# Schwinn Phantom Delta hub activated brake light



## EMyers

In a search for info on this brake light, I could not find much and what I did find was scattered. Posting it here with pics, videos, original Schwinn printed instructions, and search terms may help those doing some internet scouring. If you have detail info to contribute (year it was used on the Phantoms, other makes and models it was used on, etc), I will be glad to add it here. I welcome corrections if i get anything wrong! 

When I got my 1951 Schwinn Black Phantom a few weeks ago, I decided it was nice enough to refurbish rather than restore. When I took the tail light off, I found a wire coiled up inside with this instruction sheet tucked under the battery tray. I did some research here and found that I was missing the switch and circular contact spring. The grooved locking nut was there on the Bendix hub. 

A member here had the switch parts. Thanks Scott!

My brake light was pretty corroded inside, so I cleaned it best I could. It cleaned well enough but was missing a contact. I was too impatient to fix it and went with a re-pop that I wired same as the original. The pics below are of the original wiring.  

I hooked it up and it works really cool. You just have to make sure the switch and the light is grounded properly. I did find that the switch is touchy and makes contact with the slightest back pedal. I made it a bit more forgiving by laying a small piece of electrical tape on the rivets of the contact plate leaving about 1/4  of the contact plate exposed. Now it takes a full back pedal to turn it on. 

The first video shows the switch moving. The wire wasn't hooked up yet. 

The video showing the brake lighting will be in the next post. (Only one video per post on this site.) 

This is the link for the Patent on this switch. It has a great drawing. The patent rights belonged to SEARS! http://www.google.com/patents?id=3sdOAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hope you found this helpful or at least interesting! If anyone needs other pictures, let me know and Ill put them here too. 























[video=youtube_share;3iBNzd1yvF4]http://youtu.be/3iBNzd1yvF4[/video]


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## EMyers

*Brake light video*

[video=youtube_share;P6t0QXG0a9Y]http://youtu.be/P6t0QXG0a9Y[/video]


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## SJ_BIKER

*This is great info..*

Thanks for sharing


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## Butch

WOW! What will they think of next? That's pretty cool. Its always good when you get something functional after so many years.


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## MagicRat

E,That pic and despription was about as clear as mud...(heh)

...'til I saw the vid of how it works!

WAY COOL


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## EMyers

Thanks guys.
It's a neat piece. It was very satisfying when it worked! Not sure, but I think it was an option for 1949-1951 phantoms. 

The switch on my light can be switched to steady on. when its switched off the braking action lights it.

I've seen some brake lights on eBay and for sale elsewhere that have a resistor? in the place where mine has a little springy wire. I'm no electrical engineer, (changing a light switch once I started my shirt on fire. Think Mr. Bean) but maybe that resistor makes a dim light when the light is switched on and it brightens when braking? 

Anyone know if that's true or possible with this set up?

If that's the case, I'm soldering a radio shack resistor on the repop light.


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## Mybluevw

All of the other brake lights that I have seen have a ball bearing that rolls forward during braking. The ball bearing closes the lighting circuit and lights the brake light.
This one is way cooler IMHO


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## abe lugo

*just adding some info*

this system only works if the outer Hub bearing cap is grooved so that the little wire C-clip piece can clip into it, which mean sit should only be on ND hubs with the groove. This might help people trying to adapt it to another bike, you can always machine in the groove on a lathe though.


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## EMyers

*I knew i was forgetting something.....*



abe lugo said:


> this system only works if the outer Hub bearing cap is grooved so that the little wire C-clip piece can clip into it, which mean sit should only be on ND hubs with the groove. This might help people trying to adapt it to another bike, you can always machine in the groove on a lathe though.




Thanks abe.
Strange thing is the hub is Bendix with a ND sprocket and ND grooved cap. Maybe back in the day, the shop added the brake light as an upgrade?   

Oh, and I've already rattled a brake bulb to death!! Shaken bulb syndrome?


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## abe lugo

*Cool to see..*

You can just put the cap on a bendix, you should try an led in there.


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## MagicRat

E,"Mr Bean"...

Now you got me laughing!


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## EMyers

abe lugo said:


> You can just put the cap on a bendix, you should try an led in there.




Hmm led huh? 
You have a source? Google failed me....


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## bike

*This was used on some pre war sears Elgin bikes*



abe lugo said:


> this system only works if the outer Hub bearing cap is grooved so that the little wire C-clip piece can clip into it, which mean sit should only be on ND hubs with the groove. This might help people trying to adapt it to another bike, you can always machine in the groove on a lathe though.



Explaining the sears ownership of the patent.
.
Mussleman had a special bearing cap to accommodate it

I believe the resistor did just that - light was brighter on braking- heating the resistor with tail light on uses battery! One elgin set up that I have seen used 2 lights in the battery can/tali light .


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## Ozark Flyer

I noticed the one in the photo did not have a resistor.  I don't know when they changed but my 53 Phantom light does have the resistor in it.  It's a cool feature either way.


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## EMyers

Ozark Flyer said:


> I noticed the one in the photo did not have a resistor.  I don't know when they changed but my 53 Phantom light does have the resistor in it.  It's a cool feature either way.




Hey O.F.,
Could you post a picture of that?


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## Ozark Flyer

Here you go.  It looks to be orange/black/gold (tan)/black/white.  I don't really know what I'm looking at, sounds like you do.  I could easily be wrong, but just looking at the whole assembly, I had the impression that when the switch on the battery housing is on, the resistor would let a small amount of current continuously flow to the bulb giving a dimly lit bulb (running light) while pedaling fowrard with the hub switch open.  When braking, the hub switch closes bypassing the resistor and letting full current flow to the bulb giving a brighter light (brake light).  Like in an auto tail light.  Hope this helps

Dan


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## EMyers

Ozark Flyer said:


> Here you go.  It looks to be orange/black/gold (tan)/black/white.  I don't really know what I'm looking at, sounds like you do.
> 
> Dan




Nope. Just a google nerd. 
Going to match that series of colors to radio shack resistors and give it a shot on mine.
I'll post results good or bad.
Thanks


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## MaxGlide

*sorry for the late thank you...*

But finally going to install the switch and checked here to confirm mounting and realized I had not thanked you all for the great video on this . THANK YOU!!!!


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## spoker

*brake light*

i have a brake lite that im gotn to be selling but i think it was made around the anniversity time,did they make it to fir tye 1995 hub?


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