Thanks for the info.....I didn't want the standard head/tail lights that you had to keep taking off & on to recharge... I'm gonna buy a cheap $20 dynamo kit & the LED bulb upgrades. I figure when the dynamo head dies, I'll just make a little removable diy rechargeable battery pack. I can wire into the lights & unplug it to recharge inside. Removing just the battery pack will be better than taking both lights off.
Where do you get these LED replacement things? I searched several online bike shops and ... nada, nothing!. Bike shops round the corner never heard of them.
@@restorationdotbike I just found a solid state bridge rectifier costing a few cents in aliexpress. i'm going to try that too. it converts AC to DC and should make the LED 50% brighter, ie it converts the -ve part of the voltage curve to +ve. without it, the LED bulb won't light up during the -ve part of the generation cycle and i'm afraid it may damage the bulb that i'm getting. the seller wasn't sure if the reverse bias would damage it.
Nope, the D in LED stands for Diode, a diode is exactly what you use to turn AC into DC. Of course you will only be running it on 50% of the AC, but that's life. I wouldn't worry about reverse bias damage as it'd be a pretty shitty diode to die to the reverse of it's normal forward operating voltage. I'd be much more worried about overvoltage from riding too fast.
Blue is the most dazzeling light colour because it scatters inside the eyeball. Therefore LED bicycle lamps are very dangerous because they make blind for 20 seconds when staring at them in the dark and so cause accidents. Also worse is the flicker (particularly with hub dynamo), which mindmachine effect consumes very much brain capacity and can lead to epileptic seizures, thus an LED upgrade needs rectifier and electrolytic capacitor to reduce flashing. In Germany it is outlawed to install retrofit lamps those shine to the sides or up due to dazzling risk to opposing traffic. You can dowadays buy warm white LEDs to reduce dazzle, or make your own from parts if a household LED bulb (e.g. reflector lamp replacement) with suitable voltage inverter.
The front light is hooded and pointing slightly downwards. Unless you're sitting in the street, are prone to epileptic seizures and are looking straight into the light I doubt what I'm doing is dangerous. Not less dangerous than having no light at all.
White or yellowish LEDs actually convert the blue light spectrum to longer wave lengths. It's in the plastic casing of the LED chip. Those blueish LED headlights that I remember some 10-15 years ago are actually gone and not being produced anymore.
@@MOUNTAIN-098 I replaced the halogen bulb in my very modded NiMH+dynamo powered bicycle lamp with a warm white Chinese LED (3..12V). The colour looks quite acceptable and it reaches full brightness at slower dynamo speed/emptier batteries. I hope it won't burn out by voltage spikes when used regularly (didn't test yet because of enough summer daylight).
@@DilbertMuc Nope. May be you have different laws where you live, but what I see of bicycle lamps here on German roads has still an atrocious blue tint (resembling my LED head lamp with 11K colour temperature). The warm white LED that I installed instead of halogen inside my bicycle lamp for testing looks definitely less irritating. But flicker risk seems higher once the NiMH batteries loose power (e.g. by too cold winter weather).
Nice. i have almost the same light but in front of the bike just dont what kind of light bulb it needs. I wonder if those kind work on mine.
I have the e10 bulb in the back. What is the larger bulb with the 2 nubs on the sides for the front?
Thanks for the info.....I didn't want the standard head/tail lights that you had to keep taking off & on to recharge... I'm gonna buy a cheap $20 dynamo kit & the LED bulb upgrades. I figure when the dynamo head dies, I'll just make a little removable diy rechargeable battery pack. I can wire into the lights & unplug it to recharge inside. Removing just the battery pack will be better than taking both lights off.
Where do you get these LED replacement things? I searched several online bike shops and ... nada, nothing!. Bike shops round the corner never heard of them.
Amazon
@@restorationdotbike Duuuhhh.... of course! 🙈
bike dynamos are AC current; will it spoil the LED bulb which runs on DC?
I'm no electrician, but my light is still working after a couple hundred miles.
@@restorationdotbike what’s your led bulb voltage?
is ok, i saw the LED label when i replayed your video. 6V 1.5W. thx again for letting us know about your findings! i'm going to give it a try myself 🙂
@@restorationdotbike I just found a solid state bridge rectifier costing a few cents in aliexpress. i'm going to try that too. it converts AC to DC and should make the LED 50% brighter, ie it converts the -ve part of the voltage curve to +ve. without it, the LED bulb won't light up during the -ve part of the generation cycle and i'm afraid it may damage the bulb that i'm getting. the seller wasn't sure if the reverse bias would damage it.
Nope, the D in LED stands for Diode, a diode is exactly what you use to turn AC into DC. Of course you will only be running it on 50% of the AC, but that's life.
I wouldn't worry about reverse bias damage as it'd be a pretty shitty diode to die to the reverse of it's normal forward operating voltage. I'd be much more worried about overvoltage from riding too fast.
Blue is the most dazzeling light colour because it scatters inside the eyeball. Therefore LED bicycle lamps are very dangerous because they make blind for 20 seconds when staring at them in the dark and so cause accidents. Also worse is the flicker (particularly with hub dynamo), which mindmachine effect consumes very much brain capacity and can lead to epileptic seizures, thus an LED upgrade needs rectifier and electrolytic capacitor to reduce flashing. In Germany it is outlawed to install retrofit lamps those shine to the sides or up due to dazzling risk to opposing traffic. You can dowadays buy warm white LEDs to reduce dazzle, or make your own from parts if a household LED bulb (e.g. reflector lamp replacement) with suitable voltage inverter.
The front light is hooded and pointing slightly downwards. Unless you're sitting in the street, are prone to epileptic seizures and are looking straight into the light I doubt what I'm doing is dangerous. Not less dangerous than having no light at all.
You could also settle for a warm white LED just put a small amount of orange glass paint and you got yourself that classic look.
White or yellowish LEDs actually convert the blue light spectrum to longer wave lengths. It's in the plastic casing of the LED chip. Those blueish LED headlights that I remember some 10-15 years ago are actually gone and not being produced anymore.
@@MOUNTAIN-098 I replaced the halogen bulb in my very modded NiMH+dynamo powered bicycle lamp with a warm white Chinese LED (3..12V). The colour looks quite acceptable and it reaches full brightness at slower dynamo speed/emptier batteries. I hope it won't burn out by voltage spikes when used regularly (didn't test yet because of enough summer daylight).
@@DilbertMuc Nope. May be you have different laws where you live, but what I see of bicycle lamps here on German roads has still an atrocious blue tint (resembling my LED head lamp with 11K colour temperature). The warm white LED that I installed instead of halogen inside my bicycle lamp for testing looks definitely less irritating. But flicker risk seems higher once the NiMH batteries loose power (e.g. by too cold winter weather).