Wire Routing For Rack-Mounted Tail Light

[Darin G.]

I'm going to be installing a dynohub and I'm thinking about mounting a light on the back of my nitro rack.  Ideas on how to route the wire from the hub back to the rack?  I hate the idea of lots of electrical tape and zip ties but I can't think of any great options.

[Minh]

this is one time when having a fender mounted light is great because you can hide the wire inside the fender.  in your case, i would run it down the downtube (i loosely spiral wrap the wire around my shift cables), under the bb and then back up the rack  you will need to use zipties to secure the cable.  you could get fancy with twine wrap instead if you want to get fancy.

[comveo]

Hey Darin,

On my Hunqapillar, I routed the taillight wire along the left/underside of my mini Nitto front rack and wrapped at strategic points with transparent helicopter tape(the same stuff used for clear chainstay protectors). Then I used the smallest black zip ties I could find to secure to wire to the FD shifter housing, between the rack and the head tube, letting it smoothly bend to the top tube and follow alongside the exposed rear cable, then down the left seat stay and along the rear rack once more with more helicopter tape. A picture is worth a thousand words here, so I'll try to post one tomorrow.

-Bryan

On Sunday, December 21, 2014 12:20:03 PM UTC-5, Darin G. wrote:

[Chris Chen]

I'm a big fan of cable lacing. It's tidy and I think it looks classy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumachrome/15606945822/in/set-72157646463549633

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[Will]

I've done lighting both ways: dynamos with front and back lights and lately: the Cygo Streak and battery powered Topline Rear. 4 bikes: 2 each way. I love dynamos, but must admit the Cygos and Toplines give dynamos a real run for the money. They are much cheaper, way easier to install, seriously reliable, and similarly bright. If you are riding every evening, get a dynamo, if you depend on the lights once a week, consider the battery options. 

As far as wiring to the rear goes, I'd recommend you wrap the wires around the brake cable going to the rear brake. When you reach the cable stop, run the wires through an empty brake cable down (about 4-5 inches) a rear seat stay to the rack, then along the rack to the rear light. If you regularly use a pannier, run the cable on the other rack rail or down the center. This means 4-5 zip ties to secure the last 16-18 inches of cable run, but it is a secure decent looking solution. I have had no trouble with it.

[comveo]

Darin,

Hope this pictures help to clear things up. Good luck : )

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125432464@N02/sets/72157649972084575/

On Sunday, December 21, 2014 12:20:03 PM UTC-5, Darin G. wrote:

[Anton Tutter]

I've done a lot of bike wiring on bikes not designed for internal wire routing, and the solution that I've been most pleased with is adhering small 1/2" lengths of shrink tubing to the frame as guides, then routing the wire through them.  I use an adhesive that sticks tenaciously yet peels off without marring paint when the time comes to remove it. Most people who see my bikes with this setup don't even notice they're wired.  Here are a few photos:

At the bottom bracket, if you have a bolt-on cable guide, you can add a nylon P-clip as a wire guide to route the wire under the BB toward the fender:

Anton

On Sunday, December 21, 2014 12:20:03 PM UTC-5, Darin G. wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

That's a clever and tidy method. But curious: why not just stick the wires to the frame with the glue?

Me, I just today got a nice, NOS battery rack-mount tail light from a listmember to substitute for my dynamo Toplight: Not mounting fenders year 'round, I don't have them to use as discrete wire routes.

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[Geoffrey]

I think the way Anton routed those is really slick, totally out of the way.  Won't get snagged on anything but even more so, it looks good.

[Geoffrey]

What type of glue do you use?

[blakcloud]

In Anton's reply he has a link to what he uses. It is Goop Household Adhesive.

[Patrick Moore]

Y'know, with this Goop idea -- a tube of that stuff, or the largely equivalent Shoe Goo is always a part of my garage tool kit -- I may just try Anton's idea for my rear light, which is rack mounted. I run my rear wire along the top tube since it doesn't make sense to run it the long way 'round for a rack light, but small dabs of goop instead of zip ties will make the wire much less obtrusive. But if I do so, I think I'll use the Goop directly between wire and frame. Has anyone done that?

A related question: Presently I run the rearmost portion of the wire under the rack, where it is unsupported by any longitudinal member -- the rack has no central tube. This of course means that the wire is very visible. If I were to position it along the underside of one of the side or perimeter tubes, would the wire be damaged by repeated installation of Ortlieb rack hooks? These have small retractable spring-loaded arms that, when released, pretty much encircle the rack tubes. I suspect it will.

On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 10:28 PM, blakcloud <blakc...@gmail.com> wrote:

In Anton's reply he has a link to what he uses. It is Goop Household Adhesive.

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[Anton Tutter]

You can glue the wire directly, I've been doing that as well.  I used to think I'd have to be able to remove and replace the wire as needed and not have to re-glue it, but that's never been the case.

I would avoid the peripheral tubing on the rack if the pannier is going to cause rubbing issues.  Alternatively, instead of gluing the wire to the rack, glue a small aluminum conduit and run the wire through that.  The conduit should be able to resist the constant abrasion of the pannier fastening mechanism.  I've used 3mm ID conduit that I found at Blick Art Supply.  I've used it successfully inside of fenders and along my front rack:

The aluminum tubing comes in something like 2 foot lengths for a couple of bucks. Just cut some segments long enough to protect the wiring from the panniers.

Anton

[Tony DeFilippo]

Wow, Anton that is super clean looking.  Very nice work and thanks for sharing!

[qwerty]

Hey Anton,

I really like your wiring ideas, and this topic is timely for my
winter project as well. So, I'm curious how you thread your wiring
through those 3mm ID tubing and heat shrink pieces. My light has
those spade lugs for connecting to a Schmidt hub, and I'd like to have
the capability to remove lights and even fenders perhaps at times. A
"hard-wired" job means cutting and then resoldering terminals each
time.

I've found these, but not sure how they might perform in this situation.
http://www.amazon.com/Spade-Crimp-Terminals-Wiring-Connectors/dp/B00976CPWO/ref=pd_sim_indust_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M3K5ANMFXRZX02EEV5G


http://www.amazon.com/Amico-Female-Spade-Terminals-Connectors/dp/B00ACD9SQ2/ref=pd_sbs_indust_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M3K5ANMFXRZX02EEV5G

Anyone have experience in building a more modular lighting system
utilizing Anton's tubing ideas?

Oh, and one more question...do you use the same adhesive on aluminum
tubing as heat shrink tubing??

Thanks,
Mike

On 12/28/14, Anton Tutter <atu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You can glue the wire directly, I've been doing that as well. I used to
> think I'd have to be able to remove and replace the wire as needed and not
> have to re-glue it, but that's never been the case.
>
> I would avoid the peripheral tubing on the rack if the pannier is going to
> cause rubbing issues. Alternatively, instead of gluing the wire to the
> rack, glue a small aluminum conduit and run the wire through that. The
> conduit should be able to resist the constant abrasion of the pannier
> fastening mechanism. I've used 3mm ID conduit that I found at Blick Art
> Supply. I've used it successfully inside of fenders and along my front
> rack:
>

> <https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/8732431095_e3763d3219_c.jpg>

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>> Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews.
>> By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching.
>> Other professional writing services.
>> http://www.resumespecialties.com/
>> www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/
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>> Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten
>>
>> *************************************

>> *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a

>> circumference on the rim of which all conditions, distinctions, and

>> individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu
>>
>> *Kinei hos eromenon. It moves as the being-loved. *Aristotle
>>
>> *The Love that moves the Sun and all the other stars. *Dante

[Anton Tutter]

Mike,

I used the same glue for the aluminum tubing, but I learned when I removed the chromed rack for another bike and disassembled the wiring, that the glue doesn't hold as tenaciously to the smooth chrome as it does other substrates.  It seems to bond aluminum and plastics extraordinarily well, especially if you rough up the surfaces lightly with sand paper beforehand.

As for the connectors, yeah, I figured I'd solder them on after threading through the guides.  For flat wire it allows me to feed the connectors through the guides, but for round coax wire with the same OD as the guide ID, connectors can't pass through.  If you size up the aluminum tubing a bit bigger, you can pass the connectors through. I recently switched to 2mm banana plug connectors for anywhere I feel I need a removable junction.   They are very robust and hold up extremely well, but you have to be comfortable soldering... they have no strain relief mechanism built in. They're also slender and don't result in a bulky looking junction.

http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Plated-Bullet-Banana-Connectors/dp/B00GTN72ZS

Here's one in use at my rear fender...

 

Anton

[Patrick Moore]

Great idea; thanks, Anton. You may have saved my Toplight Line dyno taillight after all!

[Benjamin Goldenberg]

Thanks for the pointer to the connectors, Anton. It looks like you're grounding through the bottom bracket bolt, and then via the fender mounting hardware? 

I think I'd prefer to keep it simple and not ground through the frame, although your method looks elegant. Do you have any recommendations for two prong connectors, especially for coax wire? I've wondered about something like these DC power supply connectors:

http://www.radioshack.com/nte-69-a18-female-dc-connector/55076513.html

http://www.radioshack.com/size-m-coaxial-dc-power-plug/2741577.html

They're designed for DC but I can't imagine that matters at these power levels. If you had lots of tire clearance you could even do a fancy panel mounted jack on the fender to be really elegant. But that also seems like asking for trouble in a place that's gonna collect lots of road grime. On that note, maybe it's best to stick to simple banana plugs that are easy to clean?

http://www.radioshack.com/size-m-panel-mount-coaxial-dc-power-jack/2741563.html

Ben