Headlight and tail light without battery.

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Voodooo

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I just purchased a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird 6T 650.
It has no head or tail light. It also has no generator or battery.
Is it possible to run a head and tail light without a battery and generator off the BHT Magneto?
 
Voodooo said:
If not allowed, please delete.

I just purchased a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird 6T 650.
It has no head or tail light. It also has no generator or battery.
Is it possible to run a head and tail light without a battery and generator off the BHT Magneto?
Click to expand...
No definitely not
 
Is it a long alternator chaincase model?
If so why not fit an alternator?
 
baz said:
Is it a long alternator chaincase model?
If so why not fit an alternator?
Click to expand...
Being that the engine is original to the frame, and that it was originally fitted with a generator, I’m gonna say it’s not long?

I’m not sure, I’m new to a classic bike this old. It’s a 1951 650 thunderbird.
I won’t ride it at night, but I need a head and tail light to at least be legal.

I’d prefer to keep it clean without the battery and preferably without the generator. Can I use a capacitor? I’m sure without a battery the lights will be dim at idle and not very bright at speed.
 
baz said:
Is it a long alternator chaincase model?
If so why not fit an alternator?
Click to expand...
Headlight and tail light without battery.

Headlight and tail light without battery.
Headlight and tail light without battery.
 
A capacitor creates no energy. So no help there.

An alternator with a proper regulator/rectifier, without a battery, will result in dim lights at idle. An alternator with a rectifier, but no regulator, and without a battery will give you very bright lights until all the lamp filaments burn out.

You could have a total loss battery system to have legal lights to get you home at night, providing you can get home in a short time.

There is no getting around it ....... you need an alternator, with a voltage regulator/rectifier, and at least a small ampere hour battery to have legal and safe lights. You can omit the battery if you are willing to have dim lights at idle, or are willing to throttle up while standing at a traffic light.

Nice bike and great photography.

Slick
 
texasSlick said:
A capacitor creates no energy. So no help there.

An alternator with a proper regulator/rectifier, without a battery, will result in dim lights at idle. An alternator with a rectifier, but no regulator, and without a battery will give you very bright lights until all the lamp filaments burn out.

You could have a total loss battery system to have legal lights to get you home at night, providing you can get home in a short time.

There is no getting around it ....... you need an alternator, with a voltage regulator/rectifier, and at least a small ampere hour battery to have legal and safe lights. You can omit the battery if you are willing to have dim lights at idle, or are willing to throttle up while standing at a traffic light.

Nice bike and great photography.

Slick
Click to expand...
Yeah I knew a capacitor won’t create electricity.
It stores it. But I also wasn’t sure if it could be done with the mag.

I’ve seen older type bobbers and choppers without batteries and generators running head and tail lights and not sure how they did it.

Your input helps. Thank you.
 
The mag is outputting around 50-100k Volts for the spark, so no, you cannot use that to power lights.

You could fit only LED headlights and tail light and run a dead-loss battery to power them...even a Lithium battery that you can then charge up when at home. Should give you a few hours output or more each ride.

Also, check your state rules on classic bikes. Many have provisions for vintage stuff that did not come with lighting from factory.
 
Tornado said:
The mag is outputting around 50-100k Volts for the spark, so no, you cannot use that to power lights.

You could fit only LED headlights and tail light and run a dead-loss battery to power them...even a Lithium battery that you can then charge up when at home. Should give you a few hours output or more each ride.

Also, check your state rules on classic bikes. Many have provisions for vintage stuff that did not come with lighting from factory.
Click to expand...
They go by what the bike was originally fitted with. So in my case head and tail light.
 
As had already been said, this would have had a dynamo on the front of the engine where that big hole is in your engine plates.

Your best best IMHO is an Alton: https://www.alton-france.com/generators/

An alternative, if all you’re gonna do is short blasts, is a battery wired for total loss just for the lights. A decent battery and sensible low draw LED bulbs could be all you need on a ‘bar hopper’ like this.

Have you had it running? Doesn’t look like it’s been run at all to me !

Nice fun looking bike 👍
 
Voodooo said:
Does the Alton look out of place on a period bike?
Click to expand...
Nice looking bike
Here's mine from around 1980
First bike I ever built from scratch and I learned a lot from it
It was a pre unit swinging arm front frame with a rigid rear end basically
So I could run the later gearbox and short alternator chaincase
It had a BSA c11 tank with the speedometer in
With a t140 front end
The hipsters would probably get very exited over it these days!!!
 

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Fast Eddie said:
As had already been said, this would have had a dynamo on the front of the engine where that big hole is in your engine plates.

Your best best IMHO is an Alton: https://www.alton-france.com/generators/

An alternative, if all you’re gonna do is short blasts, is a battery wired for total loss just for the lights. A decent battery and sensible low draw LED bulbs could be all you need on a ‘bar hopper’ like this.

Have you had it running? Doesn’t look like it’s been run at all to me !

Nice fun looking bike 👍
Click to expand...
The motor and transmission have been completely redone with new internals. Only has about 15 miles on it.

I just ordered an Alton alternator for it.
 
Fast Eddie said:
How’s it progressing ?

Got those pipes blue yet ??
Click to expand...
How are you doing Nigel?
Not quite blue yet, but a golden tint 😂
I bought an Alton alternator for the bike but haven’t installed it yet.
I’ve been “wild one” riding it without any lights. I know, dumb, but I kinda like it stripped down.
 

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