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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Tail Lights / Brake lights

Does it matter which way you wire them? I can't discern any difference in the filaments.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

One filament should be thicker than the other. Brake lights should be brighter (hence a thicker filament to carry more current hence radiate more light).

Rob
MG Moneypit

Brake light is 21w, tail light is 5w.

The bulb will only fit one way, so it's trial and error, I'm afraid.

Correction: the bulb *should* only fit one way!
Dave O'Neill 2

The bayonet pins on the bulb metal body are offset, one higher than the other, so if you look in the bulb holder you will see the corresponding insets with one going deeper than the other so you can install the bulb the correct way round.

The wiring and the bulbs do need to be installed the right way round.

Some Vauxhall/TVR bulbs had a double offset with the bayonet pins also being not 180 degrees opposite.
Nigel Atkins

OK, thanks. One side is showing a wonderfully bright tail, with a rather dimmer brake, so that will tell me which terminals are the correct ones.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

By golly, you're right. One filament much thicker. Can't think what bulb I was looking at before.
So it's red wire on the right, green/purple on the left.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

Green-purple wire/connector to 21w (brake light) connector blob on bottom of bulb.

Red wire/connector to 5w (tail light) connector blob on bottom of bulb.

The bottom of the bulb has two (blob) contacts, one for the 21w filament and the other for the 5w filament.
Nigel Atkins

It seems a little unfair that, faced by a 50/50 chance, I turn out to be 100% wrong.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

Don't feel too bad as you can't beat the odds of Sod's Law which states that 50% of the time you can be wrong and the other 50% very wrong - always applies when I try.

I changed a 21/5w bulb for a neighbour only last week or so and dropped the bulb and its locator into the cavity of the rear bumper and had to take out a boot trim panel to retrieve it, a two minute job turned into 15 minutes with two tool boxes and boot contents spread over the pavement.
Nigel Atkins

Had to revive this thread, to complain about the front sidelight/flasher wiring.

100% wrong so far.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

How do you mean?
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 22/06/2018 and 16/07/2018

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