Cabin Courtesy Lighting - LED Upgrade and additional period Courtsey light

[Top Banana]

All,

 I want to add some refinements to the cockpit interior of my GT6 Mk1. I have seen examples of LED bulbs for classics and would like to know whose started on this journey. For the interior, I would like to upgrade the current "warm romantic glow" of the roof bulb located at the rear of the cabin to something more "White Light" with more "light throw" but not too bright to burn out a Retina.

I am planning to add a MGB/TR6/Midget interior courtesy / map reading light (see picture) to the under the dashboard centred above radio console. I dont need this secondary courtesty light to come on when the doors are open/closed.

So for wiring in this new light, can i take a feed from the existing "input side of cabin Roof light switch" on the dashboard. This lights the cabin when the doors are closed.

My Questions are: 

On a Triumph wiring diagram is there a cross refernce chart explaining wire colour/dia size to safe amperate limits

If it is not best practice to take a feed from the exisiting Roof light switch feed terminal, where else can I break in. I would want the light to work when the ignition is off. I do have  my own secondary fuse box off the battery terminals for my anciallary items (dashcam feed, USB Quick Charger etc) where I didnt want to modify or add significant load to the standard loom/fusing.

Has anyone bought LED bulbs for the interior and exterior of their classic and what the verdict. I plan for both courtest lights to be LED powered so I am hoping for commonality of bulb. I watched a Youtube and they guy said you pay for what you get and some cheap LED's dont have adaquate heat sinks and they melt internally and fail in about a year. 

If someone knows of a other dashboard courtsey light and where they are located in the cabin please let me know. 

thank you

John

 

[Firefly]

 

               Forget flebay rubbish........Classic Car LEDs are good quality and very helpful.

[Josef]

In terms of wire colour, there’s no relation to its current specification. Wire is sold by the cross sectional area of the copper conductor. This is what determines how much current it can safely carry and should be noted when you buy it. There’s no chart I know of that maps wires in the car to expected current rating. You can determine the cross sectional area of an existing wire by measuring the diameter of a stripped bit, halving it to get the radius and then using a = Pi x r^2

[Firefly]

Hi John

            Yes it works very well, there is nothing like the sound of a straight 6. Think the Triumph gt6 is a lovely looking car, but the MG has a lot more room. (Having to change gear) what`s that then? while doing the swap I grafted on a ex BMW 3 series ZF 4hp22 auto box, 4 speed plus lock up = 5.  (the stag has the same box). Its not quite as quick of the mark as the Stag obviously, but I have never been embarrassed by its performance, and cruises 70+ easily. 

    Had a classic friendly garage give it good examination and MOT and the insurance company were happy because there is not a performance gain, only producing 4 or 5 more ponies.

                                       Regards Mac.

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, Top Banana said:

If it is not best practice to take a feed from the exisiting Roof light switch feed terminal, where else can I break in. I would want the light to work when the ignition is off.

I put an LED festoon bulb in the rooflight of my GT6, much more powerful than the old bulb. You can buy them with varying outputs.

For an underdash light I'd run a dedicated cable from the battery / fusebox; just cable to light to switch to earth. Put an inline fuse in the circuit for peace of mind. That will work on its' own with no connection to the courtesy lights.

 

[Badwolf]

Just in the process of replacing my under parcel shelf lights. I will be posting stuff in the next couple of days. I did replace the old festoon bulbs with LEDs in plastic based interior after market lights. The heat sinks were running quite hot, but they were cheap fleabay jobs and about 4 years old at that, but much brighter

[chrishawley]

No, no nominal amp ratings were ever given for the loom. If it's just a case of subsituting/adding the odd LED festoon bulb then there won't be much to consider current wise, though. An incandesant festoon bulb (e.g roof light) would at max be 2 amp and an LED subsustitute probably not even a quarter of that. But a handy guide is: strip cable in question, count the number of copper strands and divide by 2 and that's roughly the continuous rating.

Picking up the feed to the additional light by taking a piggyback off the purple-white at the dash switch is not ideal as it will put the roof light and the additional light in series. Which means either both the roof light and additional light will come on together or neither will (because the votage has been divided). Strikes me a logical place for an additional light is to splice into the purple off the back of fuse #3  (brown in, so unswitched live).

Particular suppliers - others will know better than I.

[Badwolf]

Just to add to my post previously and check for advice. On my spitfire, according to the circuit diagram a single purple wire feeds the single footwell light which then goes to the driver's door switch (not the passenger) via purple/white, to earth. I put a splitter in the blue to feed another lamp in the passenger side, then tandamed the earth wires from each lamp to both the driver's door and a new switch in the passenger door. This has worked for years with no perceivable loss of light output. Also ok with led festoons. Have I done it correctly or do I need to rethink?.

[dougbgt6]

I replaced all my pea bulbs with LEDs unfortunately, at the time, only bayonet fitting bulbs were available and I had to change all the screw fittings to bayonet. Had I waited 6 months screw fitting LEDs became available. I bought cheap Ebay LEDs, 4 years later they're working fine. DON'T buy the club shop ones, an eyewatering price, £10 each!  Ebay £10 for 6. 

LEDs need much less power than filament bulbs so no power issues. No problem in taking power from the dash switch for a map light.

My GT6 gauges had green illumination so I got green LEDs, tried one in the footwell and liked it, tried one in the overhead and a bit too much. except at Halloween. Other colours are available including different shades of white. 

Doug

[Badwolf]

Changed all mine to green too. Very happy, look great. Unfortunately the cheap oriental period looking radio has blue illumination. Any ideas how to change the colour without getting yet another radio? Yellow gel over the display perhaps?

[dougbgt6]

The radio I had you can select the colour, but easy enough to open it up and replace if one colour only. I took my radio out in the end, a fiddly nuisance setting it up every time as I didn't want to leave it connected to the battery all the time to maintain settings. Also couldn't find a suitable place for it, the radio hole being full of gauges.  I've a mini amp now which Blu Tooths to my iphone which in turn connects to USB port I put in. The amp is completely out of sight  The USB will also power my camera, when I get around to installing it.

Doug

[Badwolf]

Doug - Before I open it up, is the display usually coloured LEDs or white with a coloured gel?

Top Banana - Sorry about the thread drift.

[dougbgt6]

Coloured LEDs I think red/blue/green? And it gets the selected colour turning them on or off.

I'd offer you my old radio, but it's not period and you'd have to tell me where you live! 

Doug

[Wagger]

Changed my front side/parking lamps for LED's. Just about bright enough to use as daytime lamps. I have yet to drive it at night so dunno if they are too bright for oncoming traffic.

Indicator warning lamp is now and LED unit inserted into the hole where the green lens was. I can see that well. Good job, as I cannot hear the lasher and is does not always self cancel.

One thing to keep in mind is that LEDs do not always draw enough current to keep contacts clean. Solder blobs tarnish and cease to conduct. I have witnessed this in the house too. Switches have ceased to work since installing low current devices.

[Badwolf]

Doug - I took mine apart to have a look.  No coloured gel so I assume that all the leds are blue. 4 micro leds around each knob plus display. I will get some yellow gel to see how if works. Maybe PM you if it doesn't!!

[Top Banana]

1 hour ago, Wagger said:

Changed my front side/parking lamps for LED's. Just about bright enough to use as daytime lamps. I have yet to drive it at night so dunno if they are too bright for oncoming traffic.

Indicator warning lamp is now and LED unit inserted into the hole where the green lens was. I can see that well. Good job, as I cannot hear the lasher and is does not always self cancel.

One thing to keep in mind is that LEDs do not always draw enough current to keep contacts clean. Solder blobs tarnish and cease to conduct. I have witnessed this in the house too. Switches have ceased to work since installing low current devices.

I thought I was the only who couldnt hear my flasher unit,so I hacked into the flasher feed and put a small 12v Piezo Buzzer; otherwise a mile down the road i am still indicating and confusing other road users. 

I need to source a slightly louder buzzer for when I am wearing my Jabra Earpods with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) they turn a noisy environment into complete calm when doing 60+ mph you get to hear the engine tone beautifully, but all the squeaks / shudders on rough roads just blend down, absolute necessity for a two hour plus jouney and reduce fatigue.

[Firefly]

 

          Wagger

                    Early this spring while driving on a dark day didn`t justify head lights, I gave day time running lights some thought, as I felt vulnerable. Most of the bolt on ones look clumsy and out of place on a classic. My solution was to remove the side light fitting, then prise out the 5 watt bulb holder and bond a tail/stop light holder in its place ( as in pic).  The 5 watt led is a bit brighter than the original and satisfies the MOT man, the 25 watt as a daytime running light is just about right and comes on with the ignition. Ordinary filament bulbs would not be suitable as too much heat would be generated. 

BAY15D_BULB_HOLDER.webp

[Badwolf]

1 hour ago, Top Banana said:

I thought I was the only who couldnt hear my flasher unit,so I hacked into the flasher feed and put a small 12v Piezo Buzzer; otherwise a mile down the road i am still indicating and confusing other road users. 

I need to source a slightly louder buzzer for when I am wearing my Jabra Earpods with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) they turn a noisy environment into complete calm when doing 60+ mph you get to hear the engine tone beautifully, but all the squeaks / shudders on rough roads just blend down, absolute necessity for a two hour plus jouney and reduce fatigue.

Yes, several have done it. Mine was a cheap 12v buzzer from Maplins (oh, how I miss them) 30 years ago and still buzzing.

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, Top Banana said:

I thought I was the only who couldnt hear my flasher unit,so I hacked into the flasher feed and put a small 12v Piezo Buzzer; otherwise a mile down the road i am still indicating and confusing other road users. 

I need to source a slightly louder buzzer for when I am wearing my Jabra Earpods with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) 

 

Isn't it a bit unfair to blame the buzzer when you're wearing noise cancelling headphones....???

I'd just connect the indicator circuit to the horns, then you'll hear it alright.

[Dick Twitchen]

2 hours ago, Top Banana said:

absolute necessity for a two hour plus jouney

I'm afraid it's a GT6 Mk1 and was commented on when new, as was cabin heat.  I do journeys like that regularly; just turn the Cream/Free CD up, but there again after 40 years at sea, 30 of them as a gunnery officer, I probably have mitigation!

Dick

  

[PeteH]

1 hour ago, Dick Twitchen said:

I probably have mitigation!

Eh???. What??. 4hr sea watches, largely spent between 2 or 4 Large Marine Diesels and 4 Gen;sets. In the days before "Ear defenders" became even voluntary!. Hearing loss, and or the ability to filter out noise, (take your pick!).

So. I go for a hearing test, the test results come back, loss of some frequencies had occured. Parting shot from the the Tech:? " The frequencies are those generally of Womens Voices" 👍. So, when SWMBO say`s "you don`t listen". I have the get out of jail free card!.😂.

Downside, unlike my Pal, who was RAF. I don`t get the compensation package☹️.

As for LED`s. The Campervan, has all LED`s, makes one heck of a difference to the battery drain.

Pete

[Wagger]

Yup, on the last MOHO I fitted LED's everywhere, then discovered that the thing had a low frequency PWM charging system making the lights flicker every 2 secs. Drove me nuts, so retro fitted tungsten for the reading lights. Later on, relied on the solar charger and fitted LED's again.

Picking up next MOHO on 8th August, Can't wait. A month of touring the uk already booked.

[Top Banana]

2 hours ago, PeteH said:

Eh???. What??. 4hr sea watches, largely spent between 2 or 4 Large Marine Diesels and 4 Gen;sets. In the days before "Ear defenders" became even voluntary!. Hearing loss, and or the ability to filter out noise, (take your pick!).

So. I go for a hearing test, the test results come back, loss of some frequencies had occured. Parting shot from the the Tech:? " The frequencies are those generally of Womens Voices" 👍. So, when SWMBO say`s "you don`t listen". I have the get out of jail free card!.😂.

Downside, unlike my Pal, who was RAF. I don`t get the compensation package☹️.

As for LED`s. The Campervan, has all LED`s, makes one heck of a difference to the battery drain.

Pete

Funny you should mention hearing loss, I now wear hearing aids after going for some tests, wife always had to repeat herself constantly and I had to have the TV on loud. They work so well it was frightening and over bearing, too much for the brain to process.
 

Age onset deafness, only wear them for social events and to listen to the engine tappers or whilst tuning CD150 strombergs  their hissing , rest of the time I like quietness  and don’t wear them (my deafness is peace) as I mentioned above I drive the GT6 I with my noise cancelling earpods and pipe music from the iPhone.  I am saving up to have a pair for my passenger. One day I will sound proof the floor and tunnel to see if that helps some. But the biggest offender of noise in the cabin for no value/return is the blower/cabin heat as mentioned by @Dick Twitchen if anyone knows of an blower fan upgrade that is quiet then I want it for Christmas. 

[Colin Lindsay]

11 hours ago, Top Banana said:

Funny you should mention hearing loss, I now wear hearing aids after going for some tests, wife always had to repeat herself constantly and I had to have the TV on loud. They work so well it was frightening and over bearing, too much for the brain to process.
 

Age onset deafness, only wear them for social events and to listen to the engine tappers or whilst tuning CD150 strombergs  their hissing , rest of the time I like quietness  and don’t wear them (my deafness is peace) as I mentioned above I drive the GT6 I with my noise cancelling earpods and pipe music from the iPhone.  I am saving up to have a pair for my passenger. One day I will sound proof the floor and tunnel to see if that helps some. But the biggest offender of noise in the cabin for no value/return is the blower/cabin heat as mentioned by @Dick Twitchen if anyone knows of an blower fan upgrade that is quiet then I want it for Christmas. 

Lol same here; I went 80% deaf in my right ear (work trauma) in 2000, I eventually went for tests and got a hearing aid but hate it - it picks up everything... far too much. Haven't used it in years. I watch TV with subtitles on, but don't watch very much. Headphones are great provided I can adjust the balance and then the volume to a point where I can actually hear it. These new devices with volume limiting don't allow me to turn the right up far enough whilst keeping the left low. I had four speakers in my MK1 GT6 and with the bulkhead and tunnel soundproofed it was very clear.

I've not yet tried to find a blower that will improve the GT6 / Spitfire unit, it's not as easy to reach as the Herald version so I haven't been able to try any modern motors.

[Wagger]

If I wear ear defenders my tinnitis is absolutely deafening! However, since living in a quieter environment that has reduced and I can hear better. It was blanking normal hearing. Very obscure as if you try to analyse the 'Notes' the brain changes them. It has now changed to a version of the dawn chorus with all double glazing shut.

The only difference between me and a schizophrenic is that I know that the noises are only in my head!