Headlight not working on e-bike

[RJNS]

I have a 2016 iZIP E3 Vibe Plus. It comes pre-wired for a 6V headlight and taillight. I installed a new Busch and Muller Cyo E Premium headlight and Toplight Line taillight. The headlight "works", but the light is extremely dim, like nightlight dim. The taillight works fine. The headlight is supposed to look like the photo, but in reality I can barely see the road with no street lights.

I'm not electronics savvy, but I tested several things:
- did verify 6V output from wiring on bike. Per Currie Tech, wiring comes off motor, not direct from battery.
- Since the taillight works, I tried the headlight on the taillight wiring, but no change.
- I get no continuity reading from the power input wires on the headlight, but I do when I check the pigtail wires coming off the headlight. These are for providing power to a taillight if you don't already have bike wiring for one.
- With the headlight turned on, I get 7V from the pigtail wires. How do you get 7V from a 6V power source?

The dealer that sold me the light (Peter White Cycles) is going to try and contact Busch and Muller to try and troubleshoot, but I shipped my headlight back to him and he said it works fine when connected to a 6V lantern battery. Busch and Muller is a German company and all their lights are known to be compatible with Bosch's motors, but 6V power should all be the same, right?

Any ideas??? Do e-bikes have compatibility issues with some wired in accessories? Can DC power have some variance like in frequency or something?

 

[Marc V]

Hmm...my initial thinking was try it on a separate 6v power source but it sounds like that is what they tried with the lantern battery. I am curious to find out what the solution is because I was thinking of changing my headlight out on my built in EZ Pedaler X350 to something brighter, if you get results like the pic I will definitely look into that light because that looks great! haha

Take care, ride safe!
Marc V

 

[RJNS]

Hmm...my initial thinking was try it on a separate 6v power source but it sounds like that is what they tried with the lantern battery. I am curious to find out what the solution is because I was thinking of changing my headlight out on my built in EZ Pedaler X350 to something brighter, if you get results like the pic I will definitely look into that light because that looks great! haha

Take care, ride safe!
Marc V

So Peter White spoke to Busch & Muller about my issues. They sent out a 6V version of the Cyo instead of the 6-42V version that I got from Peter originally. It's brighter, but still nowhere near what the website photo shows. I put the new light on a lantern battery to see if amperage made a difference. The light is definitely a little brighter, but still nothing like the photo. I took the light to my bike dealer to get their opinion as they have ebikes that come with some other lights already installed. What we saw is that the 6V Cyo Premium with 80 lux looks the same in brightness on my bike when compared to a 60 lux B&M 6V Eyc that was on a Felt Versa with a Shimano Stepps mid-drive motor. The only difference we saw was that the Cyo has a wider beam than the Eyc, which it's supposed to. The dealer also said that even though the hot spot of the B&M lights is definitely pretty bright, the light field between the hot spot and the bike itself is very dim unless you point the light lower, but then you can't see too far ahead of you. Basically, the dealer saw the photo and thought it's deceiving to the customer partially because they're taking these photos in pitch black darkness out in the middle of nowhere when in reality, many customers who buy these lights are riding in large urban areas where your headlight (and eyes) are having to compete with other light sources or glare in the distance and such. So in complete darkness, yes, this headlight is great, but in the city the light isn't going to look at all like the photo. To give you an idea of how "bright" the Cyo is, if I ride under a street lamp, I can't tell I have a headlight on at all.

So, the Cyo is not a horrible/worthless headlight, it's just not going to work for me and my bike. I need to find something else so I can return this light. The search continues!