Cycling UK Forum

Watertight connectors? Something like this? 8kV, 220A working, 3,000m maximum depth, can be mated/unmated underwater. Should just about cope even with a British summer.

The charging circuit seems to be built into the external unit. It looks as if inserting the plug into the lamp disconnects the LED driver circuitry completely, but I don't want to try reverse engineering things yet. There are only 2 wires to the battery pack, so it's not using a temperature sensor to do rapid charging. I suspect it's just using a constant-current, voltage limited charge, managed by the charger - this isn't very good for NiMh batteries, which is why they can have a bad reputation. I make a point of charging up immediately after each ride, and occasionally topping up the charge if the lamp hasn't been used in a while. NiMh's like to be kept fully charged when not in use, and although they can be trickled, aren't suited for float service. The battery seems to be in good condition still (I bought this lamp in October 2009).
It wasn't clear from my post, but the charger LED is now not illuminating at all. When last seen, it was in the normal brief flashing red 'charging' mode. Presumably this is indicating it's in constant-current mode, and green would be when the voltage limit is reached (i.e. 'charged', although actually it isn't quite fully charged).

The nights are drawing in! Needed my lights on the way back from work on Friday, after the weekly shop. Popped my front light on to charge when I got in, and the little LED on the charger was flashing red as usual. Came back after supper - no LED. The charger seems to have failed - fuse is OK, but no DC volts on the output, that I can measure. At least it seems to have charged the batteries before dying: I measured 5.322V on the battery pack. So I have about 3 hours on full beam left...
I've looked around for spare chargers, and the cheapest price I can find is around £40!! For that money, I might as well spend a bit more and get a new, better light. Unless anyone out there is the possessor of a spare charger? (and presumably also of a dead light!). Has anyone tried using a 3rd-party charger?
Otherwise, what battery lights are recommended these days, for riding where there are no street lights? I've heard good things about the Philips safe ride, although it's a hideous looking thing - has anyone tried it?

Max

Cycled uk wrote:

I do remember, at school, using "chains" to do some measuring or setting out though.

Chains can be found on the signs attached to almost every railway bridge, line distances being measured in miles and chains.

The A3090 is the old A31 which has been 'de-trunked'. It's not particularly busy, except at rush hours, when a traffic jam can back up the hill from the Romsey bypass if something goes wrong. Cyclists do use this road, but it does have a relatively high KSI rate (for all traffic). There was a single-vehicle accident a couple of years ago where someone was killed when they drove into a tree on the central reservation, and there have been several nasty accidents at the Gardeners Lane/Ridge Lane junction.
The big problem is crossing the river Test. South of Middlebridge on the A3090 there is no vehicular crossing usable by bike until the Redbridge crossing at the head of Southampton Water. Going north you can cross at Greatbridge on the A3057 and take Old Salisbury Lane, but it's heck of a long way round.
There hasn't been much enthusiasm for improving cycling facilities on the A3090 from the local authority. Their cycling strategy identifies it as part of a route linking Romsey with Wellow and the New Forest, but claims that the distance and the hills mean there is little demand. I did see in the minutes of the latest BUG meeting that there was talk of something being done, mentioned by Anne Rackham, CTC right-to-ride officer, and emailed CTC to find out what might be in the offing, but I never heard back.

Paultons is a horrible cycle ride from Romsey. The only route takes you up a steepish hill on a 70 mph dual carriageway, then a few miles of the same on the flat, then down to what is almost, but not quite, a motorway roundabout. My daily commute takes me up and down this hill, and it's the worst bit of the journey.

Paultons Park is about 4.5 miles from Totton railway station (on the main Bournemouth line) and quite a reasonable cycle journey. Exit the N side of the station, turn left on the main road, and then take a right at the roundabout in the town centre onto Salisbury rd. This is a 30 limit area with some cycle facilities. At the next roundabout, opposite the industrial park, turn left and follow the road onto Loperwood. As soon as you cross the bridge over the bypass, turn right onto Loperwood Lane. Follow this until it rejoins the A36 and turn left. Paultons is mile or so further on the left, after the motorway bridge.
This route bypasses the worst bit of the A36, where there is restricted visibility and a hill to climb (however it doesn't bypass the hill!). The last bit of the A36 is relatively OK. This road is not too busy on a Sunday (most traffic will be on the bypass or the M27)
I hope this helps!
The X7 also goes through Totton and you should be able to catch it there. This service needs all the custom it can get, it's already been cut back recently.

Hardly seen any wasps at all here in the New Forest. The real test will come in the winter. The little beasts hibernate in the woodpile, then I bring the logs into the warmth of the house ready for use, and the wasps wake up and start drowsily buzzing round the room. Fortunately, they are sleepy enough to be easily caught and evicted.

I live in the unlit countryside. I originally ordered the official Brompton battery light system, with the Spaninga rear light, which was excellent, and the S-sun front light, which was utterly useless. Too dim, and only a pencil beam. It also has to be removed to fold the bike. I went for the 'deluxe' dynamo lighting system, with the B&M front light and SON hub dynamo, and the Spaninga rear light. This is superb, the only real drawback is the front light is very low, which gives deceptive shadows, making potholes (& cowpats!) look much more intimidating. Turns on & off automatically, and has both front and rear standlight function.

fimm wrote:A child asked me just yesterday "is that a Chopper?" about my Brompton. I think that's a compliment? I've had kids point and laugh as well... I do think it is a bit of a comical-looking bike (I do love mine, its very useful).

Oddly enough I've had kids shout "That's a cool bike!" at me when riding my Brompton. I quite agree!

The trouble with modern synthetic cycle clothing is that it doesn't provide a suitable habitat for the cuckoo - which is why you don't hear so many these days

Max

For that, the French law doesn't permit you to test yourself with a disposable breathalyser and then drive unless you have another in the car -- even if the test is negative -- as you will then no longer have the required breathalyser available.

In much the same way, you can't legally make use of a spare wheel (for a motor vehicle) in the UK, unless you leave the punctured tyre behind. It is not a requirement to carry a spare, but if you do, it must meet the legal requirements for tread wear and inflation pressure.

PW » Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:43 pm
Just to muck things up a bit the sunrise/set relationship alters with latitude, the alignments of Stonehenge for example wouldn't work if it was built in Derbyshire

I'm not very far away from Stonehenge. You can't be accurate from just this contour plot, but if you look at the sun's azimuth at midwinter sunset, around 230°, and midsummer sunrise, around 50°, the difference is around 180°. At Stonehenge, the difference is supposed to be exactly 180°. I'm not sure if that is the case now, or when Stonehenge was built. Both the direction and angle of tilt of the earth's axis, and the ellipticity of the earth's orbit, change over time. The algorithm I used t6o calculate the plot is only valid to 2000 BC, so a bit late for the earliest stages of Stonehenge:

Reda, I., Andreas, A. (2003) Solar position algorithm for solar radiation application. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Technical report NREL/TP-560-34302. This document is available at http://www.osti.gov/bridge

snibgo » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:39 pm

[XAP]Bob wrote:What if you reference local noon, rather than a distant average?

Looking at maxwellhadley's plot, each line would be shuffled left or right to make the central purple line straight, so the sun was always due south at 12-noon. Then, it seems to me (but I don't have the tools to do the maths) sunrise and sunset would move apart more equally: after 21 December sunrise would get earlier and sunset would get later.

If you reference local noon, the central purple line (180°) would wiggle each side of 12:00 line, but wouldn't be straight. Since the earth's orbit is elliptical, it's speed around the sun varies during the year. It is at its closest in the northern hemisphere winter - most recent perihelion was at 01:00 UTC today - and the apparent speed of the sun in the sky is at its fastest. In the summer, the sun appears to move slower. There is no connection between the time of perihelion, and the time of winter solstice, they just happen (at the moment) to be close together. This means the northern hemisphere benefits from shorter winters (since the earth is moving rapidly) and slightly warmer winters (since the earth is closer to the sun!) than the southern hemisphere. Good!

Max

Here is a plot of the sun's position, for every day of 2011, at my home location in the New Forest. The green contours are elevation (above the horizon) and the purple contours are azimuth (direction to the sun). The time axis is UTC (=GMT). Since I am west of Greenwich, the sun is due south just after 12:00 for most, but not all, of the year. The wiggling back & forth of the 180° contour is caused by the interaction between the tilt of the earth's axis, and the ellipticity of its orbit around the sun. It is known as the 'equation of time', because it is the time adjustment needed to make local solar midday equal to the midday of mean solar time (as in Greenwich Mean Time). Mean solar time neglects the ellipticity of the earth's orbit, and would be the same as true solar time if the orbit was circular. You can see how the equation of time makes the contours of azimuth asymmetrical throughout the year, so that the latest sunset happens a few days after the earliest sunrise.

I suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon (rather than the full-blown disease). This is what gets me off the bike over the coldest parts of the winter - I haven't been able to come up with anything that works, except for very short journeys. One of the aggravating factors for me is the need to grip the handlebars, even with gloved hands. When walking in cold weather - which I do a lot - I can keep my hands in jacket pockets, maybe with chemical hand-warmers as well, and once I 'warm up' properly the effect is suppressed. When bike riding, the windchill effect means I take much longer to get warm, by which time the hands have passed the point of no return, making it difficult to change gear or even brake.
Gloves only really help in the first few minutes, after a while I feel as if they are making things worse. I haven't tried electrically heated gloves though.
Being sat down all day in front of a computer makes it worse. If I go shopping after work, even the chilled food cabinets can kick it off!
Being thoroughly warm to start with helps - e.g. after a hot bath.