| slopey1939 | -- 10-10-2016 @ 4:51 PM |
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Anyone have any experience with replacing stock light bulbs (taillight, headlight etc) with Halogen bulbs for better night driving? If so any issues with them regarding wiring, generator and such? Do they work with stock generator (no tweeks?) wiring etc? Thanks
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| trjford8 | -- 10-10-2016 @ 5:04 PM |
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Halogens draw a lot of amps. If you install them you should have a relay to take the load of the switch. I would recommend you buy the bright bulbs for your headlights from Ron Francis Wiring. They would work just as well as halogens without the relays or the extra load on the generator.
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| slopey1939 | -- 10-10-2016 @ 5:37 PM |
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Thank you, that is great news. Hirsch Automotive sells the halogen bulbs and says they pull no extra load and plug into existing sockets. Sounds like that might be a stretch regarding load??
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| 36fordor | -- 10-11-2016 @ 3:18 PM |
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Have saga involving alternators & halogens that goes back to Jan. 2015. First alternator, although specified for 1936 Ford, came with brackets for apparently a tractor. No way to mount on 36 Ford & vendor absolutely unresponsive despite over a year and a half of emails & phone calls. Useless, ignored me. Ordered different alternator from west coast vendor, stock mounting but no output. Vendor responsive, repaired & alternator mounted again about week ago & working. Headlights brighter but halogen bulbs blew fuse after about 15 min. use. Have sent original reflectors out for resilvering, received relays from Fifth Ave. Antique Auto Parts for my 36 & 35 today. Good chance I'll be reverting to original headlamps with alternator, forgetting about halogens. This has been a horror story for over a year and a half despite doing what I consider due diligence & all my homework. Can hardly wait to see what happens next.
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| 36fordor | -- 10-11-2016 @ 3:21 PM |
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Trjford8, can you tell us stock # of "the bright bulbs"? Thanks. This message was edited by 36fordor on 10-11-16 @ 3:22 PM
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| len47merc | -- 10-11-2016 @ 3:33 PM |
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Have to suggest anyone wishing to go this route (i.e., 'halogens' or other 'brighter' solution) to please do a search on this Forum for every term concerning this issue and ensure you have thoroughly researched this before going down this road. You will find, speaking from experience, that removing all root causes (grounds, electrical system deficiencies, etc.) will allow standard 6V pos ground lights to be as bright as you will need. If you go the halogen route or other before fully trouble-shooting and optimizing your current system you are simply band-aiding problems that you will ultimately have to address down the road anyway. Fwiw - Steve
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| CharlieStephens | -- 10-11-2016 @ 4:10 PM |
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If you are 12 volts this is probably the companyt you are looking for: Ron Francis Wire Works, https://www.ronfrancis.com, (800) 292-1940 The bulb is B2337 and shown here: https://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=B%2D2337 Charlie Stephens
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| CharlieStephens | -- 10-11-2016 @ 4:11 PM |
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This is probably what you are looking for: Ron Francis Wire Works, https://www.ronfrancis.com, (800) 292-1940 The bulb is B2337 and shown here: https://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=B%2D2337 Charlie Stephens This message was edited by CharlieStephens on 10-11-16 @ 4:12 PM
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| wmsteed | -- 10-12-2016 @ 8:33 AM |
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Like 36fordor I to heeded the advise of others and converted my '39 w/12v to halogen headlights. Of course this required a modification to the reflectors to accept the halogen bulbs. Some people advised me to modify the headlight buckets to accept standard sealed beams behind the stock lens. Did not like the look of the sealed beams behind the lens. Long story short, I got hold of another set of stock reflectors, had them nickle plated and sent them off to UVIRA in Oregon to have their glass coating applied over the nickle.. I purchased Ron Francis' "Bright Bulbs" for 12v, they fit the stock '36-39 receptacles, which I also purchased from Ron Francis. The problem with modifying headlights is the stock lens which have prisms in the lens which are designed to work with the stock "pre-focused" bulbs, the prisms direct the light onto the roadway in lieu of all over the place. I recently replied to the same topic over on the Ford Barn.. Bill 36 5 win delx cpe
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| twostickmutt | -- 09-23-2017 @ 11:24 AM |
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I just came across this. I know this is an old thread but i'm going through the same thing with 6 volt halogens and the original lenses. I recently put the original lights back in my 39 after buying it with the sealed beam conversion which myself I think the teardrops look a lot better. just my opinion. what i'm gathering is with new original style reflectors or getting the originals re-silvered the stock bulb set up will be fine as long as everything else is right. sometimes i'm famous for buying parts that just end up on the shelf because they just didn't improve what I was trying to improve. I know they won't be bright like the new light systems but I just want something that'll keep me out of the ditch. thanks for any help and excuse the ramble.
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| len47merc | -- 09-23-2017 @ 1:44 PM |
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Stock 6V bulbs, assuming re-silvered (if necessary) reflectors in as-original or better condition, a properly and effectively grounded electrical system, as well as an o/a electrical system operating at peak/optimum efficiency, will be more than adequate in terms of brightness. Steve
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| twostickmutt | -- 09-23-2017 @ 2:19 PM |
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ok steve thank you. any places you know of that re-silver ?
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| TomO | -- 09-24-2017 @ 8:09 AM |
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Grounding is not as much of a problem as low voltage to the lights. To check if you have a grounding problem, connect your meter between the bulb grounding and the POS terminal of the battery. Turn on the lights and if your meter reads over 0.1 Volts, you have a grounding problem. The light bulbs need at least 6.0 volts to reach their stated light output. Every 0.1 volts below that decreases the light out put geometrically. (0.1 v decreases about 2%, 0.2 v decreases about 4%, etc). A fully charged battery is around 6.3 v and the generator will put out around 7.2 v. You can use the voltage drop method to determine where the highest resistance in the circuit is and then eliminate it. To do this, connect the black or COM lead of your meter to the NEG post of the battery and then connect the red lead or + lead to the bulb terminal. The normal reading on the meter will be 0.1 volt per connection. Your 39 should show about 0.4 volts drop. If it is higher, move the red lead back toward the battery one connection and the reading should be around 0.3 v. Continue until you find more than 0.1 v change in the reading. That will be the connection that needs cleaning or repair. The most common part to cause resistance is the dimmer switch. It is seldom used and it then develops corrosion. To properly install halogen bulbs, you need to use the light switch to energize the relay and then use the contacts of the relay to carry the current. You should also increase the gauge of the wires leading from the relay to the bulbs as the increased current can overheat the stock wires. Tom This message was edited by TomO on 9-24-17 @ 8:14 AM
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| twostickmutt | -- 09-24-2017 @ 2:10 PM |
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thanks tom o.I have separate relays one for high beam and one for low with the headlight switch energizing them. the lights are plenty bright enough it's just that the beam is all over the place through the stock lenses. I' m going to go back to stock bulbs and try that . thanks again
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| len47merc | -- 09-24-2017 @ 6:02 PM |
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twostickmutt - from my recall and then search on our Forum: Uvira, Inc. 310 Pleasant Valley Rd. Merlin, OR 97532 Telephone: +1.541.956.6880 Fax: +1.541.476.9096 email: uvira@terragon.com See this thread: https://www.earlyfordv8.org/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=18&Topic=10615&keywords=silver For those '30's owners that have experience with re-silvering their reflectors and/or experience with Uvira please weigh in here. Also, just for grins and thought stimulation: http://sciencing.com/do-silver-plating-8186858.html Steve This message was edited by len47merc on 9-24-17 @ 6:15 PM
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| supereal | -- 09-27-2017 @ 2:05 PM |
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The headlights on my '47 with stock 6 volt system were very dim, so I installed halogens, which were even dimmer. Most of the power was lost in the ancient wiring, switches, and numerous "bullet" connectors. To keep the wiring, etc, stock, I constructed a relay panel consisting of a pair of 6 volt starter solenoids, and mounted it on the inside of the left front fender. It is operated by the original wiring which branches at that location. Now the lights are as bright as new. If you want info, leave me a message here on the Club site.
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