Halogen lamp upgrade.

[Bobbieslandy]

I've just fitted the halogen conversion kit and noticed that the sealed beam lamps i removed were 75W/50W! were these standard? i understand that the design of them made them pretty uselsess, i didn't realise they upped the power to compensate. I've got a few spare sealed beam lamps laying around and i'm sure they're around 45W/55W and thought that was the norm.

I'm waiting for it to go dark now[:D]

[bmcecosse]

The 75 watt sealed beams were excellent in their day - but hard to find. Pretty sure they would not befitted as 'standard'.

[Bobbieslandy]

Looks like they'll be going on ebay, if there's a market for second hand lamps! The halogen conversion makes such a difference and considering it only took half an hour to do both of them it's well worth it. Oh and they look so much more shiny!

[bmcecosse]

They are still available new today - http://www.holden.co.uk/displayProduct.asp?pCode=SB7002 but can't see the point myself - except for those seeking originality - they do have the nice rounded glass, when many of the halogen units are flat fronted. Can't see that being too important on a TR7 where the lamps are hidden from view!

[pupinabox]

Can you explain what all you had to do for the conversion? Any wiring or anything like that?

[IMG=left]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/353.jpg[/IMG=left][IMG=right]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/tr7005.jpg?t=1271517043[/IMG=right]

[catmanboo]

halogens take a bit more juice than standard incandescents,therefore, to give 'Prince Lucas' a break, for reliability's sake, a relay kit may be advisable. this takes the heat (amps) off the headlite switch contacts. VicBrit has such a kit, I bought one, but can't bring myself to upgrade from the OEM units that are still in my '76 FHC (still can see where I'm going).one of these days...[8D]

[bmcecosse]

No - they don't take ANY more current - in fact less than the 75 watt units being replaced above. Standard halogen bulbs are 55 watt. The glass units and bulbs are a straight swop, they just plug in - as noted above - it only took 30 minutes! Of course - there are higher wattage halogen bulbs available - up to 100 watts I believe - but these are NOT legal on the highway in UK. If fitting such uprated bulbs - it would be wise to look to the wiring sizes and fit relays.

[Jolyon39]

I was stunned when I changed my headlights for the more up to date Halogen models.....What a difference!

It is one of the simplest and most useful upgrades you can do on your car. There is no need to change wiring, everything is just plug in and it is a good time to refurb your headlight pods too with new headlight adjusters etc.

This upgrade makes driving at night so much more fun and far safer!

Jolyon

[Bobbieslandy]

I set aside half a day for this job, you know how some jobs escalate! next thing i knew half an hour had passed and i'd fitted both. I think when new, the power circuit for the lamps would of been more than adequate but as time's passed by the lighting circuit will need at least a clean of all joints / contacts to make the best of the halogen lamps. Fitting a couple of relays would give the best results but IMHO if the rest of the standard circuit is up to scratch then they're not really needed.

[FI Spyder]

As the electricity the lights the headlights goes through the main switch as it's contacts get corroded the lights will get dimmer and dimmer. Mine had reached a point when I first got it where they would barely light (didn't drive it in dark). The switch was filled with green grunge when I pulled it apart. When I cleaned it (and all connections in circuit) the headlights were nice and bright. Using a $30 relay kit ($20 on sale) take the load off the switch and connects it more directly to the battery and eliminates this problem. Although I haven't installed it (or the halogens) yet it's not an expensive upgrade and one of the better places to spend your money.


TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[Odd]

minute teaser..:

There will be an article in the next TR8CCA (OK, OK I know it's TWOA now!) newsletter
regarding relays taking the load off of the main and high/low light switches - <u>and!</u> the fuse positions.
This easily implemented design will in itself allow just about whatever headlight bulbs you want to fit
into the pods... Personally I've opted for 100W/55W H4 bulbs. [:D]
I wrote it this spring and the ed. Ed Krakowiak said he'd try to get it into the coming issue.

<font color="red"><b>My two 1980 Wedges...</b></font id="red">

[catmanboo]

bmcecosse, bear in mind that he's in the states; we're a good bit less constrained in many aspects of motoring(for the time being) than you guys in the UK or e.u. you should see some of the new vehicles at night over here- absolutely obnoxious! we have more options for lighting upgrades; hence my statement regarding a relay kit. anything one can do to lighten the load on original-equipment switchgear cannot possibly be a waste of time, especially in regards to ANYTHING Lucas![}:)]

[catmanboo]

my bad on my previous post-I lost track of who/where the originator of thread was; (damn wine!) apologies to bmcecosse[:0] however, I stand by the rest of it...[B)]

[Tack]

Has anyone out there installed the upgrade wire harness (10-679) from VB? (maybe that was my first mistake)

I haven’t ripped anything apart yet, but before I start it says “no splicing or cutting requiredâ€￾…yeah right!

If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great!

I’m thinking about changing the connectors on the upgrade harness to the original style (not connecting the upgrade harness directly to the new halogen headlamps), I have two new headlamp wire harnesses that I would like to use. My assumption so far is that blue wire will mate with the original blue/white low beam, and the yellow wire will mate with the original blue/red high beam. It looks as though the ground will need to be grounded somewhere nearby on the chassis.

I figure that by using original style connectors, I can always go back to the original wiring if all else fails.

Regarding the plug that is supposed to mate with the headlamp harness; I would assume the blue/white wire goes go the blue/white, but what about the white and the brown? I don’t want to go with the “trial and errorâ€￾ method. I would think that this plug should mate with the original power source for the headlamps on the right side.

Now, what about running all those wires and mounting the relays? Especially all that wire from the right headlamp to the left headlamp. Any help/suggestions appreciated.

Searched many times but no thread directly attributed to the VB installation. All google does is try to sell more stuff!

Sorry for being so wordy!




1980 TR7 DHC pageant blue

[trekcarbonboy]

I used the VB harness and it works great. The trick to installing it is to remove the 3 wires from the headlamp plugs and feed them through the light pods and then re-install and hook-up to the lights. You have to remove the factory plugs the same way then just hook the passenger side plug into the new harness and the drivers side factory plug just gets tucked up behind the horn.
No splicing required!!!

Craig '75 2.0 FHC