Reliability of dynohubs?

[Bianchi Boy]

I have always used battery powered lights that use AA cells. Carry two lights in case one fails and just to be neurotic I always take an extra set of batteries. Do dynohub users always carry a spare light in case of failure? Is this level of insurance not needed with current products?

BB

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[Wowbagger]

No. They just work.

For me, it's an all Schmidt setup. Edelux front light, Schmidt rack-mounted rear light.

I briefly used the Phillips system, and althought the light patterns were very good, the build qyality was utter shite and loose connections/kinked wire abounded.

[Kim]

The dynamo lighting is extremely reliable, but I carry a head torch to deal with mechanicals, and have an auxiliary battery powered rear light, mainly so I can have one static and one flashing when appropriate.

[Polar Bear]

I discovered the Schmidt Nabendyno or SON hub in 2003 and B&M dynamo lights* and have systematically worked them onto each of my bikes save for the mtb and the tandem.   I currently have five dynamo wheels and am plotting a sixth.   FOur are deployed on bikes at the moment.   

I have read of issues that some folk have suffered with both the hubs and the lights but I have yet to suffer such issues.    Neither SON hub nor any attached B&M light has ever let me down in any way.

Battery lights on the other hand ... 

<HRM** Mode>

However, one does like to equip one's bicycle with supplementary rear lighting as it would appear that one cannot display enough lumens in the never ending quest to convince the ordinary motorist that one is in fact not simply part of the road surface and thus to be driven over. 

</HRM** Mode>

*  The original halogen bulb lights have been replaced with led lights which, even in the cheapest and lowest spec, blow the old halogen lights away in performance terms.   The newer lights from B&M and SON Edelux with reflectors designed to spread the light over the road and verges rather than blind the oncoming is good enough to fool oncoming traffic into thinking that you are probably a motorcycle imo.

**  Her Royal Majesty

[Dtcman]

No. They just work.

For me, it's an all Schmidt setup. Edelux front light, Schmidt rack-mounted rear light.

I briefly used the Phillips system, and althought the light patterns were very good, the build qyality was utter shite and loose connections/kinked wire abounded.

Agree with Wowbagger, the hubs just work. I've got an XT Shimano hub on the audax bike and can't fault it. I've built up a couple of wheels with el cheapo eBay dynohubs that may be heaver and possibly more drag but have always been utterly reliable. Have had exactly the same experience with the Philips light though. The B&M IQ Cyo Premium is probably the best value light at the moment.

I've always stuck with battery rear lights though and had auxiliary battery fronts but I'm from the Christmas tree school of thought that likes to be seen, particularly on audaxs in the middle of the night.   

[Graeme]

The dynamo lighting is extremely reliable, but I carry a head torch to deal with mechanicals, and have an auxiliary battery powered rear light, mainly so I can have one static and one flashing when appropriate.

Same setup for me. Head torch also helps with route sheet or reading a GPS with the backlight switched off. Fibre flare attached to the saddlebag: I've been told that riders following me feel like they're following a warm single bar heater.

[Brucey]

I've been using hub generators of various kinds since before 1980.

Back in the days of tungsten bulbs, I'd carry spare bulbs. These days I don't bother. 

I do carry a small LED light in case I have a mechanical problem though.

cheers

[Polar Bear]

The headtorch idea is one that I've mulled over but never got round to sorting.   

These caught my eye.   Similar lumens to the Cyo Premium.   Bargainous price too. 

Oops, sorry for the mild OT.

[Pickled Onion]

I have the same setup as Kim, for the same reasons. My SON hub has done somewhere North of 100,000 km and I've needed to use the headtorch for riding exactly twice in that time: once when the microswitch in the Schmidt light was "sticky" at the beginning of autumn, and once when I'd managed to snap the connector off the wire while changing a tube.

I'd say it's worth carrying something, but it only needs to be very basic for very rare use. Anything, however reliable, will fail at some point - LED lights last an extremely long time, but they will blow eventually.

[Wowbagger]

Actually, yes, if I am on a night ride I will take a head torch, for repair purposes. I would do that even if I had battery lights because it is just so useful. I have been known to add a Hope Vision 1 and a rear battery light to the dynamo setup, but I only did that once, I think, on the Dun Run.

[ElyDave]

Perfect timing on this thread. I found myself some how looking at these online the other day and was surprised how reaonably priced they are these days. I'm thinking of getting one built into a 559 wheel for the M5.

[Phil W]

I've been running a SON Delux Dynamo on my road bike for 6 years. It's been faultless.

Initially I had a SON Edelux but that failed after almost 5 years. Heavy rain had got into the port where the wires to a rear light can go. The recommendation is to put a dab of Vaseline or grease in there if not using a rear light. I didn't do this.  I got that repaired under warranty for free. I bought a B&M Luxos U when Edelux sent off for repair as it worked out about the same cost  as using car for commute for a few weeks. I've since fitted a Secula Plus rear Dynamo light on the seat stay. I have two battery fibre flares as backup on the rear. I've also run my GPS off the USB output from the Luxos. It means flickering front light at slow speed but a SON 28 intended for the larger wheel would probably sort that.

The Edelux has sat in its return packaging for almost a year. The imminent purchase of a recumbent (next few weeks) means I got it out of its packaging. It feels good as new and so I intend to order a recumbent with a front Dynamo wheel and mount the Edelux on it.  This time I intend to have a rear Dynamo tail light wired up to the Edelux and I'll put a bit of grease round the port. The GPS is eTrex and takes AA. So I'll probably just run it off those on the recumbent. Just leave the Dynamo for lighting. This is because the vibrations have damaged the USB port and I'm not sending it off for repair. A waterproof external battery pack is always an option if I want and could sit on the recumbent frame in front of the steering via some short straps or reusable zip ties. But I'm wary about damaging the USB port again. Maybe I'll just carry more rechargable AAs or buy lithiums once or twice a year for the 600's and 1000 pluses. I'll probably have a USB rechargable backup light for this as a head torch for recumbent will probably illuminate my legs rather than road. Those can sit on the derailluer post mount on the boon.

Backup lights on the road bike. I've never bothered despite the one failure.  Just make sure you crimp the connectors and apply heat shrink tubing to provide a good solid connection. Grease the connectors before connecting to Dynamo to help them disengage better if taking wheel out.

[ElyDave]

I'm assuming the dyno hub just replaces AN other normal hub and will work on any wheel?

How do you run a GPS off it?  My Garmins both stop the activity when you plug them in, actualy the Fenix definitely does, not sure about the 800.

[Bianchi Boy]

Thanks for all the replys. I only intend running a front light off if and replacing the front light. How easy is it to switch between bikes? I have a carbon racer that might get drummed into service for the odd 300.

BB

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[vorsprung]

In 12 years of audaxing I have had these generator based light failures

 

• LEL 2005 / BCM 2005 bulb blew a few times.  Used spare light and changed bulb
• K&SW 600 2009 (I think it was 2009)  Generator light stopped working ( Schmidt SON & Cyo) at start of night section.  Used backup light (Tescos LED torch) to ride up A39 to Bude.  Fortunately it was dry.  Later found out that Schmidt had failed.  It had done 50,000km.  Schmidt repaired it FoC
• about to do perm version of k&sw in 2008, just as I was leaving discovered that light wasn't working.   Also backup light wasn't working.  Gave up and went home.  Probably due to wiring on home made light
•   Wet Irish Mail 400km in 2011.  Light (Cyo+Schmidt) failed at start of dark section on A5.  Used backup light.  As backup light batteries gave up, got Cyo to work by disconnecting rear generator light.  Never had this problem with this combination of lights / generator before or since
• perm 300km 2016, it was wet but not excessively so.  Light (Luxos+Schmidt) played up in morning but seemed to recover.  in afternoon was gloomy but light refused to work.  Tried various checking of wiring, replaced spade terminals but didn't want to go.  Raining heavily then, I only had a headtorch as backup so packed before it got really dark

So the takeaway is maybe 6 fails I can remember in 12 years, two are due to light bulbs (this doesn't happen now), one is due to a genuine generator fail, one is me making my own lights, two are water related

Always carry a spare that's capable of doing the night riding you are going into.  Shit happens.  The current spare is a Wilkos £10 light + an expensive set of lithum batteries.  It's very small
 

[Brucey]

pretty much the only way a hub generator can fail (as a generator rather than as a hub) is if the stator winding circuit breaks.  I have seen one Schmidt generator fail thus; the connector block had been clouted, so I assumed the circuit had broken there.  Did you find out where/how your SON failed?

BTW I have seen several hub generators fail as hubs; I would assume that bearing failure is (for various reasons) slightly more likely to happen than with a conventional hub.

cheers

[vorsprung]

pretty much the only way a hub generator can fail (as a generator rather than as a hub) is if the stator winding circuit breaks.  I have seen one Schmidt generator fail thus; the connector block had been clouted, so I assumed the circuit had broken there.  Did you find out where/how your SON failed?

BTW I have seen several hub generators fail as hubs; I would assume that bearing failure is (for various reasons) slightly more likely to happen than with a conventional hub.

cheers

No, it was an electrical failure and the hub had seen a lot of use.  No idea what the exact problem was, I just sent it back to Germany 

[Graeme]

I'm assuming the dyno hub just replaces AN other normal hub and will work on any wheel?

How do you run a GPS off it?  My Garmins both stop the activity when you plug them in, actualy the Fenix definitely does, not sure about the 800.

That's odd. I run my Garmin 200 plugged into the USB socket of my B&M front light. Doesn't make a difference to the recording whether it is charging not: it just works. Apologies that I don't have an explanation why.

[Phil W]

I'm assuming the dyno hub just replaces AN other normal hub and will work on any wheel?

How do you run a GPS off it?  My Garmins both stop the activity when you plug them in, actualy the Fenix definitely does, not sure about the 800.

Some GPS do that if they detect a (data wire) I think. You can get cables that stop that happening. Someone in the GPS section will know. Doesn't happen with the etrex.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm assuming the dyno hub just replaces AN other normal hub and will work on any wheel?

How do you run a GPS off it?  My Garmins both stop the activity when you plug them in, actualy the Fenix definitely does, not sure about the 800.

That's odd. I run my Garmin 200 plugged into the USB socket of my B&M front light. Doesn't make a difference to the recording whether it is charging not: it just works. Apologies that I don't have an explanation why.

Someone I know said that at low speeds, like climbing a hill at 5mph, if the battery is charging, it detects the voltage dropping below a certain level and thinks you've stopped charging, so turns itself off. I think this was an Edge model.

[Phil W]

I'm assuming the dyno hub just replaces AN other normal hub and will work on any wheel?

How do you run a GPS off it?  My Garmins both stop the activity when you plug them in, actualy the Fenix definitely does, not sure about the 800.

That's odd. I run my Garmin 200 plugged into the USB socket of my B&M front light. Doesn't make a difference to the recording whether it is charging not: it just works. Apologies that I don't have an explanation why.

Someone I know said that at low speeds, like climbing a hill at 5mph, if the battery is charging, it detects the voltage dropping below a certain level and thinks you've stopped charging, so turns itself off. I think this was an Edge model.

If the lights are on the Luxos prioritises that over the USB output.  So on a slow hill climb in the dark you've got about 4 minutes of the cache battery powering the GPS before before any external power lost notification pops up.  So short sharp hills or anything over in 4 mins you'll never see that orompt and GPS will remain happy running off the external USB power.

[vorsprung]

If the lights are on the Luxos prioritises that over the USB output.  So on a slow hill climb in the dark you've got about 4 minutes of the cache battery powering the GPS before before any external power lost notification pops up.  So short sharp hills or anything over in 4 mins you'll never see that orompt and GPS will remain happy running off the external USB power.

With a eTrex 20 (and a Luxos and a rear generator powered light) this has never happened to me

Only get the eTrex saying it wants to  switch to batteries (or switch off) when I stop

[mcshroom]

The headtorch idea is one that I've mulled over but never got round to sorting.   

These caught my eye.   Similar lumens to the Cyo Premium.   Bargainous price too. 

Oops, sorry for the mild OT.

Be careful not to get your lumens and Lux mixed up. I have a Tikkina and it's nothing like as powerful as a Cyo. Useful for walking round a camp site or fixing a puncture though.

[fuaran]

For headtorches, Alpkit currently have a sale on.
The Muon is a nice small, lightweight one. Probably brighter than that Tikkina anyway. Good to have just in case. https://www.alpkit.com/products/muon

[fhills]

Thanks for that recommendation Fuaran.

Have been vaguely looking for a simple headtorch that uses AA.