Originally Posted by twobikes

I took one apart after it generated its last. Permanent magnets attached to the shaft spin. A thin piece of steel that looks like an asterisk has a web of wire for a coil laced around the arms of the asterisk out to about half of the length of the arms. At that point the arms bend upward inside the can that is the generator body. There is no commutator. Such a generator would just about have to be AC.