Old 03-02-17, 05:13 PM
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steelbikeguy
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Originally Posted by agmetal
The current headlight is basically useless as far as being able to see with it, but it looks cool. I wouldn't be opposed to setting it up with an LED of some sort, if it can be made to work well with the parabolic reflector (which really needs to be re-silvered). Something I read earlier does make me wonder, however, if perhaps I have a bulb that's less than ideal for this hub in it.
regarding LEDs... retrofitting a high power LED into the incandescent lights is problematic. The simplest path is generally to use the Reflectalite LED bulb that is built into the base of the incandescent bulb. Haven't used it myself, but I've heard some good comments.

REFLECTALITE LIGHT BULB FINDER

If I ever run out of things that need to be worked on, I've got an old Union incandescent headlight that might be fun to retrofit with a proper 3 watt LED. There are a variety of technical hurdles that a huge pain... it's rarely a worthwhile project.

I haven't used a Dynohub, but considering how hard it could be to find a proper bulb for a 3W (or 2.4W) headlight, I imagine it is only worse for the Dynohub. To be as efficient as possible, the 3W (and 2.4W) bulbs were designed to have a life of only 100 hours or so. i.e. they burned bright, hot, and briefly! A bulb with a longer life would be dimmer and yellower. You might scour the web and stores to see what is available in the bulb base style that your light uses.
Or see if a bike shop has an old dynamo bulb that fits? Can't hurt to try.


Steve in Peoria
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