Headlight information

[Old is Gold]

My light in the beginning of the thread is a generator powered light

 

[Old is Gold]

I have another thread going concerning troubleshooting my current light but I might just end up going with a battery powered light when all is said and done

 

[acg_schwinn]

I have another thread going concerning troubleshooting my current light but I might just end up going with a battery powered light when all is said and done

Whoops, I did not see that other really long thread until just now, so give me a little time to digest the whole conversation over there, and then I can post a detailed reply to whatever questions are still outstanding once I get to the end of page... 6, or something...

[...pause...]

Okay, all done! Please go to that other thread (here) and see if any of my suggestions will resolve the problem.

 

[Old is Gold]

Looking at a few of the Enwell lights on eBay and of course most of them say untested because the seller either doesn't want to bother or knows that the light doesn't work. If need be, are replacement bulbs available for most of these ball lights?

 

[acg_schwinn]

Looking at a few of the Enwell lights on eBay and of course most of them say untested because the seller either doesn't want to bother or knows that the light doesn't work. If need be, are replacement bulbs available for most of these ball lights?

Yes, they're commonly available. Two-cell battery-powered lights (either two C-cells or two D-cells) use a standard industry interchange bulb number 14. That is a 2.47-volt 0.3-amp Miniature Edison Screw (MES) E10 bulb, used in all of Schwinn's two-cell lights, including the dual-bulb Sting-Ray taillight and matching Sting-Ray turn signal light from Cat Eye. (Even those cheap aftermarket non-blinking turn signals use #14 bulbs.) Basically, if the device uses two batteries, the bulb will be a #14. Just one of many examples here: https://www.lightbulbs.com/product/satco-06931

That said, it's way more likely that if the headlight doesn't work, the problem will be poor oxidized or corroded contacts in the battery tray or top switch. The bulb is probably fine, because the two batteries cannot push it over-voltage, and as the contacts age, the bulb will be getting less and less power anyway. Freshening up the contacts will get the lamp working again.

 

[SirMike1983]

I would dump the generator and light system, replacing it with a retro battery light set that uses LEDs. Kiley, Soma, and Alumalites all make decent LED retro lights. The Kiley ones seem to be the most available now. Supply has been an issue with some brands since COVID. There are also the cheaper, generic ones on eBay and similar sites. Old generator lights can be a pain to troubleshoot and even once they work, don't put out as much light as a simple LED set up. Some systems like the Dynohub can be converted to LED, which is a popular compromise.

 

[Old is Gold]

I definitely appreciate all of the input here.
The headlight will be more for decoration than it will be actually used that would be the main reason I would want to steer towards a vintage light versus a newer LED but I'm not ruling anything out.

 

[acg_schwinn]

I would say that the vintage battery-powered headlights are not really capable of lighting your way. They were more for just being seen by others. However, the European generator sets from Union of West Germany or Soubitez of France (affiliated with Marchal automotive lighting, which is why you see the Marchal cat logo on a Schwinn Super Sport headlight) are serious lighting sets, engineered for use in all weather, as European commuters would ride bikes to and from work in all kinds of conditions. Try a Schwinn Deluxe set (from Union) on a pitch-black night in the middle of nowhere: it will light up the entire road.

Here are a couple of shots I took a few years ago when testing a Deluxe set on a newly-rebuilt 1971 Schwinn Breeze:

The last photo above shows the output from the elaborate optics of the Deluxe headlight, with a fluted lens over a parabolic reflector. This gives two areas of light on the roadway: a diffused foglight-style beam spread right in front of the bike, and a larger hotspot further ahead. (This test showed that I should angle the headlight a little higher for better light distribution, so I did.) The Deluxe taillight is a similar design, a little simplified and scaled down, and projects a good beam straight back.

 

[Old is Gold]

Very impressive. I hate to ask how much that light would cost if a person could even find one.

 

[acg_schwinn]

Very impressive. I hate to ask how much that light would cost if a person could even find one.

Actually no, the Schwinn Deluxe generator set (Schwinn 04 140) is probably the most common one out there; they're all over eBay, in various conditions ranging from Basket Case to New Old Stock in the original box (okay, the NOS ones do sell for three figures). I'm working on another set right now for future sale, in fact.

Here are few photos from one of my prior eBay listings to show you what it looks like (using a 6-volt power supply to light it for photography). Notice that the red Union badge on top of the headlight lights up while you're riding:

These were made from about 1967 through most of the 1970s, last appearing in the 1977 Schwinn consumer catalog. There were three generations made; the one above is a second-generation set. All were pretty much identical, but the first-generation set used a headset ring mounting bracket that required you to remove the handlebars and stem to install it, which was kind of a pain. Around 1970 common sense prevailed, and they went to the gooseneck clamp design of mounting bracket seen here that didn't require any disassembly to install. Some years later, the third-generation set used a redesigned headlight (obviously to cut costs) in which the external power terminal seen above was replaced with a small hole in the housing, so the power lead would pass directly into the headlight and up to the bulb socket inside.