Battery Tube?

[Muttley]

I'd like to make (or buy) one for one of my Stingrays but I have no idea what I'm doing. I bought a light set with the generator but couldn't get it to work, I'm thinking a battery would be much easier. The generator met an untimely demise when I set it on a piece of old railroad track and beat the snot out of it with a sledgehammer. A plain stainless tube that I can polish would be perfect.

 

[RustySprockets]

What size battery do you want to use?

 

[syclesavage]

I have something that might work. What do you plan on doing for a light....LED? how do you want it mounted.... bar clamps? P/M me if your interested I can send text pics of things I have.

 

[Muttley]

What size battery do you want to use?

I have no idea.

I have something that might work. What do you plan on doing for a light....LED? how do you want it mounted.... bar clamps? P/M me if your interested I can send text pics of things I have.

The light set I have is basically like the one in the photo.

 

[RustySprockets]

In my experience, many of those headlights accept two D-cells inside the light body, as an alternative to the bottle dynamo. Does yours not?

 

[Muttley]

In my experience, many of those headlights accept two D-cells inside the light body, as an alternative to the bottle dynamo. Does yours not?

No, it was made to use with the dynamo. I suppose I could get another dynamo if I have to but I'm not sure if it will fit/work where I want to mount it.

 

[RustySprockets]

I'm certain batteries can be made to work, but you'll first have to experiment to determine the size and number needed to satisfy the electrical demands of that system. Fabricating a tube for batteries that are later found undersized and insufficient would be a waste of effort.

 

[syclesavage]

I'm certain batteries can be made to work, but you'll first have to experiment to determine the size and number needed to satisfy the electrical demands of that system. Fabricating a tube for batteries that are later found undersized and insufficient would be a waste of effort.

Been there done that with great success as long as said person has electronic experience its not a hard thing to do.

 

[syclesavage]

No, it was made to use with the dynamo. I suppose I could get another dynamo if I have to but I'm not sure if it will fit/work where I want to mount it.

Your existing light can be modified to be a stand alone very bright lil sucker with no extra needed exterior wiring.

 

[Muttley]

Your existing light can be modified to be a stand alone very bright lil sucker with no extra needed exterior wiring.

I suppose it could but I've got some supercool™ NOS '70's metalflake wire loom cover that I'm planning to use. That's why I don't want the battery/light self contained.

 

[RustySprockets]

How about a slender thermos?

 

[Muttley]

I was thinking about a Maglite tube since it's close to what I need/want anyway but I don't like the knurling engraved on the sides. I want it to look like it could have been an accessory from the late '60's or early '70's. It's going on this:

I was thinking about mounting it on the backside of the seat post tube with a pair of clips.

 

[xray]

I've got a really similar gen light by Crown. It has a single wire screw terminal on one side, and I guess you ground the light to the bike and supply + wire to the terminal. I'm also trying to figure out what to do with it. I was thinking some sort of LED bulb that takes USB power (5 VDC) and a rechargeable external battery pack like you use for emergency cell phone power. These come in all kinds of sizes and ratings. I've got one that will supply both 5 VDC and (switchable) 16 (or) 19 VDC to power a laptop.

My Crown light looks like it takes an E10 screw bulb. You can Google E10 LED bulbs and come up with replacements that will screw right in.

One cool thing about the bullet light - if you take out the bulb and source some sort of smaller diameter bulb, you cold probably also rig it so you can move the bulb in and out of the opening in the reflector to get a focusing effect.

However, many of the LED bulb choices available do not emit light in a broad "in-the-round" pattern like a bulb, so the whole focusing thing might not work with that type LED.

If you just Google "maglite LED bulb" you get tons of different kinds of small LED bulbs. Many of them are spec'd to take variable voltages like 3 to 18 (!) I guess the circuitry built into those led packages compensates for or controls the power to the led so that it can take variable voltage better than an old type light bulb? I dunno - any electronics guys here to answer that?

Example web page: https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/flashlight-bulbs/

 

[Muttley]

Thanks for the heads up but I wont use anything modern like LED lights.

 

[horsefarmer]

I have no idea.



The light set I have is basically like the one in the photo.

I have one of these on my WBO 2017 build off bike. Rigged a bracket from the front brake mount.

Idea of using an LED bulb and one of those small phone back up batteries sounds like a good one. I bought the light a a swap cheap but only got the light. http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/red-roadster.102353/

 

[xray]

So, Muttley, you're trying to keep it "period" in terms of technology as well? I really think you could put an LED into your light head without the outward appearance giving it away. I'm sure you know you'll get better light and better battery life out of an LED, so I won't try to sell you on that.

The "electronics" of using multiple batteries is pretty simple. If you put batteries end-to-end, in series, you add up the voltages. I.e. two 1.5 volt batteries in series give you 3 volts. If you harness them side-by-side, or parallel, you get same voltage, but higher amp/hours capacity - effectively longer life at the original voltage. I.e. two 1.5 volt batteries in parallel will still be 1.5 volts, but roughly give you double life.

We have one of those specialty battery consumer stores nearby. They carry lots of other stuff - replacement bulbs, rechargeable battery packs, flashlights, etc. They also take dead batteries for recycling. I've got a bunch of old batteries to recycle, so I am going to swing by there and see if they carry any E10 led bulbs. If I obtain one, and experiment with my Crown gen light head, I'll post results in this thread.

 

[Muttley]

This would be perfect. There's a guy selling these on ebay but he's asking ridiculous money for them. $267?!?! Dude must be off his meds.

 

[xray]

Wow - nice looking! Do you necessarily want something as heavy looking as that? I was wondering - maybe a nice stout cigar tube?

They come plain and fancy, $100, $50, $20, depending on what you pick. The one below comes with "free engraving," so something like this you could even get engraved.

Then you gotta figure out the innards, some kind of lining, contact, springs, etc.

I got my usb power pack to led bulb mocked up in my Crown headlamp, and it works. I'm using a Terralux TLE-6EX Ministar 5 bulb, rated for 4 to 6 C or D cells. It seems to work fine on the usb battery pack output that I am measuring at 4.99 vdc.

I've got a flat usb power pack that I am thinking I could build into a sign board of the sort that takes the place of a tank. Maybe cut out a nice piece of oak and embed the black battery pack into that.

 

[Phil Fink]

I believe that the generator sets are 6 volts and 3 watts (2.4w front and 0.6w rear bulb?). What I had planned for my 6-volt system was a battery pack of four (4) rechargeable 1.5v D-cells; (4 x 1.5v = 6v). For this set-up, I found an old vintage miners hat with a battery operated head light, and battery pack.
Another on ebay is for an example:
Vintage-U-S-Government-Justrite-Headlamp-Lantern-1904-5-Working-Condition-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/302241342855
vintage-mining-hard-hat-battery-operated-head-lamp-light-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182401072498
Then the hard part is how to wire it up correctly, and where to put the battery pack - perhaps in a bag behind the saddle-seat(?).
And the best part is that the miner's hat now doubles as a bike helmet.

 

[Muttley]

It doesn't have to be super heavy duty, truthfully I probably will rarely if ever ride it at night anyway so this whole set-up is mostly for looks. The cigar tube may not be a bad idea. I don't smoke so I'd never even heard of such a thing before. Thanks for the heads up.