CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
resolvedAdvice on both (i) making secure connections at the light end and (ii) routing the wires from one end of the bike to the other, gratefully received.
The contents of the box basically matches what is shown here, except I have the seatpost-mounted kit.
The supply is coming from an IQ Cyo. Connecting to the Cyo's output seems easy enough with the included spade connections. Not sure about the tail light connections though.
Where are you in Edinburgh? I'm in St Andrew Sq.
I have a pair of these:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/crimping-stripping-and-cutting-tool-a32qw
and I can bring them in tomorrow, to show you how to install the light. Its simples, I have two!
EDIT: I should add my crimpers have Molex, which these do not. The type of crimper you need are Molex.
I work out of town but there's a very good chance we have such tools in the lab. Can you describe the process? I might be able to do it tomorrow over lunch. Cheers!
Take the bared wire, twist and put it into the molex crimp connector, such that the copper is between the inner two folding sides, and the plastic insulator is between the longer outer folding sides.
It helps to put the crimp in the crimping tool first.
Then push the wires in as I said above.
Squeeze the crimp tool and you'll see the 4 taps fold in over the copper and plastic insulator.
Then pop on the heat shrink tube and heat with a heat gun, or by running over a hot heat source, like a solder iron, or naked flame.
The heat shrink will 'shrink' to squeeze the connector.
Ensure the 'end' of the connector, the opposite end to the wire inserted, is flush with the end of the heat shrink.
Then the two connectors can be pushed onto the two connector 'spade' terminals inside the underside of the light. I recommend use of long nose plyers, as the crimps are usually tight.
There is no polarity, you can push the wires on either way and the light will work.
That is an example of a description provided by a pro...
I have found my crimping tool and can bring it with me to Edinburgh tomorrow if you wish. I can cycle out to meet you if you would like? My commute takes me to the Bridges if this is a help?
Got it all down with description above and the aid of tools and a colleague from the lab at work. It's all working lovely now.
I was a bit taken aback when I discovered that the light doesn't ever turn off even when you switch the front one off. In hindsight this makes total sense of course - how is it to know the difference between off and stopped? Particularly since you normally stop before the light would be turned off.
Either way, I'm still not totally comfortable walking away from my bike with the rear light still glowing red. And the consequence that there's no charge left when you turn it on is also sub-optimal. It doesn't immediately light when I flick the switch unlike the front which goes straight into standlight mode.
"I was a bit taken aback when I discovered that the light doesn't ever turn off even when you switch the front one off."
Hmmm. One of my Seculites + is powered via a Phillips Saferide and the other by a low-mid-level Lumotec; both will stop receiving power through the front when the front is switched off, but won't go out until the standlights run out.
Most of the reasons I usually add a pair of blinky lights over the winter is so that there's always something on me even when the standlights are exhausted after a few sets of traffic lights in a row.
It doesn't immediately light when I flick the switch unlike the front which goes straight into standlight mode.
Does the CYO have an extra battery in it for stand light? If it was purely capacitive (like my Lyt) then there's no way the stand light charge holds up to the next ride - more like 5 mins and it's flat.
I've had a handful of people stop me and tell me I've left my lights on. I just smile and explain they're dynamo and they'll fade out shortly.
@Klaxon I confess I don't know the details of their operation. I just know that I can turn the Cyo on while stopped and it will go into standlight mode. When the light was new this didn't happen, so obviously it was contingent on there being some charge in there.
The rear light always discharges entirely so it seems reasonable that it would also require external power to light up again.
Can confirm that this is how my Cyo:Seculite setup works also.
When the front light is off and bike is moving, the rear won't charge/light, but when front is off OR on and bike not moving, the rear will stay lit and run down the standlight.
I suppose this arrangement simplifies the wiring and switching. Otherwise the front switch would have to be able to control the rear light standlight mechanism, rather than just control the supply of current to the rear light.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts