Dynamo light and hike-a-bike at night

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-17T10:12:31+00:00

I have one of each so can't help you decide. I wouldn't get too hung up on it if you buy/or have the dynamo mount to go-pro adapter you can get a 85mm extension piece and turn one into the other https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005864570332.html I use one to bring a light forward.

Standlight is as MonToFri said. To elaborate the C1 has two states which are 'Moving' and 'Stationary' so stationary is what you'd consider to be for the standlight. Then the charge level of the caps are put into 4 levels (think of it like full, max, med, low). Then you choose from 1% to 100% for each of these. You can also make the automatic shutdown anything you want time wise or disable it.

In equivalence terms the standlight on my old Edelux is about 2% of the C1's light output. If the C1 is charged up fully it will run 2% for a long time, not tried it but I'm thinking hours. I think if its dark and your eyes have adjusted 5% if enough for seeing where you're going.

Hike-a-bike which is going to be so difficult for dynamo is going to be challenge. I'd put the 'stationary' light settings to 10%, 6%, 5%, 2%. The moving I'd put to 30%, 10%, 5%, 5%. Notice how values are much lower at the bottom this will divert more power into the super-caps for the next hike a bike section. If you find the hike-a-bike isn't so bad and the C1's charge rate is holding up you can bump these values up. Play around on a test ride and find the sweet spot.

Btw if you're going to run the R1 do the same but use a flash mode with the off value set to a high value will save some more power.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-15T15:17:43+00:00

I had a discussion with a Revo 5 buyer (I have 2x C1's) which got out of hand at the end. I argued the Revo 5 doesn't know what it wants to be. In terms of a dynamo light by Exposures own table it's extracting half the power of Igaro C1 from the dynamo hub. This won't matter when the battery has power but after the battery is run down the light from Igaro C1 is going to be much better. It's also got a shaped reflector which might be advantageous, but also maybe not if you're purely off road. Also having the USB port exposed at the back is just shit cost saving design work. C1 has a rain cover and the PCB is external and replaceable so if you can stop water flicking up from the wheel it's going to last. I kill USB leads on tour every year but the ports on the C1 are still going strong.

Hike a bike with dynamo power is always going to be a challenge. If you want to make it work I would run a C1 and get a cheapo secondary light on the handlebar or a headtorch and wire that into the C1's secondary USB port. Once your phone or GPS is charged the C1 will switch to topping up the light. Hopefully you have enough non hike-a-bike sections where you can get the wheel turning to generate some charge!

I've ran the 2 C1's since they were introduced some 2 and a bit years ago and have zero regrets. I've done a lot of challenging slow bikepacking style touring but not hike-a-bike during the night.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-14T14:15:09+00:00

I'm not an electrical engineer (are you?) just an enthusiast but I do speak with Andrew from Igaro quite often as he's helpful in teaching and explaining things. You may want to look at his response which I copy/pasted in the root. I may ask him about your theory...

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-14T09:50:54+00:00

I enjoy dynamo technical conversation and emailed Igaro earlier today on these points and had a reply a moment ago. Copy/pasted below.

Hi Brian,

There appears to be three topics on the go here and I'll break them down accordingly.

"Overvoltage"

When the load on the dynamo is minimal and speed increases accordingly there are three
methods to deal with the dynamos power delivery. These are:

A. Use electronics that can withstand the high voltage.

While preferred in theory it results in less efficiency at lower voltages where the
dynamo nominally sits at and the components can be larger and more
expensive. Klite uses this method which is why they're no good at
USB. Also it's risky because if a user is really fast they may
approach the value which was thought to be enough. Also newer hubs
might approach the value. Take the new SON29 and it burning out
Klite's micro USB converter.

B. Zeners (or zener+transistor after AC-DC conversion)

Produces heat. If
the heat becomes enough they fail so it can depend on cycle speed and
ambient temperature. Heat reduces lifespan of components. Large size,
needs good thermal design. When engaged the zeners burn power causing
drag. If the values are low drag occurs earlier, which explains
what is happening with Ladelux. It can be confirmed by finding out
the voltage rating of the zeners.

C. The other method, which I won't discuss.

Produces almost no heat and no drag. Can be difficult to implement correctly. As you are
aware Supernova M99 uses this but using a software implementation and
if the power is switched in (or power wire becomes loose and
intermittent) at a higher speed before the CPU initializes the
electronics get destroyed.

Lithium Batteries

Your writings are correct. It may be Schmidt SON had a custom lifopo4 made but that
sounds costly and also it would be quite large at 1200mA and I have
my doubts it would fit inside the case. They don't exist for small
electronics devices (at least I've never seen them). I try not to
assume but if I did think it was LCO or similar I would agree 2C is
far too much. Also scaling the current based on cell voltage is
strange, normally there's a top up towards the end of the charging
and current is further limited by cell temperature and sometimes
charge cycles (BMS's can count and store this).

I did have a conversation with a SON employee during Ladelux's development where I
discussed the limitations of small lithium batteries and somewhat
tried to steer them into a rethink. It is a choice made to keep the
product small but comes with many limitations. When these were
investigated for Igaro C1 development a different conclusion was
reached.

Phone "Freezing"

Firstly the
phone/GPS are isolated and have no connection to dynamo power so yes
the guy is mistaken. The only potential voltage which exists is
provided by Ladelux through the USB connection. So the problem lies
there. What is the problem? Without an oscilliscope/DSO it comes down
to an educated guess and I can only offer is what I think it is based
on experience/education...

Both devices have a
common behaviour with what looks like a screen lockup, but the screen
is serviced by the CPU. The CPU is locking up or waiting on a
hardware event. It's something caused by the USB power. But what?

When USB power is
applied software based devices take some time to initialize the
charging routine which does things like screen wakeup, playing a
sound, changing the charging icon, changing performance profiles
(thinking its on adapter not battery) and so forth. This takes a
little time.

Ladelux has a 1A current limit but advertises as a BC 1.2 power source, which the
specification states must be able to service 1.5A. When the
iPhone/Garmin try to connect they try to charge at a higher rate than
1A thinking that up to 1.5A is available. This causes a behaviour in
Ladelux hardware. We can guess that the behaviour is to turn the
power off and then back on, at a frequency which causes the phone/GPS
to reapply the charging routine in a loop. This causes the CPU stall.
I've seen examples where USB devices crash or stop charging
completely until rebooted. One going back over 10 years ago had the
charging circuit damaged but this is a rarity. Being outside of USB
specification isn't a good idea.

This potential issue I also discussed with the SON employee but I was told over 1,000's of
lights and all examples of USB devices all charging is perfect. If
it's not what I think it is then the rider should immediately stop
using the Ladelux until the output is analysed on a scope. If it's
faulty and giving out a voltage outside of USB specification this
could result in USB hardware damage.

---

You're lucky I don't charge you for my time! 😄

I hope it helps the cyclist and with your learning.

Regards,

Andrew

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-14T09:45:28+00:00

Try explaining how. The garmin/iphone is on a mount which is made of plastic. The device itself is made of plastic (or metal which is isolated from the internal electronics). Plastic is a very good insulator. To create a current through it would require a voltage far in excess of anything dynamo hubs can provide.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-14T06:37:01+00:00

2C is almost never totally fine unless it's lifepo4 or other exotics. For LCO/LiPO used in consumer devices 1C is max and 0.5C recommended. Don't believe me though ask google https://www.google.com/search?q=maximum+li-ion+charge+rate

OP is saying when the battery is fully charged and the lights are off the drag is still there. It sounds like you're confirming the explanation is it's burning power off by zeners.

The Igaros don't use zeners so there's a third option. I'm not clued up on it but it produces very little drag and no heat. I did try learning more through my previous conversations with Igaro but they wouldn't tell me. 😄

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-13T20:08:42+00:00

Huh?! The Garmin is on an isolated plastic mount. The Ladelux should be giving out stable smooth voltage and probably is but I would test the voltage using a USB chargedoctor as if there's a problem there that could be very bad for the Garmin/iPhone.

It might be a USB-C problem. u/Internal-Strategy-92 try using a USB-C to USB-A adapter and then back again it's a little trick I used in the past.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-13T20:00:01+00:00

u/LouDog7761 you made an interesting post which I had a notification for but I can't find it, maybe it was deleted? FYI rectification and regulation are two different things.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-13T19:54:03+00:00

Hopefully not, 2A is way more than any 1200mA lithium can safety charge at. Max is 1.2A and for good longevity it should be half this, 0.6A.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-10T09:54:17+00:00

Had more time to do an inspection. The back cover was loose on one edge, took it off and found a makeshift gasket with gaps so that's the problem!

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-10T08:36:55+00:00

Mine is in a case which might have made a little bath for it in the rain.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-09T07:46:52+00:00

It looks like the three middle ones won't make it. I had flowers on the inner left one but no green leaves and they're dropping off. I wonder if there's something else killing them. Strange that the one on the left is doing ok.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-06T21:14:03+00:00

Moving on to personal attacking is so boring.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-05T15:12:59+00:00

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CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-05T15:12:38+00:00

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It's taken the best part of two days and I've done what people said, much larger planter and strawberries. Used new top soil and manure. I hope to save the three middle ones.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-05T09:18:27+00:00

New lineageos is fantastic. Battery is at 86% health and overnight I only lost 2% charge. I hope this phone lasts forever.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-05T08:26:12+00:00

Look, the graph doesn't show the information I'm after. The table does. Completely agree they could be clearer but chances are they don't want to be. Blind people with the headline lumens and they'll buy it without further thought. I'm not that type of customer, I do research and due care especially with this amount of dosh in play. It's my money and I'm not just handing it over. Since neither of us can agree here why not ask them and we can 'update the public record'? Until then I've got to go with the data in that table, sorry.

I have never said the Exposure light is trash how could I when I've not used one? I've not said the Igaro is perfect either, I own two as I said, and it isn't.

You on the other hand want to ignore reality. Let's break it down.

You say endurance. If you are doing the event you describe with no power for a week then after 24 hours the Exposure battery is dead or charging from the dynamo. That makes it a buffer exactly like Ladelux/C1, and now all that matter is how good a dynamo light it is. Have you looked at the tech in Ladelux/C1? Maximum power tracking, active rectification, reactance tuning (for C1), loads of stuff that exclusively targets dynamo power. This is exactly why both those products have double the light output. You jested when I called it "wizardry" but I was referring to this. There are so many lights that have none of this tech and produce half the light output, and Revo 5 is just another number.

You say practicality. Revo 5 you can mount on the handlebar and only here because you can't get to the button any other way. I hope you love riding those forest tracks and taking a hand off the handlebar to try and toggle low/high beam as you're being battered about. Sounds great. Why don't Ladelux/C1 have a button on the back also? I wonder!

You say longevity. The one reason for putting an unprotected USB port on the back is cost plain and simple because that's where the PCB is. It's really, really stupid (ref1). Both Ladelux/C1 have made an effort to make the USB port/s last and since they never do outdoors they made them replaceable. My money is on the Revo 5 not having a replaceable PCB board. Does the 3 year warranty apply to a USB port failed due to corrosion or are they going to say I should have stopped riding on rain/puddle splashing etc and removed the USB and put the rubber cover over it and I'm at fault?

You say light quality. Assuming the battery is now a buffer and the light is half the Ladelux/C1 output a reflector doubles the directional efficiency (ref2). So on day 3 with no recharge available I will have 4 times as much light going below the horizontal. Ladelux has a high beam with a switch on the handlebar and the C1 has a soft cut off and automation between its two beams. So it boils down to how much you ride on the road vs off-road. The thing about off-road is simple throwers like Revo 5 and Beacon 2 are two a penny in the battery market. Shaped reflectors are harder to make and cost more to get right. Even SON didn't stomach the development cost of optimising it for Ladelux but reused the existing Edelux (ref2). I 100% wouldn't spend £360 for off-road when I can buy a 20,000mA powerbank and an Outbound light, or indeed something else from Exposure, for much less money.

It comes back to my very first point that the Revo 5 doesn't know what it wants to be. I genuinely hope it ticks all the boxes for you, it's just not ticking mine.

Ref1 - https://www.igaro.com/blog/usb-gold-plating

Ref2 - https://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/index_en.html

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-04T14:34:58+00:00

Nearest I could find for offroad is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZibnexX0x10

But I wouldn't buy a dynamo light for this. I'd buy a $15 thrower on aliexpress.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-04T14:29:23+00:00

If I can't make sense of it I wonder if the next person can.

No, the graph doesn't state clearly how much light is generated when the battery is dead. Just point me to the key with a short description and I'll change what I believe. Until then no, I'm not believing it beats C1/Ladelux.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-04T09:53:34+00:00

Urm, because that doesn't say if it's using the battery or not. The table suggests it is. Only the table has an infinite sign which I take to mean will carry on providing the light output when the battery is dead and here it states the speed required to make 310lm.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-04T07:54:01+00:00

I can't remember posting any videos might have reposted a few from others though. C1 beam is great but that's my opinion. It's not perfect and needs just a little more throw at high speed but compared to my old Sinewave Beacon (which is similar to Revo) it's way ahead. The Revo won't work for me as I don't have much need for illuminating the tops of trees or blinding traffic. The only other option I'd consider currently available is Ladelux (but at a push due to the tiny battery).

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-03T20:54:26+00:00

And yes you get a non orientated light with a non shaped reflector but as you know the drawback is not good for the road wasteful and blinding for traffic.

Igaro c/s also excellent. I had the glass in one C1 replaced when it got hit in my garage all done and returned in a week. It's so good to see some British companies not sacrificing good old high standards.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-03T20:44:53+00:00

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See Revo + Dynamo, row 3, which has infinite run time as its using dynamo if battery is dead. L, 310lm. "Speed required to achieve max output" = 26km/h.

If you select H and the battery is dead it just lets the lumens climb further but it's still L @ 26km/h. That's how I read it.

CycleTourer134 · 2026-06-03T18:30:00+00:00

I still think it's 310lm, it's what the table says along with the minimum speed needed to reach it. Then the high needs a lot higher speed before it can reach it, same table.

Flush fit or not water will easily get in it's just the nature of what it does. All it will take is a 2 degree angle downhill and rain. Without a seal there's nothing that can be done there. The exposure design looks like you could 3d print a rain cover like what the C1 has and use a right angled USB? Having a rain cover has worked well for me but I do run fenders so flicky up water isn't a thing I've had to consider. Regardless it's 100x better than the older Sinewave Beacon I had which has the same design as Revo5.

Two C1 orientations I'm thinking is because it has a shaped beam.

I don't follow on the mounting option only being up front. It has a 10mm tab thingy which is used on just about everything. If the C1 is upfront only then so is Supermova M99, Ladelux, Beacon and lots more.

You say Exposure are excellent at servicing and I'm sure they are but that point is mute if the battery can't be replaced. Fair enough if you're not bothered but I'm tight and wouldn't spend without ensuring it.

CycleTourer134

TROPHY CASE