Dynamo Lights

I used some circuit board pins and jumpers to make very discreet connectors, but they don't hold together very well. I was planning to browse the CPC Farnell catalogue soon to see what banana/spade plugs could be had at a reasonable price.

The wire that came with my dynamo is pretty thin, so audio cable should be fine.

Bingo. If you're still after connectors, here are some ones identical to Supernova's bananas, for peanuts.

where is everyone mounting their lumotecs?

I had mine on the crown until I fitted a nitto front mini rack, now I'm contemplating either mounting on the drive side of the rack (placing it about the top of the wheel so casting a shadow on the left) or trying to hang a bracket from the bars/stem and mounting it upside down having it higher and more central...

either way seems awkward as having it on the side you get shadow/it's fragile, and higher up will interfere with anything on rack or bar bag. Could mount it central, right out front like a deep sea fish I suppose...

How did you mount your light, in the end? Thinking of getting a B&M USB jobbie but will also be using a front rack. Hadn't considered shadow from the wheel, so perhaps out front would be the best option?

One of the fancy German shop - supernova, have a handlebar mount attachment that you can mount a lumotec to

I've made a meccano mount for the R/H of my nitto rack and the shadow isn't too bad at all but it might interfere with wider things on top of it. I think the ideal would be a stem mount, which would place it quite high but also keep it out of the way of a bar bag. However, this means your Garmin or whatevs has to be placed to the side and makes for a busy cockpit. I'll probably move mine when I get a chance as it could definitely be improved upon.

I had a quick look at aftermarket mounts but don't see anything particularly more useful than just getting a problem solver/out front mount-I definitely think central mounting makes for better illumination and less likely to get knocked or damaged too.

Has anyone used self adhesive Hydroguide things to guide bi-core cables? Too fat?

I'm on the hunt for a 'solution' to get cables out of sight back down to rear rack. Would rather not use zipties.

I have a blue bike and have simply used blue electrical tape to run a wire to the rear light. Not stylish but v effective.

@Ludd
I would need tape that fades from yellow to orange! But yes that may do it if the below don't work:

Found something I think will do it, little self-adhesive grippy things for very small cable sizes, from an electrical supplier. Have ordered loads as I have two and a half dyno rigs to tidy up, the half is for an add-on trailer arrangement that I am currently figuring out. Going to use tiny banana plugs in parallel with existing rear light, so the trailer can be attached and hooked up really easily.

Just ordered loads of light gear from Starbike. Excited!

I use small blobs of Sugru. Tape the wire in place first, then fix the wire down with the sugru, leave for 24 hours and it's sorted. Make sure the paint is degreased with meths or something first and then remove the tape after a day or so. Mine has been in place for a year or so now, surprisingly tough stuff, Sugru!

@adroit
Never heard of this stuff. Is it like Shoogoo? Used to repair shoes for skating with that stuff.

ignore me, google is my fwend.

Wow. Want. And in the right colours too!

I've been using it on my Dynamo with great success.

Hmm cool. Food for thought. I've seen a few lights mounted to the front loop of a tubus tara, which seems like a really good solution provided you never want to remove the rack.

But it's likely that I would want to remove the lowrider rack, so underside of a rando/porteur rack might work better for me.

My SP's have no (noticeable) vibration at any speed Ed- might be worth checking the bearings before firing the money-gun?

Thank you. Good to know.

Nice tip, going to try this once I get my spade connectors through.

Wow. Just reading the manual for the Luxos U light. Amongst its various functions, it alters the light focal point according to cruising speed, and starts up an extra wide short range pattern when you reduce speed to crawling. Clever shit, wonder if it's noticeable...

Wiring up the braketec rear last night, I noticed it has a switch that discharges the capacitor. Should avoid some of those "here mate, you left you lights on" moments.

I saw that button, figured it might be a toggle on off.

Not fitted mine yet. Going to use sugru instead of clips to get the rear wire out of sight.

@adroit Thanks for the tip ...
Today was sort out cables day, soldering iron & Sugru to the rescue. Just matched orange, yellow & silvery grey to route my cables all matchy, now just to wait for it to go off. Quick spin of the wheel shows the lights to be super 531 bright. Need to go out tomorrow night!

If only there was a midweek forum ride you could join.
https://www.lfgss.com/events/851/

Best location I can find for my Lumotec-tidied cables up too. Still a bulky thing on the bars but keeps it away from rack and no cable travel for charging garmin etc. in theory bar bag still possible but might be awkward with gps mounted too...

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What about mounting it off a modded centre pull brake arm. Lower mounted light will show up pot-holes / objects on the road better in theory, because of a greater differential in the angle from which you are looking at it.