Any question answered...

What's this funny squared off hdmi on the back of my lenovo monitor?

Could it power those little lights people put on the back of their screens?

1 Attachment

It's DisplayPort, hence the logo that looks a bit like a D and a bit like a P.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort

what's the thing that annoys you most about your current setup?

Lack of lumens, charging faff.

What are your current lights?

What are they powered by? Internal batteries that charge via USB or rechargeable batteries (AA/AAA/etc)?

Do you want more lumens out front, out back, or both?

All with inbuilt rechargeable batteries.
The rear flash is probably ok. But I’d just rather have a more powerful system, ideally one with a shared battery. Is this too much to ask? (Yes, clearly).

I would just let go of your desire to have it switch across bikes.
Put a dynamo on the commuter and use regular rechargeables on other bikes

I’m also loathe to build a new front wheel.

Buy one, simples... ;)

700c, Silver, 19mm internal width, tubeless rim, with brake track, and dynamo hub.
Feel free to find me one for cheap. I'll wait.
Admittedly this isn't far off, but isn't tubeless and only 15mm internal
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/wheelswheels-dynamo-hub/700c-622-front-wheel-32h-halo-retro-dyno-rim-with-sp-pv8-dynohub-silver/

Hit up your LBS, ask them to contact ISON and ask for a SP hub to Halo Devaura rim, comes in black or silver - 19mm internal tubeless ready rim brake.

It is not a listed item in their catalogue but it'll be built to order and not much difference in pricing to what you linked.

Beers in the post please - Red Stripe only ;)

Cheers on the display port replies.

On the light front, I've always wanted a dynamo style light setup, but hooked up to a battery that can easily be removed and charged... Or maybe an inframe charger.

Re 4 lights, it seems pretty normal to me. When I commuted by bike I had decent front/rear static lights on the bike and cheap cateyes flashing on the front/rear of my bag. I understand the point of a bright front light for seeing the road when you're in places without street lighting, but ime super bright lights for being seen are just people up-selling themselves and counterproductive. In poor conditions and when it's dark they make it harder for other road users to see things - especially through a rainy motorcycle visor, but also car windows.

@Nef - I think the real solution is to make sure you have the right lights for the job which are all usb-c. Then make a neat charging setup for home, as what I'm hearing is that it is the faff of charging is what you don't like.

Make it a slick process and you won't care - eg a charger that can hold 4xUSB C cables

With appropriate length cables and an area you can plug it all in.

Then for work get some sort of powerbank with 4 ports and 4 short cables to keep it all neat.

Anyway aren't you an electrician? Just make something from the sweepings from work.

a dynamo style light setup, but hooked up to a battery that can easily be removed and charged

Exactly this. It’s definitely going to have to be a DIY job at this rate.

Yeah, there’s overlap with electronics, but I’m probably still in the dangerous “knows enough to do it, doesn’t know enough to know they’re doing it badly” zone
And I don’t want exploding LEDs or Lithium ion batteries.

And I don’t want exploding LEDs

Every diode is a LED if you just try hard enough

(Sorry, went out after work and left this reply hanging):-

I could see how it would be nice to have a single central battery system, with a spare wiring loom available for multiple bikes, as some kind of ideal system.

When I used to need big lighting requirements (Audaxing, often on a choice of 3 bikes*, I needed enough light for hairy Welsh descents, and to run overnight [sometimes multiple nights]) my plan centred around lights powered by rechargeable AA batteries.

(Most of this was 10-15 years ago, but the principle still applies)

The rear lights were generic/cheap enough that i'd just have a couple of each bike. Usually the hand-grenade style Cateye rear (old TL-LD1100) and a TL-LD600 on a seat stay as a backup. I'd also have a cheap clip on one on the back of any luggage.

For the front I'd have two B&M Ixon IQ. Powered by rechargeable AA batteries. They'd be mounted on a SpaceGrip that would either be attached to the bars or under the stem. The SpaceGrip mounts were in two halves, one bit attached to the bike, the other bit screwed on to that with the lights on it. That meant I could have the mount part on each bike ready and I just needed to swap the other half over if I was going to use a different bike.

The Ixon IQ lights had a low and high power mode. One light on low was good for dusk riding. Higher power for night. Then switch the other one low for twisty lanes and finally both on high for descending. It was easy to switch between modes whilst riding.

If the lights started to complain about low batteries I'd use the other one as primary and then remember to swap the batteries out. Carrying spare batteries was key. I'd have 2 or 3 spare sets of rechargeables with me all fully charged. Any batteries swapped out were dumped in a bag clearly marked as "deflated batteries". Just got into a routine of making sure I started a ride with enough spare charged rechargeables, and dealt with the dead ones whenever I got home. Having a good stash of rechargeables (and a good individual cell charger) was key.

It also removes the worry about recharging each and every night, or after each journey, as you just swap out the batteries as and when they die. Although you do need to get into a good habit of checking that the spares are all charged and ready. You also make sure you have a good number of spare sets of batteries. Having just enough with some of those being in a charger will lead to times when you forget.

I also carried a couple of packs of Lithium AA batteries for emergencies. They're light and last for years if not used, so they can remain stuffed at the bottom of a bag just in case.

* Steel geared, crabon geared, steel fixed

RCD has tripped for a circuit in the back of the house.
Fuse won't stay up. When I switched everything off / pulled plugs etc it remained up. As soon as I switched any of them on, it went straight back down (so it doesn't appear to be a specific switch/appliance).
New fuse for the consumer unit?
There's nothing in there we need (washing machine but can wait as am assuming it shouldn't run on a 10amp extension) but wondering if there is a checklist before calling electrician?

.

Thanks - hoping for the former but the area of the house it's in is a dodgy mould filled extension seemingly dug into the side of a hill so I won't rule out the latter. I guess I'll leave it switched off until I'm back later in the week and try a new RCD. It looks like this but reading there are type A, B and C:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-40a-sp-type-b-mcb/66432?tc=OA6&gclid=CjwKCAjwmbqoBhAgEiwACIjzEAHimtXL6KKftURmppJvj4oSR0vSj-MwAJwQaE2CvPJqhnLU67vDwxoCYUEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If that doesn't work I'll call someone.

Perfect time (the night before traveling 7 hours to a job) to find out the washing machine never finished the cycle and has locked all my clothes for the week inside it... (have since stuck it temporarily on an extension to unlock it and hand washed but still..)

edit: hang about, is any paperwork needed for changing? I.E. is it a spark callout regardless?

An option like this but more modern is lights that use 18650 cells. I have an old fenix light that does and it's quite nice.

We had a similar problem, eventually traced the fault to a plug socket behind the washing machine. Turned out a slug had crawled in and electrocuted itself.

This is basically what I still do. I’m dreadful at remembering to recharge rechargeable lights and often would get stuck with a dead light. I switched to rechargeable AA and AAA using the logic that I’ve always got a spare set charged up in the drawer, everything else round the house uses the same batteries and, worst case if I get stuck somewhere, I can always buy a packet of batteries.

Plus, good NiMh cells last for years. The original ones I got in ‘09 or something aren’t so hot in my light anymore, but they’re quite happy to go in a remote control, clock etc.

Turned out a slug had crawled in and electrocuted itself.

Slugs are such twats

Replacing a circuit breaker isn’t notifiable, so DIYable if you know how not to kill yourself.

(In theory all wiring jobs need a form filled out and a test procedure followed but no one ever does it)