Easy conversion for vintage dynohub lights?
 

Hi. Noob to this forum, so please forgive me if this topic has been covered -- and point me to the appropriate threads.

I'd like to convert a couple of old Sturmey-Archer lighting systems, running on GH6 Dynohubs, to a more useful modern setup with bright LEDS and a standlight. I'd also like to keep the vintage lamp shells. I've seen the Sciencemonster's instructions here, but frankly, I'm a not much of a techie and I'd rather not build the electronic aspects of the thing myself. I'm just looking for a way to drop the guts from a modern light into a vintage light. Any suggestions?

get something like the planet bike blaze dyno light and put it inside the shell of your other light. I just saw a picture of an edelux inside a retro French light housing.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...65bf7691bc.jpg

Heat accumulation is a problem with high power LED headlights. At best, it will result in inefficient operation. At worst, it will result in premature failure.

Modern LED headlights have integral heat sinks which vent heat generated by the LED to atmosphere. The case is an integral part of the heat sink system. The airflow at the case is vital for the heat sink to work. I'm afraid that putting a modern LED front light into an old case will not be a viable solution.

If you're using a truly vintage housing, you might just need to get good thermal bonding between the LED heat sink and the vast expanse of chromed brass shell. I used to have an LED head inside an old Union lamp, U100 perhaps, and the metal case had more surface area than most compact LED heat sinks. I used heat sink paste from my computer to get good thermal contact and it worked beautifully until the light fell off on the freeway when I had the bike on a bus...

Yes, I think they're "truly vintage" (OEM on 1951 and 1976 Raleighs) -- and the chromed brass shells are the appealing part. How did you do your transplant, exactly?

What about these? http://www.thetorchsite.co.uk/Dosoe_...crew_base.html
The 3w in the front,1w in the back.

This LED bulb on German Ebay is red and has a built-in standlight that works nicely. However, the vendor ships only to Europe. Maybe you can find that bulb somewhere else. There is also also an accompanying white bulb but with a drop-in base.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~stein...erchandise.htm
Gentleman Cyclist has white bulbs available as drop in replacements for Dynohub headlights.

Thanks! Great info!

That bulb looks like a Terralux TLE-1S. If so, they are still around but are getting increasingly hard to find. Until recently there were a few on E Bay.

Most suppliers are phasing them out because of the screw base and falling demand.

Another model is the TekTite LS 407. Expensive and only from the manufacturer.

I am not sure how these bulbs would work with generators and fluctuating current. They are polarity sensitive and must be hooked up correctly or bye bye bulb.

Scroll down to my thread " Where can I get"

I am puzzled by such a statement. An LED connected with opposite polarity represents an open circuit - there is next to no current flowing through it, no power dissipated, so it cannot be burnt. The LED bulbs with standlight from German Ebay are specifically intended for generator systems. While they work with one polarity only, a generator provides both. I have one like that mounted on a bike and the lamp works fine - better than with an incandescent which was the whole purpose.

If you would please Google " Led Circuit Wikipedia " and scroll down to " Polarity " it may better explain my statement.
Sorry that I can't post the link, I just don't have the computer savvy nor do I have the electrical knowledge to explain it better.

The Terralux bulb has a voltage rating of 2v to 9v so would probably work just fine with a generator and fluctuating voltages. The Tektite bulbs are voltage specific and probably would not .

I use a 6 volt battery for power and was told if the polarity is reversed the bulb would be toast. Everything I have read suggests the same. More than that I don't know.

I also have vintage lights and I use the screw in led replacements. Can't beat them.

The reverse breakdown voltages are normally very large, such as 100-200V, well in excess of what a battery or generator can provide. Those voltages can be purposely lowered, as in Zener diodes or in photodiodes, but that is normally not the case in LEDs. They can be safely used in reverse polarization - they will just not light up.

I don't know about that "bulb" specifically but common Cree LEDs are rated at 5v reverse.
http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXP-E.pdf
Dynos can put out 100v.

Indeed, from what I see, the high-current LEDs have low breakdown voltages, albeit higher than driving voltages. The consumer replacement bulbs typically, though, again from what I see, have a protection against reverse polarization. Otherwise for Schmidt to produce over 100V, you need to ride at 160 km/h having a connected load of 10 MOhm.

A cheap and lazy option:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/e10-1-2...r-dc-12v-51359

These are designed for 12v car systems, so at 6v they're not too bright -- an improvement from the original incandescent, but not by much. Definitely lights for "being seen," and they don't do much at all below 10mph. But you can buy a pack of two for $3.60, shipping included (compared to at least $28 for two Terralux TLE-1Ses). There are also a couple of options here, which I think are for 6v vintage car systems, but the info is sort of sketchy.

A useful thing to know (probably old hat to a lot of you here, but new to me) is that the 10mm screw-in base that you'll find on bulbs for a vintage Sturmey system is generally called "E10". It is also (chiefly in the UK, apparently) known as "MES" (for "Miniature Edison Screw)").
If you have a "newer" vintage Sturmey-Archer system (like the one on my '76 Raleigh Superbe), the taillight may take a wedge base instead; these are even cheaper, though they really end up at about the same brightness as the original bulbs:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t8-1-le...r-dc-12v-44684

There's still no good option for a cheap and easy standlight available in North America, as far as I can tell; if any enterprising folks are reading this, I think there'd be a significant market for a simple standlight unit that would fit inside a vintage bullet lamp shell and would connect easily with crimps or screws. Since that doesn't seem to exist, I guess I'll have to learn how to wire one up myself...can't be a bad thing!

Biggest problem will be the lack of power in those old Dynohubs. 1.8W is really pushing it....