Nordlicht Dynamo

Nordlicht dynamo
The Dutch typically mount the dynamo on the front wheel, because it makes wiring easier. However, I found the mount too resonant on this bike, so I transferred mine to the back wheel, where it also looks neater. I wanted to continue allowing the front light to switch the back light on and off (either with the switch, or automatically using the light sensor), so I had to be creative with the wiring. I used chunky stereo audio cable, which looks superficially like speaker cable, but each half of the figure-of-eight cable has a central core and an outer screen. So in effect each half has two wires. The complete cable runs from the front light (one half carrying power from the dynamo, the other half carrying switched power from the light), along the underside of the down tube and the left-hand chain stay to the rear axle, where it splits into two. One half goes up the seat stay to the dynamo, whilst the other half goes to the back light via a rack stay. The screened cable is fiddly to work with, and demands a soldering iron, but the result is very neat. The Nordlicht dynamo (Nordlicht is Dutch for "north light") tilts in towards the wheel when the button is pressed, so it can run in either direction. However, it is still handed because the the mounting bracket is to the right of the dynamo body, so it cannot be mounted on the right-hand side of the bike because it would then interfere with the brakes. If your bike has braze-ons for a dynamo, make sure you get the correctly handed dynamo. Also, I recommend the use of a rubber drive wheel, either as supplied with the dynamo, or by adding a rubber "hat" as I have done. This eliminates the traditional bottle dynamo curse of slipping, and gives you the possibility of running the dynamo on the wheel rim (which may prove quieter than running it on the tyre). This dynamo runs on the rim. Cable sourced from Maplin (www.maplin.co.uk), dynamo, bracket, and rubber hat sourced from Dutch Bike Bits (www.dutchbikebits.com).

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