Hydraulic cut-off brakes

Matthew

10 mW
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
29
Location
Cambridge UK
Hi, I have hydraulic brakes on my bike and want them to be used as cut-off brakes, but don't want to pay so much money on production brakes (they are about £50 each), and I refuse to switch to mechanical.

So I was wondering: Could I take the switch out of a cheap pair of e-brakes and glue it to the bottom/inside of my existing brakes? A sort of E-Brake conversion?

If anyone has any ideas/images of the switch in an E-Brake/has done this already, please post it here.

Thanks, Matthew.
 
Enjoy spending a great deal of effort to avoid using more practical brakes. I guess some folks need yet another hobby.
 
Magura makes an inline hydraulic cutoff switch.
You could also use a hall sensor and a magnet to make something to fit your brakes.
 
BikeDuke said:
Lyen sells these magnetic switches

http://www.lyen.com/Pictures/Brake_Magnet_Sensor_Mounting_Info/03.JPG
Those look nice, but shipping form America is probably too expensive to be worth it.
 
Does anyone have a Broken brake lever that they could take apart to see how the switch works?
I was thinking that it might be possible to take the stitch and cable from a mechanical brake and somehow incorporate it into my existing brakes.
I would then post a tutorial so that others could do the same.
 
Easy Motion has hydraulic ebrake levers on their Jumper model. I'd have to check to see what name they are. They are sweet brakes.
 
The way I see it is you pay now or you pay later. If you love hacking, then go with the cheap route. But if you value time, then just pay for the real deal. Since I am not mechanically inclined, I would rather pay someone to do it for me. Time is more important for me than money. Money, you can make more, time, you can't.
 
patpatbut said:
How about using this?

http://www.bmsbattery.com/accessory/459-hwbs-hidden-wire-brake-sensor.html

Pat
Nice but that's for mechanical breaks. He's looking for a hydraulic break solution.

I've been half heartedly looking at this too. I want to keep my existing Shimano M485 hydraulic breaks.
I reckon I can find a microswitch that will fit. They come in a huge variety of sizes and actuators.
Check out the Google image search results for "microswitch". The other option is a mini reed switch and magnet.
 
Tom L said:
patpatbut said:
How about using this?

http://www.bmsbattery.com/accessory/459-hwbs-hidden-wire-brake-sensor.html

Pat
Nice but that's for mechanical breaks. He's looking for a hydraulic break solution.

I've been half heartedly looking at this too. I want to keep my existing Shimano M485 hydraulic breaks.
I reckon I can find a microswitch that will fit. They come in a huge variety of sizes and actuators.

Sorry I did not read carefully.

I found this one maybe this is what you need.

http://www.juicybike.co.uk/accessory.asp?PrID=42

Pat
 
Inline switch, magnetic switch, independent momentary switch, all easy ways to fit regen to your hydro brakes.
Then, Tektro are making a switched hydro brake lever for a good price. Even easier. :wink:
 
I have the Magura bionx pressure switch and they work well.

You can get them from the EU. I have one that I could sell since I bought 5 last year. $55 shipped in the US. PM me if interested.
 
The chepo ebrakes just use a small push-to-break switch. I took one out and used it on this hydraulic brake by making an additional bracket, but it doesn't fit most. Click on the photos to see the whole thing:



Tektro Auriga E-Comp are the only hydraulic brakes with switches that I know.
There's a magura inline switch if you don't mind brake bleeding etc:
http://www.ebike-easy.com/products/Bicycle-Parts/BionX-Press-Switch-for-Magura-brakes.html
 
There are a few hydraulic e-brakes available now, some use mineral oil and some use DOT brake fluid:

* Tektro makes two different ones, the smaller e-sub and larger e-comp - both use mineral oil. The BH E-Motion uses Tektro, not sure which model but I think it is the larger e-comp. Don't know if it is available from BH dealers as a spare part yet.

* Hygia makes one that uses DOT fluid. This uses the larger brake pads than the e-comp.
see this post that discusses both http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38981 There were some issues with an order that Zombiess made = leaking seals??

* Magura make an in-line switch for mineral oil type systems. It has been discussed before also, here is one link http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30376


There are also a few threads on adapting a standard brake to e-brake using reeed switches, hall switches, micro switches, etc. Here are a few:
Using Reed Switches For E-Brakes http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11760
and http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18944
Shimano Deore XT brake lever switch with Hall effect sensor http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43680
Normally open reed switch as ebrake http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47423
e-brake quality and hacks http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21764
 
Magnetic micro proximity switches usually cost more than contact microswitches, but they offer different mounting options. Some of them are really small.

Standex-R12575-micro-proximity-switch.jpg
 
I think d8veh has the solution I was looking for; I was getting a kit that came with cheap ebrakes, and wondered if there were a free solution since the elecronics were already there.

Thanks d8veh!
 
There is a more descriptive picture here of how the system works.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1314521900/MOTORLIFE_NEW_product_electric_bike_hydraulic.html
 
baeeehhh. cable ties and a switch glued to the brake. not very nice :( i still hope for shimano, avid or whatever brand to produce real ebike brake levers that look good and work reliably.
the last solution seems to be a 'may work sometimes, may fail as often' solution. it's almost impossible to adjust the point where the brake signal is produced. the reed switch may wobble around, and the magnetic ring will do for sure.
thanks anyway for posting. at least it makes hope as there are companies starting to address the problem.
afair the magura pressure switches will be destroyed by dot fluid. correct?
see how i did it with my avid levers. works quite well, but a pita to adjust correctly http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38848#p691975
 
izeman said:
baeeehhh. cable ties and a switch glued to the brake. not very nice :( i still hope for shimano, avid or whatever brand to produce real ebike brake levers that look good and work reliably.
the last solution seems to be a 'may work sometimes, may fail as often' solution. it's almost impossible to adjust the point where the brake signal is produced. the reed switch may wobble around, and the magnetic ring will do for sure.
thanks anyway for posting. at least it makes hope as there are companies starting to address the problem.
afair the magura pressure switches will be destroyed by dot fluid. correct?
see how i did it with my avid levers. works quite well, but a pita to adjust correctly http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38848#p691975


The magura sensors are labeled as Mineral Oil only, so yeah...
 
My custom built bikes needs brake lights that turn brighter when the lever is pulled. The german TÜV doesen´t accept any type of switches on the levers outside. So i´ve started to mill an adaptor that will be built right into the hydraulic hose. An oil pressure switch will do the trick. Once finished, you´ll get all the details.

The brakes that will be modded are the Avid code r. :mrgreen:
 
Dlogic said:
My custom built bikes needs brake lights that turn brighter when the lever is pulled. The german TÜV doesen´t accept any type of switches on the levers outside. So i´ve started to mill an adaptor that will be built right into the hydraulic hose. An oil pressure switch will do the trick. Once finished, you´ll get all the details.

The brakes that will be modded are the Avid code r. :mrgreen:


Cool idea. I'm interested to see what you can come up with.
 
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