Are they available? The brake lights on my 1950 3600 are barely visible in bright sunlight and of course once your foot comes off the gas pedal and the engine revs drop, all the light get real dim. It would be nice and safer if all the lights were brighter. I know that technically they could work but do not know if anybody makes replacement automotive type lights. Thanks for any help!
How about 6 volt LED headlight bulbs? Have not gone the relay route as they are not orginial to vehicle. But again neither are LED bulbs,but you can’t see the bulbs.
The brake lights on my 1950 3600 are barely visible in bright sunlight and of course once your foot comes off the gas pedal and the engine revs drop, all the light get real dim. . Thanks for any help!
I've tried 6v LEDs and have been unhappy with the results. My experience has been they are little, if any, brighter than incandescent bulbs. Try this. If your lenses are glass replace them with plastic since plastic allows more light to pass through. Second spray paint the inside of the housing with gloss white paint (don't use so called chrome paint, it reflects less than gloss white). Third use #81 bulbs for the tail light. This will double the light output of the tail lights over the stock #63 bulbs. Lastly convert to a 6v alternator, I've done that on my '38 and '53 with great results. For dash lights use #316 bulbs instead of the stock #55s for double the light output. You can get '316s on line if your local parts jobber can't get them.
Last edited by Tiny; 08/24/201811:51 PM.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
Admittedly it's been a while. There may now be brighter bulbs. The link you provided doesn't show any LEDs to replace the 1129 and when I click on the single 63 replacement it shows the 1156 so there's no way to compare their 63 replacement to the incandescent 81. Also the only two they show for tail/stop lights are forward firing which will have a bright spot in the center of the lens rather than casting a wide light to illuminate the whole lens.
Last edited by Tiny; 08/25/201812:29 AM.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
They've fit both my 38 and 53. They look longer than they are. While the globe is a tad longer it's also narrow which makes it look longer than it is. The 55 is 1.06 inches long while the 316 is 1.188.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
I had mentioned that I put some led's in the tail lights in my truck and didn't notice the reply till later.... I went with a 6v 1157 style from amazon.. they were cheap, but they are far brighter than the incandescent bulbs, they are visible in daylight actually....
If these hadn't worked out, I was thinking of making my own with a 3.3 volt regulator (LD33V) and raw individual led's (I have a ton of super bright smd led's from a scout flashlight project that are left over) .. I still may try that, this way would work with 12v or if I keep it 6v...
I have leds in everything except the head lights. Don’t like the looks of them, not stock. All 6 volt.
My lights are far briter than the incandescent bulbs were. I also have turn signals. In the rear I modified the lights to hold two lamps. I also made a socket for the bed rails. Much cheaper than buying them. In the front I installed a socket with duel contacts and use a 1157 style lamp.
After viewing my pictures. The one of the lamp is squatty. The lamp is taller and less wide. But they fit fine.
Zero regrets.
Don
Last edited by Don huffer; 08/31/20186:35 PM.
Can’t begin to tell you how much I hate the name Stovebolt.
Tiny, Have a 6V alternator installed, wired through the ammeter and working. What RPM do you use to keep the lights from dimming? Waiting for you guidance on the 316 bulbs.
I'm not sure what you mean by what idle. As for guidance on the 316, not sure what you mean there either. Just remove the #55s and replace with #316s.
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. The three main causes of blindness: Cataracts, Politics, Religion. Name your dog Naked so you can walk Naked in the park.
Would have been easier just to start a new thread. Some alternators self excite as soon as the device starts turning and some require RPM's to get it charging. Others will know for sure what RPM turns it on but I remember reading somewhere 600 rpm.
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
A few years ago I tried the SuperbrightLeds red 6volt LED (1157 replacements-maybe Bay15d) {looked like they had a cluster of plastic grapes on the facing end}. They were OK, but they seemed to be the brightest if you were looking a them from the same elevation and directly behind them.
The best solution I found for getting attention of drivers behind me was to add more light fixtures and fit them with newer LED bulbs (wire them into brake light circuit). There are vast choices on fleabay and swap-meets of old chrome & painted bullet lights, beehive lens, clear fog, vintage tail lights, DO-Ray cab marker lights, winkey-cat, and old police/bus/fire/ambulance red lens lights to choose from. Simple"L" bracket can mount them to bumper or frame rail. etc. You can also modify the old internal light bulb socket to fit whatever 6V LED bulb mount you want.
LED's have very little current draw, and thus I haven't seen any dimming to other parts of the circuit. As a choice, LED in interior lights (like dome & glove box) are great in case they are accidentally left ON and they wont draw your 6volt battery down so fast as old incandescent. LED also don't melt plastic housings as bad as old incandescent. Down side is that LED's don't usually mimic that old warm soft "glow" on dash (and old radio lights).
