Shimano Dynamo + Edelux II + E-Werk USB

[quixoticgeek]

I now have a Shimano DH-T8000 dynamo hub, laced into a wheel and running smoothly. I have an Edelux II bike light, and a B&M USB-werk.

What I don't seem to have is any clue how to connect this lot all together... I had kinda expected it to be plug and play with some common connectorness through out and thus 2 mins of plugging things in, and away I go. Hah. Naive...

The spade connectors fitted to the edelux II don't seem to want to fit on the shimano hub. And even if they did, I can't then see how to connect the usb-werk.

Can anyone point me to an idiots guide to how to set this lot up?

J

[Pickled Onion]

The connectors with the edelux are to fit a son hub, you simply cut them off and thread the wires into the lego block that comes with the shimano hub.

No idea about the ewerk I'm afraid.

[Pickled Onion]

OK, just had a look on Peter White's site, the e-werk should also have a lego block with it in case there's not one supplied with the hub. You connect the light and the e-werk in parallel, ie the wires from both go into the lego block. There is a stern warning to read the manual carefully, so don't just plug and away you go!

[quixoticgeek]

So having realised that I needed to chop the end off the cable that came with the light to make it fit, I now have a working and fitted dynamo light and an USB-Werk.

I'm slightly concerned about the bit of bare wire sticking out the top of the connector. Should I be doing something about this?



J

[Kim]

My usual trick for terminating Schmidt coax is to keep the stripped outer insulation and use it for the bare wire, with a bit of heatshrink over the split.

[yoav]

I solved the same issue in different way. I took a piece of 2 core cable, about 18 inches and attached one end to the Lego brick connector. The other end was connected to a chocolate block taped to the fork crown with both the light and USB cables going in there. Wrapped in insulation tape.

[andrew_s]

The other one I've come across is a Shimano/SP connector block with a pair of spade terminals fitted to the top. You then put a piggyback spade connector on the eWerk and operate as though you had a SON hub (except that you'd disconnect the hub via the connector block rather then pull out the spades).

[Kim]

My approach to this sort of thing is to hardwire a female Tamiya connector somewhere convenient in the cable run between the dynamo and front light.  The charger then plugs into this with a male Tamiya connector.

Tamiya connectors don't short when wet, and the open design means they dry out quickly.  This seems better than a truly waterproof connector, given that the vast majority of the time I don't have the charger connected.  The female part (which confusingly, has male pins) can be zip-tied flush with a convenient bit of bicycle without interfering with the mating process.  They require a lot less force and wiggling than spade connectors, which is more cold-finger-friendly.

My charger lives safely in my touring luggage along with whatever it's charging, and I just plug and unplug it when needed.  Minimal faff attaching and removing it from the bike (I accept an alternative approach may be better for powering GPSes on audax-style rides), and no disturbing the connection at the dynamo except to remove the wheel.

[DuncanM]

Tamiya connectors work, but when I was racing RC, we moved away from them towards bullet connectors because they are less vulnerable to pulling out if you don't unclip them correctly. The bullets also have a bigger surface area, so in theory should offer better conductivity, and you can't melt them! To avoid misconnecting, each battery would have a male and a female connector, so they can only connect up one way. If you heatshrink them correctly, they are pretty good on the waterproof front too...