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MG MGA - Headlight lenses

Good morning all. I have recently acquired a pair of modern Lucas headlamp lenses for a good price. I have two questions about these lights. One: The bulbs that came with the lights are the modern halogen type. The wattage stamped on the metal base is 80/80W. I connected one of the lights on the car to compare the bulbs' brightness, and saw that the new light was much brighter and whiter than the existing one that I have installed on the car. My question is, would the higher bulb wattage be detrimental to the wiring system of the car? My other question: Is there a way of telling if the new lenses are for left or right hand drive cars? My car is right hand drive, and if I'm not mistaken the headlights should dip to the left. Any ideas please.

Frank
F. Camilleri

Frank, the wires would be OK. I would worry more about the switch and the dipswitch. But you can easily buy the new bulbs at lower wattages I imagine.
As for L/R dip, just set it up and try it!
Art
Art Pearse

I believe Art is correct in that you may have issues with the load across the switches if you want to maintain the higher wattage; a relay would take care of that issue. See link to Barney's site attached:

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/electric/et206a.htm
Nick Kopernik

Thanks Art, I appreciate your advice to install bulbs with a lower wattage. But, I found that 55/60 watts bulbs were not bright enough on unlit roads. It could be that modern day reflectors are not as effective as they used to be. I have fitted hundreds of relays in different cars over the years, and I have three fitted in my MGA, one for the horns, one for the electric rad fan and the other for the brake light switch. So, I shall follow Nick's
advice and install relays. Thanks Nick.

Frank
F. Camilleri

Frank,
Glad you have ditched the copy Tripods I gave you, they look great but as I told you, they are really useless aren't they!

I know it's not on topic but you mentioned that you have fitted a relay to your brake lights. Did you use the original brake light switch with the relay or did you fit a mechanical switch?

Back to headlights, I fitted some high intensity halogen bulbs to mine, they are
the same wattage as yours but double the light output.
I will check them when I get home and let you know who made them.
Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Ditch the halogens and go LED. The latest ones have tiny LEDs that are laid out in the same dimensions as a halogen bulb, they draw only a small current, dip and high beam are identical to a H4 except they are the equivalent brightness of a xenon bulb. These can be found on eBay for attractive prices. I have these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Philips-LED-Chips-160W-l16000LM-H4-9003-HB2-Headlight-Kit-H-L-Beam-Bulbs-6000K-/222199186381?hash=item33bc1a83cd:g:0XAAAOSwgZ1XwCXB&vxp=mtr

Which I have also fitted to a few other cars as people have seen the improvement in the lumens


You are correct that the lenses are handed for LHD and RHD. AFAIK it should be marked on the lens itself
Dominic Clancy

Dominic
I see the seller shows these units as 80w? Are they brighter than the Osram Nightbreaker bulbs do you know? Nightbreaker take about 65w but claim 1650lm.

Colyn
I fitted a mechanical brake light switch years ago ( just use the hydraulic switch to plug the 4-way Union). I fitted a relay too, so the switch should last.

Regards
Colin
Colin Manley

Normally with LEDs the wattage figure refers to the equivalent halogen draw to produce the same lumens. These claim 16000 lumen, so ten times more than the ones you mention (of which I have no experience)

All I can confirm is that they are really bright, and if you have a three adjuster bucket, all the bits fit inside the bucket with no problems at all with heat dissipation. That there are no problems with overheating tells me also that they are drawing nowhere near 80W.

Dominic Clancy

More realistic figures for the same unit can be found here, which suggest slower lumen figure than the eBay seller.

http://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collections/headlight-led-bulbs/products/latest-led-headlight-h4-motorcycle

I can confirm that that these are indeed the same unit as I was introduced to the bulb by someone who bought them from classiccarleds, but I have subsequently bought them from the eBay seller at a much lower price. On comparison they are identical.
Dominic Clancy

To Colyn Firth.

Hi Colyn, I have not ditched the tripods, but as soon as I have fitted headlamp relays, I shall try them with the 80/80watt halogen bulbs. I really like the look.

You say you have fitted high intensity halogen bulbs. What exactly is their wattage? My latest bulbs are the 80/80watt. These are amazingly bright, and the light output is white as daylight, and not yellow as with the old bulbs with the lesser wattage. The question I would like to ask: did you use relays in the light circuit?

As for the brake light switch, a while ago I fitted an after market switch bought from Ron Francis in the USA. It is identical to the original one. After being in use for 7 months, a driver following me pointed out that I had no brake lights. Back in the garage I tried the brakes and the lights only came on when the brake pedal is pushed down very hard. Now with the relay fitted, it only requires a light push on the pedal for the lights to work.

Frank
F. Camilleri

Thanks for the info Frank,
I'm presently at the other end of the Med from you in Spain and so I can't check the wattage of my halogen bulbs for you for a week or so but I will let you know what they are as soon as I get home.

I don't use a relay on the lights as they are not really much higher wattage than standard but they are much brighter.

I have through fitted a fuse in the lighting circuit after a catastrophic electrical fire a few years ago. ( never again!)
Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Frank, according to "Classic Dynamo and regulator Conversions" http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/led-headlamp-bulbs-shop.php
The LED bulbs draw 1.8amps or 21.6 Watts each.
Considerably less than the Halogens!

I prefer the price on Dominic's link, direct from China though!
Neil MG

Hi Neil,I have read a lot about led bulbs etc.I have tried leds in my rear lights, but they didn't work. I now discovered that leds do not work in a positive earth wiring system. I am very reluctant to convert my car to a negative earth system, simply because I want the car to remain as original as possible. If I ever decide to convert to negative earth, I will do the job myself in no time at all. Very unlikely.

Frank
F. Camilleri

Frank
You really are a purist! (IMHO!). A negative earth polarity conversion must be the absolute "least hostile to correctness" thing you could do to an old car. Completely invisible, quick and easy, beneficial in many ways, job done. Nevertheless, I admire your rigorous approach to originality.
Dominic (and others)
I understand that led headlight conversions are not legal in UK. Is that so? Wouldn't want to give the insurance company loophole lawyers anything to use as wriggle room in the event of an accident, if not.
Best
Bruce.
B Mayo

Frank, LED lights do indeed work in a positive earth car, but you have to specify positive earth LEDs. Most of the available LEDs are going to be negative earth since that's how all of today's cars are configured.

A quick Google search brings up these guys: http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/online-shop-for-led-bulbs-and-light-boards-etc.php. There are more to choose from.

No affiliation or recommendation implied.
Larry Wheeler

From the dynamoregulatorconversions website...


"Strictly speaking, LED bulbs aren't road legal but this is really because the technology has moved quicker than the law.

We have to advise customers that all our bulbs have to be sold for off road use only."
Dave O'Neill 2

The ones I reference are apparently dual polarity
Dominic Clancy

" simply because I want the car to remain as original as possible" -

a pair of modern Lucas headlamp lenses - 80/80watt halogen bulbs - three relays - after market switch

Original ?

Frank - really - original has no place on modern roads - even in 1959 ( I had two in succession)we made changes to the lights - unmodified means dim lights and unnecessary risk.

Roger
Roger Walker

This thread was discussed between 07/11/2016 and 14/11/2016

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