Hub Dynamo, Automatic Lights and Magnetic Lights
A hub dynamo enables a built-in lighting system without the loud noise and high drag of a bottle (sidewall) dynamo, and without the unreliability, high cost, ecological disposal problem, and maintenance inherent with batteries. The hub dynamo powers LED or halogen front and rear lights. The lights have a built-in reflector. The taillight is mounted cleanly on the rear rack or fender. A built-in reflector in the headlight and taillight surrounds or is adjacent to the LED or light bulb. Built-in lights stay on point, i.e., need no adjustments.
The latest systems include a capacitor-powered standlight, powered for a few minutes by a capacitor. This prevents the lights from going out as soon as the bike speed drops to less than a few miles per hour; this evens out the amount of light at various speeds, sustaining the light at lower speeds.
The latest systems include automatic switching based on darkness+motion detection. This prevents having to reach to physically position a bottle dynamo or consume set-up time; this enables ready, guaranteed lighting regardless of the daylight conditions. A 3-position switch has positions for Off, On, and Auto. A hub dynamo prevents the usage-overhead and preparation time of attaching the headlight and taillight to the bike prior to using the bike, and prevents having to remove the headlight and taillight and carry them while the bicycle is parked in public. A built-in light system avoids a failing battery lamp and prevents getting a ticket and fine from having no lights at night.
Many Danish bikes feature lights powered through electromagnetic induction. The lights are mounted on the bike wheels, eliminating the need for batteries while incurring less resistance to the rider than traditional dynamos.
Read more about this topic: European City Bike, Typical Features
Famous quotes containing the words hub, automatic, lights and/or magnetic:
“There is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel’d universe.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“She smoothes her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramophone.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Y’know scientists are funny. We probe and measure and dissect. Invent lights without heat, weigh a caterpillar’s eyebrow. But when it comes to really important things we’re as stupid as the caveman.... Like love. Makes the world go ‘round, but what do we know about it? Is it a fact? Is it chemistry? Electricity?”
—Martin Berkeley, and Jack Arnold. Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson)
“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)