likebike23

I picked up a lot of Soubitez dynamos and lights on the bay and got around to installing one of them yesterday. I went out last night for a ride and was very underwhelmed by the 2.4W halogen. I have been investigating the various LED upgrade bulbs and it appears that after you consider the price, effort, and lumens, that the reflectalite E10 screw in LED bulbs are the best option (NL432 bulb-https://www.reflectalite.com/buyingbulbs.html).

These bulbs are mentioned in several threads in the past, but none actually follows through with a detailed review. Has anyone here actually installed the bulb? If you have, would you care to comment on the performance of the light after the upgrade? How does it compare with other LED lights in it's price range?

I have a B&M IQ Fly Plus on another bike and it is more than adequate for my style of riding. I realize that it would only be around $10 more to get another one instead of modifying a vintage light, but one of the lights is a Soubitez 89 with the golf ball light attached. If I could get a decent amount of light out of it I'd like that, because it's a cool light, and would fit one of my bikes pretty well. In addition, the reflectalite site says I could also hook up a second headlight (which I have) with the bulb installed and get 240 lumens in theory.

Any thoughts? Thanks for reading, Mike.

John E

I have been thinking along the same lines, Mike, for household flashlights as well as bicycle lights, but I admit to having no practical experience beyond having replaced incandescent bulbs with LEDs in my 1982 Sony audio amplifier. I am going to look into this as time permits, however, because it is a great idea.

Oldairhead 

The market seems to be just emerging for LED replacement bulbs. But, I believe it may still be a while before you can just go down to the hardware store and buy a direct LED replacement for your flashlight. The reason for this is in part because of the quality of the LED's themselves. They are fairly inexpensive, being mass produced, and they last a long time. They are mostly being used in newly designed products and there is very little need for ever replacing an LED in these devices. Almost all the development effort is in these new products which are sold complete. Why simply sell an inexpensive replacement bulb when you can sell a spiffy new system, with a higher profit margin. This system will work great until the batteries crap out and then you will buy another new one. That's the way the market works!

likebike23

I settled on the Reflectalite because it is not polarity sensitive, AC/DC, 1-9V, E10 screw base, and 120 claimed lumens. The bulbs pretty much are a drop in solution for use with older dynamo setups. I've found flashlights are much easier to source drop in replacements. I've found cheaper bulbs (for flashlights), but they either weren't as bright, needed bridge rectifiers to run on dynamo AC power, had a different base, or you would have to work around the reverse polarity issue with my lights (the ground is on the base of the bulb). When you factor in the shipping for the bulb, diodes, and time soldering and modifying the light it just isn't worth it.

If I end up getting the bulb, I'll make sure to give my impressions of it's performance. I'm also considering a home made MR16 light with a stainless sugar shaker as the housing. Again, I'll report back with results.

Sad but true. It makes me wonder just what are we producing today that future generations will consider classic or vintage. The major motivation for me in this project is making a vintage lighting system viable without completely altering it's character.

Salubrious

There is an LED lamp that can replace 6V lamps used in Sturmey Archer/Miller/Lucas headlights found on British 3-speeds.

Unless you do some mods with a rectifier and filter caps to smooth the resulting DC current from the alternator hub, the results are not stellar, but you can see and you can be seen, and the drag is noticeably reduced.

Its a thread-in bit, click on 'Parts' in teh left column when you arrive at this page:

The Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour

nlerner

I've used those bulbs plus the regulator for the light setup on my '49 Raleigh Clubman. It's brighter than the original, but the glass of the front lamp is still kind of clouded over and the lens doesn't quite focus the light in the ways modern systems do. It's good enough (I used it to ride home in the dark a couple of weeks ago), but not even close to the IQ Cyo on my commuter.

noglider 

I put a replacement LED bulb in a D-cell flashlight, and the result was poor, because it casts light forward whereas the original bulb cast it to the sides.

Modern LED dynamo headlights are too outstanding not to use.
However, an old fashioned sidewall dynamo isn't crazy. I put one on one of my bikes and another on one of my wife's bikes. I wouldn't want to run it in the day, but it does the job at night, and it's as reliable as a rock.

I used a Soubitez set on my epic three month tour in 1981. Never an ounce of trouble!

likebike23

@Salubrious: I saw those bulbs in my research. I figured they were for DC current when it was mentioned that they strobe. I've seen other sources for E10 LEDs that were cheaper or the same price: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...Specifications and this one which looks pretty good: Mes E10 Screw CREE LED Bulb PETZL Zoom Duo Head Lamp Viewmaster 3V 4 5V 6V | eBay. The thing is with these options is you should run a bridge rectifier which costs a bit to ship and more work on my end.

@nlerner: Are you referring to the bulb Salubrious linked? If so, that would be good. BTW, have you tried some of that car headlight refresher on your lens? Might make it good as new.

likebike23

@noglider: I'm running an AXA Quattro sidewall dynamo with an IQ Fly on another bike and it's great for my purposes. The thing is, what fun is it just going with the same thing over again? I'm just trying to hedge my desire to tinker with stuff against wasting time and money I guess.

Salubrious

The Sturmey Archer Dynohub puts out AC, but any LED only conducts in one direction (unless its a bi-directional, which is really just two LEDs in parallel...).

Also, any LED even if its bi-directional will strobe. That is the nature of the hub alternator beast.

The rectifier one might use is cheap. Actually you want what is called a bridge rectifier, which has four leads. Two are for the connection from the hub and the other two for the LED. One lead is marked as positive, and if you use a filter cap (an electrolytic with a 16Volt rating and several hundred microfarads at least) then the positive lead of the cap goes to that output of the rectifier. The minus side goes to the body of the headlight.

If you go this route you will get more light and it will strobe less. The only thing is that the DC voltage will rise due to the capacitor and that could damage your lamp so if its a 6V system, after such a mod I would install a higher voltage LED like 9V and see how it works. When you do all these mods you have to experiment a little... another solution would be to install a simple regulator to insure that the LED bulb never sees more than 6.5V or so. BTW, when we talk about 6 volts its really 6.3 volts.

The rectifier will be tiny and if mailed in a standard envelope would go for the cost of the stamp. It need not be rated more than 20 Volts and 1 amp is way overkill.

likebike23

@Salubrious: I looked at a full wave bridge rectifier at Mouser electronics and while it was less than $1, the shipping was around $5. I'll have to look at my local radio shack to see what they have. Will using a 1A rectifier be ok if that's all they have? I'm not trying to sound cheap, but for me the added expense of the electronics, time required, and potential for mistakes shouldn't outweigh the extra expense for the plug and play bulb.

Salubrious

1 Amp is *plenty*!

likebike23

Thanks.

nlerner

Sorry for the ambiguous reference, but I meant the reflectalite bulb. And thanks for the tip on car headlight refresher. I'll look for that at AutoZone.

noglider 

I understand! Too many projects and mere ideas can pile up, and then there is all this stuff lying around along with the half baked things. I'm trying not to start so many things, and I'm also trying to finish whatever I start. That's another reason I'm not going to even try spiffing up an old headlight.

Prowler 

For those looking for plug and play replacements for incandescent bulbs check out Automotive Household Truck Trailer RV Lighting Led Light Bulbs. I've purchased several of their LED bulbs for the motorcycles and am well pleased. All sorts of choices for all sorts of bulb base types.

likebike23

Thanks for the feedback on the bulb. Brighter and better will definitely be good enough. I wouldn't expect the performance of a Cyo from a vintage light anyway. My intention is to strap the Soubitez 89 with golfball light on a bike just for leisurely rides on the rail trail anyway. FWIW, I used some Scratch-X on my car headlight and it cleared it up pretty well. I'd just be careful on an indiscreet area of the lens to see if it'll work.

I hear that about the half baked projects. Add a 4 year old into the mix and it's tough to get anything done at the end of the day, they require a lot of energy.

Getting a bulb that's plug and play will go a long way in getting the lights done. I got 4 dynamos (2 soubitez, 1 Union, and a Soubitez bottom bracket unit), 4 headlights, and 2 tail lights as a lot on the bay. I'd like to just get 2 done and mess around with the others as time permits.

noglider 

Ooh, pictures, please?

I didn't know Soubitez made BB units. I have a Sanyo and installed it on one of my wife's bikes. I hear they're not great, but it's worth a try.

I recently bought a new sidewall generator from China. It has a filament bulb headlight integrated in. Not good. But I was enticed because it has a handlebar mounted lever for engaging and disgaging (to coin a word) the Dynamo. Nifty mechanism. I want to see if I can detach the light from the unit.

rhm

If you get an LED bulb that screws into the standard bulb socket in an old bike headlight, try to determine from the manufacturer's spec sheet whether the LED requires DC current. It may have a bridge rectifier built in; or not. If not, be sure to wire the head and tail lights so one is center positive and the other center negative. This will protect both bulbs from reverse polarity. Otherwise you'll burn your LED bulbs out in no time.

repechage

Even as a kid I would burn out the generator light bulbs as I went too fast I guess and the generation put out too much.
In some posts there was reference to a voltage regulator, that I think would be necessary.

likebike23

@Prowler: Thanks for the link to that website. I must say, it has the strangest layout I've ever seen for a website.
@noglider: I'll put up a few pics when I get a chance.
@rhm: I remember reading a BF post when researching this and you mentioned your wiring scheme. I think it was called wiring the LEDs in parallel with reverse polarity? When you are doing that, are you basically using the LEDs as diodes to make a bridge rectifier? I saw an article where they put a resistor in the circuit, did you? If yes, what ohm rating did you use?

rhm

@likebike23, no, I don't mess with resistors. Other than the LEDs I don't use anything they didn't teach in my third grade science class over 40 years ago. My understanding of electronics is so basic I suspect Ben Franklin knew more about electricity than I do.

noglider 

Uh, I suspect he hadn't conceived of diodes.

noglider 

Here is my setup on my 1971 Raleigh Super Course. The dynamo is an old Miller I got on ebay. It's built like a tank. Unfortunately, it makes a lot of noise and drag. I can live with the noise, but I think I'm going to find a dynamo that makes less drag. I just rode it today in the daylight just to see what it was like. It was, uh, a drag.

Headlight is a Dosun U1 if I remember right. It's a Taiwanese made light, very nice. The story, as I understand it, is that they built it to comply with STVZO but then decided the expense of certification wasn't worth it but if they filed the paperwork, it would comply. Tail light is a Spanninga Pixeo, which is a very nice light. Both lights have standlight features.

likebike23

@noglider: Tom, that's really a "patina machina", I like it. I've been on the lookout for a Super Course in my area for a while, almost had one in rough shape for $30 but the guy flaked out on me. The lights look good, too bad about the drag of your dynamo. I can't comment on the drag of my Soubitez generator setup yet as I've only done one short ride with it. Anyway, I took some pics of the lights I got in the lot, the price was really good. The dyno on the bike looks NOS as well as one of the headlights in the group pic. I may need to change the mount for the headlight, it's just a plastic reflector bracket and is kind of flexy. Gotta go, cheers- Mike