The beam was/is about like a dinky C-cell hotwire flashlight. Little yellowish disc, barely visible reflecting off asphalt. They were always more to be seen than to see anything. That’s why I had/have mine aimed almost straight forward, only a slight dip.
They’re more like constant-wattage devices, load-limited by the winding resistance. Without a load, voltage shoots up sky-high (k·ω, proportional to rotational speed). With increasing load, voltage decreases to just supply the required wattage the device is drawing for the given speed.
So absolutely, you could charge even series Li cells as the voltage would rise pretty fast at even moderate speeds, but at a lower current. You’d just need to pre-regulate the voltage to make sure you don’t fry the charging circuit. And if it’s not spinning fast enough, it’ll just slow down the charging.
The nice thing about hotwire bulbs is that even at a small fraction of their rated voltage, they’ll still throw decent light. A 6V bulb will start throwing light at 2V or less, albeit not nearly as bright. So just start pedaling at all and it’ll start glowing.
I was always envious of the kids who had those lights even though I had no need for the lights .My overprotective mom would never allow me to cycle at night.
In the 80s I just had to have one of those so my parents got me one for my birthday. I musta been about 8-9 because at the time I had an old BMX style bike. I wanted a 10 speed but most of my riding was around on our property and down in the woods, not the place for skinny street tires most of the multi speed bikes in my parents price range was gonna buy. Well I wanted it to dodge “things” in the cow pasture. Needless to say at the slow speeds I was riding I still duct taped a real light on the handlebars. That bike like sure looked cool up there in the day light.
Today I’m still driving around with those lights. Though with an improved reflector and a 6V 3W xenon bulb. In Netherland the 6V 0.5W rear light was traditionally semi-incorporated in the mudguard. That I have replaced with a LED unit, driven by 2 AA batteries. There were three reasons for that replacement.
First - the long cable between front wheel and rear mudguard had a lot to suffer from wear and tear.
Second - as Lightbringer already wrote, when the first (front) light pops, the other (rear) light is sure to follow.
Third - now the rear light keeps on burning when I have to stop at a traffic light. (BTW: 75% cyclists do stop)
Yeah, and as I posted earlier as having 2 sets in my bike, I remember during those days in my backward country, all bikes were just single-speed, so don’t just make the mistake of using a 12-teeth rear sprocket!
Yep, same on my1969 Schwinn Fastback, light kit, metal flake green with the metal flake green banana seat/handle bar grips that matched, Hi Ride sissy bar too!
The next Christmas I got the Varoom engine/noise maker to put on it, with my first leather motorcycle jacket and Levi Blue Jean boots to boot!
Almost forgot about the single speed! I remember coming home from school everyday in Australia riding up the final big hill to our home zigzagging all the way up because I didn't want to be beat down by it and get off my bike. It was good exercise and without any training except for riding my my bicycle, I always won the 100 yard sprint every year in my school.
That would be another fun project to start one day. Would be fun to make a prototype and connect it to my handlebar with a USB outlet for charging lights and phones.
I had one on my Schwinn Varsity. I just remember all the black tire dust and after wearing out two front tires, taking it off. Being a kid, a tire was a lot of money (and getting a flat because the sidewall suddenly disappeared was no fun), and I decided batteries were cheaper. Don’t remember the light I replaced it with, though.
ETA: Mine was a headlight only, so the generator was supposed to be on the front wheel.
I used to ride mine around with skin tight blue jeans along with Flag Bros Beatle boots. I laugh when I think what that looked like. Oh yeah, my Stingray was a single speed metallic blue model with a white bananna seat. Unfortunately it go stolen.
This is same one I had except mine had those mini fenders, and of course the generator light and a speedometer. BTW, nothing wrong with being ancient! Proud to be born in 1952!
