Here's a preliminary evaluation of the lighting mods, based on a short night
run.
Headlamps
Were: standard sealed beam on factory circuit
Now: Lucas H4 Halogen on relay circuit
Verdict: previously described as "dim & yellow", now bright white. Massive
improvement.
Taillamps, brake lights, rear turn signals
Were: standard bulbs
Now: Moss red LEDs
Verdict: 2X, possibly 3X brighter
Front turn signals (white on my '66 B)
Were: standard bulbs
Now: Moss white LEDs
Verdict: insanely brighter, like flashing mini-headlights
And here's what went wrong:
Electronic flasher unit
First unit did not work out of the box.
Neither did the 2nd unit, until I tried reversing the polarity. This was not
mentioned in any instructions. My car was originally positive ground,
converted to negative ground, so I don't know why this should be necessary
-- the 3-prong flasher that this was specified as a replacement for was only
used on positive ground cars, but the LED lamp kit can only be used on
converted cars, so this should have been accounted for. (I'm pretty sure I
tried reversing the polarity of the first unit, so I think it really was
DOA).
Front marker lamps
I could not use the LEDs supplied. These replace the very small round bulbs,
but the LED is much longer -- not only is the "bulb" section about twice as
long, but the socket section is also longer (I have a photo comparing the
two, if you're interested). The result is that the lens immediately contacts
the tip of the bulb, so that as you tighten the lens-securing screws, it
depresses the bulb in the socket against the spring, until the bulb loses
contact. If you try this with the lights turned on, you can watch the bulb
go out as you tighten the screws. I can't see how they ever successfully
tested this application. Maybe they only tested it on later cars with the
slightly different lamp location. However, this is hardly a critical
lighting application -- they are scarcely ever used without the headlights.
Hope this is helpful.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
on 8/22/13 10:58 AM, Ron King at ronking@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> Please let me/us know if there's improvement; have been considering this
> changeout myself.
>
> Ron King
> '71MGB
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mgs-bounces@autox.team.net [mailto:mgs-bounces@autox.team.net] On
> Behalf Of Max Heim
> Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 11:03 AM
> To: MG List
> Subject: [Mgs] Yay Moss
>
> In response to some uncharacteristic nagging from my wife (to the effect
> that the MG's lights were too dim, and it was unsafe to drive at night), I
> invested in a major lighting upgrade, including a headlight relay kit, H4
> halogen headlights, and a complete set of LED exterior lamps. But one
> component, the last to be installed, turned out to be DOA out of the box --
> the electronic flasher unit. When I called Moss about it, they cheerfully
> said they would send out a replacement immediately, no return required. I
> thought that was jolly decent of them. So here's a public shout-out for
> their customer service.
>
>
> --
>
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
> it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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