Switch oveR

[Ian]

This has been a while in the pipeline, but last night I finally finished off my switch arrangement to flip between Revo and Cycle2Charge.

Full write up here: http://ianbarrington.com/2016/03/08/switch-over/

Huge thanks to Drew for his help in my completing this, who's advice and wiring diagrams helped me to get it all working

[Zippy]

Nice work Ian,

Only comment I've got is on soldering the wires to the switch, if you threaded the wire through the hole and soldered - that gives an extra bit of security (belt and braces so to speak, rather than belt only if that makes sense - and gives an extra bit of contact patch too). What's there is fine though, and I'm sure you've tested it works

I also like how the angle of the switch on your bar is perfect to allow any water to flow over and drip off, as opposed to possibly get inside the electronic gubbins.

[Ian]

Cheers Zippy. I think soldering is one of those things that improves with practice, and isn't as easy as it looks

I think because none of it moves once it's all in place, the existing joints should be OK. We'll see.
The only one I had trouble with was the two white cables onto the outer part of the female connector - getting it warm enough to solder, but not too hot to melt the plastic inside was hard...

[Bearbonesnorm]

The only one I had trouble with was the two white cables onto the outer part of the female connector - getting it warm enough to solder, but not too hot to melt the plastic inside was hard...

For future reference, grinding the tip of the iron down helps in situations like that.

[Ian]

How does that help exactly?

[ctznsmith]

Nice and neat.

[Bearbonesnorm]

How does that help exactly?

It focuses the heat and means there's less chance of the edges of the tip coming into contact with something you don't want them to.

[dlovett]

A very neat piece of work there Ian.

The only question would be is it Revo On/Revo & USB OFF/USB ON and if so does that matter?

I'm wiring one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281909980736? ... EBIDX%3AIT up as I can get Light on/Light off on one button and USB ON/USB OFF on the other button. I can also run both on and both off which might be useful on night time road sections, depending upon how much power the light such up.

However it I really like the look of yours and If I can find a switch like mine but shaped lie your's I'd make it your way.

Duncan

[Ian]

Thanks Duncan :)

Yes, the switch is On (Revo) - Off (both) - On (USB). I figured I didn't need USB and Revo, as people are reporting low outputs from off road riding for the purposes of charging stuff, and the light would be half as bright. Seemed to me that light in the dark and charging in the day was the way to go.

The only improvement I would like it to have just the rear light lit during the day, if riding on the road. I guess I could do this with a Y cable into the female for the USB lead, as the rear light has much less draw than the front light does. However, this would require me to switch the rear light cable over manually which kind of defeats the purpose of having a switch at the bars

[dlovett]

You could run two cables to the rear light, one from the switched usb live and the other from the revo's output. Then if either are switched on the rear light gets power.

Or make a y lead going from the rear light to the usb switched live and revo output. You would perhaps need to place a diode on each side of the y cable, but would only need s single cable running to the rear light.

The only other thing I would like is a visual indicator of dynamo output, perhaps some led's or a led to show what you are generating. Anybody got and ideas on how to do this?

Ta

d

Thanks Duncan :)

Yes, the switch is On (Revo) - Off (both) - On (USB). I figured I didn't need USB and Revo, as people are reporting low outputs from off road riding for the purposes of charging stuff, and the light would be half as bright. Seemed to me that light in the dark and charging in the day was the way to go.

The only improvement I would like it to have just the rear light lit during the day, if riding on the road. I guess I could do this with a Y cable into the female for the USB lead, as the rear light has much less draw than the front light does. However, this would require me to switch the rear light cable over manually which kind of defeats the purpose of having a switch at the bars

[Ian]

I've not managed to find a three position switch as small as the one I used with LED indicators on it. Plenty of choice of two position switches 20mm diameter, but that's not much help really.

[slarge]

Duncan, to show dynamo output you just need a LED and resistor across the main output.
If the output is 6V, you need the resistor sized to allow only 5mA or 10mA through the LED. Around 570ohm to 1kohm should do this. This will reduce current available to the device GPS, buffer battery etc) by 5mA but that will not be noticeable.

To get levels of dynamo output is more complicated, as you really want to measure current, and you want to measure it without dropping any voltage from the supply to the device. That'll take some figuring out.....

Ian, why do you need to switch the dynamo output off? A 2 position switch would just allow you to switch between light and C2C.

[welshwhit]

No worries, glad I could help out!

Tidy bit of work that, love the bar end housing too, reckon that will make it good and robust long term.

Soldering is defo a skill! Dead easy to overlook it, I got impatient and cooked a switch whilst doing mine!

Drew

[slarge]

Ian, be careful about switching at high speeds, the Revo doesn't like being switched on or off at high dynamo outputs - I think there's something in the Revo light instructions about this.

[johnnystorm]

Soldering is defo a skill! Dead easy to overlook it, I got impatient and cooked a switch whilst doing mine!

Pfft, how hard can it be?

What's that burning smell?

stock-photo-beautiful-woman-repair-soldering-a-printed-circuit-board-205937137.jpg (44.21 KiB) Viewed 12885 times

[Ian]

Ian, why do you need to switch the dynamo output off? A 2 position switch would just allow you to switch between light and C2C.

Mainly that's how Drew had done his, and I copied it
I figured a two position switch (on-off) would only allow you to switch one device on or off. Like I say, electronics wasn't a strong subject for me at school, and it is getting on for 25 years ago now anyway

[sean_iow]

The only improvement I would like it to have just the rear light lit during the day, if riding on the road. I guess I could do this with a Y cable into the female for the USB lead, as the rear light has much less draw than the front light does.

So does that mean the rear light would be powered direct from the hub? Is it an Exposure Red Eye? I was thinking about the same set-up but my understanding was that the red eye could only be powered off the Revo (or compatible Exposure battery light) as the Revo sorts out the power to something the light can handle? Doesn't the hub output vary with speed?

For now I've just stuck with my battery rear light as on flash the run time is more than enough for any trip I make, currently only get a chance to ride once a week for a couple of hours in the evening and the batteries last for months.

[Zippy]

Soldering is defo a skill! Dead easy to overlook it, I got impatient and cooked a switch whilst doing mine!

Pfft, how hard can it be?

stock-photo-beautiful-woman-repair-soldering-a-printed-circuit-board-205937137.jpg

She must have rubber hands!

[slarge]

Ian, if you use an on/off switch with 3 terminals, you can use this to switch between the dynamo feeding the light or feeding the C2C. You need a SPST switch (single pole single throw). There are millions of these on eBay with LEDs in, and all you would need to choose is which device caused the led to illuminate ( the C2c would be the obvious choice as the light has it's own LEDs).

Of course, this led only lights when the dynamo feeds the C2C, it does not check the output of the C2C.

[Ian]

I've only had a cursory look, but switches with LED's seem to need a 12v supply. Maybe 5V ones are available too?

Tbh, I'm happy with it as it is for now. Maybe after extensive use I'll discover other things I'd like to change.

[vorlich]

Nice. Only thing I'd suggest I maybe a little clear silicone to seal the exit port, if you could do it internally it'd keep it nice a neat.

[ianfitz]

I just made one of these using Ian's instructions. I made a slight mod to mine in that I didn't bother with the socket so the wire with the supply from the hub is soldered directly rather than there being a socket.

A quick test reveals that is works

I used an old bar end and the same switch as I knew it would fit. will give a couple of test rides and then get some silicone in there to seal it up.

Thanks for posting this Ian, I'd been thinking about sorting something like this for ages as the existing options didn't seem quite right for what I wanted. Whereas this set up is spot on

[rufus748]

I just made one of these using Ian's instructions.

Likewise, only instead of using a bar end I removed the SFN and topcap and incorporated the switch into a bottle cap that replaces the stem topcap (looks better than it sounds!)

Keeps it off the bars as I couldn't find a space that I don't rest my hands on at some point.

And it works!

Thanks Ian.

[Ian]

Good stuff, glad others have followed suit.

Perhaps post up some pics for others' inspiration/ideas?

[ianfitz]

Good stuff, glad others have followed suit.

Perhaps post up some pics for others' inspiration/ideas?

Will do tomorrow, it all a bit finished though, will draw out a wiring diagram as its very slightly different to yours with having a fixed supply.