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A couple more dynamo set questions

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A couple more dynamo set questions

Old 09-12-04, 11:53 AM
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A couple more dynamo set questions

My shiny, new old-stock Onward light set arrived the other day. It works okay, but compared to the Union lamp and dynamo on my wife's Raleigh, it's not so hot. Some of the differences I know nothing can be done about; the Union dynamo ramps up to full brightness at a much lower speed than the Onward, and the Union lamp with its Fresnel lens is a lot more effective than the Onward's faceted reflector. But on to my questions:

Would a halogen bulb be appreciably brighter than the stock bulb?

The wiring that comes with sets like these is about 22 AWG. At the moment, my bike is wired with 18 AWG. Could the heavier wire be impeding the headlamp output through increased resistance?

Lastly, how can I steal my wife's Union lightset and make her think she got the better end of the bargain?
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Old 09-21-04, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by mswantak
My shiny, new old-stock Onward light set arrived the other day. It works okay, but compared to the Union lamp and dynamo on my wife's Raleigh, it's not so hot. Some of the differences I know nothing can be done about; the Union dynamo ramps up to full brightness at a much lower speed than the Onward, and the Union lamp with its Fresnel lens is a lot more effective than the Onward's faceted reflector. But on to my questions:

Would a halogen bulb be appreciably brighter than the stock bulb?

The wiring that comes with sets like these is about 22 AWG. At the moment, my bike is wired with 18 AWG. Could the heavier wire be impeding the headlamp output through increased resistance?

Lastly, how can I steal my wife's Union lightset and make her think she got the better end of the bargain?
those older dynamo sets had standard screw in front bulbs that were not halogen. the new halogen bulbs push in. if you can rig up a socket for the halogen bulb, there will be improvement in the brightness. i doubt the wire size will make any difference in the brightness. those older systems were not voltage regulated. dim lights a slow speeds & burned out bulbs at high speed were typical. even those old 12 volt systems were not up to the performance of the new systems for the same reasons including a ton of resistance. the union set your getting from me reaches full brightness around 7 mph. when you get it, your wife will want to steal it from you!
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