Now 3½ years later (see posts of 5/13-5/15, 2020) has anyone had any experience with any of the solutions mentioned in that post? If there are satisfactory solutions, could you be specific as to where to get the parts/equipment (spares/kit). Separately and regardless of voltage, has anyone had recent experience with LED headlights?
email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net
I’m not quite there yet, but I have fitted a 12v field coil and armature. I’ve put an electronic regulator in mechanical box. All the bulbs will be led.
Mark
email (option): pes.sales@btconnect.com
Personally I've never felt the need to convert any magneto bike to 12V. Since the bike is not reliant on a battery for starting or running. Plus 6V LED bulbs are readily available. (Can the "short" period dynamo be converted or do you have to use the longer post war dynamo?)
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
As Ron says I don't really see the point in going to 12v, especially now that a 6v LED headlamp bulb is easily available that lights up half the parish. And takes less current than the side light. I still run an ordinary filament bulb in the rear lamp, being 6v makes the thicker filament hopefully more resistant to vibration than the 12v equivalent.(I can't find an LED bulb to fit the particular rear lamp I'm using) The headlamp bulb I use can be fed 6 or 12v, and run neg or positive earth, it makes riding at night actually possible without any guesswork to where the road is heading. And if you want to use the bikes battery to run a USB socket, Sinolec electronics will supply a unit that will accept 6,12 or 24v input for just under a tenner.
Have you looked at this site Jon? https://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/stoptail-lamp-bulbs-shop.php
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
My M21 is still running 6V with all LED bulbs. Had LED bulbs never been invented, then I would have converted it to 12V. But no advantage to it now.
Also a 12V conversion still using the original 6V armature means the dynamo has to spin twice as fast to make the same output.
Can you direct me to the unit, please. I have tried to find it on the https://sinolec.co.uk/ site but can't find a 6V version :disappointed:
cheers
Pete
just seen this
https://sinolec.co.uk/en/cigar-and-cigarette-lighter-plug-and-sockets/1211477-31a-waterproof-dual-port-usb-socket-12v-24v-compatible-.html
is this the one?
email (option): petercomley@web.de
these let you wire an SAE plug direct to the battery. Plug in items like usb port, gps tracker, battery charger, volt meter etc. the USB adapters have the correct output.
email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com
Not a lot of good for 6V though Cas.
But on a different note Cas, were you affected by the disaster in Hawaii? I can't remember what island you are on.
Best regards Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
Interesting
I will chase up Sinolec to see what their headlamp globe is like
I am yet to find a 6V focusing globe that is anywhere neare as good light as the original 24/24 tungsten
They throw a wonderful bright white light that is good for reading the fine print on an insurance policy but totally useless for night riding with a rubbish spread of light
I have probably spent well £ 200 on various junk headlight globes
OTOH the stop tails are great & I can clearly see my tail lamp from a mile away and can see the stop lamp glowing brighter from the same distance
Not quite as good beam spread as it vanishes sideways but as we do not have 10 lane roads ( and if we did I would not be riding the M20 on them ) that is not so much of a problem as from 1 lane either side the light is clearly visible till around 2 meters from the back of the bike
The best light I have managed to get is from a Double Dipper fitted off line about 15 deg to the left
And before you ask the reflector was resilvered about 12 years ago & is in perfect condition
@ Pete C, the one I was looking at was this one, seems they have quite a range;
https://sinolec.co.uk/en/cigar-and-cigarette-lighter-plug-and-sockets/1211874-31a-waterproof-dual-port-usb-socket-12v-24v-compatible-with-surface-mount-bracket.html If you look in the description it states 6,12 or 24 24 input - But I think it might be worth contacting them to confirm. That was just one I'd picked out from a quick search as I've been thinking about using USB to run my phone for navigation on my Matchless.(Especially now as the headlamp works so well and takes so little to power it.)
@ Ron Pier, Ron I'll check those bulbs out - The lamp is a replica Wipac S446, not much room inside. But it has been reliable, same bulb since 2019 and its gets used well, being my main road bike until a few months ago.
@ Trevor, the LED bulb I am using came from Paul Goff.
http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyWhyNotLEDs.htm
I am now confident to ride home along twisty,bumpy and very dark country lanes after evening rides. Previous to that I was using a detachable LED cycle lamp to show the way. Sinolec are the company that appear to be able to supply USB charging sockets that will cope with a 6v input.
But on a different note Cas, were you affected by the disaster in Hawaii? I can't remember what island you are on.
Best regards Ron
excellent for 6v - the output is still correct. Tested with my Iphone (which I can not afford to replace). It says 12-24 volt I think because modern manufacturers never encountered 6v systems and saw no need to include that in the specs. The usb adapter in the image has correct output and will show battery voltage as well. I guess it has a small regulator built in which is set to the correct output of 5.5v.
As for the fires in Hawaii, they were absolutely frightening. I'm on a different island and on the windward coast. we get around 1/2 inch of rain every day and no chance of a wildfire. PS for any ex firefighters out there. 8% humidity, 100km/h winds gusting to 130. The headfire was running along at about 50km/h. the winds were funneled by the steep gorges, traveling downhill over very dry grassland. Nothing that any firefighter could do except wait until it reached the coast. Even then, it burned all the vessels in the harbour including those on swing moorings. A WM20 would have barely outrun it.
email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com
Cheers Cas. I never thought that they just left 6V off the title.
Very good to hear that you're on a safe island. Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
I had this issue when using a GPS on my M21 6V back in 2013. A kindly chap in NZ helped me out and even put together a "black box" and sent it to me in Germany! He noted that there may be a problem using commercial units designed for 12V systems.
Here is his explanation...
"The problem is running a car GPS unit in a car that has a 6 volt supply. Normally these units have a little power regulator that plugs into a 12 volt lighter socket and steps down the voltage to 5 volts the GPS units need. I don’t know if ALL of them use 5 volts but all the ones I have seen do. The problem is these regulators won’t work reliably on a 6 volt system because the voltage regulator component in them needs several volts more input voltage than the 5 volt output voltage.
They may just work then when extra load drops the input voltage (such as switching on headlights) they’ll stop regulating and your GPS unit will turn off. This is the case for any device operated in the car via a normal regulator such as cell phone chargers or radar detectors
The way around this is to use a component called a LDO, or low drop-out, regulator. The following simple circuit will give you a 5 volt output from any input voltage down to about 5.5 volts. Below that it will give the input voltage minus 0.5 volts. A healthy 6 volt system in a car should be able to supply more than enough voltage so that never happens.
The device to use is a LM2940 regulator. It is more or less designed exactly for this application. It is protected from reverse polarity (connecting the wires backwards), short circuits on the output (getting your wires crossed) and thermal overload (getting too hot). It can supply up to 1 Amp of current which should be more than enough for modern GPS units."
cheers
if anyone wants to make your own, I have the instructions etc, materials cost about 3 quid!
email (option): petercomley@web.de
Jon Cull or anyone else with relevant info: Can you direct me to a source for a 6v LED bulb that will "light up half the parish" and will fit the DU142 headlamp assembly? I hear that there are such bulbs that give more than 3000 lumens, but have not been able to find one. The best I found on Amazon and Ebay is 800 lumens, which is only a little brighter than a standard automotive incandescent bulb.
email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net
The 12 volt armatures are not as reliable as the 6 volt ones in my experience..The best results I've had are with a standard 60w dynamo running a regulator designed to operate at 12 volts....However, nothing is for nothing and the dynamo won't produce maximum wattage until it is running faster than it would be with the standard system...
I ran this set up successfully on an M21 I owned for about 8 years until I sold the bike...I used non LED bulbs of moderate wattage and the lights were fine for riding over Dartmoor, which has no street lights....As an aside, the 12 volt Altette horn I fitted also lasted longer than any of the many 6 volt ones I've had...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com