Product news: Bright bicycle lights that can be installed inconspicuously and that do without batteries, without a large dynamo and without cables? Sounds too good to be true? However, the Magic Microlights aim to be just that. They generate their energy through the interaction between a magnetic field generated in the lights and the rotating rims of the bicycle. The innovative lighting is currently being funded on Kickstarter.
Admittedly, Kickstarter is full of all sorts of gadgets, accessories, add-on parts and other things related to bicycles. Many of these things have rightly not been on the market before, while others fail due to utopian ideas. Every now and then you stumble across promising ideas from clever inventors who definitely have the potential to establish themselves in the long term and stir up the existing market a bit. That's how we felt when we stumbled across the Magnic Microlights campaign. Another bike light? Yes, in a way – but also in a way not. The small headlights seem to be free from all the disadvantages of conventional bicycle lights.
So far, you have been spoiled for choice: dynamo lighting or rather battery or accumulator-operated lamps? The advantages and disadvantages should be well known. In most cases, dynamo lighting is anything but elegant, and it is also quite heavy and retrofitting is usually expensive. Battery lighting lacks reliability because whenever you need it, the battery is empty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1wxH0tX65w
The Magic Microlights are basically also powered by a dynamo. But this is extremely small and sits in the lamps. It creates a magnetic field that causes the rotating metal rims of the wheel to turn. This generates electricity that lights up the LEDs. Of course, the lights have to be close enough to the rims for this - it is obvious that the clever minds behind the Magnic Microlights decided to house the LEDs in the brake shoes of the rim brakes. So you always have the lamps with you, they are visually unobtrusive, well protected from thieves and are in the immediate vicinity of the rims. Conventional brake pads fit into the brake shoes. There should also be a version for disc brakes via an adapter. Only drivers with carbon rims look into the tube, as they do not generate electricity when passing through the magnetic field.
At a later date, a smart version of the lights will also be launched, which will have an integrated brake light and turn signal. A normal set for the front and rear costs €38 and should – if the financing goal of one million euros is reached – reach customers in August.
More details about the Magnic Microlights, how they work and the features can be found on Kickstarter: