Electric Lights - connected to VLCD 5 ontroller or direct to battery

glerwill

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 19, 2013
22
3
Hi, I have a working wired setup for lights using a rear dynamo.

I note 6 volt lights sold for bafang/tsdz2 that are cheap.

I note the hailong battery has a usb power out socket.

Please may i request advice on good light choices (because I am confused).

What I think want to do is fit permanent wired front and rear lights that I plug into the usb port on the battery.
 

Andy-Mat

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 26, 2018
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Hi, I have a working wired setup for lights using a rear dynamo.

I note 6 volt lights sold for bafang/tsdz2 that are cheap.

I note the hailong battery has a usb power out socket.

Please may i request advice on good light choices (because I am confused).

What I think want to do is fit permanent wired front and rear lights that I plug into the usb port on the battery.
The USB port is a neat idea, and can often supply up to several amps, at 5 volts, sometimes even a tiny tick more!
USB power supplies are generally made short circuit proof in my experience, which is also "cool!"
Identify maximum allowed load, and stay within that, so as to not overheat the USB circuitry and it should work fine for you.
Many e-bikers, due to the low current requirements of LED lighting, simply leave their lights on while riding, even in daylight, to allow them to "be seen" better by other road users.
I personally never, ever rely just on lighting, supplied from an e-bike's battery, and I always have extra lights with an internal (usually rechargeable) batteries as well, front and back!
Just for if the bike battery gets fully discharged while riding at night, then it shuts down power to the lights and motor, as many actually do!
Very disconcerting! But safer for the expensive battery!
A thought, some modern bike lights have a USB port (my under the seat rear light/alarm for example), to charge the light's internal battery, so a cheap USB 2.0 charging cable (from ebay), could maintain the charge in the light's own battery, but still allow several hours at least, of lighting even after the bike battery has shut down!
Safety first!
regards and I hope these thoughts are helpful!!
Andy
 

Bad Machine

Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2019
35
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N.B. Before you head down the USB powered route......check your battery's USB output actually works. Why ? Well, some of the Hailong-type (HL) battery pack have a USB port, but no internal electronic circuitry between the port and the battery output.

If you have the VLCD5, and a splitter on the speed sensor connector, you can use the VLCD5 button to turn on/off a 6v output.


The following are low-cost, high-quality Ebike lights that work directly from this supply.

Axa LED Headlight " Blueline 30 E-Bike " 6 Volt Dc



Busch + Müller View E-Bike 5V - 15V DC Rack Mounted

Busch + Müller 2C E Rack Mounted 5V - 15V DC Rear E-Bike Light
 
Last edited:

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
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The USB port is a neat idea, and can often supply up to several amps, at 5 volts, sometimes even a tiny tick more!
Can you give examples of which ones that can provide that much current and which ones can't. It would be a shame is somebody plugged a 4 amp light into their 500mA USB and smoked their battery.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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A thought, some modern bike lights have a USB port (my under the seat rear light/alarm for example), to charge the light's internal battery, so a cheap USB 2.0 charging cable (from ebay), could maintain the charge in the light's own battery, but still allow several hours at least, of lighting even after the bike battery has shut down!
that's a good suggestion.
The USB port on the 36V battery does not support very high current, 1A is the maximum you can pull from it.
 

Bad Machine

Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2019
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One more point to consider: almost all USB connectors are in-line - the plug will stick out several cms from your battery's USB port. Looking at the photos of where your battery is located on your boom, I'd be concerned about that arrangement getting knocked / damaged.
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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One more point to consider: almost all USB connectors are in-line - the plug will stick out several cms from your battery's USB port. Looking at the photos of where your battery is located on your boom, I'd be concerned about that arrangement getting knocked / damaged.
the VLCD5 has a USB port, very conveniently placed, for charging your mobile phone.
 
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Bad Machine

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Sep 1, 2019
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the VLCD5 has a USB port, very conveniently placed, for charging your mobile phone.
Oh yes, forgot about that. Right underneath the unit, covered by a rubber bung. Woosh, d'you reckon that will only be powered if the VLCD5 has been turned on ?
 
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Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
Oh yes, forgot about that. Right underneath the unit, covered by a rubber bung. Woosh, d'you reckon that will only be powered if the VLCD5 has been turned on ?
it's switched on/off by the LCD on/off.
I woudn't connect anything heavy on power to it, if it blows the step down in the LCD, that's be a very expensive mobile phone charger.
 

Bad Machine

Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2019
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Just checked - my favourite Solarstorm twin cree light draws 2.3A on full power. Way too much demand, I'd reckon for a USB port (mine is powered by a separate Li battery, which needs a separate charger ).
 
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RossG

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Feb 12, 2019
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I completely re-wired my light system when I changed to a KT controller/LCD. I bought one of those naff throttles with a useless key switch, removed the switch mechanism and replaced it with a press button switch to flick the lights on. I got one with a LED indicator just for the heck of it so I can see if I've put the lights on by mistake during the day.
I replaced the cable with multi core so I could double up the leads for the heavy current lights, the remaining single leads are for the LED. The whole thing runs off of the bike battery including the LED which has it's own resistor in line to reduce the voltage. It only draws a few mA so not a problem in this case.
 

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Just checked - my favourite Solarstorm twin cree light draws 2.3A on full power. Way too much demand, I'd reckon for a USB port (mine is powered by a separate Li battery, which needs a separate charger ).
Most mains powered USB chargers provide 5V, 1A as standard eg for an iPhone and 5V, 2A for higher current demands such as an iPad. 2.3A would be way too high for even these and you're unlikely to find greater currents available from ebike USB power sources.

Also remember that USB plugs and sockets aren't particularly robust and they're certainly not waterproof when in use
 

Bad Machine

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Sep 1, 2019
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Most mains powered USB chargers provide 5V, 1A as standard eg for an iPhone and 5V, 2A for higher current demands such as an iPad.
Unfortunately, most do not provide this current level, 500mA to 800mA is far more common.


Also remember that USB plugs and sockets aren't particularly robust and they're certainly not waterproof when in use
Agree on that - usb connection is well known to become unreliable through water ingress and physical strain.
 
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Deleted member 25121

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Unfortunately, most do not provide this current level, 500mA to 800mA is far more common.
Yep, that's true of the cheap and nasty ones, I was thinking more of the Apple and Belkin variety.
 
D

Deleted member 25121

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Good job my Samsung doesn't take offence easily !
:), out of interest, how much current does a standard Samsung charger provide? The standard Apple iPhone one provides up to 1A and the phone does draw close to that when the screen is active and the battery is charging. I've heard that this gives problems when iPhones are connected to some ebike USB power sources that can't provide that current.
 

Bad Machine

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Sep 1, 2019
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Don't know if they've standardised their chargers - I have one of their current Galaxy A20e smartphones, with a "fast charger" - 5.0v DC at 2.0A. An old flip-phone Samsung phone I had previously used a charger that worked for it, but not my Nook tablet - which needed 1.0A. I think you're right to highlight the problem with USB power supply not being up to it for some phones - we've had that same issue of lack of mA when trying to convert dynamo/hub 6v AC to DC for charging (smart) phones - I keep an old Nokia "brick" phone becuase it can be charged from my dynamo converter.

 
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I've spent a lot of time playing around with USB power supplies for many applications and have come to the conclusion that even the large USB A connectors aren't designed for reliably carrying currrents >500mA, the locking mechanism is very poor, there's too much play in the mounting and connections, and the connectors get dirty very easily. On top of that the wires in the cables are often too small for larger currents.
And things get a lot worse with the smaller mini and micro USB connectors and cables.
 

RossG

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Feb 12, 2019
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The latest iPhone is supplied with a 3a USB charger, bet that gets warm.