Reelight - zero battery bike light

[Martin]

A fellow biker just pointed me at Reelight, a light that needs no battery ever and has no drag on the wheels, either.
Probably not the brightest light, rather to be seen. However, a very unique product.
Anyone here had a chance to try this out ?

 

[MikeHunt79]

I wonder how much energy the moving magnets would produce? Not much I imagine, but the fact that it only add a small amount of weight to your wheels to give you almost "free" power is great.

I wonder if this system could be used to top up my Li-ion 18650's that I have on my bike, that power Lux III's.

 

[CodeOfLight]

Nothing is ever free. There is drag on the wheels when the magnet passes the coil, and current is allowed to flow in the coil powering anything.

 

[chesterqw]

the magnets must be some super strong ones to produce enough current...
the coil use must have alot of turns too
the lamp use must be able to support the AC supply without 'poof'ing

but then... the one you linked is a blinking light....


i will want MINE on the most outer rim of the wheels and a coil near there.
then a regulator there to prevent the lamp from going poof incase i cycle too fast or dimming if i cycle too slow.

you guys know what i mean?

 

[PeLu]

Anyone here had a chance to try this out ?

I bought a similar setup several years ago. It is now collecting dust in a cupbord. Guess why?
As you can assume that all (for a bicyclist) dangerous traffic has lights, reflectors make a better job.

 

[ktronik]

Anyone here had a chance to try this out ?

Yep I have two sets!! One for me & my wife

they work GREAT, as they are bolted on, you can't forget them, don't need to ever turn them off or on, just shut up & ride!! you can even mount them with disk brakes... I would say they are 'reel' good.

 

[Martin]

Thank you for sharing your valued experience, ktronik.
So they are apparently not all bad. Let's see if a set happens to turn up on my local EBAY.

And best wishes for the new year !

 

[Jens_Lund]

Here in Denmark where Reelights come from A LOT (say 1 in 8!) of cycles have these this winter. They are very good if you want to be seen (i.e. city cycling), but not good if you want to light your path through a forest.

They are blinking lights, bright, and the latest version even keeps blinking a few minutes after you stop at e.g. a trafic light. There is no friction worth talking about compared to just running the bike.

I do not have them myself yet, but they should definitely be recommended!

 

[65535]

THey add drag and the blinking well thats another story. But I would want a capacitor and a regulation system because those lights aren't good for anything but fast street riding forget mountains or anything.

 

[ktronik]

THey add drag and the blinking well thats another story. But I would want a capacitor and a regulation system because those lights aren't good for anything but fast street riding forget mountains or anything.

They are what they are, not a light to see from but a back up light for 'fast street riding' I still use battery powered flashers ( for when stopped) & a dyno light up front...you never can have too many lights... + in Australia, FULL street legal, with reel lights alone, so if you forget your other lights or batteries go flat, you don't get a fine...

The amount of drag in not noticable at all.

 

[CaptCarrot]

I would just like to point out that they have added solid lights to the lineup.

As I understanfd it you now have variable flashing flashing, steady flashing with standlight and solid on (no mention of standlight)

 

[znomit]

As I understanfd it you now have variable flashing flashing, steady flashing with standlight and solid on (no mention of standlight)

Yes I have the 150s on my nishiki. They are solid on but no standlight. I would rather have flashing and standlight (120s).

I also carry front and rear blinkies. This is on my commuter so just "be seen" lights.

 

[Martin]

As they told me at the last Eurobike, the solid-on consumes all available energy so that there's nothing left to store for a standlight. None of their devices had a German approval back then and if I look at their website now, I cannot see this has changed.

 

[syc]

I have 2 sets of these, once with standlights and one without. The set without went on my longbike commuter and the other set with standlights is going on my wife's commuter. As compensation, my dynamo light has a standlight, and my wife's dynamo light won't.

It works well as a be seen light, and the drag is, as others have pointed out, not worth mentioning. They aren't super bright, but much brighter than many of the low battery blinkies I see on the roads.

They are very handy and I recommend them as zero maintenance be seen lights.

 

[CaptCarrot]

Yes I have the 150s on my nishiki. They are solid on but no standlight. I would rather have flashing and standlight (120s).

I also carry front and rear blinkies. This is on my commuter so just "be seen" lights.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I still think they are a brilliant idea

 

[f22shift]

any mounted pics? theres none on their website. i can't gauge the size of it. also the brightness. fauxton brightness?

i'm not a fan of adding any weight to the wheel as it can be felt more and be unbalance. and honestly i think having a battery operated blinker is better because they are not heavy, last so long and are brighter i can imagine.

i'm very intrigued though because it doesn't need turning on or off which would be helpful for my braindead wife.

 

[Illum]

err...the link's 404

 

[znomit]

 

[lakawak]

I can't believe how many people think that this produces no drag. How do you think the energy that is needed to power the light is created then? Maigc? Out of thin air? Breaking hte fundamental laws of science? Newsflash...every time you pull two magnets apart, it takes energy. So every time the magnets on the wheel come close to the magnet on the receiver, it is stealing energy away from you as you pedal your bike. Yes...your tires are slowing down. To pedal the exact same distance you would have to expend more energy with these on your bike.

The same is true of a bike computer. Though that is minimal. Granted, the light is probably pretty minimal too, but to say there is no drag is just silly.

 

[CyclingSalmon14]

^ yea, theoreticaly/scientifically/mathematicly speaking, you are 100% correct, however as people whom have tried and owned these above have mentioned, on a practical in rreal life situation, your point is mute.

You may notice ythe drag but I'd be willing to bes you would feel more drag from many other issues that will have the same effect on your overall effeciancy on a long ride.

Everything from a big things like lower pressures in your tires to tree pattern, tire thickness aka rolling resistance up to things like aerodynamic's are far more likely to effect your overall ride effeciancy, to just as important things like weight of bike, your hydration and what you have eating to your style of ridding such as many over breaking pe taking less efficient lines, all of these things on there own are properly just as effective at slowing you down as this light, all together plus all the other things I haven't mentioned will have a far great impact on your ride overall than simply the minimal drag from this light.