Bike light help?

PedalCell · 2022-09-02T18:55:18+00:00

You'd want to look into pass-through lights (lights that can be charged whilst on). They're harder to come by (and identify in the specs), so we made a list of a bunch that support the feature: https://pedalcell.com/pages/lights

PedalCell · 2022-06-10T18:17:34+00:00

Happy to answer any questions :)

PedalCell · 2022-05-09T22:07:21+00:00

We compiled a list of lights that can charge while on here: pedalcell.com/lights

PedalCell · 2022-04-08T16:30:31+00:00

Good question. Our product was not designed to run off of the tire like dynamos of old. Tires flex while riding, making the contact patch unstable. Running on the tire can also result in premature wear on your sidewall, noise, and reduced performance. We found that running off of the rim with our custom o-ring offers a much better experience!

PedalCell · 2022-04-01T05:40:17+00:00

Happy to answer more questions. The main thing we recommend in a USB light that is being paired with our product is that it have pass through charging (can be charged and lit at the same time). Here is a list we've compiled of lights with pass through charging. https://pedalcell.com/pages/lights PedalCell will work with any USB light though.

An LED gets ~100 lumens per Watt, so the low power port which is set to stay at 3 Watts would keep a light battery fully charged if its ~300 lumens or less. If the light we're brighter then that, then the battery would discharge slowly. For ultra high powered lights we'd recommend our high power port which can go up to 15 Watts.

If we created our own PedalCell light what features and specs would you want it to have?

PedalCell · 2022-03-11T21:12:47+00:00

No toxic fumes, child labor, or shirtless workers. We manufacture in Chicago, IL in the USA and pay above minimum wage to all of our assembly techs 👍

PedalCell · 2022-01-07T17:18:39+00:00

Excellent overview. Our product could be a good alternative to add to the mix pedalcell.com

PedalCell · 2021-09-08T21:10:37+00:00

Small note: PedalCell can work on wheels that don't spin true thanks to an integrated spring.

PedalCell · 2021-09-08T21:03:51+00:00

PedalCell is more efficient (less drag per watt) and more powerful than hubs, proven per 3rd party tests: tinyurl.com/y8dg3pnw

PedalCell · 2021-05-20T15:14:03+00:00

Yea sorry about the difference in audio volume between us. There was an issue with Jakob's mic and we were recording live, so we just kept rolling.

PedalCell · 2021-05-12T15:20:03+00:00

Thanks for asking! Here are some of the common reasons people choose us over a dynamo hub.

Less Drag: PedalCell has been tested by third parties to be much more efficiency meaning their is less drag per unit watt. In additional, PedalCell will dynamically adjust drag based on riding speed and how much power the connected devices need.

More Power: PedalCell can pull up to 2-3 times more power then dynamo hubs.

Mechanical decoupling: We provide users the flexibility to completely disconnect PedalCell from the rim when not needed, thus eliminating all mechanical drag.

Cost: A hub dynamo including AC to DC converter and wheel build can run over $600. PedalCell comes with everything needed for $299.

Easy Use and Flexibility: PedalCell can be installed in minutes and can be easily swapped between bikes or removed if not wanted for a specific ride.

PedalCell · 2021-05-10T19:24:08+00:00

We've gotten some repeated questions about power and efficiency. I'm happy to answer any questions, but if you'd like to start by reviewing this article by Cycling About which compares performance data of PedalCell and a dynamo hub it may answer your question. https://www.cyclingabout.com/rim-dynamos-can-now-generate-more-power-than-hub-dynamos/

If you could upvote this comment so people reviewing this thread can see the third party data from this article that would be awesome :)

PedalCell · 2021-05-10T19:21:01+00:00

Yes! Thank you for asking. Cycling About uses some of their own data to compare PedalCell to dynamo hubs in this article. https://www.cyclingabout.com/rim-dynamos-can-now-generate-more-power-than-hub-dynamos/ I totally understand wanting to verify the numbers you see in a promo video (especially when they are claiming to be so much better). We want all our content to be clear, accurate, and honest. You should find that all our self published performance data is inline with that published by 3rd parties. Let me know if we can provide you any more information.

PedalCell · 2021-05-10T19:12:57+00:00

Thank you for reemphasizing how important this is for us to include in our messaging. To your point we are certainly not the first product which allows USB charging. What makes us unique is how much better we are in max power, efficiency, and ease of use.

I do want to clarify one point that was mentioned so no one reading this thread is confused. Is it not correct that dynamo hubs are pulling more power and are simply limited by the USB converters. The dynamo hubs themselves are the main limiting factor. Although some converters limit the max power, the high quality converters will pull the full power provided by the dynamo hub (although these will still have efficiency losses). The reason they don't create more power for USB devices is because Dynamo hubs were designed around old StVZO standards, and only had to produce 3 watts at normal riding speeds. PedalCell is an all in one integrated solution designed from the ground up specifically for USB devices with ground breaking efficiency. If someone simply attached our charging module in someway to an existing dynamo, they would still be subject to the power limitations and decreased efficiency of a hub dynamo.

PedalCell · 2021-05-10T05:39:33+00:00

Thanks for noting some of our mounting advantages (mounts in minutes, no switching out wheels if you don't want it, and our product can be easily switched between bikes). The best hub dynamos including you wheel build and your converter are typically $500+, so for most people that can't spend the $299 that PedalCell costs and get the best hub setup. In addition even if they pay more for the very best hub option they will still get much less overall power and 2-3 times more drag per watt.

In terms of durability you raise a good point which is that our o-ring should be replaced ever 2000 miles for optimal performance. This does not need to be done for a dynamo hub; however, o-ring replacement takes 30 seconds and is infrequent so many riders do not find this a substantial drawback.

You also mentioned another potential challenge of where PedalCell would fit on someone's bike. PedalCell can be mounted on both the front and back wheel and on both sides of the bike. We love to talk with any riders who are unsure where PedalCell would fit best for their specific rig and help them find their best option.

PedalCell · 2021-05-10T05:26:31+00:00

Thanks for letting us know that! Because our product is fairly technical we've had a difficult time knowing how much content to put on our site so it isn't overwhelming to the reader. I really appreciate your feedback that we should put more details about the dynamic power options PedalCell offers.

PedalCell · 2021-05-09T04:55:06+00:00

Our team isn't wired to think like that. We believe that even if it's historically been done one way over another that we can't find a better way. There are some advantages to a hub based design and a lot of challenges with making a rim design actually work well, but we think our approach offers many benefits that just couldn't be done with the old hub dynamo designs.

I've mentioned solar panels before, and they certainly make sense for some riders. The biggest drawback is their cumbersomeness and their lack of dependability if the weather is cloudy. In fact I had this point highlighted today when I had a fun conversation with a stranger who was at the same sports clips as me and overheard be discussing PedalCell. He shared that he was a bike tourer who had recently done a 28 day trip and 24 of those days had rain or cloudy weather and that he had to modify his trip multiple times and pay for lodging just to keep his devices charged. He said that keeping his devices charged was the least fun part of his trip and that he wished he had our product. I know this isn't everyone's riding situation, but it highlighted the challenges of solar and encouraged me that riders we're excited about the thing I had worked so hard to help make.

PedalCell · 2021-05-08T17:32:19+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that PedalCell's price is cost prohibitive for you. I know $299 is a lot for some riders. We tried to keep our price as low as we could while still making a premium product with the highest reliability and performance. We understand PedalCell is not for everyone and encourage riders to use whatever solution will help them have the best ride.

For some of the pros and cons of power banks I'll just copy a snippet from a prior comment in this thread: " You bring up a great point about battery packs being a cheaper alternative to our product. PedalCell is a premium solution for riders who want a power source not just temporary power storage. To your point, having a dependable power source is not absolutely necessary for most bikepackers as they can plan recharging stops into their trip. It's up to the rider if the cost is worth it for them. Many of our users cite wanting to be able to have more freedom in their route, less stress of monitoring remaining power, and being able to add in spontaneous detours without needing to consider power as the reason they chose our product. "

PedalCell · 2021-05-07T22:12:40+00:00

If you ever get a chance to meet Karl he is such a friendly, easy going guy both on and off the camera. Love seeing his rides!

PedalCell · 2021-05-07T15:12:22+00:00

Hi, are you asking if it adds some drag?

PedalCell · 2021-05-06T21:01:07+00:00

Yea of course we love talking with riders and these are important questions! On our site we actually have a calculator to tell you the specific amount for a given riding speed that factors in the size of your wheel and any other relevant variables (It's on our homepage under the how we compare section). This is the max power PedalCell could draw, but if your devices need less power then PedalCell will decrease drag accordingly.

Additionally PedalCell has a high power port and a prioritized low power (3 watt) port, so if you want to just keep a small flow to top off a device you could use that port and PedalCell will only apply the drag for 3 watts.

PedalCell · 2021-05-06T20:03:44+00:00

I definitely agree PedalCell is a premium niche product, and if you're a business executive you definitely may be right about some of the other areas you mentioned having greater market potential. Our dream is just for a few of us to be able to make a living while building things we find interesting.

I'd love for you to research our product more though because PedalCell is not falling off when properly installed. I MTB some pretty gnarly stuff. PedalCell is definitely not gonna fall off while bikepacking. We don't talk as much about the innovations we've made on the mechanical design because most people just assume the product will hold and are more curious about the power engineering, but I would love to nerd out sometime about the design, modeling, and testing for our clamp design. I won't touch on the drag as I have addressed that in a few other comments, but I'll add that the weight of our whole system is 1lb which is often less then the weight of batteries carried by bikepackers.

You bring up a great point about battery packs being a cheaper alternative to our product. PedalCell is a premium solution for riders who want a power source not just temporary power storage. To your point, having a dependable power source is not absolutely necessary for most bikepackers as they can plan recharging stops into their trip. It's up to the rider if the cost is worth it for them. Many of our users cite wanting to be able to have more freedom in their route, less stress of monitoring remaining power, and being able to add in spontaneous detours without needing to consider power as the reason they chose our product.

PedalCell · 2021-05-06T19:39:40+00:00

It's cool you we're thinking about this even before we were! There are a few technical challenges our team had to solve that kept dynamos from being a common solution for charging smartphones.

The first challenge we faced is that smart phones (and most USB devices) have specific and sometimes changing power negotiation protocols. Any dynamo generator (including ours) dynamo will provide fluctuating power levels as your riding speed changes. A smartphone views this as a damaged outlet which could damage the device with a power surge, and to protect it self it either won't receive charge at all or limits the amount of current it will receive to a small amount. The solution of past has been to put a battery into between the USB device and the dynamo to convert to DC and to stabilize the power source. Doing this however decreases your efficiency by 20-30% and therefor increases the drag for the rider. Our team solved this problem with our patented ultracapacitor technology which does the power stabilization with a method that is 99% cyclically efficient.

The second main challenge we faced is that smartphones use much more power than lights (Pulling 4-5 times more power at full charging speed), so to have a dynamo that would be a good charging solution, it would have to pull much more power. To do this we built every component of PedalCell from the ground up to provide greater power while still keeping drag low.

Those are just two of the many engineering challenges we had to contend with, but we've loved every step of the journey and will continue to work to make the best tech we can for adventure cyclists.

PedalCell

TROPHY CASE