Dynamo Lights

the war chest in darkness

Stripped my surly DT so have a pair of SON lights to move on,

Edelux 2 front, black and rack rear.

Would like to sell ASAP to fund a wheel jig so message if you fancy them!

They look neat. I don't have one of those barrel type clamps but I wonder if I could extend a normal seat clamp bolt and add a nut to achieve the same thing?

I just use the elastic band the light came with.

So do I, but it interferes with my bag strap (as well as collecting dirt) and someone told me about these yesterday so I've got 'other Supernova mounting options' on my mind.

I’ve got my lights (waiting on the wheel). Is there any sort of inline connector I can splice into the cables so I can disconnect the rear light easily if I want to? Something easily plugged or unplugged.

Cheaper things likely available
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lighting-spares/supernova-qr-gold-connector-set-with-integrated-shrink-wrap/

The SON coaxial connectors are good for this - male connector and female connector.

@spotter

Just search for bullet connectors on eBay. See my thread for more details I just did this

Son coax are real nice, albeit spendy if you need several. I have a crimper so going with the tiny 3mm spade connectors for the rest, except for the axle adapter.

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Whoa your soldering skills are better than mine...

These things are nice and can be fitted without stripping or soldering:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10pcs-2pin-Pluggable-Spring-Scotch-Wire-Connector-22-20AWG-Wire-Quick-SPLICE/283948026784

You used them on dynamo lights? No problems with water ingress or anything?

Just ordered a hub and a B&M IQ-XS T Senso Plus.

I won't be running a rear light but I presume there will be a tail for connection to a rear. Anyone got a neat way of tidying that up? Shrink wrap it to the wire going to the hub?

Shrink wrap it to the wire going to the hub?

Bingpot. Definitely the best option unless you're 100% sure you'll never fit a rear light.

Yeah definitely want to keep the option there. Won’t be with this hub as since I’ve decided that #discbrakesaredead, I’ve cheaped out and gone for one of the 2.4w LX hubs that SJS have on offer but who knows what the future holds!

Ok so I sold some wheels so I've emailed SJS to cancel the LX hub and I'm going to drop a bit more cash on probably the jtek hub. That means a rear light is more of a possibility.

Only thing is I can't figure out how to route the cable to the rear light.

My frame is painted so I'd rather avoid brazing anything if possible. And the bike is fixed with just a front brake so there's no pre-existing cabling or cable routing going to the back of the frame.

Drilling the downtube and running a cable internally is a possibility but anyone got any ideas that don't involve drilling but still look neat?

Paint is hammerite with splatters over the top so a real bumpy finish which means it's going to be difficult to stick anything like a di2 guide down, plus I hear they don't stick very well at the best of times.

I kind of wonder about just gluing a cable along the underside of the top (or down) tube.

Steel steerer on the fork? You could go front light - bottom of the steerer - up the steerer - through a hole into the steerer into the top tube - along the top tube - pop out of the top tube in front of the seat tube, connect to light.

Yeah steel steerer. Did wonder about going through the steerer, the wall thickness would definitely make me feel better about drilling it but was thinking the action of steering (or more if the bike were to fall and the steering flopped around) would be trying to shear the cable.

Routing aside for a minute, so I can put my order in, is the Son coax cable easy enough to use? Just like attaching spade connectors and stuff?

This makes it look like its just 2 cables inside a round housing but I though coaxial meant more like 1 cable inside the other?

I wrapped mine around the top tube. Looks a bit rubbish, but then my bike isn't all that. Works alright and I didn't have to cut anything to length.
I used helicopter tape the first time, couldn't be bothered last time. Life is too short

I found it a little bit of a faff but good stuff.

It’s an insulated wire wrapped with an un-insulated wire wrapped in a sheath. So when you strip the very outer sheath you’ve got to the careful not to accidentally cut through the uninsulated wires.

Good wire strippers are a must.

What I plan to do on my rando bike is into the steerer through the crown, out through a hole in the side of the steere in the mimimal stress axis, i.e. 3/9 o'clock, then loosley wrap around the steerer before going down the downtube, through BB shell then out a braze-on on the back of steerer.
You could exit at the bb-shell through a vent port and into a mudguard, or up seattube and out through top of seatpost to a saddle mounted light.

SEe these albums and the attachment for some fancy ideas for a ring commutator, but it touches on steerer drilling.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21624415@N04/albums/72157710996851941

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21624415@N04/albums/72157674615273680/with/35129857301/

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• Headtube-Steerer Slipring Fabrication.pdf

If you had a big stack and vigorously turned the bars right the way around then I suppose it might be an issue. If the hole in the steerer is deburred though and there's decent slack in the cable I think it'd probably be OK though. The Son coax cable is pretty easy to use but as WilliamJohn says good wire strippers make life a lot easier. Or, frankly, any wire strippers.