Headlight bulbs

[David_Leech]

1928 standard six

 

One of my headlights has burned out. These are really old bulbs. Cannot make out numbers. Does anyone know what they might be?

[hwellens]

Here is some data:

 

[keiser31]

Can you show us a photo of a bulb that you need?

[Spinneyhill]

You might like to think about fitting LEDs. Matt Harwood has written a couple of articles about it in the technical and Our Cars fora.

[David_Leech]

[David_Leech]

[David_Leech]

[David_Leech]

[David_Leech]

TOP CLASCO 6-8V 21&2? might be a 26 and that's referring to the candle power likely. Other bulb has even less left on it. Note the rippled sides of the bulb? A gimmick or manufacturing process (like crown glass)

[Spinneyhill]

Are they prefocus lights? i.e. is there an adjustment for position of the bulb in or out in the reflector? It is usually a screw in the centre of the headlight at the rear.

 

Are the pins opposite or offset? They look like BA15D bases (opposite), though they may be BAY15D - can't tell. Anyway, you need to specify the base if they are not available by the old numbers (e.g. fitting LEDs).

 

The ripples may have something to do with a focusing theory of the time.

[vintchry]

Typically these are 1000 Mazda light bulbs. This was a standard number for bulbs regardless of manufacturer. Typically 32/32 candlepower. Model A headlamp bulbs are fine but will not have the ribs. I would suggest a 50/32 candlepower, gives you a better high beam. Old bulbs are around but getting harder to find. Rob

[Spinneyhill]

1930 Dodge Brothers 8 had 21 c.p. prefocus bulbs, probably 1110.

[David_Leech]

10 hours ago, Spinneyhill said:

Are they prefocus lights? i.e. is there an adjustment for position of the bulb in or out in the reflector? It is usually a screw in the centre of the headlight at the rear.

 

Are the pins opposite or offset? They look like BA15D bases (opposite), though they may be BAY15D - can't tell. Anyway, you need to specify the base if they are not available by the old numbers (e.g. fitting LEDs).

 

The ripples may have something to do with a focusing theory of the time.

 

 

The pins are opposite, not offset

[David_Leech]

Is a 660 lm LED bulb worth it? Other than the decreased load?

[Spinneyhill]

An incandescent bulb of the type in our cars puts out about 10 lumens per Watt. Your LED is probably about 60 to 80 lumens per Watt.

 

Roughly, a candlepower is equivalent to 12.57 lumens (that is the "usual" conversion factor). So a 21 cp bulb is ca 263 lumens and it would burn about 26 W of electrickery or 4.4 A at 6 V.

 

Your LED will be about 10 W or about 1.7 A at 6 V, and you get 2.5 times as much light. Why hesitate.....? because....

 

Just remember to make sure the light source can be placed in the same place in the reflector as the old incandescent bulb filament is - assuming you have pre-focus headlights.

[David_Leech]

Hesitate? I had no reference to how bright a lumen is or how many of them I already have. If they are brighter, it's a go. Those 6v are dangerous to drive with. Need certain updates to make driving a 90 year old car safer, like turn signals

[Spinneyhill]

I had no reference either until I asked the www about it in response to your question!

 

Just make sure you have a good earth or ground at each light. Paint and rust don''t conduct well.

[David_Leech]

Has anyone done an led swap? I'm interested on safety aspects. All my bulbs all around. I do hesitate only on originality. I love the charm of the single brake and tail light, the hugely inadequate headlights, the lack of turn signals. However, driving in modern traffic I get people trying to run into the back of me, waving back when I'm signalling, getting cut off, and driving home blind if I stayed out too late. Not an issue in 1928, bit of a problem in 2018 city traffic.

 

Are they anymore noticeable than the regular bulbs? I picked up slim led signal light bar that sticks in the back window and I'm going to make my cowl lights into signals. They are useless as anything else really. It will still look stock except for the signal switch, a signal-stat 700 clamped to the steering column

[cahartley]

Get the higher output Model A bulbs and you'll have a LOT more light ahead of you.

[Mattml430]

9 hours ago, David_Leech said:

Has anyone done an led swap? I'm interested on safety aspects. All my bulbs all around. I do hesitate only on originality. I love the charm of the single brake and tail light, the hugely inadequate headlights, the lack of turn signals. However, driving in modern traffic I get people trying to run into the back of me, waving back when I'm signalling, getting cut off, and driving home blind if I stayed out too late. Not an issue in 1928, bit of a problem in 2018 city traffic.

 

Are they anymore noticeable than the regular bulbs? I picked up slim led signal light bar that sticks in the back window and I'm going to make my cowl lights into signals. They are useless as anything else really. It will still look stock except for the signal switch, a signal-stat 700 clamped to the steering column

Totally agree we need to have indicators these days in the traffic we are in. I got abused the other day for going to slow so I just waved and smiled as I was telling him to get F##### quietly. I fitted the old style looking led brake and indicator on the back and some small tear drop motor bike indicators on the front. I’ll try find a pic for you. I fitted H4 bulbs to my headlights and held them in with 3 springs. 

[platt-deutsch]

24 Dodge is 12 volt I am quite sure.

[cahartley]

^ Crap.......I was thinking about my Confederate....... 

 

[Dodgenz]

As a quick aside - I haven't got as far as light yet, but can't see an obvious dip switch (eg a floor mounted switch)… my electrics have been adapted a bit by the looks of it, so is it missing or is it on steering wheel or elsewhere?

[David_Leech]

On mine, the headlight switch has 4 positions (in theory) - off - cowl lights - low beam headlight - high beam headlight

 

The reality of them is - off - slightly less off - useless glow - a slightly different useless glow - The switch is mounted to the side of the steering column

 

I just got back from a drive and it is well into dark. I don't usually drive the old girl this late. (And I'm still on one headlight). The dash light was freaking searing my eyes. There is a little shield, i closed it and it helped a bit, but then I couldn't see the gauges and there was still a sliver of colapsed star shining out from behind it. I think I'm going to install a dimmer. 

[cahartley]

^ Are you sure the headlight buckets are decently grounded?

The headlights on the '24 I had were "driveably" bright.

[Ron Lawson]

12 Volt on the 24  and 6 volt on the 28 

 

[Mattml430]

If your having trouble getting the globes I have 2 spare you can have as I’ve change mine to 12v. 

They are not ribbed like yours but have the dull and duller  filament in them. Lol

[David_Leech]

My globes are perfect, the silvering inside is immaculate. The 21 candle power bulbs just aren't capable of shining useable light. In pitch dark they would work. Modern streetlights overpower what light they are capable of producing. LEDs are on the way and should be 47 candle power. We will see.

[cahartley]

Here you go.......6 & 12 volt 52/32 CP from https://www.fillingstation.com/catalog/flippingbook/index.html#198/z page 198.

 

 

[David_Leech]

LEDs are taking too long to come in. Just installed a set of 1000 Mazda 32/32 candle power bulbs for now. Huge difference over the 21 candle power bulbs I took out

[David_Leech]

If anyone in the future is reading this, Mazda 1000 bulbs are great for visibility, but I noticed my generator has a hard time keeping up with the discharge they create

[hwellens]

These should draw about 10 amps. Assuming you do not have a voltage regulator, your 3rd brush settings must be too low if it shows a discharge with the lights on.

[cahartley]

Unless you do a lot of night driving a zero or slight discharge is fine.

Over charging the battery is not a good thing....... 

[30DodgePanel]

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 11:09 AM, hwellens said:

Here is some data:

 

 

 

Hi Harry, 

 

would you happen to have any data for DB or GB trucks ? Feel free to email it to me if you'd rather..

 

Regards,
Dave

Edited August 26, 2018 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[hwellens]

The book does have some information on trucks, but, not bulb data.

 

Harry

[RAH]

David,  You mention your Dodge Brothers is a '28 Standard 6? The bulb shown is a double contact dual filament bulb. The Standard 6 used a 1141 6V single contact bulb with a resistor element on the power terminal strip on the right side of the cowl for what passes as lo beam. The parking lights were on a single socket in the upper part of the reflector when cowl lights were not installed.

          The Victory 6 I believe used a double contact bulb for low and hi beams instead of the resistor.

[David_Leech]

16 hours ago, RAH said:

David,  You mention your Dodge Brothers is a '28 Standard 6? The bulb shown is a double contact dual filament bulb. The Standard 6 used a 1141 6V single contact bulb with a resistor element on the power terminal strip on the right side of the cowl for what passes as lo beam. The parking lights were on a single socket in the upper part of the reflector when cowl lights were not installed.

          The Victory 6 I believe used a double contact bulb for low and hi beams instead of the resistor.

 

Perhaps it was upgraded at some point? It's certainly double contact housing. I do know of the resistor you mentioned, I wondered what that was for. It is still there. Not sure if it is functional.

 

My LEDs showed up, will update once they are installed.

 

As for the generator, she puts out 30 amps no problem. Turn the lights on and it drops to near zero amps on the gauge. These bulbs are just drawing a ton of power! Noticeably bright though. I have a 60A maxi fuse installed as a main circuit protection

[maok]

That main fuse (60A) is way too big, try 30A or even 20A.

[David_Leech]

60A is right at the supply wire to the cab from the battery. Too big for headlights, but not too big for the 8 gauge power wire it is protecting. This circuit also has the generator charging through it. 60A is fine here. If it pops, the car dies

Edited September 6, 2018 by David_Leech (see edit history)

[David_Leech]

LEDs installed, draw next to no amps, almost as bright as the Ford Model A healight bulbs I put in. Also did the cowl, tail, and stop lamps. Even with the thick red glass, the rear lamps are far brighter than they were before with the incandescent bulbs (safety!!)

 

From this eBay seller:

 

https://ebay.ca/usr/led_bulbs_for_classic_cars

 

Would not pass for modern headlights, but they work well in this application. I just need to wait for nightfall to adjust the focus