Re: Busch and Mueller taillight question

On Sep 1, 2:23 am, Nate Nagel <njna...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:
On Aug 31, 11:38 pm, Nate Nagel <njna...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,

just got some packages in the mail today... one was a new taillight, I
finally coughed up the ducats for a "Busch and Mueller 4D Toplight Senso
Multi" (wow, that's a mouthful) I figured a) I needed a new taillight
anyway (I didn't have one that was in any way adaptable for rack
mounting) and b) might as well get a *good* one, and this one was
appealing because it works on both batteries and a dynamo, if I ever go
completely hard core then I won't have to buy yet *another* taillight.
Plus it also acts as a reflector, meets German standards, etc. so that
pretty much guarantees that so long as I aim it right, it ought to be
visible to approaching traffic.  (I've been a big fan of ECE lighting
regs for cars ever since I tried my first pair of H4 E-codes, so I'm
kind of prejudiced in favor of European lighting products.)  makes
sense, yes?

So I dug out a pair of batteries and fired it up.  What I find is that
on the "senso" setting, even sitting here in my well lit (well, really
freakin' bright actually, I have some old troffers from an office
building in the ceiling, and when I fire up both ballasts in each light,
it's quite well lit - in case I have to do any kind of tedious fiddly
work) basement, once the light goes off, as soon as I pick it up, the
light comes right back on again.  I thought that this was supposed to
have a light sensor as well as a motion sensor, yes?  Does it require
*really* bright sunlight to stay off?  Or did I get a bum (or is that
BUMM?) unit?  Figured I'd ask first before bothering the seller.

thanks

nate

PS - off to install new rack so I can use my new trunk bag...  hopefully
won't have any issues with that!

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Busch und Muller have recently started using a 7-second delay so that
really bright car lights shining directly on a bike lamp don't switch
it off.

Motion is *supposed* to switch the lamp on as a failsafe option while
it inspects ambient light conditions. But it should go off again after
about seven seconds if it is surrounded by bright light.

Oops! I meant "should go off again after several minutes".

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Bicycles at
 http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20%26%20CYCLING.html

no, that's not what I'm seeing...  the instructions say that it'll stay
on for four minutes after you switch it to "senso" and it will in fact
shut off if I leave it perfectly still.  But as soon as I pick it up
again it comes back on, and does not shut off unless I leave it
perfectly still for another four minutes.  I tried shining a 3W LED
flashlight directly at what appears to be the light sensor and that
wouldn't shut it off.  So unless I'm misunderstanding the way this is
supposed to operate, I guess I'll be contacting the seller tomorrow.

That's the way the lamp is supposed to operate, Nate. Movement
switches it on, movement and absence of light keeps it on, light
switches it off after a delay, absence of movement switches it off
after a delay. The important word is delay.

The four minute delay you're seeing is not an error but an important
safety function. When you stop at a crossroads, say, the bike is
still. Car lights might be shining directly onto the sensor from a car
stopped behind you. Without the delay, the lamp would go off, exposing
you to danger. With the delay, the lamp stays on until you start
riding again.

When I first got light and motion sensor lamps on a bike (with my
Gazelle Toulouse), I too thought the electronics were broken.
Eventually I worked it out but it disturbed my family for a while that
the lamps on a parked bike would come on when they walked past it. The
ghost in the machine, d'y'know? Eventually we learned to ignore the
lights coming on and staying on -- the switchoff is equally certain.
On my Utopia the BUMM lights are dynamo only, no batteries (the
blinkies are separate and do use batteries but have no sensors), so it
doesn't happen any more.

BUMM instructions make sense in German; that's the best I can say
about them.

Andre Jute
Visit Andre's Gazelle Toulouse at
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20Bauhaus.html


.

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