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Dynamos
About Dynamos
Over the past decade, the bicycle dynamo has made a comeback. For cyclists, it provides an efficient and free power source to power bicycle headlights and other small accessories. It will even be helpful if you want to charge your mobile while on the road.
The first safety cycles hit the market during the 1890s. The first bicycle dynamos were introduced after three decades. At that time, they were essential to power any electronic device on a bicycle because battery technology was still in its nascent phase. Batteries did not have enough capacity to power even a small bulb for any significant amount of time. Dynamos, on the other hand, worked as self-contained generators. However, modern systems are a lot better than the older ones. Read this article to find out more about them. Having a better understanding of them will help you make the right choices while you are shopping for them.
A brief guide to bicycle dynamos
All kinds of bicycle riders, including regular cyclists, multi-day bike touring riders, and long-distance riders, use dynamos. For a daily commuter, they work as a lighting device. The best thing about them is that they are almost maintenance-free. Users never have to charge them or replace their battery. So, whenever you want to go out at night, you can grab the bike and go. Touring riders use their dynamos both as a power supply to their lights and as a charging station. This page will tell you everything you need to know about them. So, read on.
Bicycle bottle dynamos
This type of systems was very common a couple of decades ago. It had a rubber tip that pressed against the tyre of the bicycle and a larger cylindrical section that contained the complex mechanical parts. And hence the bottle shape. The working and installation of such systems were quite simple, and, for the cyclists, the lower cost made this option attractive. When the tyre of the bicycle starts rotating, the rubber tip of the dynamo also starts to turn. This, in turn, generates the power that runs the lights. If you want to turn the lights off, all you need to do is to move the tip away from the tyre.
Dynamo hubs
One downside of bottle dynamos is that the constant friction with the tyre accelerates the wear on the tyre essentially shortening the life of the tyre. In the case of a hub system, it goes directly into the hub of the bicycle. This ensures a more efficient energy transfer between the tyre and the dynamo and less wear on the tyres. Therefore, the power output of hub dynamos is vastly superior to that of bottle dynamos. A typical hub dynamo can produce six to twelve volts of power. Furthermore, hub dynamos will give the bicycle a better-looking finish.
Dynamo lights
The power generated inside dynamo continuously changes depending on the speed of the bicycle. That means that it is not feasible to use energy-efficient LED bulbs as dynamo lights. LED lights do not work if the current and voltage changes constantly. That is why incandescent bulbs are the default option for the lights. Even though the energy consumption of incandescent bulbs is considerably higher than that of LEDs, the fact that you don’t have to worry about replacing batteries in a dynamo makes them a convenient option.
Spoke count
The number of spokes in bicycles is not the same for all models. Some bikes have twenty spoke holes while others have forty eight-spoke holes. There are other models that have twenty-eight or even thirty spoke holes. While the number of spokes does not affect the working of hub dynamos, it can affect the tension and balance of the wheel. That means, whenever you are buying a hub dynamo for your bike, make sure that you are getting a hub with the right number of spoke holes. It is essential to have an evenly balanced wheel hub as it can affect the integrity of the bicycle wheel.
Tips on how to buy Bicycle Dynamos online
Bicycle dynamos are not complex devices. That is why a lot of people think that it might be easy to get a model that is going to do everything that they imagine a dynamo can do. However, not all dynamos on the market are the same. If you don’t know what to look for in them, it is quite possible to end up buying a model that is not going to work for you. So, here are a few things to keep in mind while shopping for bicycle dynamos online.
- Type – Mainly, there are two different types of dynamos. So, firstly, you have to decide which one of these you want on your bike. There are pros and cons to both of these. While bottle dynamos are easy to install, they wear down the tyres and are less efficient. On the other hand, hub dynamos are expensive and require special tools. But once installed, you don’t have to worry about them.
- Lumen rating of the bulb – Secondly, it’s about the light. Ideally, you need lights that can throw enough light on the road ahead of you. But given the small power output of some models, this is not always possible. However, you can still look for power-efficient bulbs that can output more lux while consuming less power.
- Power specification – The power output of a typical model ranges from 0.5 watts to 5 watts depending on the type of dynamo and also the speed of the bicycle. But at a given speed, hub dynamos have the ability to produce more power than bottle type systems. Another thing to remember is that the light that you install on the bicycle should have a power rating that is comparable to that of the dynamo.
- Cost and durability – The price of dynamos and lights can vary wildly depending on the type and brand. There is another mechanism found in modern bicycle dynamos that is completely different from the old technology. It uses a combination of battery and dynamo to power the light. The benefit is that the batter ensures a constant power output enabling you to use LED bulbs. The dynamo, instead of powering the bulb directly, will recharge the battery.
If you are a cycling enthusiast, you will need many other bike parts apart from a dynamo. Some other essential bicycle supplies include bicycle batteries, bells, tyres, inner tubes, cranks, chains, handlebars, lights, saddles, grips and chainrings. You can find any of these easily using our shopping search engine . It will let you compare the prices and features of different products and pick the best one among them. So, don’t forget to check out all the other amazing products from the bikes category.
Question & Answer
How does a bicycle dynamo generate electricity?
All bicycle dynamos are basically miniature generators. Like all generators, they too have a fixed part and a moving part. In the case of a bottle dynamo, the moving part is the head of the bottle that comes into contact with the tyre and in a hub dynamo system, it is the hub itself. Although the exact mechanism changes between models, the rotating part of the dynamo houses the magnets, and the stationary portion will have copper coils. When the magnet rotates around the coil, it generates electric power. This power either directly powers the lights or charges the battery.
Can a bicycle dynamo charge a battery?
The short answer is yes. But if you connect a rechargeable battery directly to the output leads of a dynamo, the battery will not charge. The output of a dynamo is AC electricity. That means the output will resemble a sine wave. For a battery to charge, you should provide it with a DC current. Also, it should be a constant voltage depending on the input voltage rating on the battery. So, in order to convert the output to a constant voltage DC power, you will need a rectifier circuit and a buck-boost circuit. The rectifier converts AC to DC, and the buck-boost circuit ensures a constant voltage output.
Where to buy bicycle dynamo online in the UAE?
They can be quite useful if you like riding bikes at night. But the dynamo system has to be reliable as well. Fortunately, there are plenty of places where you can find bicycle dynamos in the UAE. But one of the best places to look for them is, of course, Shops.ae. It is incredibly easy to find the right type of dynamo system for your bike using our retail search engine. Moreover, from Shops.ae, you will be able to buy dynamos at an affordable price from top brands like Son, Brompton, Busch and Muller, Supernova, Exposure, and Harvester.