I have a bridgestone 450 that I purchased new in 1987. I still have a Darcy generator light set that I purchased for it shortly after I bought the bike. (at the time, I rode quite a bit at night)

My quesiton is - is it possible to wire in an LED bulb (or multiple LED's) to replace the blub light that is in the head and taillight.

I know I can just purchase a new battery powered light, but I really don't mind the generator and would just like something a little brighter than what is there. (and the look really does go pretty well with the bike....)

Michael

Is either the headlight or the taillight attached directly to the dynamo, or do you have three separate items -- a dynamo, a headlight and a taillight? If the latter, it's pretty doable. You need to electrically isolate the dynamo from the frame, and run two wires into a bridge rectifier, so you can run direct current from there to the bulbs. If you have a light attached directly to the dynamo, it's very difficult to insulate the LED from the dynamo, and the DC will kill the LED. There are a bunch threads about converting lights to LED power...

I think there's a sticky in the lighting and gadgets forum in which there are discussion of this. Someone (sciencemonster?) has a good web page about it.

Several options...upgrade the lights to the current generation of LED's. You get awesome lighting and much better optics. You can buy LED replacement bulbs that are plug and play, they will flash/pulse at low speeds but that smooths out some at higher speeds. You can also build a rectifier board to stop the higher speed pulsing. Or build an LED set up to fit the old housings. FWIW Dorcy was low end stuff, the newer generators and lights on the market are much better. I am setting up a bike right now with a wheel driven AXA bottle generator, LED tail light and the B&M Retro Halogen head light.

Aaron

I know Darcy was low end. (then again, when I was in college - it was what I could afford.... ) but I do not want to sink a lot more money into the lighting either, I would just like to upgrade what is there (if possible - if not, I will just keep it as it is). Thank you for all the links, looks like its time to get my read on....

Here is the back half of the setup. (minus the headlight)


Here is the bike it is on.


Michael.

You could always go this route: delete the generator component, and simply retrofit LED's into a vintage light:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...d-With-Cree-R2

But that's Union dynamo, not a Darcy... or am I missing something?

Not that it matters. You should have no trouble putting an LED and its lens inside that Union tail light housing; you may even have room in there for the bridge rectifier and a capacitor; then run a double wire to your headlight and put an LED with lens inside that as well. You don't need a switch. You do need to be very careful to isolate the dynamo from the frame and from the LED's, because a short circuit can run a reverse current through your LED's and ruin them.

Your headlight lens is probably ribbed to disperse the light as much as possible, which will lose the effect of the better light. On one such light that I messed with, I scraped and sanded and polished away the ribs in the center of the plastic lens... which worked pretty well. A lot of work, though. It would have been easier to just cut a 22mm hole for the LED lens.

I was mistaken - it is a union. (not a Darcy)

I will let you know what I come up with... Still lots to read.

Union was/is better stuff than the Darcy. I have couple of Union generators and lights floating around. I have a bottom bracket generator on one of my bikes, it is either a Union or Sanyo.

Aaron