Brighter headlights on my 47 Packard , I hope?

[Clipper47]

After a near accident last summer due to the not very bright 6 volt sealbeam lamps on my 1947 Super Clipper I am installing a set of Bosch H-4 6 volt halogen lamps in place of the stock lights. On other 12 volt cars that I have made this conversion I have powered the 55/60Watt lamps through a relay rather than directly from the headlight switch to lessen the voltage drop of long sections of wire and strain on the switch. I generally use heavier gauge wiring as well. To avoid damaging my new reproduction light harness I will rewire the lights and preserve the original setup as well. My question is this. The power wire to the relay (terminal 30) usually is connected from the battery terminal or the alternator output on my modern cars. Where should I connect the power wire on a generator equipped car? Could I connect it to the "gen" terminal of the regulator or the "A" terminal of the generator or should I use the battery terminal? What size wire should I use. I was planning on using #10 or is that overkill. I would like to keep this alteration as unobtrusive as possible but absolute originality is not a big issue since I do not plan to show the car or have it judged.

[Friartuck]

Dave, Connect directly to the battery, not the generator. Your use of a relay to route the expected heavy amperage is a good practice. 10 Gauge wire is appropriate for a 20-25 amp load. Each of the wires from the relay to the headlights can be 12 Gauge. And solder the connections: See my article on this at http://www.monmouth.com/user_pages/friartuck/lincoln/restoration_tips/restoration_tips.html

Chris

[Clipper47]

Thank you very much for the information and advice. I appreciate the help.

[A by the sea]

You are doing it the hard and expensive way.

There are halogen bulbs that are direct replacements for the originals. They filiments are in the correct location so the beam will be focused. They use only a small amount more current at 6 volts and give bright white light even with poor reflectors.

The bulbs are available at this place:

http://www.lbcarco.com/

They carry a full line of bulbs.

[mrpushbutton]

If you insist on going straight to the battery, be certain to put a fuse or circuit breaker (about 30 amp) in series with the feed. Nothing tapped off of the battery except the starter (solenoid) should be wired without some type of fusing or circuit breaker. That's how fires get started.

[Clipper47]

Yes I intend to install a 20A. fuse in the line. Where else would you suggest? Thanks.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

A -

Boy, they have everything except except 7 " sealed-beam Halogen that guys like Clipper 47 & I would be looking for...

I see that LBSS has a 7" sealed-beam conversion that uses their 6-volt version of the H-4 bulb, but so far the only lens capsule I see has a flat lens, which looks a little strange sticking out of the front fender of a 1940's car (or "not sticking-out", as the case may be)...

Ply 33 has put the H-4's into his stock '33 Plymouth lites ( I think ?), plus having the reflectors U-vira treated, and is very happy with the improvement...

<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Clipper47]

Frank, Yes the Bosch ones I have are flat lenses as well but at 80MPH I don't think anyone will notice. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I was wondering also about the fuse to the lights. would the relay operate as a fuse since it's rated at 30Amps? Would it blow in the event of a dead short? Just curious.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Clipper,

The flat-lens Euros wouldn't bother me as long as I was behind the wheel... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I think the De Soto would need a rocket-booster to get it up to 80 MPH... ( even though it has a "Rocket Body", according to division sales hype, it's not going set any speed records!)

As for fusing your circuits, the current rating on the relay refers to the current-capacity of the load-side of the switch itself: if the relay is rated for 30 amps, it will tolerate a up to a 30-amp Load "forever"... but if the load is increased beyond that, the contacts will arc when they open and close, and will probably begin to heat-up and burn while under load. It would take a while for the relay to completely fry, and in the meantime, the wiring to and from would also be getting hot from being overloaded... and, the relay contacts might weld themselves closed, making the circuit permanently "on" until some other part of the circuit fails... and the wiring could get hot enough to set its own insulation or some adjacent material on fire before the wiring itself melts and breaks the circuit...

So, the relay is simply a "control device"; it is not a "protective device" like a fuse or circuit breaker.

As mentioned above, it would be a very good idea to put a fuse or thermal circuit breaker in the heavy power-supply lead to the headlight relay...

Prior to WW-II, many Chrysler products had all the vehicle lighting power fused by one 30 amp fuse mounted on the headlight switch: headlights, tail/parking lights/dash lights /BRAKE LIGHTS !...

Their Post War vehicles began to use a circuit breaker for the headlights, and divide some of the other circiuts, using in-line fuses...

With my '41 De Soto, I was having a problem with single fuse repeatedly blowing after about 20 minutes of driving with the lights on... it turned out to be a combination of poor grounds at the various lighting fixtures and the rear lights having been wired with #20 "bell wire" by a previous owner... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />...

For now I have resolved the issue by cleaning all contacts & connections, running #12 ground jumpers from the various lights(especially the headlights), and replacing all undersized wiring...

The same SFE-30 fuse has lasted for over 5 years now...

Good luck with your relay project !

<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />