thanks for the link,that looks good, i wonder if it can also flood out... i didnt read all of it cause im on the phone... but im book marking it.
the never ending quest for proper lighting.....
- Thread starter outlawbiker
- Start date
I have been doing my reasearch and building lights as well. Here is what I am doing... I will be using the white wire to trickle charge a 4.7ah 6v SLA. I may add a cheap solar panel just for fun. Tail, brake and turn signals will be done with LEDS. Head light is a modified 6v camping light ( they are less than 5 bucks and include a battery). Led are not he best choice for head lights, they do not illiminate the entire spectrum (hence the low energy draw) This makes them great for being seen, but not for seeing. Halogen and other super bright bulbs have to high a draw or cost for me to consider, so Standard incadesant is a great choice for the headlight. According to my calculations the system only draws more than the white wire puts out,when headlight is on so battery would charge during daylight riding. I have considered adding a dynamo to the system for extended night driving... hope that helps, I should have pics by the end of the week.
looking forward to seeing what you come up with ferball. i've still got to do my homework with trying to find a dynamo that would work with a disc and caliper set up; that would be sweet if it could be done.
I was thinking of doing a homemade dynamo...Any electric motor will work, I have an old electric screwdriver motor that I may use, or a salvaged printer head motor, or a mini fan motor... I have a few to choose from, just have not tested them all to see what has the best output. The other idea I was toying with, but would be quite involved and I am not sure of its practicality, is turn your wheel into a dynamo, mount some magnets on the rim and slap some coils on your brake mounts and see what that does, but what I would realy like to do for a dynamo is get an electric hub for my front wheel and use it for output, I bet you could get some serious juice out of that, but it all take time and money, time I have a little, money not so much....
im not trying to discourage you from a DYI project,but wouldnt it just be easier to pay 44 bucks for the mini gen on ebay and create a LED lighting system off of it.
Probably, but what fun is in that? I have to admit I sometimes go the long way around the barn because I like the scenery.
Reverse engineer one of those shaker LED flashlights. I have a couple that are 6 years old and they still work every time I pull them out of the drawer. A friend told me they use some kind of slow discharge capacitor instead of a battery.
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I use a simple 21 LED flashlight I modified to run off a 12V battery at high efficiency. You could just use rechargeable batteries though and use the flashlight as-is, it's plenty bright for a bike.
As for the homemade dynamo, I can vouch for that. I used a small electric motor with a toy rubber tire to contact the rear wheel of my bike and spin with it. I wasn't able to measure it's output power unfortunately, something tells me that it ain't much.
As for the homemade dynamo, I can vouch for that. I used a small electric motor with a toy rubber tire to contact the rear wheel of my bike and spin with it. I wasn't able to measure it's output power unfortunately, something tells me that it ain't much.
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The system that you are proposing should work well. I have a similar system. I originally used a 1.3ah SLA battery and it never went dead in 1000 miles and almost a year of use. I am now testing a 2 cell rechargeable lithium battery and it seems to be working even better. The voltage is holding up well as it charges off the white wire. Either way, you will have to add a diode. I found it best to stick with a ½ wave negative ground system which will not affect the spark output. I tried it with and without a regulator. The regulator was never needed. I use an LED headlight so can get by with the smaller batteries, but you are right in that an incandescent works better for illumination.
Just a word of warning about using Li-ion batteries, without the proper charging system and most importantly over charge protection you're running the risk of having them explode and quite possibly serious injury.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNeeIzaeYDo
Li-ion cells SHOULD NOT be powered off the white wire!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNeeIzaeYDo
Li-ion cells SHOULD NOT be powered off the white wire!!!!
I considered that. But the current generated by the white wire in a ½ wave negative ground system achieves about ¼ of an amp. That is barely a trickle charge. And on a motorized bicycle, the battery only sees this for the relatively short periods while actually riding at speed. The allowable peak voltage of 2 Lifepo4 cells is higher than the white wire typically puts out, so the battery barely reaches a full charge and then stops pulling any current. The white wire is not a constant current source. I have been running it that way for over 100 miles in the last two months and the battery is staying within it’s recommended voltage range. Usually near the middle. And that is without running the headlight. Just the brake light and turn signals. I’m not too worried about 2 AA lithium cells encased in a plastic enclosure. I think it is OK. Time will tell. This is an experiment.
Do what I did. Get a 12v motorcycle battery and a 55 watt off road light. I charge up the battery every other day and I'm good to go. The lights are on any time I ride.
Terry
Terry
Very interesting post. If you want to run the brightest lights of of a bottle generator or dyno hub then go to Peter white cycles and look at the lights there. He carries the brightest led lights that work of of a bicycle generator on the market. Peter White Cycles Home Page
Man I cant get one of those LED lights to last for more than a couple miles. Purchased a handle bar mount made by Zefal at Walmart, and the vibration killed it, the taillight still works good. Then tried to mount a small LEd flashlight in the same holder and the same thing, lasted about a mile then wouldnt work. Were can you purchase a shock proof Led?
You need to go somewhere else other than WalMart for your lights. You can make up an automotive style system with batteries or some type of generator. You can also purchase bicycle systems. In the seventies the CPSC kissed the BMAs butt and denied the public the right to purchase manufactured bicycles with lights already on them. To save the bicycle manufactures association money they made lights a specialty item. When I was in the army in Germany I could go in many bicycle shops and hardware stores and buy high quality head and tail lights in sets or purchase the separate components at a reasonable price. If you want to generate your own lights Sturney Archer, Sachs, Shimano and Schmidt make dyno hubs. These front bicycle hubs are the most dependable way to generate light on a bicycle. You can now purchase lights that work with these generators and illuminate the road so you can actually see properly like you can in an automobile. The lights that do this and cost an arm and a leg are made by Inoled, Smidt, Super Nova, Bush and Muller and a few others. I would not consider a 6volt 3watt generator light system good enough until recently. They have developed the diode lights to the point that they will give off a light several times brighter than a halogen will using the same power.
Now if all you want to do is make that battery powered WalMart light work you may be able to solder some rechargeable batteries to the contacts. Her is a link to a specialty bicycle touring shop that has a large selection of these products. You can also look them up by searching the different names of the products with your browser. Peter White Cycles Home Page
Now if all you want to do is make that battery powered WalMart light work you may be able to solder some rechargeable batteries to the contacts. Her is a link to a specialty bicycle touring shop that has a large selection of these products. You can also look them up by searching the different names of the products with your browser. Peter White Cycles Home Page