edocaster wrote:Having the overall switch in the front light control both lights is a requirement of German law.
presumably that is only for hub dynamos, since lamps for tyre drive dynamos have no such thing.
cheers
edocaster wrote:Having the overall switch in the front light control both lights is a requirement of German law.
Mick F wrote:............. or battery lights.
Perhaps battery lighting isn't legal in Germany?
Mick F wrote:Visitors?
I know times have changed, but if I were to ride ashore now into the German town without any lights or maybe only battery lights, would I be breaking the law?
Mick F wrote:Thanks!
Breaking the law eh?
Nobody told me.
Cycled Germany in early 1990's and Holland and Belgium and France too in the late 1980s.
Foreign countries (In no particular order)
Gibraltar, including to the Top of the Rock, and into Spain.
Naples, including up Vesuvius to the Seismic Observatory.
Corfu
Haifa, Israel
Bahrain
Mombassa, Kenya
Karachi, Pakistan
Columbo, Sri Lanka
Malaysia
Thailand
Bermuda
Singapore
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Jakarta, Indonesia
Nassau, Bahamas
Bunbury, Western Australia
Adelaide
Sydney, including into the Blue Mountains
Hobart to Port Arthur, Tasmania
Caen, and the Normandy Coast
Bremen, Germany
Bremerhaven, Germany
Antwerp
Amsterdam
Copenhagen
USA:
500 miles from Niagara Falls, Canada to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Taking in New York State, Vermont and Massachusetts.
Florida, Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville.
Wilmington, North Carolina
Manhattan
Unless it's changed in the last few years - In Germany dynamos are required on all cycles other than racing ones weighing less than 11kg and these can use battery lights which have to be carried if not fitted
ConRAD wrote:
in the front light there's a built-in AC "clipping" device acting as overvoltage protection (OVP), most of the times nothing more than a double zener, that's it.
MickF wrote:
My original thought was that the front light somehow exports the power aft and each make of front light would be different in this regard perhaps.
Maybe my original thought is correct and they aren't in parallel?
PH wrote:It's all interesting stuff, but I like that it just all works, I turn the switch and the lights come on... hurray!!!
robc02 wrote: ... ... it is marked MXJ ... P6SMB100A with a breakdown voltage between 95 and 100V. So it is to prevent large overvoltages, such as switching spikes, rather than as part of the LED supply regulation. This makes sense, as if it were say a 7V device it would conduct almost all of the time the light is switched off, sinking the current the light would otherwise draw, therefore resulting in as much drag as if the light was left on. I know that a fast spinning open circuit hub generator can produce many tens of volts, but can it reach 100V? Perhaps someone living near a long steep hill can strap a voltmeter their handlebars to try it out! ....
Brucey wrote:toplight line plus works from AC without issue (of course). The + terminal designation is irrelevant for AC use, and such markings are often used on AC dynamo systems to distinguish between ground and live connections on systems with earth returns. The toplight line plus has no earth return and can wired up how you like (presumably even with a DC input).
BTW B&M rear lights do vary in their ability to run directly from a generator (i.e. without a front light). In some models the overvoltage protection is 'temporary' and in others it is better than that. Best to read the small print.
cheers