Integrated Tail Light and Camera on Kickstarter

I recently came across this integrated tail light and camera product on Kickstarter (thanks BikeSnobNYC) and thought it cool idea. I use a camera and a tail light and it would be nice to have them integrated into one device. I'm a bit unsure that the backwards view will be effective, though.

Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on March 27, 2014 at 5:34am

As long as it's waterproof having a sealed cable from the generator to a USB outlet somewhere higher on the bike is a great idea.  Though something waterproof at the connector would be nice, too.  How's that compare with the original plan of a detachable battery, though?

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on March 27, 2014 at 5:47am

I believe the battery will still be detachable. I've just been posting updates as I get them from the Siva folks. The video on their product page: http://sivacycle.com/products/ still shows a detachable pack.

Tricolor said:

As long as it's waterproof having a sealed cable from the generator to a USB outlet somewhere higher on the bike is a great idea.  Though something waterproof at the connector would be nice, too.  How's that compare with the original plan of a detachable battery, though?

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 16, 2014 at 7:59am

The latest update is June, but on a positive note, they just asked for my shipping info and shirt size. :-)

Edit: Latest update

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 29, 2014 at 6:10am

Latest update from Siva Cycle regarding the Atom:

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Hi Siva Cyclers,

Our first batch of Atoms passed inspection and customs and is arriving at our warehouse in Oakland! See the attached photos. We ship the first batch over the next couple days and will continue to do so as the next batches arrive. (If you're local in the bay area and would like to pick up a unit, we'll reach out in a separate email.)

October 1-7 is the National Day holiday in China during which services and work is suspended. As such, we won't receive any units during that time and will receive our next batch after the holiday. 

Please be sure your addresses are up to date beforeSeptember 30th as we will close address updates as of then. We're super excited about these hitting your doorstep and hope you are too!

Check out the photos below and as always, you can contact us at info [at] sivacycle [dot] com with any comments, questions, or thoughts (also via facebook ortwitter).  

Keep on pedaling,
Aaron and David

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on September 29, 2014 at 8:02am

Finally!  I hope it works as advertised.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 12, 2014 at 7:32am

Lastest update (no tracking number yet for me):

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Hello Siva Cyclers,

Due to the larger quantity of this recent shipment, getting the product through customs proved a bit more tricky than last time, resulting in a couple of weeks in a holding bay.  But we're all good to go now and we have a rather large stack of Atoms at the office with each one your names on it! A tracking number will hit your inbox when we ship to you. We expect to get units to most of you before Thanksgiving and all of you before the December Holidays.

We really appreciate your patience and hope the units work great for you. On certain bicycles, we have noticed some slipping issues with the spoke drives. If this is the case for you, just let us know. We have a new design currently being made and we will ship you a new spoke drive to remedy the problem. Frame geometry varies so much that even with testing on multiple bikes, we weren't able to cover the full spectrum. We want you to be pedal-powering asap and happy with the results!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, reach out at info [at] sivacycle [dot] com. Thanks for your support and patience. 

Keep on pedaling,
Aaron and David

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Early delivery attempt by Aaron
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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 17, 2014 at 2:23pm

Woo hoo! Santa came today. Thus ends the seemingly interminable wait for this device. My original intent was to use it to keep my phone from running its battery down so quickly when the GPS was running. That's not such a big deal now, but might still be the best use. I will start a separate thread when I start messing around with it.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on November 18, 2014 at 2:04am

Finally.  I hope it'll be a good alternative to a dedicated hub.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on March 31, 2015 at 4:16am

Skip, have you had some time to see how it works, yet?

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on March 31, 2015 at 4:34am

Alas, I have been remiss. I mounted it on my Giant a couple weeks ago, and have ridden it back and forth to work a few times, but haven't actually plugged in any devices. My wife doesn't like her smart phone mounting bracket, so I should steal that for my bike, and plug in my Android phone.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on April 1, 2015 at 1:07am

They are being sold through REI, now. If I get one I'll get points for it.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on April 1, 2015 at 2:05am

Tricolor shamed me into it, so here's a quick review.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've had the Siva mounted on my Giant for a couple weeks. It took all of about five minutes to mount. Like most modern bikes, the Giant has vertical dropouts, so all I needed to do was remove the rear skewer, wiggle the rear wheel out far enough to slip the dyno over the left side of the axle, wiggle it back, then replace the skewer.

In the time since I've installed it, I've probably ridden that particular bike back and forth to work (1+ hour one way) five or six times. Assuming the dyno was putting out juice, the little battery pack in the Siva should be very well charged. Other than a little bit of "notchiness" felt and sound heard when walking the bike, I couldn't tell the Siva was doing anything. Once riding at a very low speed (couple mph?), I can't tell that it's there. Of course, I'm getting to be an old fart, so my hearing isn't what it used to be. You young whippersnappers might have more sensitive ears.

I swiped the horrible mounting bracket from Ellen's bike (well, "swiped" is kind of a strong word - she didn't like it one little bit and told me I could take it), slapped it on my Giant, then zip-tied a USB cord to my top tube and plugged in the phone. Nothing. "Damn," I thought. "Oh well, nice experiment."

I turned on My Tracks to guarantee the phone was doing something marginally useful (though I do know how to get to work) and battery consuming as I rode. Once I got the bike rolling, the phone started charging, as evidenced by the lightning bolt battery icon. Whew! Apparently, the little battery pack on the Siva won't discharge through the USB connector, only through its own USB port. I will have to confirm that with the Siva folks.

Midway through the ride, I checked and the little lightning bolt had disappeared. "Damn," I thought. "Oh well, nice experiment," and continued on my way. When I got near work I wanted to stop just short of the office so My Tracks wouldn't spazz out when the GPS satellites disappeared behind the tall buildings. I noticed the screen said, "fully charged," and when I unplugged the USB cable from the phone, the little green light behind the speaker turned off. So, all was well on that front too. Looks like the phone's charging circuitry disconnected itself from the 5v power once the battery was fully charged. To be fair, the phone had been connected to a power source overnight, so it was already at 98% when I started out.

That obviously wasn't much of a test, but the phone will be in a somewhat lower state of charge when I ride home. Still, the fact that I could run My Tracks and have the state of charge go up while riding is a very good sign. My main aim for the Siva is to use it on long rides where I want to always have GPS enabled. Assuming it's rugged enough, it should do the trick.

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