Danish Always-On Frictionless "Dyno"

[Bob]

Just ordered a few: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017GA09W/ref=oss_product

Intent is to use as supplemental vs main lights. Will let you know
how it goes.

[GeorgeS]

The Amazon description doesn't say much. How does this thing work?
GeorgeS

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

Five years ago, we were the sole US supplier of these - it was the first product we sold at Hiawatha. The original SL100 model works great and I know of several that are still going after 5 hard years, Minneapolis winters, etc. The drawback of this model is that when the bike stops, the lights stop. Later models integrated a capacitor to keep the lights flashing for several minutes at stops. Unfortunately, the capacitor lights were much less reliable, and often stopped working after a short time. I hope that Reelight has since addressed this issue, but we have since stopped stocking them for several reasons.

They work by induction. Spoke magnets pass close to a coil in the light mechanism. This induces a current to light the LED. The capacitor models store a charge that is then run through a circuit that either flashes the LED at a constant frequency or powers the LED steadily (non-flashing), depending on the model.

It should be noted that these are "be seen" lights, not on par with any of the lights that actually illuminate the road. And since they are mounted low at the wheel axle, they are probably not at optimal high to "be seen".

[EricP]

I used a set for a while (purchased from Jim). It was a non-Rivendell
bike. They worked okay. Even in bad weather. The problem was
removing the wheel. The light has a tendency to smack into the
magnet. Makes re-mounting a wheel more of a chore. Especially in the
cold, in winter.

And on semi-horizontal drop-outs they are even more fiddly to install.

Still see them on a few bikes in the Twin Cities. Like Jim said, they
are a on and forget about "be seen" light. But have had no impulse to
add them to any current bike.

Eric Platt
St. Paul, MN

On Dec 28, 4:44 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Bob]

I did write "Intent is to use as supplemental vs main lights".
Cheers.

Great info.