Fitting lights to a TQ HPR50 powered bike

[Shark58]

I have been looking into what is needed to power front and rear lights from the TQ main battery for my wife’s Scott Lumen eRide.

Has anyone done this and could confirm my findings?

There are no connectors for lights on the motor. TQ offers a smartbox which needs to be mounted near the display inside the top tube. The smartbox goes between the main motor harness and the display. It then provides a number of short cables and two of those can be used for lights.

The smartbox will cost about 110€. You’ll need one or two short cables with the special connector TQ uses on the smartbox cable ends. These are offered by Lupine or Supernova for 20€ each. After mounting the box and cables inside the frame you need to see a TQ dealer and have him activate the two light connectors, probably for another 20€.

So, without any lamps and mounts the whole project will cost at least 150€ just to prepare the bike.

Does this look right or have I missed something? Is there an easier/cheaper way?

I know I could go for battery powered lights, but my wife’s Scott has a fully integrated cockpit which doesn’t easily accommodate strap-on holders and for the look alone my wife wouldn’t want them.

 

[friendlywrench]

This is correct as I just have finished setting up Lupine lights on my Trek Fuel EXe.

Were you able to complete your project?

 

[Shark58]

@friendlywrench
Thanks for your response.
When I told my wife what it would cost to put two lights on her bike, she stopped the project.
She normally only rides during daylight and has a battery powered frontlight from her old bike.

 

[Stihldog]

For night rides I use a stem mount light , a helmet mount light and a seat post mounted red taillight. These are all chargeable with a mini-usb and can be easily removed when not needed. I don’t rely on internal wiring or the bike battery.

Some helmets now have red taillights.

 

[Polar]

Is really safety that expensive?

 

[Stihldog]

Is really safety that expensive?

I guess it depends on what your personal safety is worth?

 

[friendlywrench]

@friendlywrench
Thanks for your response.
When I told my wife what it would cost to put two lights on her bike, she stopped the project.
She normally only rides during daylight and has a battery powered frontlight from her old bike.

I'd recommend a couple of things:

1. Check eBay and see if you have any good options there. I don't know where you're located, but within the US I can get a smart box for less than 80USD.

2. If you're handy, you can just cut off the light connector from the smart box and splice in your own. You don't *have* to use their odd connector.

 

[Shark58]

1. Check eBay and see if you have any good options there.

I‘m based in Germany and the best price over here is 110€ (120 USD). Trek Germany sells it for that price as spare part. My Scott LBS wanted 250€!

2. If you're handy, you can just cut off the light connector from the smart box and splice in your own.

That is good advice - I hadn‘t thought about that.

 

[tomp55]

Hello, resurrecting this older thread. I just bought a Trek Checkpoint+, e-gravel not e-MTB, but with also with a TQ motor. I find it very surprising that it didn't come wired for lights! After some reading and searching it seems that I can buy a TQ Smart Box ($80 on eBay USA). I was looking at some not-TQ-supported lights (Lupine and Supernova are about $500), top choice right now NiteRider EPro 1000.

I'm comfortable splicing/soldering wires, but are the voltages from the Smart Box compatible with what the NiteRider might require? Routing the front light seems fairly simple, but I'm not sure how to route the rear light. Then again, my rear flashes (USB charged) will last for a long time, so maybe not an issue. But I'd like a bright front light, and my current NiteRider only has 3-4 hours of operation in full-power mode.

My local bike shop can enable the power port on the Smart Box, but I'd like to do the rest of the work myself.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you,

Tom

 

[Shark58]

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Have a look at the TQ service manual. It has a chapter on installing and wiring the smart box.

For lights the smart box supports max. 26 W at 13.3 V. That should be enough for most lights. If you don't find cables with the correct connector then check Supernova or Lupine. They sell the cables separately.

Here you find the TQ service manual: https://www.tq-ebike.com/fileadmin/...ual/DRVE_Servicemanuals_EN_Rev0301_Web_01.pdf

 

[presslab]

I didn't need to turn off/on the light from the TQ screen, so I saved a few bucks and bought the Y adapter cable 342297.01 and it powers my Gloworm light just fine. It still turns the light off when the bike is off.

I also bought a Supervova extension cable which has the same plug as the Y adapter and used that to splice into the Gloworm extension cable.

As far as voltage, the Gloworm uses a 2-cell battery with a max voltage of 8.4V. The 13.2V from the TQ system is obviously quite a bit higher but I've been running this for months with no problems.

 

[tomp55]

Excellent, thank you very much! I'll read through the service manual

I didn't need to turn off/on the light from the TQ screen, so I saved a few bucks and bought the Y adapter cable 342297.01 and it powers my Gloworm light just fine. It still turns the light off when the bike is off.

Ah, very interesting idea! So you used a light that isn't really made for an ebike, and replaced its remote battery with a connection to the TQ system. Very cool. I didn't know about that adapter cable, and that might be just the ticket.

I am concerned about splicing into the wires and risking voiding the warranty... But messing with the adapter cable isn't the same as splicing directly into the Smart Box outputs...

Thanks!

 

[presslab]

I am concerned about splicing into the wires and risking voiding the warranty... But messing with the adapter cable isn't the same as splicing directly into the Smart Box outputs...

The way I did it by splicing into the Supernova U-MCE-1000 cable, it doesn't modify the TQ adapter cable either. That Supernova cable could work with the Smart Box also, but the adapter cable is cheaper if you don't need the other Smart Box features.

There are other Supernova cables with that same connector also, I just got one that I could find in stock and wasn't too expensive. Splicing direct into the TQ adapter like you mention would work also. Keep in mind the wires are pretty small but with careful soldering and some small heat shrink tubing it turned out just fine.

 

[tomp55]

Thank you, @presslab. I didn't realize that you didn't have a Smart Box -- so you used the "Y splitter" between the battery wire and the display. And then used the extra lead to connect the Supernova cable, and spliced into that. That's an even more economical solution!

I like that it doesn't mess with any of the TQ components and probably doesn't void the warranty, and it also doesn't require a visit to the dealer to enable the Smart Box output. Great solution, thanks!

 

[tomp55]

Hello all, an update for anyone who might have this question in the future. I'm very pleased with how this upgrade worked out -- a lot cheaper than asking the bike shop.

Parts ordered:

TQ Ebike Y-Splitter Aux Cable 150mm (part# 342297.01, $50 from bikebling.com). Plugs in between the battery and the digital display, offers a pigtail with a connector.

Trek TQ Rear Light Wire (part# W5318862, $16 from trek.com with free shipping to local bike shop). One side plugs into the Y-Splitter, the other offers a red and black wire.

The two wires can be connector to a 12V light, and I chose to go with:

NiteRider EPro 1000 E-Bike Headlight – 1000 ($170 from amazon, Amazon.com).

I trimmed the light wire, trimmed the Trek rear light wire, soldered them together, and it's a pretty clean solution. No smartbox means not having to ask local bike shop to enable the output port for the light. Thanks again, @presslab!

 

[Shark58]

an update for anyone who might have this question in the future

For this to work you'll need a lamp with on/off switch, because there is no way to turn the lamp off with the remote.

 

[tomp55]

For this to work you'll need a lamp with on/off switch, because there is no way to turn the lamp off with the remote.

Right... the NightRider light I chose has an on/off button, works pretty well.

 

[RudiRatlos]

Just for anyone reading this thread to make him avoid my mistake.
Bought a smartbox and went to a dealer to activate it. The did. Lights went on but didn’t switch off. Had to visit the dealership again - the three power outlets can be configured on, off and: on/off manually.
On the first visit they switched it to „on“…

Cheers