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Lupine? Thumbs Up!

Let me say straight away that I do not work for Lupine and have no other relationship with the company. And yet, based on my own many years of experience, I find Lupine products extremely good and am therefore also prepared to pay the corresponding prices. The bottom line is that the products are worth the money! I have been using various Lupine lamp sets on my MTBs for years and now again in my velomobile. A Lupine battery is installed ex works for the on-board electrical system and I have an “SL” with a separate battery as an additional headlamp when it gets really dark.

Where there is much light, there is also shadow!

Despite all the enthusiasm for Lupine products, I am not 100% behind their product policy, especially when it comes to compatibility. Since I also own other batteries and lamps in addition to my Lupine products, it annoys me that I can’t combine them and use them as a backup for long tours, for example. Specifically: My batteries from ENERPOWER (Made in Germany) do not fit the Lupine, because the Lupine plug is quite special, while the batteries have a common DC plug. The only adapters that Lupine offers are the “USB Charger” (I also use it) and the “USB One”. With these you can charge your Lupine batteries via USB or use the Lupine battery as a powerbank. But you won’t find an adapter from Lupine to DC plug. It is also not possible to operate Lupine lamps via a normal power bank with the USB adapters mentioned!

One helps oneself

Since I don’t have two left hands, I did some research, ordered the individual components on the net (the Lupine connector is from Molex and has the item number 03-06-2023 or 03-06-1023) and made these adapters myself. They work perfectly and do exactly what they are supposed to. I crimped the connections, which in my opinion is more elegant and above all more durable than soldered connections. The only disadvantage is that my adapters are not waterproof, but it’s enough for my purposes. I can now use them to power my Lupine lamps and the on-board electrics of my velomobile with foreign batteries in an emergency. Of course, it works the other way round too, i.e. I can power my other lamps with DC plugs with Lupine batteries in an emergency.