36 halogen 12 volts still dim

Tom Morookian

Tom Morookian

Well-known member
I installed a Vintiques conversion to halogens, new bulbs, reflectors and ran 12 v power thru relays for both the high and low beams. Solid grounds for both buckets and direct ground wires. Kit came with the following bulbs: Candlepower H4 12V 60/55W part #4720

Low beam is about as bright as parking lights and hi beam about like what low beams should be. I ran a hot feed from the battery to the buckets and that makes no difference.

Do I need different bulbs?
 
I had a problem with mine and it turned out that the 6v halogens bulbs were to far forward of the reflector. I ended up back to all new original stuff and they are much better.
 
I have the same in my 35, I am not quite to the driving stage yet but I think its the bulbs. Let me know if the bulbs make a change for the better. Thanks
 
Is your car converted to 12V? Did you try bypassing the relays ? Are your grounds for the lights grounded to the frame?
 
Last edited:
Tom-

I have no direct experience with halogens but I have heard others having the same problems as you are experiencing. So, you are not alone. As to the cause, some claim it is the optical properties of the original lenses that causes the diminishing of light. Still others claim that the original lenses cause a wide dispersal of light making them look bright but marginally functional for their intended use. Again, I have no direct experience.

Tom
 
Measure the voltage at the light bulbs to see if you get the full 14 volts at chargeing speed. G.M.
 
Tom Morookian said:
I installed a Vintiques conversion to halogens, new bulbs, reflectors and ran 12 v power thru relays for both the high and low beams. Solid grounds for both buckets and direct ground wires. Kit came with the following bulbs: Candlepower H4 12V 60/55W part #4720

Low beam is about as bright as parking lights and hi beam about like what low beams should be. I ran a hot feed from the battery to the buckets and that makes no difference.

Do I need different bulbs?
Click to expand...

Hey Tom,
By your wording, there is a question as to whether you are running 12V or 6V? I've the same question, but sounds to me that you have 6V and 'step up' relays to make 12V...any clarification as to what :confused:
Anyway, I'm running 12V KIT halogen in '30 original model A buckets (NO RELAYS). Super bright:cool: on both high/low beams. At first had similar problems as you describe. Figured needed better grounds and ran a dedicated ground to each bucket to FRAME...works perfectly.
SO , if you are running 6V thru 12V 'relays', sounds like these relays may not be delivering true 12 volts.
 
Last edited:
I have reproduction 34 commercial lights om my model T hot rod. They came with halogen bulbs, and yes they are dim. My guess is the filament in the bulb is in the wrong position in relation to the reflector. I suspect it may need set into the reflector a bit. I have thought about machining a bushing that can move it back a bit to correct this problem.
 
I have 6V halogen sealed beams in the 34 & they be bright but one of the tail lights which are not halogen was really dim. I rewired both tail lights & it didn't help so I checked the bulb with 6 volts out of the socket & it was still dim.This was in the car when I purchased it 8 or so years ago.No it is not a 12 V bulb. Replaced it with a new 6 V bulb & all is bright as can be.
 
flatheadfan said:
Tom-

I have no direct experience with halogens but I have heard others having the same problems as you are experiencing. So, you are not alone. As to the cause, some claim it is the optical properties of the original lenses that causes the diminishing of light. Still others claim that the original lenses cause a wide dispersal of light making them look bright but marginally functional for their intended use. Again, I have no direct experience.

Tom
Click to expand...

I have halogen conversions in my 39. It was recomended that I use the clear lenses because of the light dispersal, so I did. They work great on both high and low beams (so bright I used to get people flashing at me before I adjusted the beams down a bit). Paul Selfe.
 
This is my understanding- I may be wrong, but...
Head lights have a parabolic reflector. This means that if you looked at a section thru the reflector, it would be the shape of a graph of the function y = x squared times some number. This is a parabola. There is one point within the parabola (the focal point) at which a point source of light will shine on any point on the shape on the reflector and all the rays of the light will be reflected exit the reflector as parallel rays. Those rays are then passed thru the lens and all its little prism segments where some are bent this way and some that way to give a pattern that the designer wants. IF THE LIGHT IS NOT AT THE FOCAL POINT, the rays will not exit the reflector in a parallel fashion, but will disperse. They will hit the lens in a helter skelter fashion causing a further loss of control of the light exiting the head light. Old Ford head lights have an adjusting screw at the rear of the housing which is used to move the bulb back or forward to get the bulb filament at the proper focal point. Want to have some fun? Get a plastic halogen sealed beam and cut around the edge of the lens to remove it, leaving just the reflector and the bulb. Hook it up and see the beam you get. Pretty impressive. Like I said, this is how I understand it and I could be wrong.
(Back in the day, I had a pair of Lucas lights in the high beam only positions on my coupe. They had clear lenses and they could cast a narrow beam a LONG distance. My friend and I referred to them as eyeball burners. I always took them out at annual inspection time to avoid damaging the New Jersey DMV head light checking machines. Now a days, they only hook up to the cars computer and then check the gas cap.)
 
Ford stopped using the adjusting screw in 1932.To my knowledge that screw adj was used from 1928-31.I had the complete Drake halogen kit in my 35 roadster and they functioned just fine.Car was converted to 12V.
 
I have the 6v hal. kit in my 32 and it has the exact same problem, works fine one way and when you switch, it is dim. I hope we can get enough folks together on this one and get a fix from the vendors. I bought mine from MACs and it was a Vint. kit.
 
It's probably a slip on on tolerances of where the bulb is located in the reflector. In '32, Ford had gotten all that down to the point where they could eliminate the adjusting screw. 80 years later, working with hundreds of sets of parts instead of hundreds of thousands sets of parts, people seem to have lost sight of what Ford had learned.
 
There are available, quartz halogen bulbs that are a direct replacement for the original bulbs; they fit directly into the stock Ford reflectors, and work properly. No need to fit aftermarket reflectors to take different style bulbs with the wrong focal points and have crap lights! Brian
 
tom i have the same problem and i know its not wiring or power related, i think it may be some thing with the OEM reflective lenses and distance from the bulbs
 
Just to clarify, I'm on a 12 volt system. I took the buckets apart and the bulbs out of the reflector, hooked them direct to a 12 v source. Drawing about 4 amps they are still dim. I'm ordering some 100/90 (hi/lo) watt bulbs to test them. If that's too dim there are 140/100 watts available.

Second note -put the 60/55 watt back in the chromed reflectors then thru the original glass lens, the alignment seems OK. The dim picture against the garage wall seem to be focused OK.

If none of this works I may try the stock bulbs from a Jeep wrangler. Not sure about the diameter and if they will fit in the buckets nor how it might work with the original glass in front of them.

I want to keep my bug eyes!

Whatever works (or doesn't) I'll update this thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top