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Freelights - low drag lighting system
There is an active thread about this rather dubious looking system
over in rec.bicycles.tech. There was also a thread about it here a few months ago. See http://makeashorterlink.com/?L28744576 or http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl....rec.cycli ng I just noticed from the website that they are planning to be at the British Invention Show (stall 86) at the Barbican in London from today until Sunday. I was just wondering whether anyone was planning to go to that show, and if so would they care to spend a few minutes looking at this thing? It would be interesting to know: how bright the lights are, whether they come close to resembling a proper lighting system, whether their marketer believes they are remotely legal to fit to a bike in this country, and any other general impressions. -- Dave... |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
Dave Kahn wrote:
There is an active thread about this rather dubious looking system over in rec.bicycles.tech. There was also a thread about it here a few months ago. See http://makeashorterlink.com/?L28744576 or http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl....rec.cycli ng I just noticed from the website that they are planning to be at the British Invention Show (stall 86) at the Barbican in London from today until Sunday. I was just wondering whether anyone was planning to go to that show, and if so would they care to spend a few minutes looking at this thing? AFAICS it's just like a cycle computer in that the magnet passing the stator induces a tiny current in the circuit - enough to make a small LED flash. Virtually no power at all. |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 17:34:06 +0000, Zog The Undeniable
wrote: AFAICS it's just like a cycle computer in that the magnet passing the stator induces a tiny current in the circuit - enough to make a small LED flash. Virtually no power at all. That's right. I suppose I'm really interested in how a UK company (albeit a tiny one) can get away with pushing something so obviously inadequate and plainly illegal to use. Unless of course I'm wrong and they somehow resemble a proper lighting system. -- Dave... |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
Dave Kahn wrote:
On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 17:34:06 +0000, Zog The Undeniable wrote: AFAICS it's just like a cycle computer in that the magnet passing the stator induces a tiny current in the circuit - enough to make a small LED flash. Virtually no power at all. That's right. I suppose I'm really interested in how a UK company (albeit a tiny one) can get away with pushing something so obviously inadequate and plainly illegal to use. Unless of course I'm wrong and they somehow resemble a proper lighting system. -- Dave... But with a magnet on every spoke, it might be quite good, although there would start to be penalty in having a heavier wheel. |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
In article , Michael Ferenczi wrote:
Dave Kahn wrote: On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 17:34:06 +0000, Zog The Undeniable wrote: AFAICS it's just like a cycle computer in that the magnet passing the stator induces a tiny current in the circuit - enough to make a small LED flash. Virtually no power at all. That's right. I suppose I'm really interested in how a UK company (albeit a tiny one) can get away with pushing something so obviously inadequate and plainly illegal to use. Unless of course I'm wrong and they somehow resemble a proper lighting system. -- Dave... But with a magnet on every spoke, it might be quite good, although there would start to be penalty in having a heavier wheel. What's wrong with a normal hub dynamo? Looking at their web site, they look about as crap as a very crap thing. |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
I've seen LED torches that work on a better system than that. The torches
have a spring magnet suspended on a PTFE track inside the torch. General movement of the torch (they are intended for use on boats) charges up the battery. They are quite bright too. I'd have thought a slightly more refined system would be ok for bikes. Whatever, I'm sure we'll all be using LEDs in our lifetime, especially as their luminence increases with development. Incandescent light bulbs are hopelessly inefficient (a large percentage of the energy is wasted as heat) and also very unreliable. LEDs are efficient and last forever. They are already being adopted for navigation lights on sailing boats which have limited electron supplies like bikes. |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
On Fri, 7 Nov 2003 20:43:05 +0100, "Ric" wrote:
They are already being adopted for navigation lights on sailing boats which have limited electron supplies like bikes. There's no shortage of electrons on my bike, It's pumping them around the lighting circuit that provides the challenge. -- Dave... |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
Dave Kahn wrote:
There's no shortage of electrons on my bike, It's pumping them around the lighting circuit that provides the challenge. I can only fit two Campagnolo Electrons on my bike and it would be a real challenge to get them into the light let alone keep cycling at the same time with no wheels ;-) Tony |
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Freelights - low drag lighting system
On Fri, 7 Nov 2003 20:43:05 +0100, Ric wrote:
Whatever, I'm sure we'll all be using LEDs in our lifetime, especially as their luminence increases with development. Incandescent light bulbs are hopelessly inefficient (a large percentage of the energy is wasted as heat) and also very unreliable. LEDs are efficient and last forever. They are already being adopted for navigation lights on sailing boats which have limited electron supplies like bikes. LEDs aren't actually particularly more efficient than a good incadescent with a regulated power supply, IIRC.* Unless of course you want light of only one particular frequency, then they can put it out pure, without the need for filtering, which of course makes them much more efficient. Having said that, however, Chris Juden, the CTC's technical officer, said recently he'd seen demos of high power LEDs and that they were getting impressive. But they're not currently a panacea, and are certainly well below, e.g. a compact fluorescent in terms of efficiency. Ambrose *From the mailing list BikeCurrent at topica.com if you want to follow it up. I've long since unsubscribed since it was high traffic and I wasn't actually doing anything with electricity on bikes anyway... |
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