wahoonc

Anybody know where to source the older style dyno tail lights, preferably the ones that use a screw base bulb. I took the lens off the tail light on my 1972 Raleigh Superbe today and discovered it has a push in style bulb I bought a couple of the LED screw base conversions. I also need a lamp for my bride's bike that looks period.

TIA

Aaron

RubberLegs

Radio Shack...perhaps...it IS the kind of thing they USED to carry, any more though, it is getting tough. They may have them at some hardware stores, a small, mom & pop store is probably more likely than a big box store.

southpawboston

I've found all my vintage taillights on eBay.fr... sometimes for a steal:

$30 NOS Soubitez:



$20 NOS Soubitez:



And the two NOS Luminox in this photo, $12 for the pair:



All take screw-in type bulbs. The two Soubitezes have been retrofitted with dynamo-driven LEDs, but I'm considering buying the Compass Bicycles' sourced screw-in LED. I'm curious to hear how yours turns out.

southpawboston

Oh, and if the idea of Frenchifying your Raleigh sends chills down your spine, my 1951 Raleigh taillight uses a screw-in bulb. You might find these on eBay, they're not too rare:

wahoonc

I do have one round style Soubitez, but it is part of a set with a bullet head light, don't really want to break the set. Not too many mom and pop stores left around here, they have been dropping like flies. Went to where my local hardware store was yesterday...key word was. I was in there back in December and now they are gone. Next nearest store is 20+ miles away.

I will start trolling the "bay" and see what pops up. I am still a bit puzzled by the tail light on my Superbe being a push in style bulb, that would have been fairly new technology at that point and I just can't see Raleigh doing that.

I do have a few other bikes I can try the bulbs out on that use the screw base, two of them use the Union/B&M style fender mount, another is a Peugeot with a fender mount and the Columbia has a JOS.

Aaron

minisystem

I second finding gems on French eBay. Vintage headlamps seem to command a premium, but folks seem less interested in the taillights, which can still be had for more reasonable prices. Unfortunately, some of the French sellers have noticed the upward trend in pricing and are increasing their minimum bids.

You can still get wedge based bulbs for your SA taillight: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/6v-01a-ca...410-prod13136/

I think they are the last people on earth to stock them... is that the bulb you taillight takes?

I made an LED equivalent of the wedge based bulb: https://minisystem.blogspot.com/2011/...n-sturmey.html

balindamood

I have gotten a number of older style bulbs from NAPA auto parts.

wahoonc

I just snagged a couple of vintage tail light off fleabay.

@ minisystem, yes that is the bulb I have, but that light is going in the parts box when my new ones get here.

@southpawboston, I wouldn't want to Frenchify a Raleigh...but I did use Proofide on an Ideale saddle

I got a chance to play with the Compass Cycles replacement bulb. Works great. I stuck in one of my bikes that runs the BB generator, it puts out plenty of light and the stand light feature works great.

Aaron

Fenway

Are the Compass Bicycles LEDs w/stand-lights white LED bulbs or red?

southpawboston

I'm pretty sure they're red, or at least emit a red light. There was some interested on Jan's blog about sourcing a headlight version, but if Jan offers one it won't be until some time in the future.

wahoonc

Red LED. I will get some pictures up eventually. I was impressed with the overall performance of the light in run mode as well as the stand light feature. I ran the thing for a few minutes on the generator, then unscrewed it an put back in the package...the stand light was still going strong when I closed up my shop for the day.

Aaron

southpawboston

That's good to know!!! I was considering upgrading some of my incandescent dynamo taillights to these, but was concerned about the stated standlight duration. Jan stated the standlight works for about a minute, which is kind of short when you're stuck at traffic lights. The B&M Seculite taillights that I retrofitted into my Soubitez housings stay lit for about 5-10 minutes, with a claimed duration of 4 minutes.

wahoonc

The bulb is from the EU not quite sure where, the defunct website listed on the package was out of Switzerland. I will time one later today and get a better idea. However I believe that the 4 minute requirement is a standard, whether EU, NL, FR or DE I don't know. I would suspect either NL or DE, they appear to have the more comprehensive codes when it comes to cycle lighting.

Aaron

brianinc-ville

I've got one of the small ones (about the size and shape of a large Medjool date; screw-base; no reflector) that you're welcome to. PM me.

wahoonc

Update: I braved the cold wet conditions just for the sake of furthering C&V Knowledge...

I used one of my Giant Excursions (yes I have more than one) with the Union BB generator (easiest bike to get to) the bike is equipped with a stock Union halogen headlight that flickers in time with the generator at low speeds. I replaced the stock rear bulb with the conversion bulb. Pedaled for two minutes in a gear that is similar to what I would use for a 12-15mph road pace. Stopped pedaling and timed the standlight. It was still producing a dim glow after 4 minutes. IMHO the really usable light was pretty well done by the 3 minute mark. A quick spin of the pedals immediately brought the bulb back to full brightness and recharged the capacitor. It appears to be equivalent to the single LED fender mount tail lights that are on the market, the bike light cover has a built in reflector and lens which helped to spread the light into a normal pattern.

I am very pleased with the initial performance of the bulb and will probably order a couple more. I have several bikes with vintage lights that I honestly don't want to upgrade to modern style lights. This is a easy upgrade and the standlight feature makes it an even better deal to me.

I know that there are people like minisystems that can build things like this, but for the price I would be hard pressed to assemble all the necessary components and fabricate anything even as remotely effective.

Edit: A couple of pictures of the package.

Aaron

Fenway

https://web.archive.org/web/200806230...id=8,5,0,0,1,0
https://web.archive.org/web/200707291...r.tagblatt.jpg
Looks like those bulbs were made around 2007 and the company went belly up in early 2011?

Old contact info:
Bike Light Innovation GmbH
Werkstrasse 36
CH-3250 Lyss
Switzerland
phone +41 32 385 14 29
Fax +41 32 385 14 30

email: info@bikelight.ch

minisystem

Yes, those LED screw bulbs with standlights are fascinating. I'm tempted to get one myself just to take it apart to see how they do it. I expect the trick is that running as little as 1-10 mA through an efficient red LED can producing a surprising amount of light (this I've observed through my own standlight designs). There are tiny low voltage supercapacitors in the millifarad range that would fit into the bulb base, so a small switching converter running the bulb at 10mA while stopped would probably do the trick for the 3-4 minutes.

I'm a little pickier than most, so want my standlight to run much brighter, in the 100-200mA range for the majority of the time the standlight lasts. I get that for a couple of minutes, but even a few minutes later when the current has dropped to less than 10 mA, there's still a useful amount of light coming out of LED.

fietsbob

I have a few mudguard mount taillights , for wired setups, screw base , standard 0.6w screw basebulbs.

given total load has to be 3W, you need a 5.65W headlight bulb.
to use that 0.35w on the back..

wahoonc

Or run an LED headlight...

Aaron