Dun dun dun! I currently have two of them. ones a rear 3 speed other is a front with grease port. heres the really old one I have. it's on my Very old Raleigh Sports. To show how well this big old one works. I've did nothing to it and the bike but replace a broken spindle on BB and tire and I use this bike to go to work hour to and from work and the light is bright all the time. a truely great invention!

As for a light. if your gonna get a Vintage Dynohub Use a vintage light! it adds to the great style and looks great.


This is the rear one. I believe it's a 1971 model

On my rear dynohub, the dyno came right out without separating. Hopefully it's still ok, haven't had a chance to test it yet.

To address your question about dynohub specific lamp sets and kill switches


I've had no problems using lamp sets from bottle generators, you definitely do not need a dynohub lamp set. I'd check your 12v6w rating - all the dynohubs and botttle generators I've seen are are 6v 3w. I also have some 6v halogen lights, so with the generator lights can be attached to the dynohub, the bottle generator, or the 6v battery. The 3w generators don't put out enought light to bother testing the halogen lights (3w generator for 10w-15w lights). I've never seen any 12v6w bottle generator, I suspect they are 6w3w (aside from some early 8v dynohubs I've only read about).

One dynohub light set has a 3 position switch, but I always leave it on since I don't have the circuits for the battery back up. The bottle generator lights don't have kill switches. I haven't found this to be an issue for two reasons:
(1) The dynohub does not have the resistance or noise of bottle generators
(2) The dynohub doesn't seem to burn out light bulbs, even at high speeds


To address other comments:
It looks like I've only replaced the bearings on my 1968 front dynohub; I haven't done any work on my pre 1952 (rear) dynohub. When I did work on the 1968 hub, the magnet and armature came out together, so I was careful not to separate them, and it still seems to work fine.

From what I can find the front dyno hubs are 3 watt, the rear dyno hubs are 2.4w. This will make a bit of a difference if you are running incandescent bulbs. For the front dyno hub you want a 2.4watt head light bulb and a .6watt tail light bulb. The vintage lights have nowhere near the quality of the newer lamps. I run a B&M Retro on my Twenty at the moment. I am waiting on the new B&M Cyo to become available in the US with the aluminum colored housing. IMHO if it is a bike you plan to depend on the lights to see by, get LED's

Aaron

That B+M looks nice. Is there a way to rig it to fit the traditional Heron lamp bracket I have? I have a two-sided clamp for it as it is (one of the bottle kits had a full Raleigh bracket set). Could I rig it to work with the stock attachment?

Have you had good results with newer lights (e.g. Busch & Muller) and the original Sturmey Archer dynohubs? I asked a Philadelphia bicycle store about this and the owner thought the lights needed a little more power than the dynohubs usually had. I'd like to keep the dynohubs to match the fork spacing, but would like more light. Is it the read dynohubs that have lower output?

Moreover I can't seem to locate anywhere in the US selling the B&M retro. Where are people getting them?

The clamp from an old Raleigh headlight should fit on the Retro. I bought mine from Clever Cycles in Portland, OR it isn't on their website but you can call them. Another place that may have them is Longleaf Bicycles out of Wilmington, NC he doesn't show it on the website, but give him a call.

Aaron

I run a variety of B&M lights, the newer LED's actually spool up at lower speeds than the others. I am currently running the Retro which is a halogen on my Twenty, it does just fine. The dyno hubs either put out 2.4 watts or 3 watts depending on the model. You can get 2.4w or 3w bulbs for the headlights, depending on if you are running a tail light or not. About the only difference that I can determine between the old Sturmey Archer dyno hub and the newer Shimano ones is; they are heavier, there is a bit more drag and they don't seem to hit full output at as low a speed. Other than that they do the job and look great on a vintage bike.

Aaron

Bought a 32 hole dynohub finally. It should be on the way soon. I'm still researching my lighting options-- I do have some lamps from old bottle sets around here in pretty good shape. We'll see though.

it all depends on your budget..but peterwhitecycles has a lot of good dynamo lights ...and they ship super fast! good people.

Well no luck with the Sturmey Archer lamp auction-- some fool bid it up over $50 for the headlamp alone. As much as I like the parts those headlamps were just glorified 6 volt flashlights. I guess some people don't mind going overboard.

I may rig up something with my existing lamps, or search for a more reasonable item. I figure for $55 I could do better. The search continues. Does that modern retro lamp have an on-off switch, or is it just an "always on" rig?

The Retro comes in several configurations, including Senso which is an auto on feature. I have the model with a switch and standlight. The stand light on the Retro is a small LED in the bottom of the reflector that keeps it lit up when you stop. Not enough to ride by, but it works as a marker light. IIRC I paid ~$50usd for mine. Peter White Cycles has them too. (about 2/3's down the page)

Aaron

+1 for the Retro...they are like 60 shipped! with senso (on/off/ senso* (turns on atuomatically) )

not sure what you should get for the rear, since theres no retro rear light...

The most likely problem with your existing lamps is that the parabolic reflectors probably won't focus the light where you want it. Also the plastic lens of such lights often has ripples that totally distort the light beam. Try them, for sure, but you may be disappointed by the results.

Other than that, the old 2.4W incandescent bulbs in those lamps give a pretty anemic light. Sometimes you can replace them with a halogen bulb, which is brighter. It depends on the socket: the plain old bulbs have a threaded base, the halogen bulbs have a bayonet base. Obviously they're not compatible, but on some (really cheap) lamps the bulb just threads into a hole in the reflector; in such cases you can sometimes fit the bayonet bulb without much trouble. You can also use LED bulbs, but you have to redo the wiring to include a bridge rectifier (which converts the AC power from the dynamo to DC).

I've converted a 70's teardrop headlamp into Led lights before. I hit a big bump and the inside of the light exploded so I figured the chrome was nice just redo the inside and switch. Google works well for asking questions lol

exploded?!

Do you have a link to any of these bulbs? The lamp I have has a small metal insert collar that takes a bulb that isn't threaded, but rather has two little nubs on the base. The collar then slips into the reflector pan in the lamp housing.

Go to superbrightleds.com, click "flashlights and bulbs" and "bulbs."
They have this threaded bulb:
and Radio Shack has this bridge rectifier: .
I just ordered a couple of these bulbs, but I also got a couple of them last year, which I put in the SA head and tail lights of my wife's Raleigh RSW-16; they threaded right into the existing bulb bases. I had to solder the bridge rectifier into the wiring; it sits in the empty space inside the headlight. She just leaves the headlight switch on all the time now, the lights work better than ever, and the light is much improved. So I know this works.

i have also ordered a couple of these bulbs:
. I'm not sure, at this point, how I'm going to use them. I think you can use them in the kind of headlight you describe, but am not quite sure. But at any rate my bulbs should arrive today, so perhaps I can confirm this in a day or two.

The LED and bridge rectifier sound interesting, but I have some questions:

How do you connect the bridge rectifier to the dynohub and light? I can solder the connections easily enough, my question is that the bridge rectifier has 4 wires, while the dynamo and light have only 2. Does each wire on the light get connected to 2 contacts on the rectifier to avoid losing half the power?

If the LED is 1 watt and the dynohub puts out 3 watts, is this an issue (e.g. bulb life), or does the LED use only 1 watt and still puts out more light than older and less efficient 3 watt bulbs?

One wire on the bridge rectifier is marked with a + sign. Connect to the positive (+) lead of an LED. The wire opposite the + marked wire is the negative lead and connects to the negative (-) lead of the LED. The other two wires are connected to the dynamo and it makes no difference which one is connected to which lead.

What kind of Dynohub do you have? I don't think a S-A dynohub puts out 3 watts, but I could be mistaken. There are several circuits floating around, with various components and LEDs, in the electronics forum, so that may be a better place to ask.

The LED and bridge rectifier sound interesting, but I have some questions:

How do you connect the bridge rectifier to the dynohub and light? I can solder the connections easily enough, my question is that the bridge rectifier has 4 wires, while the dynamo and light have only 2. Does each wire on the light get connected to 2 contacts on the rectifier to avoid losing half the power?

If the LED is 1 watt and the dynohub puts out 3 watts, is this an issue (e.g. bulb life), or does the LED use only 1 watt and still puts out more light than older and less efficient 3 watt bulbs?

https://sciencemonster.net/machines/r...ts/lights.html

The more lights, the merrier!

Yes dynohub lights normally have a switch incorporated to disconnect the dynamo when the lightis not wanted. You would also need to find 6V 2.4 or 3 watt bulb replacements that fit as all dynamo hubs are 6V. Also modern dynamo lights normally include overvoltage protection to protect against bulb burnout at high speeds. The current 6V LED lights are a lot brighter than the old bulb type lights too. Peter White Cycles has a wide selection available as well as photos of dynamo lights output on their web site.

Commrcial LED Dynamo lights have the rectifier and voltage regulator electronics built in. If you want to do a DIY dynamo LED light there are lots of links to plans available in the Electronics forum.