Philips LED bike light

[pdw]

I really want to like a dynamo solution, but for me it doesn't quite add up. The modded Philips light draws 7W, whereas I think dynamos are typically 3-5W. When I turn on my "main beam" light, the two together are drawing 22W, which is certainly out of reach of dynamos - and even if it wasn't, it's more than you'd want to pedal with. Obviously you don't *need* that much light, but it's fun Compared to my Li-Ion bottle battery, which isn't particularly heavy, recharges in a few hours, and will power the Philips light for 9 hours or so (or 13 if you ran it at 0.7A), the battery is much more practical.

 

[GRAVELBIKE]

I really want to like a dynamo solution, but for me it doesn't quite add up. The modded Philips light draws 7W, whereas I think dynamos are typically 3-5W. When I turn on my "main beam" light, the two together are drawing 22W, which is certainly out of reach of dynamos - and even if it wasn't, it's more than you'd want to pedal with. Obviously you don't *need* that much light, but it's fun Compared to my Li-Ion bottle battery, which isn't particularly heavy, recharges in a few hours, and will power the Philips light for 9 hours or so (or 13 if you ran it at 0.7A), the battery is much more practical.

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

[HakanC]

Thank you for those links. I just spent some time comparing the beamshots, and it appears that the 60 lux version is a bit like the IQ Cyo (ong, somewhat rectangular beam). I've been testing the 80 lux (battery) SafeRide, and the high beam is really, really good (even on dirt roads/trails).

I bought the 60 Lux dynamo Philips-light for my wife to use on her commuter bike.
She likes it a lot, but she only commutes on well lit roads and don't ride very fast (the bike is an old heavy MTB)
We have ridden together and I have compared her light with my modified Phlips-light (from 80 - 90 Lux to 115 - 125 Lux) and the difference is easily noticed.

I just wish the run time were a bit longer.

+1!

Here in Europe Philips have annonced a new light, with longer run time, up to 5 hours, and dual lightbeams


Philips Activeride


See Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm

http://www.philips.co.uk/c/bicycle bulbs/ar800dbx1/prd/

Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJjSYwHEcQ

But the Activeride is not available yet, and it seems to be expensive, too expensive for me at least
189,90 € here
http://www.bike24.de/1.php?lang=2;c...uct=40588;ID=cc1193fb459f18c9de043cd1254b654d


Personally I am more looking forward to the new B&M Luxos dynamo light
It seeam to have a good light beam, and a integrated USB charger.
119,00 €, but it is not available yet
http://www.bike24.de/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;menu=1000,5,66;product=38291


/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[GRAVELBIKE]

I bought the 60 Lux dynamo Philips-light for my wife to use on her commuter bike.
She likes it a lot, but she only commutes on well lit roads and don't ride very fast (the bike is an old heavy MTB)
We have ridden together and I have compared her light with my modified Phlips-light (from 80 - 90 Lux to 115 - 125 Lux) and the difference is easily noticed.


+1!

Here in Europe Philips have annonced a new light, with longer run time, up to 5 hours, and dual lightbeams


Philips Activeride


See Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm

http://www.philips.co.uk/c/bicycle bulbs/ar800dbx1/prd/

Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJjSYwHEcQ

But the Activeride is not available yet, and it seems to be expensive, too expensive for me at least
189,90 € here
http://www.bike24.de/1.php?lang=2;c...uct=40588;ID=cc1193fb459f18c9de043cd1254b654d


Personally I am more looking forward to the new B&M Luxos dynamo light
It seeam to have a good light beam, and a integrated USB charger.
119,00 €, but it is not available yet
http://www.bike24.de/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;menu=1000,5,66;product=38291


/Håkan
SWEDEN

That's good information--thanks.

I just compared the SafeRide to my IQ Cyo N plus, and the Philips is much better. Not sure whether to replace the Lumotec with the dynamo version of the SafeRide, or wait for the version with the external battery pack.

 

[HakanC]

Rosebikes now have sale on Gen 1 of the Philips battery light, 47 €
http://www.roseversand.com/article/philips-led-bike-light-set/aid:409750


/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[Andrew38]

I've been meaning to post this after completing the mod also using a b2flex but kept being distracted.
I tried to reuse the switch and the indicator LEDs on the original Philips SafeRide. This turned out to be a mistake.
For some reason, the LEDs cause the b2flex as if the SWA/SWB to be shorted (ie switch closed; you notice this from the fact that the b2flex goes into programming mode but are unable to make menu selections).
I thought the board was defective and sent it back but they found it to be ok and returned it.
When I did a step-by-step reconnection, I discovered that the b2flex worked until I re-connected the LEDs (when I experienced the original symptoms).
I am using the light without indicator LEDs and have programmed it to provide voltage warning status.

 

[Derek Dean]

I've been looking at this light for a long time. First, it was hard (or impossible) to find in the US. When it finally became available at Amazon I thought it was still a bit expensive (compared to a Zebralight SC600).

However, Philips is offering a $50 rebate for the Saferide 80 through 7-31-13. That makes the silver model about $89 (after rebate). Now that's mighty tempting.........

 

[warthog]

IME this is a good light.

This mount however, is cheap rubbish

See Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm


I couldn't stop the light moving on the swivel over bumps.

This earlier one seems to work better for me.


It ships with the swivel mount from bike24. You need to order the older mount separately.

 

[pdw]

Not the first report I've heard of the new mount being rubbish, and I wasn't very impressed with the old one. I swapped mine for a cateye mount, which is much neater and makes it easy to take the light on and off with just one hand. The "spacer" (the bit that screws to the light) is quite hard to get hold of. The Cateye store used to sell them very cheaply, but would only ship to the US.

Only just seen the post above about the indicator LEDs. I suspect that the problem may be that they're blue LEDs which draw more current, and the three in the unit may be in parallel - that's why I went down the route of using a transistor for the ones I put in mine. I think there's something in the b2flex manual recommending only red/green LEDs be driven directly.

 

[HakanC]

IME this is a good light.
This mount however, is cheap rubbish
I couldn't stop the light moving on the swivel over bumps.
This earlier one seems to work better for me.
It ships with the swivel mount from bike24. You need to order the older mount separately.

Rosebikes now sells the Philips Gen2-light with Gen1 holder and have reduced the price to 79,95 €
http://www.rosebikes.com/article/philips-front-light-led-bikelight-saferide-80/aid:642257
I have briefly tried one of the Gen2 lights and it is much more then the holder that have been changed from Gen1:
-The annoying blue LEDs are gone, instead there is a glowing ring around the button that changes colour as the battery voltage drops (green-yellow-red).
-The electronics have been changed so that run time on high is much longer, but with fading light intensity after 90-100mins.
These upgrades, incl the return of the old holder, and the new lower price makes the Gen2-light a much better deal.
At least according to me

/Håkan
SWEDEN

 

[gipsyman]

I've been meaning to post this after completing the mod also using a b2flex but kept being distracted.
I tried to reuse the switch and the indicator LEDs on the original Philips SafeRide. This turned out to be a mistake.
For some reason, the LEDs cause the b2flex as if the SWA/SWB to be shorted (ie switch closed; you notice this from the fact that the b2flex goes into programming mode but are unable to make menu selections).
I thought the board was defective and sent it back but they found it to be ok and returned it.
When I did a step-by-step reconnection, I discovered that the b2flex worked until I re-connected the LEDs (when I experienced the original symptoms).
I am using the light without indicator LEDs and have programmed it to provide voltage warning status.

I had a similar problem using the TaskLED LFLEX driver when I tried reusing the switch and the indicator LEDs on the original Philips SafeRide. My LFLEX went into programming mode as soon as I connected the power, but I was unable to make any menu selections. I disconnected the LED battery power indicators but the trouble remained. But when I disconnected the power switch the problem disappeared. I then reconnected the SWA/SWB wires but reversed the connections to the switch and had no issues with the LFLEX going automatically into programming mode. After reconnecting the indicator LEDs I then programmed my modified light for UIB2 3-level Threemode.

 

[kilou]

Hi,

I'm a newbie on the forum (1st post) and a newbie in bike lights as well so hopefully I landed at the right place! I'm also interested in getting the Philips Saferide 80 lux LED light but as many here I'd need more runtime that what the 4 AA NiMH cells can provide. I've read with great interests the mods done here to run the light off an external Li-ion pack but honestly I do not feel competent enough to do the mod myself. Moreover my situation is a bit different...

I commute to work on an electric bike with a Bosch mid-drive engine powered with a 36V 400Wh (11Ah) Li-ion pack and during the winter I may need to run the light during extended periods of time 2x/day (so I'd rather not have to charge the lightall the time). Obviously I'd like to use the battery of the e-bike to power the light and avoid having an additional battery pack specific for the light as this does not really make sense in my case. I guess that using a voltage regulator to bring the 36V signal down to 5V could be an option but I'd fear to do that as this involves cutting wires on the bike, which I don't really like, and I don't really want to mess with the bike too much without extended knowledge. However my e-bike has a display with a USB (micro) port that can be used to charge any kind of devices. The output of the USB port is supposed to be 5V with 500mA (according to manufacturer). Now would it be possible to remove the 4 AA batteries in the Saferide and (providing some modification on the USB cable) directly power the light from that USB port (as someone did here when powering the light with an external pack)??? Would 500mA be enough to run the high beam mode?? Should I still drop the voltage down to 4.8V instead of 5V?? For me it is no problem to unplug/replug the cable every 45 min if the timer inside the light switch into low beam (though I do not know whether this still applies to the 2nd generation of the Saferide...).

If 500mA are not enough to power the light in high beam, is there any other (simple) way to run the light from the e-bike 36V battery?

I know there exist a 60 lux dynamo version as well as a 80 lux version specific for e-bikes but these apparently use inferior reflectors compared to the one installed in the 80 lux AA-battery version so I'd not really consider these as alternative.

Thanks for any input!

 

[pdw]

5V @ 500mA is 2.5W. Phillips Saferide LEDs are 0.7A each at about 3.2V i.e. about 4.5W, and that's before losses in the driver, so the short answer is that the USB port isn't going to work.

I'm afraid I don't have any smart ideas for using the 36V supply, as I think that's beyond the input voltage of all the TaskLed drivers.

 

[kilou]

5V @ 500mA is 2.5W. Phillips Saferide LEDs are 0.7A each at about 3.2V i.e. about 4.5W, and that's before losses in the driver, so the short answer is that the USB port isn't going to work.

I'm afraid I don't have any smart ideas for using the 36V supply, as I think that's beyond the input voltage of all the TaskLed drivers.

Thanks for the clear answer! So I can forget the USB port to directly power the light, too bad it'd been ideal However what about keeping the 4 AA batteries in the light and recharging them using the USB port on the bike while the light is on? I've read that this is not possible as the light turns off when plugging the USB cable but is there any mod to allow charging while the light is on by by-passing something? I mean a laptop battery can be recharged while the laptop is on... I understand a laptop is not powered using AA NiMH batteries but is there any theoretical reasons (besides Philips implementation) preventing the charging of the batteries while the light is on? If the USB can provide 2.5W it means it can virtually provide enough power for 1 LED (without counting losses of course) so this could potentially provide 50% more runtime, am I correct? That could be acceptable for me and when I do not need the light I can still charge it off the USB while riding. If that's not possible I guess I'll have to wait for the next Saferide generation!

 

[find_bruce]

I could suggest gutting the light & using a taskled CC1A buck driver, but given your expressed concerns about modifying the light yourself, this perhaps is not what you are looking for.

As you want a use a phillips light with a pedelec, have you considered saving yourself the grief and buying the Phillips saferide pedelec 80 ? It is designed to run directly from pretty much any pedelec battery between 6v & 50v. They can be a bit hard to find, but just an example, Dutch Bike Bits have them - hopefully someone will be able to point to a cheaper source

 

[Marcturus]

correct, probably needs to run from his battery directly, needs a switch.

 

[kilou]

thanks guys, I think gutting the light is above my skills so I'll probably wait for an alternative light. I did not consider the pedelec version of the Saferide as although being a 80 lux as well it does not have the same good reflector as the battery version.

 

[jfcl]

thanks guys, I think gutting the light is above my skills so I'll probably wait for an alternative light. I did not consider the pedelec version of the Saferide as although being a 80 lux as well it does not have the same good reflector as the battery version.

Kiliou, the SafeRide 80 also comes an e-bike model that you can power directly from 6-36V. It's only sold in Europe, it seems, but bike24.com has it for about $104 shipped to the US. Look for SafeRide Pedelec model.

 

[Marcturus]

jfcl, there are two issues, the Bosch unit, and the fact that Philips used to have an e-bike specific lamp that was markedly different from the pedelec one(s). Due to Philips' Babylonian approach to (not) doing business and (not) communicating effectively with pesty non-press******s, their naming convention is highly confusing. (And I don't intend to sort it out for them, sorry.)

 

[kilou]

Coming back to the Philips Saferide 80 lux (the version with 4 AA batteries, not the Pedelec version which has a smaller reflector) and how to hook it directly to the ebike battery:

I found this DC converter on a German website:

http://www.mypedelec24.de/index.php?page_id=542&article_id=46&article_page=&action=details

The input voltage range is 4-42V (my ebike battery is 36V) and the output is set on 6.0V but it can apparently be adjusted between 1.5-35V so there may be the possibility to set the output voltage at 5.0V or even 4.8V to make it compatible with the voltage output of the 4 AA batteries. This converter can provide an intensity of 2A continuously so it should be more than enough to feed the 2 leds in the Philips light. Plus at 22 euros (or 14.50 euros without insulation...I can do my own plastic box) the price is correct.

Do you think that this converter could be used to power the Philips light directly from my 36V ebike battery with minor modifications? As far as I understood this would mean I'd have to connect the input of the DC converter to the cable going from the battery and then connect the output to the light after having dropped the 4 AA batteries (plus some good insulation of course). Is that correct? Do you see any problem with such a setup? Would it be safe actually?

Thanks for your feedback