2012 Roxim D6 dynamo headlamp
http://www.roxim.net/product_d6.html. Looks interesting...
2012 Aug/Sept: Philips: Small taillamp, headlamp for MTB+road
News dated 5 Sept., so was this actually introduced on Eurobike? I couldn't be there, again, so I was dependent on reports. It seems not much else of interest was introduced besides the B&M Luxos. The Philips Saferide 80 will come in a version with ball head to angle it any way you want. How will that hold up on bumpy roads?
2012 Aug/Sept: Eurobike: new version of the H-one S (75-95 lux)
Apparently greatly improved compared to the version I tested.
2012 Aug/Sept: Eurobike (though the news was already known): B&M: Luxos headlamps
Before Eurobike the news about the new Luxos headlamps from B&M was already out. It looks to be really good, with a wide beam, high lux rating. Seems to be an Edelux killer as it's priced higher than the Edelux. It has daylight running lights, lets hope B&M have learnt something and made the light of those diffuse...
2012-2-13: Magnic light
Magnic light Using eddy currents in a rim created by a neodynium magnet to generate power. I think there are no moving parts in it, in which case in a sense it is the reverse of a linear motor.
Note: This reminds of experiments I did long ago with rotating magnets to levitate a piece of aluminium using such eddy currents. Using static magnets one can create eddy currents well using 2 magnets, one with the north pole to the rim, the other placed a little further with the south pole to the rim (as the rim moves, this does the same as a rotating magnet or multiple magnets placed in north-south-north etc. arrangement on a static piece of aluminium). This could be an an inverse linear motor and I think the coolest way to extract power (as there are no moving parts). Assuming this is how they made their generator. I will do some experiments... On rad-forum.de a suggestion was made that the neodymium magnet rotates (caused by the induced magnetic field in the rim). Actually, I mentioned rotating magnets before that too, namely that experiment I did long ago but I was thinking about how to make a reverse linear motor work as that's more interesting. I suppose a rotating magnet is more probably how it works. I estimate that the magnet would spin at about 5000 rpm. In that case, would the bearings hold up 10000 h? (as they claim the LEDs can run 10000h and the magnets will last longer, so if there is a bearing then it will have to last 10000h or more, otherwise mentioning the lifespan of LEDs and magnets is pointless; Then again, that could be on purpose...).
Oh yes, and for a reverse linear motor probably the only efficient option is a pulsed electromagnet but that would be something quite different and far more complex. 2012-5-20: I thought it was clear but I mean: Induce an Eddy current in the rim, stop the electromagnet, then get power from the (moving) magnetic field from the Eddy current, which will remain for a bit, which induces electricity in a coil in the 'dynamo'.
From the 150 lumen from 2 XM-L T6 LEDs, so 75 lumen each, I suppose this means they get ca. 1.0W from this generator. I wonder how efficient power generation is with this method. Using 2 such generators to run a separate headlamp seems more interesting also because light is not visible from one side of the bike, this is esp. important for the taillamp. The light is mounted higher than a Reelight, but it's more covered up from one side by the rim. The Reelight lights never seemed interesting to me because of their low position, little power, and all the junk you need to mount for that little power (esp. the headlamp gives no beam with which you can see the road). Why not get a dynamo hub? But in this case I see a possible alternative to a dynamohub if it works as well as they say. But I wonder about efficiency and I would like more power from it, 3W at least...
2011-9-1: Eurobike, disappointing...
Headlamps:
- Philips Saferide LED bikelight 40 / Philips Saferide LED bikelight 40 battery to be honest these don't seem very useful to me, as I explain further down on this page. I also don't see improvements to the earlier dynamo lamp SLD and battery powered LBL.
- Herrmans H-one S (60 lux) fugly like the IQ-Fly.
Taillamps:
- Philips Saferide LED lumiring.
- Spanninga Brasa with more light to the sides, but fugly.
- B&M Line brake plus with brake function. A brake light seems to me rather pointless on a bicycle as I explain elsewhere.
News from Philips (Eurobike 2010):
Drei Weltneuheiten auf der Eurobike 2010 (in German), i.e. Philips SafeRide LED eBike (180 lumen), Philips SafeRide LED Dynamo (150 lumen? Review is here), Philips SafeRide LED Pedelec (how much light output?). All similar in design to the LED bike light. All the new versions have less light output than the already available battery powered LED bike light (or is this not the case for the pedelec version?) which is a bit disappointing.
News from Dosun (Eurobike 2010)
I was told by Dosun in August that they would introduce an XP-G based headlamp and a generator, the DS1, at Eurobike (I couldn't make it to Eurobike, so I haven't seen them in action yet). There are actually 2 headlamps, the U1 and U2, both 250 lumen according to Dosun. The generator is a rear wheel generator similar to the old FER spoke dynamo but more efficient and it should in particular be more durable (the FER was notoriously bad in this respect). Someone who visted their booth at Interbike told me a demonstration on their stand showed that it is more efficient than Shimano's DH-3N80 which, if this is correct, is quite a feat. I'm quite curious to see both in action, so I will try to get hold of them both and review them (Estimate: at the earliest end of November for the generator, and December for the headlamp; I still don't have them as of 16 December 2010, nor 16 March 2011: I heard from other sources that there were delays because of some problem with it, and on a japanese website I even read that the DS1 would come out in March 2011, but perhaps that's the date of introduction for Japan; In any event: Delays everywhere!).
Images from Dosun:
I heard a while back that the DS1 generator was delayed supposedly because it was not enough waterproof... But more recent information tells me it was a different thing: They want to make sure in particular that the voltage overprotection is all right, as the dynamo is not of the same design as other dynamos and dynamo hubs (standard designs are current limited, this one perhaps not, I'd like some technical information but I don't have the precise specs). Also, I've been told that actually Dosun is not the maker, but the seller of the generator. The maker is in fact Sunup eco. From their documentation the weight of this generator is ca. 650 g - 720 g (not sure which was the earlier version) and in the Sunup pictures it is shown in various colours... Sunup eco, from what I heard could be putting more effort into marketing these generators themselves...