Home > Bike Types > Commuter

Magnetic Bike Light Powered By Motion, No Batteries Required

6 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Self powered bicycle lights are nothing new. The traditional dynamo light has been around for years, but faced one major problem that a new product on the market aims to solve; friction. The Magtenlight Company, based out of Hong Kong, says their Magtenlight self contained bicycle lighting system allows you to light your way without losing any energy from the bike, because unlike traditional dynamo systems, there is no actual contact with the bike to create the energy.

How? The system starts 28 magnets placed around the front hub, and as you move the bike, the passing of the magnets against one another creates energy, which is captured and sent directly to the bulb to be converted into light. No more friction against your rim means no more resistance when trying to light up at night. In fact, Magtenlight says there is no detectable difference, except for weight, when riding with one of their lights.

The light is claimed to produce about 15 lux when attached to a bicycle going 9 mph, and even if you have to stop or slow down, the light will continue to work. The system houses a battery that can power a front and rear light for about four minutes with no motion, so if you get stuck at a light or have to slow down during your commute you can be sure you will still be seen.

The system can be ordered directly from the company in Hong Kong via their English-language website here. Cost is $76, and comes with a white front and red rear light along with the necessary parts to attach and power them. See a picture of the full kit after the break.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

6 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gillis
Gillis
14 years ago

This is nothing new. I bought something like this (although simpler in design, and cheaper) in Denmark last summer.

Ghost Rider
14 years ago

Yep, nothing new…Reelight from Denmark has been making these for a few years now:
http://www.reelight.com/Default.aspx?ID=47

Tyler Benedict
Admin
14 years ago
Reply to  Ghost Rider
Michael
14 years ago

The Magtenlight is totally new and different from the Reelight. The Reelight uses magnets to cut through coils to generate electricity, and this system is very sensitive to the distance between the magnet and the coil.The magnetic force acting on coils is inversely proportional to the distance between them, and is acting only on one side.

The Magtenlight uses 28 magnets on the wheel, and uses 2 magnets on top of a highly efficient generator (the air gap between rotor and stator is only 0.2 mm), these magnets form a
system of magnetic gears, gearing-up the generator speed by 14 times, and because it is a magnet to magnet force transmission. The magnetic force interacts with each other for transfer of 2 times the power to the generator because both side of the magnets exerting a force to each other.

The Magtenlight has a CREE Q4 steady white LED on the front , 1W of light power ( 3.3V x 0.3A) plus two steady red 5mm LEDs on the rear (2.4V x 20mA x 2 = 0.096 W),
while the Reelight have two white 5 mm LEDs on front ( 3.3V x 20mA x 2= 0.132 W) plus two red 5mm LEDs on the rear (2.4V x 20mA x 2 = 0.096 W), and flashes 2 times a second
( assume on-time is half of the time), then

1.096 W compared to (0.132W +0.096W)/2 ==>> 1.096W : 0.114 W

Magtenlight has 9.6 times more power than the Reelight, That is a big difference.

wincel
wincel
12 years ago

I bought the Reelight lights some time ago and Michael is correct, the Reelight flashs and is extremely sensitive to the distance of the magnet from the coil – which can be a problem on bumpy roads but is painful to adjust on the standing bike already. I ordered the back and front ones with stand by. Turns out the website is not clear in information and the stand by ones can only flash. I asked for replacement for the front ones to be steady, send my flash front ones in, they shipped to me … exactly the same flashing ones.
At this point I became annoyed.
Then when I got the stuff back from my bike shop from installing at one front light the wire had come off. They claimed that was not their fault, it must have had a loose connection all the time but they agreed to refund me for the money I had paid for the front one. The one which had the wire connected fine does not work as well or the light is so dim I can’t see it. The back lights are ok though.
So basically at the moment I’m very annoyed and still no idea what to do with the front light. I can feel the brake down from the Reelight already and wonder if the Magtenlight are stronger if they do that even more …?

wincel
wincel
12 years ago

Oh btw if the wire comes off from inside the lamps with the Reelight you can’t repair it, they are glued together and no screws or anything. So if anything happens there you have to replace the whole thing.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.