Reliability of dynohubs?

[Somnolent]

No failures on 3 Shimano DH-3N80, all of which have covered a lot of miles in sometimes atrocious weather over 4 years
The Philips also good for me, but now in on Mrs S' commuter, and I use a Luxos U now + and a Secula, and (usually) run the Etrex Vista from the USB takeoff.
I still carry a chinese cree torch as a back up, but it's never been necessary, although it's longer 'throw' allows better speed on long descents than the Luxos.  And Smart 1/2 watt flashers on both seat stays...hardly ever used, as the Secula is so much more 'group-friendly'.   

[Phil W]

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

Will depend on hub. I run a son deluxe I'm sure a son 28 would be fine.

[psyclist]

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.

I've used an external battery pack to charge my 800 quite often. It has never complained when I have connected or disconnected it, or switched the battery pack on or off. I would expect the same from a dynohub.

[mattc]

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

I'd say:
- very straightforward
- not a 10 second job - more like 2mins-30mins*, depending on practice!
- PhilD lent me his for my 2nd PBP. I found the small faffing very worthwhile. I wouldn't really want to be doing it every weekend.

Just MHOs - these things are all relative to your time budget and fettling speed!


*That's for the wheel AND the matching front light.

[vorsprung]

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

I got mrs v a muon last winter.  Reliable as well as bright

[IanDG]

Just replaced the Schmidt on the Audax/Tourer today with an SP from Spa Cycles. The Schmidt is going on the work bike. The SP feels like it has less drag than the Schmidt, and only £140 for the wheel.

[ElyDave]

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.

I've used an external battery pack to charge my 800 quite often. It has never complained when I have connected or disconnected it, or switched the battery pack on or off. I would expect the same from a dynohub.

It may be, as suggested above that it's because I'm plugging mine into laptop for charging and normally data transfer as well.  I'll have to experiment, but a dynohub certainly sounds lie a no-brainer from this thred.

[ElyDave]

So,

looking at dyno hubs for 6 bolt discs I have my eyes on

https://www.alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice?gclid=CPqV5cCooc8CFYtuGwodInYMCg   Alpkit customer service has been second to none so far, 32H

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/sp-dynamo-pd-8-front-disc-brake-dynamo-hub 32 hole

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-dh-3d80-disc-hub-dynamo/aid:520202  32 or 36 hole available

Any horrible warnings against any of them?  I'm assuming a suitable 559 rim is obtainable for any of them.

[HeltorChasca]

So,

looking at dyno hubs for 6 bolt discs I have my eyes on

https://www.alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice?gclid=CPqV5cCooc8CFYtuGwodInYMCg   Alpkit customer service has been second to none so far, 32H

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/sp-dynamo-pd-8-front-disc-brake-dynamo-hub 32 hole

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-dh-3d80-disc-hub-dynamo/aid:520202  32 or 36 hole available

Any horrible warnings against any of them?  I'm assuming a suitable 559 rim is obtainable for any of them.

I went for a https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-hub-dynamo-deore-xt-dh-t785/aid:515917 which I love. Not a bad thing to say out it.

[fuaran]

The Alpkit hub is probably a rebranded version of the SP Dynamo. Though maybe better customer service, if you had problems.
The Shimano DH-3D80 (silver) is the same as the DH-T785 (black), just different colour.

The Shimano hubs work fine.
The SP hubs are bit lighter weight, and maybe slightly less drag. But remains to be seen what their long term reliability is like.

[interested]

So,

looking at dyno hubs for 6 bolt discs I have my eyes on

https://www.alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice?gclid=CPqV5cCooc8CFYtuGwodInYMCg   Alpkit customer service has been second to none so far, 32H

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/sp-dynamo-pd-8-front-disc-brake-dynamo-hub 32 hole

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-dh-3d80-disc-hub-dynamo/aid:520202  32 or 36 hole available

Any horrible warnings against any of them?  I'm assuming a suitable 559 rim is obtainable for any of them.

The Shimano dynamo hub is the only one which can be serviced without dismantling the wheel completely and the only one that can be serviced by the user since spare parts are easily available. (The PD hubs can only be serviced at the Taiwan factory). The Shimano hubs also have better bearings. 

[Brucey]

who knows if the Alpkit one comes out of the same factory as the SP ones?  However the ~~K*** number is different on the Alpkit hub vs the SP one, which suggests that the innards are different.

  IRRC the Alpkit one has ~K1** on it and the SP one has ~K8** on it. I have always assumed that the numbers go in date order; if so the Alpkit one has a much older approval.

BTW test data shows that the better Schmidt models have a lower drag than the SP ones IIRC.  The better shimano models are only ~1W worse for drag than the schmidt; not enough to worry about IMHO.

cheers

[ElyDave]

So,

looking at dyno hubs for 6 bolt discs I have my eyes on

https://www.alpkit.com/products/love-mud-juice?gclid=CPqV5cCooc8CFYtuGwodInYMCg   Alpkit customer service has been second to none so far, 32H

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/sp-dynamo-pd-8-front-disc-brake-dynamo-hub 32 hole

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-dh-3d80-disc-hub-dynamo/aid:520202  32 or 36 hole available

Any horrible warnings against any of them?  I'm assuming a suitable 559 rim is obtainable for any of them.

The Shimano dynamo hub is the only one which can be serviced without dismantling the wheel completely and the only one that can be serviced by the user since spare parts are easily available. (The PD hubs can only be serviced at the Taiwan factory). The Shimano hubs also have better bearings.

Useful, thanks.  The only thing with the Shimano one is the need for a centre mount to 6-bolt disc adapter, but that doesn't make much price differential.

[interested]

Useful, thanks.  The only thing with the Shimano one is the need for a centre mount to 6-bolt disc adapter, but that doesn't make much price differential.

OTOH, the Shimano dynamo hubs comes with a strong, high quality closed-cam skewer while the PD hubs comes with no skewer at all. So unless one has a spare 100mm skewer, that will add to the cost of buying PD.