Cycling Equipment · Public discussion

Night lights

Started by Phil Lee, Squid · · Last activity · 7 posts · 452 views

This thread is locked and is currently read-only.

Thread navigation

Jump through the discussion

Go to the original post, the replies on this page, or the latest preserved contribution.

Thread details

What we know about this thread

Original section
Cycling Equipment
Published
4 August 2006
Last activity
7 September 2010
Original author
Phil Lee, Squid
Posts
7
Discussion status
Public discussion
Total views
452
Views / 30 days
0
Topics

The navigation and discussion metadata provide context. Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Showing posts 1–7 of 7
Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Text size
  1. A alt.mountain-biker posted this. I figured a bunch of you would be
    interested:
    ---------------------------
    Hello, alt.mountain-bike readers.

    I have read about the superior Lupine Edison series of lights.

    I have been working on an experimental bicycle aiming for a
    battery-free night century ride. My current setup is Lightning
    Thunderbolt recument and an EV Wilderness 600 W, 36 V brushed, gearless
    front hub motor/generator with six Maxwell Technologies PC 2500 2700
    farad ultracapacitors rated 2.5VDC and a Samlex sine wave inverter
    rated 150 W.

    I have a compact fluorescent light on a bit of track under the boom but
    it's not wired yet.

    I have researched GE's new Ceramic Metal Halide lights and find the PAR
    30, 20W light just might be suitable for mountain biking or a night
    century. There is a track lighting fixture available to take this 20W
    bulb or a mini 20W bulb. All the CMH bulbs produce some of the best
    lumens per watt, but the key to road use seems to be Center Beam Candle
    Power, CBCP. This fixture is rated 17,000 plus CBCP. It's used for
    spotlighting merchandise in upscale retail stores, and in homes as an
    accent light.

    The mini 20W fixture with integrated electronic ballast from Aromat
    consumes 23 W and the inverter idles at 6W. A 25W inverter would idle
    at only 2W. Bearing drag on the hub is around 3W at 8 mph.
    Motor/generator efficiency is lower than I had thought; there are many
    ways to test it, and all take physics lab work, which I don't have
    access to, so I just coast down local hills and see how the charge on
    the ultracapacitors comes out.

    I am going for a ride now; it's almost dawn.

    I think soon I will be ready for my night century.

    Just thought I would drop by and ask if there are any riders in the DC
    area who would like to try a night century. Maybe a metric century to
    start.

    Also, do any of you know CBCP ratings for any MTB lighting system?

    Doug Goncz
    Replikon Research
    Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394
    ----------------------------------------
    --
    Phil Lee, Squid

  2. Phil Lee said:

    A alt.mountain-biker posted this. I figured a bunch of you would be
    interested:


    <snip>
    lights? around these parts, the interesting night rides are illegal and
    lights attract attention of police, rangers, etc. or so i'm told.
    helmet mounting brackets for something like this would be much more
    interesting for nocturnal rides:
    http://www.nightvisionmall.com/page/NVM/PROD/BG/D-2MV

    hypothetically speaking of course.

  3. Phil Lee said:

    A alt.mountain-biker posted this. I figured a bunch of you would be
    interested:
    ---------------------------
    Hello, alt.mountain-bike readers.

    I have read about the superior Lupine Edison series of lights.

    Sounds like a marketer...

    Quoted message said:

    I have been working on an experimental bicycle aiming for a
    battery-free night century ride. My current setup is Lightning
    Thunderbolt recument and an EV Wilderness 600 W, 36 V brushed, gearless
    front hub motor/generator with six Maxwell Technologies PC 2500 2700
    farad ultracapacitors rated 2.5VDC and a Samlex sine wave inverter
    rated 150 W.

    What's wrong with a generator for this application?? 600W???

    Quoted message said:

    I have a compact fluorescent light on a bit of track under the boom but
    it's not wired yet.

    I have researched GE's new Ceramic Metal Halide lights and find the PAR
    30, 20W light just might be suitable for mountain biking or a night
    century. There is a track lighting fixture available to take this 20W
    bulb or a mini 20W bulb. All the CMH bulbs produce some of the best
    lumens per watt, but the key to road use seems to be Center Beam Candle
    Power, CBCP. This fixture is rated 17,000 plus CBCP. It's used for
    spotlighting merchandise in upscale retail stores, and in homes as an
    accent light.

    The mini 20W fixture with integrated electronic ballast from Aromat
    consumes 23 W and the inverter idles at 6W. A 25W inverter would idle
    at only 2W. Bearing drag on the hub is around 3W at 8 mph.
    Motor/generator efficiency is lower than I had thought; there are many
    ways to test it, and all take physics lab work, which I don't have
    access to, so I just coast down local hills and see how the charge on
    the ultracapacitors comes out.

    Sounds like the nuclear power plant on a trailer might be easier to pull.

  4. I think the OP in am-b was trolling, but it's also possible that it's
    just somebody with grandiose plans for swatting flies with a
    piledriver. It appears that he's proposing to use about $1000 worth
    of kit to inefficiently and heavily replace a much cheaper and lighter
    system.

    Such projects often result from an incomplete understanding of the
    limitations of the proposed technology.

    If it wasn't a troll, I hope he tries it. The process should be very
    educational...for the experimenter.
    --
    Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
    Some gardening required to reply via email.
    Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

  5. Werehatrack said:

    I think the OP in am-b was trolling, but it's also possible that it's
    just somebody with grandiose plans for swatting flies with a
    piledriver.

    The latter, I'm sure. Search out his name (Doug Goncz) in the archives
    of this group (r.b.tech). He's been working on this topic for many years.

    --
    Dave
    dvt at psu dot edu

    Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body
    and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to
    get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than
    circumstances drive them to do. -Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and
    novelist (1811-1896)

  6. quote='dvt'Werehatrack said:

    I think the OP in am-b was trolling, but it's also possible that it's
    just somebody with grandiose plans for swatting flies with a
    piledriver.

    The latter, I'm sure. Search out his name (Doug Goncz) in the archives
    of this group (r.b.tech). He's been working on this topic for many years.

    Yep. That's me, er, I. I'm that guy. The core is an "electric flywheel" made of TTR (Through The Road) coupled electric wheel dynamotor and ultracapacitor which "rounds off" small hills and all bumps reducing shifting. The rest is window dressing, but the power output allows for a notebook PC, PDA with internet and GPS, and the like, and DeLorme Topo software give route comparisons to find likely least-energy routes, making the massive nuclear generating station trailer worth it's weight in...depleted uranium? 🙂 A refinement due for patent submission this month (September, 2010) extends the dynamotor to a new level of regenerative braking performance including (for tricycles) stationary pedaling at stopsigns or while camped.

    Doug

  7. quote='DGoncz'quote='dvt'Werehatrack said:

    I think the OP in am-b was trolling, but it's also possible that it's
    just somebody with grandiose plans for swatting flies with a
    piledriver.

    The latter, I'm sure. Search out his name (Doug Goncz) in the archives
    of this group (r.b.tech). He's been working on this topic for many years.

    Yep. That's me, er, I. I'm that guy. The core is an "electric flywheel" made of TTR (Through The Road) coupled electric wheel dynamotor and ultracapacitor which "rounds off" small hills and all bumps reducing shifting. The rest is window dressing, but the power output allows for a notebook PC, PDA with internet and GPS, and the like, and DeLorme Topo software give route comparisons to find likely least-energy routes, making the massive nuclear generating station trailer worth it's weight in...depleted uranium? 🙂 A refinement due for patent submission this month (September, 2010) extends the dynamotor to a new level of regenerative braking performance including (for tricycles) stationary pedaling at stopsigns or while camped.

    Doug[/quote]
    That might be great.

Active in the last 60 minutes

Active in this thread

0 users · 0 guests ·0 bots ·0 total

No signed-in users are active right now.

No known search crawlers active right now.