Uprated light bulbs for classics

[stigproducts]

I'm thinking for brake lights, reversing lights indicators etc. I saw a link once for LED bulbs that fitted to OE sockets but seems to have lost the bookmark. Does anyone know anything about these? I do recall there was a bewildering array.

If anyone is interested I saw a xenon kit for classics advertised- wasn't cheap!

Edited by stigproducts on Thursday 23 November 21:24

[ARH]

Try www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/ looks like what you want.

[wadgebeast]

Thanks, but I prefer to keep mine looking its age. I've uprated the headlight bulbs to a more powerful halogen bulb and they're just fine.

[stigproducts]

How can the light bulbs effect the way a car looks its age? Do you mean by glowing brighter than Mr Lucas intended?
It's an interesting point though; I see this sort of "mod" as a simple, reversable change using modern day technology for safety reasons. My rear lights certainly are very dim. I saw a Scimtar the other day which has the same lights- I very nearly didnt though. The lights aren't the greatest- I don't want a lorry to not see me!
I think these cars were designed for an age when there weren't so many lorries and the roads weren't so busy so its sensible to try and keep up with the times where possible.

Edited by stigproducts on Friday 24th November 09:47

[Alpineandy]

Also : www.aceparts.com/index.php
and
Search ebay for led brake lights.


They are a great improvement in saftey for most (if not all?) cars

[ELAN+2]

Coloured leds are great if you have faded lenses, especially if they are hard to find now, also they use a lot less current so are kinder to old looms and low output alternators.
Xenon headlights would appear to be the ultimate solution to replaceing the candles that good old Joe Lucas (the prince of darkness) deemed fit.They use less current for a far greater light output, however the construction and use regs require new carrs fitted with Xenon lamps to have some means of self levelling to prevent dazzling the oncomming traffic, I believe(and I may be wrong) that retro fitting these lamps would not be legal. On my Elan, the pods vibrate quite badly in the up position(maybe I should bin the vacuum pods and springs and replace with electric motors!) I doubt if i'd be too popular with xenons!

When uprating headlamp bulbs, use relays and a suitable live feed(fused) and dont forget to up rate the earth return to suit. Old Joes looms burn pretty well if over loaded!!

Mark

[Pigeon]

Retrofitting HIDs is perfectly legal, the self-levelling and stuff is only required on cars manufactured with HIDs.

I use Lumileds for this job - they are single, high-power LEDs as opposed to the usual retrofit clusters, so they look indistinguishable from normal bulbs. My 6-volt MZ system is easily adapted to 12V.

[williamp]

Great thread. I was looking to upgrade both front and rear- although the front are seald-beam lights. The LED/ Xenon lights are very appealing, espeically as the lights on show a -25A discharge!

[ELAN+2]

pidgeon, are you sure about the xenon hid on old cars? my Elans pods will flap about like a fidlers elbow, I was lead to believe the MOT man and plod (if he had time between tea breaks and down loading "safety camera" pics) would not be amused?

mark

[Pigeon]

I checked it out before designing the HID conversion for my MZ (which I haven't built yet because I haven't been able to buy the required high-frequency cores in sufficiently small numbers...) and it's legal; I also mentioned to the MoT man that I was going to do it and he thought it was a good idea. (He only does bikes though so if you find an arsey one it's no good me pointing you at him )

Currently I've got a 3W white Lumiled for the sidelight bulb which makes the overall headlamp emission a bit of a funny colour which is vaguely HID-ish; we'll see if I get stopped for it

Whether it's a good idea from the point of view of having wildly flapping bright light sources dazzling oncoming traffic is another matter. I guess you have to work it out for the individual vehicle. In your case if the lights are as wobbly as you say I'd expect you'd already be confusing other drivers and noticing reactions. In the case of my MZ's headlight the only adverse reactions I get with the tungsten setup are from drivers who think I haven't dipped because I did it just before they came into view, so I reckon there's some room to play with...

In this case, it's really no different from putting a very powerful tungsten-halogen bulb in the headlight (not an option on the MZ with its feeble generator). That too might attract adverse police reactions if it was flapping about wildly, when a dim old original-fitment 40/45 flapping around might pass without comment.

In any case a reflector headlamp emits the light over a wider area than the modern projector style, so the apparent size of the light source is larger, its apparent brightness is less and the dazzle factor when the beam itself isn't shining at you is accordingly reduced. I think it is not the HID-ness of modern headlights but the projectoryness, with its resulting small and blindingly intense sources, which is responsible for much of the dazzle you get from modern cars. Whether it's a powerful halogen bulb or an HID which emits the light behind the lens is irrelevant.

[ELAN+2]

williamp said:

Great thread. I was looking to upgrade both front and rear- although the front are seald-beam lights. The LED/ Xenon lights are very appealing, espeically as the lights on show a -25A discharge!

if your sealed beams are standard 5 3/4" or 7" lucas type units then you can get Cibie or similar H4 bulb fitment replacements, these will fit with minor mods to the mounts( enlarge the guides with a file) You can get the units with or without side light too, use relays and a heavy 25amp fused feed from the battery/alternator and uprate the earth return if there is no relay in the circuit (dash switch bonfires are not funny)


Mark

[williamp]

[quote=ELAN+2]

williamp said:

Great thread. I was looking to upgrade both front and rear- although the front are seald-beam lights. The LED/ Xenon lights are very appealing, espeically as the lights on show a -25A discharge!

if your sealed beams are standard 5 3/4" or 7" lucas type units then you can get Cibie or similar H4 bulb fitment replacements, these will fit with minor mods to the mounts( enlarge the guides with a file) You can get the units with or without side light too, use relays and a heavy 25amp fused feed from the battery/alternator and uprate the earth return if there is no relay in the circuit (dash switch bonfires are not funny)


Mark[/quote]

Thanks mark. My car has four 5 3/4" lights at the front- two headlights, two main beam. The sidelights are seperate. If its a straight swap, do I need the relay and fused feed, or can I simply remove the old and put in the new?

I have also looked at the LED page listed above, which would be great for the rear lights. Is there somehting similar for headlights, ie just as bright but with less current draw?

[stigproducts]

Well, I have ordered some of these new fangled LED brake/side bulbs- I'll let you know how I get on.

[piquet]

I have HID lights on my E-Type, took some messing to get them right, but they're great fixed one of the great weaknesses of the E-Type. They even draw less current once they're on then the original bulbs. The downside is that they draw more when igniting, so i've found it's best to have the revs over 1000. I also had to chnage the wiring slightly as the bulbs move when you switch to high beam, this is fine when flashing, but the high beam switch actually cuts all current as you flick it causing the bulbs to go out. The solution was just to swap a couple of wires around so the result is when you switch to high beam, you leave the current intact, now work fine. Any questions please feel free to contact me

pk

[ELAN+2]

williamp said:

[quote=ELAN+2]

williamp said:

Great thread. I was looking to upgrade both front and rear- although the front are seald-beam lights. The LED/ Xenon lights are very appealing, espeically as the lights on show a -25A discharge!

if your sealed beams are standard 5 3/4" or 7" lucas type units then you can get Cibie or similar H4 bulb fitment replacements, these will fit with minor mods to the mounts( enlarge the guides with a file) You can get the units with or without side light too, use relays and a heavy 25amp fused feed from the battery/alternator and uprate the earth return if there is no relay in the circuit (dash switch bonfires are not funny)


Mark

Thanks mark. My car has four 5 3/4" lights at the front- two headlights, two main beam. The sidelights are seperate. If its a straight swap, do I need the relay and fused feed, or can I simply remove the old and put in the new?

I have also looked at the LED page listed above, which would be great for the rear lights. Is there somehting similar for headlights, ie just as bright but with less current draw?[/quote]

I'd always recommend relays, factory wiring is notoriously borderline, ok when new but not good when old, its the switches that usually burn out. Your 5 3/4" inch units are probably H1 type, try DEMON TWEEKS they do various headlamp lenses, I used four H4 (dip/main) with sidelights on a capri, seriously good set up with 4 of everything!! The advantage of leds are low current draw, very bright and they run cooler.

mark

Edited by ELAN+2 on Friday 8th December 23:22

[barefoot]

I have a mark 2 jag and was wondering if you can get brighter bulbs for the instruments as they are too dim ?

[ELAN+2]

a few of the posters on lotuselan.net have used leds in thier instuments, again the result is good (green, blue,yellow,orange or white colours available), they are brighter and draw less current. Check that the inside of the istruments hasnt gone dull or rusty, the old Smiths/jaeger type instruments use the inside of the casing to reflect the light around the sides of the face. A strip down and a good clean can work wonders!!

Mark

[stigproducts]

£25 later I have now got these fancy led stop light/tail lights in place. As I said I'll let you know how they look, and here is a pic. Light on left with, light on right without.


I think there is a difference. If I started to change all 6 bulbs then it gets pretty expensive so I'm not sure I'll bother for the indicators and reversing lights. I got them from that first link, not eBay but maybe they are cheaper there so think about it. I'm happy for now , thanks for the advice.

[Alpineandy]

The difference is notable on mine as well.
I also got them because they use less power, as one of the dynamo cars was having problems in the winter. It still does, but a little less than before.

[murph7355]

stigproducts said:

£25 later I have now got these fancy led stop light/tail lights in place. As I said I'll let you know how they look, and here is a pic. Light on left with, light on right without....I think there is a difference. If I started to change all 6 bulbs then it gets pretty expensive so I'm not sure I'll bother for the indicators and reversing lights. I got them from that first link, not eBay but maybe they are cheaper there so think about it. I'm happy for now , thanks for the advice.

Certainly looks to be a difference in that photo.

You also need to add to that the advantages with less current draw and cooler running. Plus, I believe, these bulbs typically last longer.

So your 25 quid is likely to be money well spent.

Search around the net as you can get these things from a variety of places (e.g. www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=automotive+led+bulbs&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB and have a poke around some of the results). I'm not a lover of eBay at all, and the more I think of how its run, the less I think I'll ever use it again.