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6-volt bulbs

Started by o.h. stark - 1573, August 14, 2005, 01:07:34 PM

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o.h. stark - 1573

taillights on my 47 caddy model 62 are not real bright - is thee a bulb that i can substitute for the original 1154? or is there a way get more oomph out of what i have? thanks  o.h. bob stark.

JIM CLC # 15000

08-14-05
Bob, I had the same problem,Dim tail lights. My fix was to go to the Good-Will store and buy two (2) plastic flash-lights for $00.50 each and worked-over the refectors to where the bulbs would fit thru and I had to cut-down the out-side of the refectors to fit inside of the tail-light lens. Makes all the difference in brightness. Bob, it wont hurt to use/start with new bulbs. In lieu of the refectors, mask the area good and paint the interior of the housings with bright-white.
HTH
Good Luck, Jim

P W Allen CLC#20193

Along with Jims good advice, make SURE the lights are well grounded. Most important in a six volt system.

Paul
53 Coupe
Twin Tubine

Bill Ingler CLC 7799

Hi Bob- Yesterday on ebay I took a gamble and bought some new type 1154 bulbs that are called Twice As Bright.He says they are not halogen but carry 50 cp in one element and 14cp in the other. The 1154 bulbs that we now use are rated at 21 & 3cp. If the man is correct, this new bulb should do our Cads some good.I will let you know the results when I get them installed. When I restored the 47, I put in a new wiring harness as well as painting the inside of the tail light buckets a refrigerator white.Lights are somewhat better so I believe a combination of a new harness, good grounding and the white paint helped the lights. Haven`t seen you since the last CARavan, hope all is well.   Bill

Doug Houston

It would be wrong to say that the tail or stop lights on our 6 Volt cars would blind following drivers. They were reasonably good when new, but improvements in optics especially made tail lighting much better.

The idea of painting the interior of stop light units is excellent. They should have been atr least painted that way when new. But the grounding can be maximized by adding a grounding wire to the socket in the lighting fixture, and bringing it out and bonding it to the frame near where the light is. Depending on a so-so contact with the painted fender, then the electrical contact from the fender to the body is adding a lot of resistance to the ground. You lose a lot of volyage that way.

Now, on the use of brighter light bulbs (They call them lot bubs in the south), this puts a much higher currnet load on the stop light switch, which is barely good enough for the two 21 CP bulbs. Some of our CLC guys have had trouble with burning out stopight switches on regular 1154 bulbs. Ive had that problem myself. There is a posibility of using a relay in the stop light circuit to operate the stop lights. That would solve the over-current problem. I havent done it yet, but I have little choice left. Ive replaced switches on my 41 Chevrolet, and they still go bad. Same on the Cadillacs. In the strictest sense, this could cause problems with authenticity in judging. Its up  to the owner.

One other issue here. The turn signal flasher is very current-sensitive. One burned out filament in front or rear can stop the flashing altogether. Too much current may cause either too fast flashing or no flashing, but constant-on lights.
 
Its almost a no-win situation!

Bill Ingler CLC 7799

Hi Doug- As I said on my posting above I took a gamble to see how these new bulbs perform. When halogen bulbs first came out I bought some very small 6 volt 55 watt halogen bulbs from a Model A supply house and spent several hours making them fit the 47 tail lamp. They were bright and really were great but when you converted the watts they drew into amps and then looked into the Whitaker wiring guide and used the chart to determine the gage wire needed to safely carry the amps the required footage, there was no way that the 16 gage wire used for the trunk harness would safely carry the current. The current draw was so great that the  flasher would not work.The stop light worked but I yanked the bulbs before the stop light switch could fail. At that point I went back to the old 1154 bulbs. As I said, this  is a gamble, so I will wait and see what happens with the new bulbs as to current draw and the effects on the flasher plus brake switch.

o.h.stark

Thanks for your suggestion. Ive already passed it on to my restorer. I like the inventiveness. Now, its off to the local thrift shops.      O.H. Stark  (Bob)

o.h.stark

Thank you for your input re 6-volt bulbs. Im about to go on a Caravan starting in Duluth and probably will have my restorer work on brightening the lights after I return.    o.h. (bob)stark

Ken Andersen # 21420

Hi Jim,
 
I have read a little about the grounding issue with these older Cadillacs. I am in the process of restoring mine, and was wondering if you could possible send me, in seperate email, what the problems are that one faces, and the best way to solve it.  I would have thought that when replacing the wiring harness with a new one, one could run an earth wire through the harness to all points that would require earthing and that would be the end of the matter.

o.h.stark

Ken, your message came to me. dont know if you should redirect to jim or if he will read as you sent.  good luck with your project.     O.H.- Bob - Stark

Rhino 21150

The ORIGINAL turn signal flasher is designed to be sensitive. That way if a lamp burns out the flasher will so indicate by blinking at the wrong speed. However, universal flashers dont care about the load and can easily handle the current of the halogen, the switch overload problem remains. I plan to leave the existing switch in place and put a high current rig job where it cant be seen when I change to separate halogen lamps in the taillights.....
Actually I dont much care about total accuracy in my upgrades. I dont plan on getting killed because of obsolete and dangerous design. However, I make all mods removeable and save the removed parts so the next owner can get himself killed....

Doug Houston

Im with you all the way. There are electrical items in our cars that need to  be done to keep them in get-in-and-get-going condition. Ive harped on starter ideas for decades, and often on lighting enhancement.

Tail lights seemed to be something that nobody really cared about when our cars were built, and at best, theyre lousy. The halogen route seems to be the best solution, with a relay (a horn relay will do it). I do wonder how well even a universal flasher will handle the current from halogens though. Time will tell.

If its a question of judging, points and trophies, youll probably never drive the car anyway, so no problem there. I never have cars judged. Its like entering a dead horse in a race. I have my cars for my own enjoyment, so judging just aint my ticket.

rick koenig

Yes, what you are suggesting will do the trick.  It is also possible to make the original chassis grounds work.  I have had good luck with simply polishing the usual ring terminals and the corresponding area where it is attached with sand paper or emery cloth. Make sure the screw that is holding it in place is tight.  It doesnt hurt to use a new screw.  Then I usually give it a shot of WD40 after I have it tightened up to prevent it from corroding again.

JIM CLC # 15000

08-17-05
O.H.BOB, in my first post I forgot to say that you have to have a good ground from the bulb sockets to the frame, either by a seprate wire soldered to the socket or good connections through the tail-light housings. Hope I did not miss-led you.
Good luck, Jim