I second that. I have done this on a Fiat (worse wiring than LBCs) with
dramatic results. A quick test to see how much you will gain is to turn
on your headlights, aimed at a wall in the drak, then connect a wire
directly from toe battery to the headlight terminal. It will get brighter
and you can compare directly. As Michael says, you need to check your
grounds first.
Ulix
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Michael Dietsche wrote:
>
> Others will have better advice than I do about bulb substitution, but
> here's a trick you may want to consider no matter which bulbs you use.
> Headlights can be made brighter in most situations by adding a
> relayed power source to the lamps. Usually the lights on older cars
> suffer from low voltage, caused by creeping resistance in the
> harness/light switch and by degraded grounds. Sometimes the original
> harness was under-designed to begin with, without enough copper to
> handle the load without heating up and dropping voltage. All this
> stuff can add up to 2 or 3V drops and dim lights.
>
> The first thing to do no matter what is to clean up and check all
> grounds and connections. If you still have lowered voltage as
> measured at the lamps, you have a candidate for a relay circuit. With
> careful planning and some wiring skill you can usually wire the relay
> into existing connectors without chopping up the harness. Then add
> nice heavy wire through the power side of the relay to the lamps to
> bypass the resistance in the harness/switch. This setup also has the
> extra benefit of removing the lamp load from the switch (the switch
> now only operates the relay coil instead of the lamps themselves),
> which greatly increases the service life of the hard-to-replace dash
> switch. Fuse all circuits and do a careful job, and you have an
> improved setup that is fully reversible if originality later becomes
> an issue.
>
> MD
>
> ---chuckc <chuckc@ibm.net> wrote:
> >
> > I must missed most of this thread. Tell me how I find
> > "improved" lighting for my '72. Must I replace the whole
> > headlight assembly, the socket, or just the bulb.
> >
> > I'd really like to get brighter head lights. What
> > should I be looking for? Just a brighter (higer draw?)
> > lamp in the same diameter lens?
> >
> > chuck
> >
> > Daniel1312@aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > > In a message dated 25/2/1999 0:55:45AM, pasgeirsson@juno.com
> writes:
> > >
> > > << will make your LBC into a Little Bright Car! >>
> > >
> > > I run 160W main beam and 100W dipped - if the car is idling when
> you switch
> > > them (main beam) on it almost stalls the engine when the
> alternator draws the
> > > current to light them!! - current drawn on main beam = almost 27
> Amps (more
> > > than entire output of dynamo! which is why I have an alternator
> fitted).
> > >
> > > Also because the dynamo output is either 22 Amps or 19 Amps
> running high
> > > wattage lamps can run it close to its limit when it is charging at
> full power.
> > >
> > > Daniel1312
> >
>
>
Ulix __/__,__ ___/__|\__
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'67 Sprite '74 X1/9
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