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Increasing brightness of indicator lights on Herald 13/60


Quack

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Mine (13/60) look like standard 21W Bulbs to my Eye?. If so the issue is likely to be Bad Earthing? Reducing the "seen" voltage at the lamp, rather than anything else, Cleaning the lens and or reflectors might help?. Colin reported better lights after he did a service on his. Ultimately a change to LED`s?

Pete

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there is no dimming relay on Heralds   you can fit LED indicator and side lights    but will have to change the flasher unit for a LED compatible unit

headlamps bulbs  can be changed for halogens but if they are sealed beam lamp units you have to replace the whole headlamp to a bulbed fitting unit 

first job is to confirm you have the correct running voltage of around 14,5V 

voltage drop to lamps in the bonnet are very prone to poor earthing and many add relays to get 14v to the front not the often only around 10v due to poor switches long wire runs and bad earths

the basics have to be ok to start with before you mess with supposed upgrades.

Pete

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As the others have said, the most important thing for getting the indicators to adequate brightness is to fix the faults, not invent new. Your wiring is old and probably not as clean as it might be. The earth connections are terrible. The bulb sockets probably have a layer of corrosion on them and the crimps on the wires may not be any good now.

There's no point sticking a multimeter on it, by the way. You'll do so and see a resistance of an ohm or so and think "that's about zero" because the multimeter isn't very accurate around there. One ohm is decidedly NOT "about zero" for indicators. Two ohms will stop them working altogether. I had that on my Toledo - a corroded terminal on the light unit.

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I suppose a good way to determine if they have lost brightness would be to compare then to a modern that still uses bulbs not LEDs?

The ones on my 13/60 seem ok by, from memory of the distant past, the standards of the late 60s early 70s. I think I'll do a comparison at some point soon. Too late today, been out for a drive in the sun now need to get on with boring stuff.

I have fitted LED stop/brake lights though and they did improve things.

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18 minutes ago, Chris A said:

have fitted LED stop/brake lights though and they did improve things

Chris, what did you change? Can you get led with the correct fittings and do you need any other widgets. I'm also thinking of installing a rear window mounted stop/turn led strip, can you get them with "Stop you B*ast**d" letters? 

Iain 

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59 minutes ago, Iain T said:

Chris, what did you change?

Just the bulbs, straight swap.

While the kettle was boiling for our afternoon cuppa, I'm drinks monitor here, I popped out and compared the modern and Triumph indicators. The Triumph's are slightly yellower but just as visible as the Yeti. So I would agree with other comments, first make sure you are getting full power to the bulbs before getting the wallet out.

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and the front  side/flasher relies on a self tapper or screw to the body for the earth , often hidden corrosion here 

you may be lucky some lamp units do have a separate earth but they are again hidden in the bonnet with the same degraded contacts 

along with the bonnet earth link in the harness a new wire bonding the earth from the lighting back to the battery earth is a good idea 

ontop of adding full battery power via a relay supply at a later stage of working on an improvement 

every little helps turn glow worms into something  illuminating 

Pete

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I fitted rear LED bulbs to my MK 1 Vitesse a few months ago, side, brake and number plate lights much improved but when indicating right, the stop and tail light flashed.

It turned out to be the rubbish earth on the over rider bolt, cleaned that up and it works fine. Front indicators still filament bulbs.

Steve

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I fitted 2 watt bayonet LED's to my front parking lights a while back, They are bright enough for daytime running lamps. Might get flashed at night as they could be annoying for oncoming drivers. Should have bought 0.5 watt versions. Personnally, I do not like following cars with LED brake and indicator lamps. Sudden 'Turn on' leaves an inprint on my retinas. No time to look away.

My brothers were 9 years old at the end of WW2. They were used to really feeble vehicle lights. Dispatch riders wore goggles with slots cut vertically, horizontally and at 30 degrees to the horizontal. My mate still has his uncles. Fabulous, they don't mist up and make you look like a Dan Dare adversary.

In my house, since fitting LED bulbs in the hall and stairwell, the switches are failing because breaking the current is not burning the oxide off the contacts. Can't win. I leave them 'ON' now so that burglars can see when we are not in. Picture on the door of the dog with a dripping leg of meat in his jaws has worked so far.

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42 minutes ago, Iain T said:

Paul, where did you get your led strip? 

Been on Classic LED website for stop/tail and front sides, for the minimal cost and increased safety a no brainer!

Iain 

Amazon £10.99 deld . Search for High level brake light 

1CD6A749-16C1-4A1B-BBC9-2497EC34AE36.thumb.png.9c7c975854a57711d8cd8b470db90bf6.png

Paul 

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1 hour ago, Iain T said:

Paul, where did you get your led strip? 

Been on Classic LED website for stop/tail and front sides, for the minimal cost and increased safety a no brainer!

Iain 

I have their extra super bright (or whatever they call them) stop/tail lights. Absolutely, err, brilliant. Recommend them to anybody.

I also have a pair or small red led "eagle eye" buttons fitted to the rollbar on my spit, a bar wouldn't work. But  like the extra high level brake lights too, about the same height as some modern stuff....

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  • 8 months later...

CD90FD83-E55C-416C-AB54-24B01879FD05.thumb.jpeg.c75e7e6fc2521a3bce087607761d2a3d.jpegHi,

Came across this topic while browsing. Just cleaned and polished the reflectors, washed the glass and wiped the bulb on the rear cluster of my TR6. The improvement is “eye catching” . 

However, the front side lights not so impressive so will be installing LEDs back and front and will use them, for my own added safety and that of other road users, as daytime running lights.

Paul

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You can avoid changing the flashers by installing a 6.8 Ohm 50 W resistor in parallel with the LED bulbs. RS Components can supply them https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/chassis-mount-resistors/0160922 .

This does work and until I get round to sorting out the wiring on my TR7 V8 conversion & refitting the electronic flashers I am running with a resistor between each of the rear indicator lights & earth.

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