The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Low wattage 7” lights

O.k. I picked up a 1970’s grille shell with the idea of making a wall hanger. I don’t feel like I need a conventional headlight for display purposes. So, does anyone know of a low wattage/output light that I could use for this purpose?

Just find a simple way to wire up a dimmer to the original bulbs. and make it any brightness you want, all the way down to just a glow. Watts=Volts x Amps. Just reduce the voltage.
Going from 12 volts to 6 volts will cut the wattage in half, and again at 3 volts.

I am actually an electrician BTW. I don’t want to get into ohms law, but it’s not quite that simple.

Anyhow, the lowest wattage lamp I can find is 55 Watts. With that said I would need a power supply capable of 110 watts. With LED lighting being the rage, I’ve installed my fair share of 12v power supplies. The dimmable ones can get quite pricey, in the $150-$200 range. So, just looking for alternatives.

Well I'm actually an a retired industrial journeyman electrician, and currently teaching 16 students on the subject at a local community college. It always comes down to OHM's law. Ever notice how dim your headlights get when your battery voltage is too low to start the car?

I think you should be able to take a sealed beam headlight, cut into the end, remove the filament and install a parking light type fixture in there. I don't know how the glass is handled but I have seen magazine articles where someone replaced the filament with a bulb.

4100> Wasn’t trying to be rude. You never know what people’s professional background is on these sights. I was contemplating a rheostat after power supply.

Truckernix> I was thinking something like you mention also. There are 7” lights with H4 bulbs. Maybe try to make something work.

I'm contemplating this same thing once my 49 is done. I know I will have extra parts. I am not an electrician. I have always figured cutting a hole to remove the bulb from the stock sealed beams and inserting some lamp sockets and a pair of 15w led lamp bulbs. That way I can wire it all on a switch and just plug it into the wall socket.

Just use a 6v power supply with 12V bulbs. If you want to cut the back end out of a sealed beam, use a Dremel tool and a diamond dust cutter bit. Wear a dust mask- - - - -the dust you'll create is very irritating to your lungs!
Jerry

A few years ago there was a "bottle cutting" fad that had people cutting and drilling holes in bottles and stuffing in a small light bulb for 120V decorative lights. Googling "drilling glass headlamps" will give lots of methods for your decorative lights.
I have used diamond coated drill bits on glass blocks , but I expected some glass breakage, and the bits don't last long.
I have seen a simple hole drilled into the thin glass and then a string of LED Xmas lights stuffed inside for mellow light effects. It glowed like a single bulb from a distance.
To keep this thread "stovebolt" related, I too wonder if LED bulb(s) can be used in a drilled hole of an old yellow glass bulb for use as fog lamps. Please let us know if you find a successful way of re-lighting those headlamps.

You should be able to cut the back off a sealed beam bulb with the hot wire method. There's a bunch of youtube videos about how to do it.
Here's one (not the best, but will give you the idea on how to accomplish it.) Hot wire glass cutter
Might be more trouble than it's worth to set up the equipment to cut one or two bulbs though.

If you simply connect the bulbs in series instead of parallel the wattage will be cut in half, along with the voltage to each bulb.

I put blue led s in original headlights for the wall hanger in my daughter's room. My dad used a dental drill to put a hole in the back of the bulbs. He cracked the back of the light on one or two but we used hot glue on the back and glued it back together, you can't tell once it is on the wall.

You can buy drill bits made to drill glass. I have a set in the garage. I've tried diamond bits & even rat tail files in the past to drill holes in glass. They worked but not nearly as well as a bit made just for that purpose. They are fairly inexpensive as well.