Dynamo light without rear light connected? I wish to repair a faulty dynamo light system however I am a complete newcomer to these systems.

I bought an old bicycle with a bottle dynamo ("Vitalux C 6V") connected to the rear wheel. There is a single wire connected from the dynamo to the front light. There is also a single wire leading to where the rear light should be, but the light has been removed, with the wiring just loose in the air where it should connect normally. 

When I connect the dynamo to the tyre and spin the wheel the globe does not light up. 

Is it possible to have this system functioning without connecting the rear wiring to anything? To what and how should I connect this wire if I need to complete the circuit?

The wiring at the from the dynamo to the front globe had been cut so to reattach it I stripped some of the coating and twisted about 1cm of the internal copper wiring together. Could this be the problem and would using a length of unbroken wire potentially resolve this problem?

Thanks for your help.
On old bikes usually the (steel) frame was used as second wire for closing the circuit. The old dynamo have one wire going out and some sort of built in electrical continuity with the frame. 

First of all check that the bulb works, by using a trusted electricity source. Then:


If you bought a modern dynamo and a modern light, just lay an
additional wire between the two.
If you instead want to use a new dynamo with the old light, make sure
you connect one of the two outputs from the dynamo to the frame (a
washer in the right place will do the trick)




Not requested by your question: The rear light usually had connection to the frame via the mud shield (either it was made of metal, or had a metallic strip in the plastic body.