Originally Posted by
Andy Antipas
I don't think you would be able to use the Radios reflector. What actually emits LED light is tiny little area much smaller than an incandescent bulb and it emits that light away from the reflector and not towards it. As I mentioned in my original discussion at the top of this thread, one can use LED bulbs in the old Radios headlight. It screws right in, but the light emitting part doesn't utilize the reflector. The light scatters everywhere and isn't focused like the modern LED headlight designs. People will see you coming, but you may not be able to see where you are going.
The LED itself is in the top of the Herrmans light and it shines down onto the reflector, which is at about a 45 degree angle to the horizontal plane. it is a very different way to direct the light when compared to an incandescent headlight. By making the Herrmans housing fit inside the Radios housing, we are utilizing all the modern design elements. In addition to better lighting, the Hermans light and other brands have a capacitor that keeps the headlight shining when you stop at an intersection/stop light, which is a nice feature.
No argument that the optics in the old lights were ... "less than optimal".
Fitting modern optics and electronics into an old light is going to provide the best light pattern. Some of the old lights, like my little Jos block dynamo, are fairly small, so I wanted to see if I could come up with a way to mount two LEDs into the spot where the bulb was. Two LEDs offer the benefit of being a better match to the dynamo than a single LED, and I want them to be aimed to the side in order to throw light mostly into the reflector.. sorta.
My concept would mimic the beam pattern that a bulb would produce, in the best case scenario. My little Jos light never produced much light, and the beam was pretty sad, but it was authentic. Honestly, I'm amazed that I was able to see the road at all back then. It's mostly a project of passion, or at least a project of weird curiosity.
Steve in Peoria