Michael

Those look like newer types of batteries for newer equipment and aren't standard sizes like the AAA though D batteries. They also are 1.5V but probably wont contact.

Normally it is just that simple.

If their is one or two batteries (one after the other), then it is that simple. If there are two batteries side by side, then there is likely a spring plate in the inside that will push up against the light when the switch is pushed.

old.sparkles

It's only batteries - little chance of doing yourself any harm, although I think there has been at least one recorded death from someone testing a 9V battery on their tongue.

Get the little lion to give it a go - they probably cover stuff like that in school

AZ_Alba

Have a look at the bulb and see if it has a voltage marking on it.

old.sparkles

I think the old battery packs had a contact on the front of the pack which can be achieved with a wire up from the base of one to the contact on the bulb. Looks like the 2 cell cycle lamp pack on the vintage list at a guess

Lion in Winter

No, no helpful markings at all, sadly.

Lion in Winter

That's what I'm thinking. It definitely needs a contact at the front somehow. The other one is at the top, inside the lid, that gets made when the lid is pushed on.

Michael

Can you take a picture of the inside so we can see how it contacts? Generally the hole where the battery goes will only perfectly fit a specific battery. A 1.5V volt battery is about the lowest voltage battery ever made so it can't burn out the light bulb if it is the wrong battery. The difference between the AAA through D cylinder type batteries is the size and the amount of current available (how long it will last).

Michael

The markings are normally on the base of the light bulb if it is marked. You'll have to take it out to look.

Lion in Winter

Can you see enough from the middle pic in my first post? You can see the lid, which is one contact point, and then the bit sticking out inside at the front of the torch is the other.

Lion in Winter

I did. It wasn't.

There must have been a trilion of these made, you would think I could find something on google.

Pulaski

At 1.5v it's a "cell" not a "battery", but aside from that I agree with you, and that style of bicycle lamp needs (only) two of whichever cell fits, which as you suggested is, I think a D cell.

Lion in Winter

Except I have to do the wiring thing as Old Sparkles says so it makes contact at the front.

Michael

I can't make out what the battery compartment looks like. With the spring on the lid, that often indicates that the battery will be pushed forward to make contact and something in the compartment (possible a circular spring or another leaf type spring similar to what is seen on the lid) is pushing in the opposite direction so the battery won't make contact with the light bulb when the switch is not engaged.

I very much doubt it has a wire in there to connect to the battery since the mechanism in the lid wouldn't work. Below is a common wire connection that connects both contacts of a battery but that requires a different type of switch to allow current to flow through the light bulb.

Lion in Winter

It's as you describe in your first paragraph. No wire or even a place for a wire.

Michael

What kind of wire is at the front?