Subject: Re: [TR] Headlight Update

From: "Randall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:50:12 -0700

> It looks like I'll need to buy new headlights too. I thought I'd be able
to use
> halogen bulbs for my Lucas PL700 repros, but it now appears that they're
not
> reproduction after all. 

I forget who offhand, but someone sells halogen bulbs to fit original PL700
lamps.  Might have been Halford's in the UK.

Randall

** [email-masked] **

Archive: http://www.team.net/archive

---

From: Don Hiscock <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:54:23 -0700

I think Daniel Stern has halogen bulbs with BPF base, too. Haven't gotten
any yet but they're on my list.

On Tuesday, October 14, 2014, Randall <[email-masked]> wrote:

> ** [email-masked] <javascript:;> **
>
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/[email-masked]

---

From: Jeffrey Gayton <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:20:00 -0700

I'm guessing this is the bulb you mean:

http://www.holden.co.uk/displayproduct.asp?sg=1&pgCode=012&sgName=Electrical&
pgName=Bulbs+%26+Warning+Lamps&agCode=0080&agName=Bulbs+BPF&pCode=LLB463#pret
tyPhoto

The bulb I pulled out of my PL700 yesterday said "NARVA 12V R2 45/40W."
Shouldn't I be concerned the bulb above is rated 15 watts higher?

> On 14 Oct 2014, at 2:58 PM, Dixie4 <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
> Randall,
>
> I think you may mean Holden Classic and Vintage (email [email-masked])
Web site www.holden.co.uk
> They sell the PL700 halogen bulbs at 7.78 GBP each plus vat at 20% .
> I doubt Halfords would sell this type of bulb.
>
> Adrian
> Wales UK.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randall" <[email-masked]>
> To: "'Jeffrey Gayton'" <[email-masked]>; <[email-masked]>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2014 9:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [TR] Headlight Update
>
>
http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/triumphs/[email-masked]
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2014.0.4765 / Virus Database: 4040/8388 - Release Date: 10/14/14

---

From: "Dixie4" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 05:14:34 +0100

The legal standard in UK is 65/50W I would not have thought an extra relay 
was required. However, this is a personal opinion and experience.
I have successfully used 100watt H4 bulbs for off road use in standard 7" 
round headlamps as a replacement for 65watt bulbs with standard wiring 
without mishap. I must state that is was on 70's Ford Escort which may 
possibly have had heavier wiring than a TR3 as standard. The only time I had 
to fit relays was when fitting four huge Cibi Super Oscar spot lamps.
Oh those were the days...........120mph down forest tracks 1 1/2 times the 
width of the car, at night, after a hard days work. Must have been mad!!!

Adrian,
Wales UK

---

From: "Randall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 23:17:19 -0700

Thanks for the correction, Adrian.  I knew I'd seen them somewhere.

The extra power may present some concern if you do a lot of driving in heavy
stop-and-go traffic at night, or make only short trips at night and still
have the stock Lucas generator.   Especially when combined with other loads
(brake lights, wipers, heater), the generator won't keep up at low engine
rpm and you may end your drive with a battery that is somewhat low.  But it
shouldn't be a problem as long as your next drive includes enough faster
driving to recharge the battery.  When I had problems, I was working 2nd
shift and so drove in the dark both ways (in winter) plus out to dinner and
back, 5 days a week.

But the wiring and so on is heavy enough, no worries about burning it up.
That was with 55 watt halogens on the stock TR3A wiring (never did get
around to adding relays to that car, although the 60 amp alternator was a
marvelous improvement).

The main reason for adding relays IMO would be to get the maximum voltage to
the bulbs, for the maximum light output.  I assume that more light is your
reason for wanting halogen bulbs (I heartily approve BTW), so might as well
make the most of them.  The stock wiring, switch contacts, etc. will lose
0.5 volts or more (I measured 0.7 on my TR3) while with some care you should
be able to get down to 0.1 with relays and direct wiring.  Not a huge
difference, but enough to see in a side-by-side comparison.  I also rather
like the idea of reducing the load on the original switches.

After some thought (and bad experiences), I wound up with 4 relays, one for
each filament, mounted to the top of the headlight buckets.  On a TR3 that
makes them totally invisible but still fairly accessible (by removing the
bucket from the apron).  It also lets me run a separate self-resetting
circuit breaker for each side so that I still have light if one breaker (or
one relay) fails for some reason.  Modern plastic relays are cheap and I'd
gladly pay $20 to avoid having all the headlights go out at once again.
More than a few years ago, I was driving down a mountain at midnight and
rather more than the posted speed limit when a fuse failed and killed both
headlights.  Only took a moment to find the dimmer switch, but still not an
experience I look forward to repeating!

In case you are wondering, I eventually traced the fuse failure to nearly
invisible corrosion on the fuse holder contacts.  Under prolonged operation
at fairly high current (one fuse for both 90 watt bulbs) the holder would
eventually get hot enough to melt the solder inside the fuse cap.  The fuse
element was still visibly fine, but you could see where the solder had run
away from the connection.  Of course I didn't figure that out until after it
had happened again, fortunately under more benign circumstances.  Took a
Scotch-Brite (mild abrasive) pad to the contacts and never had the problem
again.

Randall