Shimano DH-3N70 Dynohub from Peter White Cycles

 

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This page updated: Saturday, September 22, 2018

Peter White Cycles LLC
24 Hall Rd.
Hillsborough, NH 03244
USA
603 478 0900 Phone

 

 

Shimano 6 volt/3 watt Dynohub

Alfine

The new Shimano dynohubs have lower drag than the NX-30, higher quality bearings (comparable to Ultegra hubs), reduced weight, and have occasionally been available in both 32 and 36 hole drillings, though usually in only 32 hole.

All of these hubs come with hollow axles and QR skewers. There are no bolt-on axle versions. All are compatible with Pitlock locking skewers. The Shimano hubs don't have the very low drag of the Schmidt dynohub, but they're a big improvement over the old NX-30. The Alfine takes Centerlock discs, and is available in both 32 hole and 36 hole.

There are no differences between the current 3 watt Shimano dynohubs in terms of drag. There may be differences in terms of the quality of certain internal components, but Shimano isn't giving any specifics, as far as I can tell.

 

 

You may buy just a hub, or a complete wheel built by me with the hub and a Velocity, Mavic or Sun Metal rim. Call for an exact quote for the wheel of your choosing.

Drag with these hubs is higher than with the more expensive Schmidt hub, but less than with Shimano's less expensive Nexus NX-30 dynohub.

The hubs can power either a single headlight with a 3 watt bulb, or a 2.4 watt headlight and .6 watt taillight combination.

 

 
Shimano NX-30
Shimano DH-3N70/71/72/80 & Alfine
Schmidt SON

Efficiency at 15 km/h,
(about 10 mph)

49%
53%
64%
Energy required of the rider to rotate the hub when the lights are turned off at 30 km/h.
6.5 watts
2.2 watts
1.5 watts
Weight
720 grams
680 grams
575 grams

 

As you can see, the biggest performance advantage of the current hubs over the NX-30 is in how much drag exists when you're riding with the lights off during the day. And then of course the bearing quality is much higher, since the bearings are the same as Ultegra hub bearings, rather than Shimano's low end Nexus group. The Schmidt uses sealed cartridge bearings.

Shimano Alfine Centerlock Disc DHS501, 32 hole: $ 119.99

Please Note!

Shimano has sold 1.5 watt dynamo hubs. I don't sell them because you won't get full brightness from most lights with these hubs. They are very inexpensive, which is fine, but they have high drag. We do have a headlight to work with these 1.5 watt hubs. It's the Busch & Müller Onefive T Senso Plus, my part # B&M165RTSNDi

Busch & Müller Onefive T Senso Plus, Part # B&M165RTSNDi, Price: $ 20.00

Here is the model name of these 1.5 watt hubs.

DH-1N70

See this page for the 1.5 watt headlight from Busch & Müller.


Wheels

I build wheels using Shimano hubs. I have many rims to choose from by Velocity. There is no Shimano dynohub designed for 20" wheels. You can use it, but the drag will be considerably higher, since the hub is spinning at a higher rate. For 20" wheels, the Schmidt SONdelux is a better choice, since it's designed specifically for smaller wheels and higher RPMs. Call for wheel options.


Grounding

Unlike the Schmidt dynohub, the Shimano hubs all ground electrically through the hub's axle. The wire connections still have both power and ground, but you must keep in mind that the axle is also grounding to the fork. A common mistake is to wire the headlight or taillight out of phase. If the headlight is attached to the frame with a metal mount, and if the light grounds to the metal mount, it won't work, since the out of phase wiring shorts with the grounded axle. Some folks have their headlight mounted with a nylon mount, so the headlight is now isolated and works fine. But if there's a taillight connected to a rear rack, it can be grounded through the rack to the frame and may not work if you attach a power lead to the taillight's ground connector. Many of the taillights that mount on a rear rack ground through their mounting bolts, which enables a single wire connection. One exception is the Busch & Müller Toplight Flat Plus.

So, you must be sure to connect the headlight to the hub with the correct connections. Connect power to power and ground to ground. Or eliminate the ground wire if you have a metal mount and a headlight that can ground through the mount. Some can but some new ones cannot, like the B&M Lumotec Fly and Fly IQ. Also remember that some headsets do not conduct electricity. Shimano cartridge bearing headsets do not conduct, so the fact that the hub grounds to the frame won't help you getting conductivity to the taillight via the frame. Use a two wire setup to be safe. But be careful about polarity. Even though the hub's output is AC, you still need to maintain polarity.

Don't these dynamo lights Blow Up?

If you do a search on the internet for bicycle dynamo lighting systems, you will undoubtedly come across warnings about lights blowing out if you ride your bike too fast. This is true of systems designed back in the 1920s, and used on bikes such as Raleigh three speeds up through the early 1980s. These were very crude systems by today's standards. While you can still buy cheaply made dynamo lights that will blow bulbs on a downhill run, none of the systems I sell are so poorly made that you have to concern yourself with this. Without exception, every headlight I sell for use with either a hub dynamo or sidewall dynamo incorporates circuitry to prevent the overvoltage of the bulb. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.


Headlights

For Busch & Müller headlights, see this page.

For Schmidt headlights, see this page.

For Supernova headlights, see this page.

Taillights

For Schmidt taillights, see this page.

For Busch & Müller taillights, see this page. Busch & Müller taillights are compatible with Busch & Müller, Schmidt and Spanninga headlights. They are not compatible with Supernova headlights.

For Supernova taillights, see this page. Keep in mind that Supernova taillights, as of 2013, will work with other brands of headlights. However, since Supernova has the circuitry for the taillight's standlight in the headlight, your Supernova taillight will not have a standlight unless you are using a Supernova headlight.

For Spanninga taillights, see this page. Spanninga taillights are compatible with Busch & Müller, Schmidt and Spanninga headlights. They are not compatible with Supernova headlights.