In a message dated 4/22/98 4:00:43 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
tjordan@pa.ausom.net.au writes:
> Do you understand what this means, I just find it frustrating? What do
> they mean by 'n' lamps? Why not specify the load range in Watts? It is
> next to useless when there are 21W main lights and 6W repeaters on the
> sides. Should I assume that they mean 21W lamps?
Trevor,
I don't know how it is in Australia, but just for yucks someday, stand outside
an auto parts store here in America. When you see a beat up Camaro, rear end
jacked up, one blue door, one red door, primer on the hood, pounds of roughed
out bondo on all the rust holes, and a set of $800 chrome wheels pull up in
the parking lot, driven by a knuckle dragging mouth breather, you will
understand (and you will see lots and lots of these). These guys understand
the concept of numbers (just don't ask them to count over 11, because they
will take off their shoes), but any thing that requires multiplication, or
heaven forbid, division, is over their head. By far, the majority of the
customers in a parts store fall in or near this category.
Most often, American cars use 1157 and 1156 bulbs, so I assume this is what
they are talking about when they say "N" bulbs. I don't see any reason why
they couldn't very easily put all the info on the package -- data for us and
numbers for them.
> Why are these things polarized/asymmetrical? The way they work, I would
> have assumed that they were inherently symmetrical.
The two terminal flashers are symmetrical. You can reverse the power in (X)
and the load out (L) terminals, and you might be able to swap the load out
with the indicator lamp terminal (P). I am not sure of the relative load
ratings of these two contacts though. Never-the-less, it is always a good
idea to connect them in the "standard" configuration to avoid confusion,
especially later when someone other than yourself is working on the car. Of
course, the above only applies to the standard modules. The newer solid state
flashers may not be symmetrical. Another reason to use the standard
configuration -- you may someday want to use the SS units. If the wiring is
correct, you could just pull out the old and plug in the new.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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