head and running light on a 12 volt system

[KCvale]

You can always go 'old school' with a bottle 'tire rubber' gen...
http://www.bikeberry.com/bullet-head-light-generator-kit.html

12 AC.

They only work when you are moving which is real drag, but they are cheap and easy.

That aside, I have been looking at electrical systems for the HS 142 4-stroke again as I have an order, I have seen different designs and I am a CET so this is kids stuff ;-}

 

[motorizedbikeguy]

There's also the hub dynamos, which are pretty reliable and aren't affected by the elements. I'm surprised there are no chain tensioner generators on the market. That seems like a logical way of doing it.

 

[Herman Klutz]

Those little generator/dynamos have been used in Europe on bicycles for decades. I can remember seeing the in France in the mid 50's and in Spain in the early 60's. You would think there would be a system designed where it charged lithium ion rechargeable battery and stored power for the lights when the bicycle is not moving.

It is my choice, even without battery storage. They are simple, cost effective and mostly fool proof. The lack of power when not moving is the negative. Most of the time I could live with that, I have no death wish to get on the road after dark. A simple battery backup for a ride in the dark would keep me happy at again, minimal cost and very simple.

 

[KCvale]

Those little generator/dynamos have been used in Europe on bicycles for decades. I can remember seeing the in France in the mid 50's and in Spain in the early 60's. You would think there would be a system designed where it charged lithium ion rechargeable battery and stored power for the lights when the bicycle is not moving.

Yep, I had a couple Bottle Gens in the 60's, cards in the spokes too, speaking of which we ( myself anyway) wanted to sound like a motorcycle, and now that we have one, all we want to do is quite it down ;-"

It is my choice, even without battery storage.
They are simple, cost effective and mostly fool proof. The lack of power when not moving is the negative. Most of the time I could live with that, I have no death wish to get on the road after dark.
A simple battery backup for a ride in the dark would keep me happy at again, minimal cost and very simple.

It doesn't get any simpler that this.
https://www.amazon.com/Onedayshop-1...512597749&sr=8-5&keywords=cree+bicycle+lights

No muss, no fuss light I have used a bunch.

It has an LI pack that lasts so long in strobe mode it is worth it for safety reason to run the strobe whenever you ride.
It's amazing the amount of respect other drivers give when then they see you, and saved me more than a couple wrecks.

 

[Herman Klutz]

I think the answer might be in this link. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/5qsx46/using_a_bicycle_dynamo_to_charge_a_battery/
But I think a battery operated light system would be as effective, and just carry a fresh charged battery as needed.

 

[KB_UK]

Those little generator/dynamos have been used in Europe on bicycles for decades. I can remember seeing the in France in the mid 50's and in Spain in the early 60's. You would think there would be a system designed where it charged lithium ion rechargeable battery and stored power for the lights when the bicycle is not moving.

Sturmey archer had such a rechargeable battery starting in the 1940s, usually on expensive raleigh bikes. They had very simple circuitry that took advantage of voltage difference to switch between dynamo and battery power automatically. downside was that the lights were dim when you stopped.

The modern setup is to have a battery powered LED taillight and a dynamo driving a front lamp that has a big capacitor in it, stays lit for 2 minutes after you stop. This is a bit of a disaster because dutch people are totally clueless and incurious people, so when their taillight battery goes flat they have no idea what to do. You see bikes everywhere with three different taillamps one above the other because the owner just adds one instead of changing batteries.

All things considered don't be an ass with a huge high-beam strobe photon blaster. You're blinding everyone. Get a proper low-beam lamp that lights up the road instead.

 

[Frankenstein]

Sturmey archer had such a rechargeable battery starting in the 1940s, usually on expensive raleigh bikes. They had very simple circuitry that took advantage of voltage difference to switch between dynamo and battery power automatically. downside was that the lights were dim when you stopped.

The modern setup is to have a battery powered LED taillight and a dynamo driving a front lamp that has a big capacitor in it, stays lit for 2 minutes after you stop. This is a bit of a disaster because dutch people are totally clueless and incurious people, so when their taillight battery goes flat they have no idea what to do. You see bikes everywhere with three different taillamps one above the other because the owner just adds one instead of changing batteries.

All things considered don't be an ass with a huge high-beam strobe photon blaster. You're blinding everyone. Get a proper low-beam lamp that lights up the road instead.

But... I like my big light bulb, people never drive towards me just off the side of the road and into other cars..

 

[Herman Klutz]

The bicycle dynamo can be bought as a 12volt unit. The wind generators use a controller/regulator wired in between the generator and battery. That gizmo protects both the battery and the generator. Seems logical one of those could be wired between a series of rechargeable batteries and the bicycle generator. This way the lights could run off the battery, and the generator would keep it charged. Sounds too easy, so it probably needs more tweaking than I would be able to figure out.

 

[KB_UK]

No need for any fancy gizmos, it's a simple circuit

part labelled "regulator" can just be a two way diode rated somewhat above the dynamo's nominal rating. That's the only protection you need, just something to clip off voltage that goes higher than what's safe. Batteries need to be a little lower voltage rating than the dynamo so on a 6V system you'd do three 1.5V cells for 4.5V

Going to be some voltage drop from the diodes, but there's ones out there now only consume 0.4V each, not terrible.

The real concern is that the LED lights themselves are smart and regulated, because just bare LEDs are very sensitive and fast to react to undervolting. The power you get from a Dynamo is AC so it has a sine wave to it, even once it's been DC converted (part marked BR). On a bare LED this unstable voltage will cause flickering until the dynamo's frequency gets too high for you to see it.

 

[Frankenstein]

No need for any fancy gizmos, it's a simple circuit

part labelled "regulator" can just be a two way diode rated somewhat above the dynamo's nominal rating. That's the only protection you need, just something to clip off voltage that goes higher than what's safe. Batteries need to be a little lower voltage rating than the dynamo so on a 6V system you'd do three 1.5V cells for 4.5V

Going to be some voltage drop from the diodes, but there's ones out there now only consume 0.4V each, not terrible.

The real concern is that the LED lights themselves are smart and regulated, because just bare LEDs are very sensitive and fast to react to undervolting. The power you get from a Dynamo is AC so it has a sine wave to it, even once it's been DC converted (part marked BR). On a bare LED this unstable voltage will cause flickering until the dynamo's frequency gets too high for you to see it.

And usually lower brightness too, everything led seems to have a digital controller, the fun mechanism of it is that it flickers the leds on and off (purposely) so quickly you can't see it (except if you've noticed some led items when moving them quickly past your eyes you can see a strobe effect,) they use higher than normal voltage to make the led brighter, and by quickly turning it on and off (basically turned off half the time it's "on") you can prevent the overvoltage from frying the led.

Again nothing against the rules of using multiple diodes to circumvent voltage drop. Wouldn't need to if these generators just pumped out more power, still in the back of my mind are small tractor dynamos, they make a good juicy volt to work with lol.