose it's a legal thing.. if a bike was supplied with the blindingly bright lights we have become acustomed to they would probably be against half a dozen eu laws.
Though acetylene (carbide) lamps could be blindingly bright - and were used on bicycles. You can go buy one right now:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Powell-Hanmer-Revenge-Bicycle-Lamp-carbide-acetylene-/132451663041
I use the 42v b+m wired front light, it feeds 6v to the rear light. I use their battery lights too.
According to venerable Wikipedia, french law requires bikes to be sold with wired lights and german law with dynamo sets. However even the swiss as well as the germans appear to be lax , with 40%+ non compliance by cyclists. What consitutes legal lighting appears to be down to national regulations not eu ones.
There is no need to do anything elaborate for fixed lights.
For a diy route PSWPower KT controller has a separate wire/horn loop for lights installation obviously not suited to the Giant.
On my town /commute bike I simply took a direct feed (using 22awg wire) from the live supply from battery to Luishi controller, inserted an inline fuse added a simple push button latching switch then simply wired up two lights from Banggood like these.
https://www.banggood.com/Silver-12-90V-Electric-Cars-Motorcycles-Led-Headlights-p-940585.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
Three years on and still working, the rear light is a front one, I made and fitted a red filter in front of the lense for a nice bright rear affect. I'm not bothered whether they are EN or BS numbered or meet the standard as at night or in gloomy conditions I want to be seen. I reckon 90% + of other bikes I see at night have no lights at all so its up to them if they become a casualty, plod aren't bothered you got lights you can be seen.
Rear after burner nice bright and gets me seen on town lit roads.
Same Super bright front light, angle light down to reduce glare.
For a diy route PSWPower KT controller has a separate wire/horn loop for lights installation obviously not suited to the Giant.
On my town /commute bike I simply took a direct feed (using 22awg wire) from the live supply from battery to Luishi controller, inserted an inline fuse added a simple push button latching switch then simply wired up two lights from Banggood like these.
https://www.banggood.com/Silver-12-90V-Electric-Cars-Motorcycles-Led-Headlights-p-940585.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
Three years on and still working, the rear light is a front one, I made and fitted a red filter in front of the lense for a nice bright rear affect. I'm not bothered whether they are EN or BS numbered or meet the standard as at night or in gloomy conditions I want to be seen. I reckon 90% + of other bikes I see at night have no lights at all so its up to them if they become a casualty, plod aren't bothered you got lights you can be seen.
Rear after burner nice bright and gets me seen on town lit roads.
Same Super bright front light, angle light down to reduce glare.
Hmm, you surprise me. I wasn't expecting that. The only thing I dislike more than lighting powered from a separate battery is a dynamo on an electric bike. It's an unnecessarily complex system with unnecessary conversion losses. IMO, not what sustainable transport is about - simplicity and efficiency.
On my Cobi for Bosch the built in light is both powered from the bike battery and automatic. When on auto it is permanantly on as a daytime running light and has two further brighness levels that come into play as the light fails. This works well for general daylight use and I have yet to try it in total darknes but its obvious its never going to be good enough for trails or unlit streets.
Aparently it conforms to German regulations, but as I see it it is limited by the power availble at the Bosch head unit as that is where it fits.
However, I do not have the skills to tap into my bikes systems, so one of my reasons for the purchase was the aftermarket automatic lighting for daylight /Dusk use and it does that very well. If I go out at night I will add another brighter light.
Aparently it conforms to German regulations, but as I see it it is limited by the power availble at the Bosch head unit as that is where it fits.
However, I do not have the skills to tap into my bikes systems, so one of my reasons for the purchase was the aftermarket automatic lighting for daylight /Dusk use and it does that very well. If I go out at night I will add another brighter light.
On my Boxer Shuttle trike the lights & indicators are the same as those on the Landrover Defender. The controls are a motorcycle type.
I'm a complete numpty re electronics but it looks like they are powered via a DC to DC converter.
I use them a lot in daytime gloomy conditions and the few times I've ridden at night.
Cycling back from my son's through an unlit park I was seen by my wife driving the same journey. She reckons I could be seen from the Space Station
I'm a complete numpty re electronics but it looks like they are powered via a DC to DC converter.
I use them a lot in daytime gloomy conditions and the few times I've ridden at night.
Cycling back from my son's through an unlit park I was seen by my wife driving the same journey. She reckons I could be seen from the Space Station
We dont always consider how we appear to others. When I go for an off road night ride with offspring we meet at the cemetary gates, and I see him coming long before he is actually in view and the combination of his bike and head mounted lights siluetting the grave stones is wierd to say the least.
There are a couple of very good threads on ES about wiring in brake lights etc and they use a buck converter. I am keen to wire in a brake light to the HWbrake sensor I will put on the trike because down hill I like to use more of the road and am doing about the same speed as the cars following me. Blinkers will be phase two...
There certainly are and this is the most informative:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75171
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I quite like the dynamo lights on my Kalkhoff, they are bright enough to see my way on unlit paths/roads at night and I never have to worry about batteries, even if I get to the end of the motor battery.
The hub dynamo itself is very good and I don't notice the difference. A far cry from the old dynamo lights I had in the 80's with the sprung wheel that pressed on the tyre. That felt like a proper drag when you used it!