Lister’s:
i have two driving lights on my XK 150 FHC.
when i am driving with the regular high beams on and turn on the
driving lights they do not make much of a difference.
I believe they are 44 or 48 watt (two).
i would like to not be over running my headlights at 80 at night.
suggestions? (besides slow down)
ron rader
Ron,
Get ready for an education on light bulbs. I just went through this.
It’s tough to track down bulbs because these are pre-focused driving lamps.
That means that the bulb required has to have the filament in the correct
spot and orientation for the lamps to throw the light out as straight as
possible.
If you have a correct bulb, go to www.donsbulbs.com where you enter the info
and check the specs. My driving lamps require a 185 bulb.
<www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/b.pl/185~lucas.html>. Unfortunately, the one
important measurement missing from my bulb listing is light center length
(l.c.l.). I measured the one bulb I had and it is 22.5 mm. It puts out a
pencil of light. I ordered a replacement bulb for my other lamp and although
it is 55 watts compared to 48 watts for my older bulb, the l.c.l. is 27mm.
The beam appears as diffuse as my high beams without much added
illumination.
If anyone has any 185 bulbs around, I’d be interested to know the l.c.l.
(measured from the top of the flange to the middle of the filament) and any
information stamped on the bulb.
In my searching, I found a handful of vintage car places that carried what
they called a 185H. Unfortunately for us, most of them are in Great Britain.
The 185H appears to be a 55W halogen bulb grafted to the P36S base (36mm
wide flange with a single connector – the base is the ground). They’re a
lot more expensive at about $30 each vs. couple bucks for the incandescent
from Moss Motors. I did find a place in the states that carried them, but
can’t find it now.
Keep me posted and if you find and buy the halogen version of your bulbs,
let me know how they work out.
“Mark 1” Mark Stephenson Phoenix, AZ
52 XK120 S673129; 59 Mark 1; 84, 85, 86, 95 XJ6-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xk@jag-lovers.org [mailto:owner-xk@jag-lovers.org] On Behalf Of
F. Ronald Rader
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 5:09 PM
To: list - XK’s
Subject: [xk] looking for brighter driving lights.
Lister’s:
i have two driving lights on my XK 150 FHC.
when i am driving with the regular high beams on and turn on the
driving lights they do not make much of a difference.
I believe they are 44 or 48 watt (two).
i would like to not be over running my headlights at 80 at night.
suggestions? (besides slow down)
ron rader
In reply to a message from F. Ronald Rader sent Sun 10 May 2009:
Ron; One of the first things to do is to verify your cars charging
system voltage. You should have your regulator set to deliver 14.3
~ 14.7 volts with the lights on and engine running at over 2000
rpm. If you system voltage is low, your lights will be dim.
Another item to verify is the headlight switch. It should NEVER be
used to energize your driving lights along with the headlights.
My suggestion is to use relays for both your headlights and driving
lights. Also make certain that wires of sufficient size are used
to feed any of the lights. The original wiring and switchgear is
barely adequate for minimal use.
As an example, when I re-wired my 120 along with installing an
alternator, I installed relays to energize all the head and driving
lights. I also went up (down numerically) one wire guage to reduce
any resistance on all of the wiring to and from the regulator,
light switch, relays and the lights themselves. All of this
(except the alternator) is hidden and completely stock appearing.
I have actually had people complain about how bright my lights are -
- on low beam yet.
YMMV Roger–
Roger, 1954 120 DHC BRG, S678300
Tamarac, South Fla., United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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SEE BELOW
Ron; One of the first things to do is to verify your cars charging
system voltage. You should have your regulator set to deliver 14.3
~ 14.7 volts with the lights on and engine running at over 2000
rpm. If you system voltage is low, your lights will be dim.
VERY GOOD POINT. AT THIS POINT CHANGING TO A ALTERNATOR SEEMS LIKE A GOOD IDEA.
Another item to verify is the headlight switch. It should NEVER be
used to energize your driving lights along with the headlights.
THEY ARE CURRENTLY ON ALL NEW WIRING TO AN ON / OFF SWITCH.
My suggestion is to use relays for both your headlights and driving
lights. Also make certain that wires of sufficient size are used
to feed any of the lights. The original wiring and switchgear is
barely adequate for minimal use.
ONCE BOTH HEADLIGHTS AND DRIVING LIGHTS ARE ON NEW WIRES AND RELAYS IS
THERE ANY REASON YOU COULD NOT USE THE FOOT DIMMER?>
As an example, when I re-wired my 120 along with installing an
alternator, I installed relays to energize all the head and driving
lights. I also went up (down numerically) one wire guage to reduce
any resistance on all of the wiring to and from the regulator,
light switch, relays and the lights themselves. All of this
(except the alternator) is hidden and completely stock appearing.
I have actually had people complain about how bright my lights are -
- on low beam yet.
YMMV Roger
Ron,
Check out the discussion we’re having under the heading, XK120 FHC Foglight
Switch. Gary Lindstrom has a schematic showing a single relay for both high
and low beams plus driving lights that looks like it was done on a AutoCAD,
and I have a much poorer hand-drawing showing separate relays for high and
low beams. Gary has a trick set up mounted on Plexiglas as a display, and I
show mine mounted under the bonnet. My layout has a separate dash switch for
the driving lights and Gary’s uses the Fog Light (F) position of a
four-position headlamp switch. Both of us wire the driving lights so that
they can be turned off, but when they are on, they go on and off with the
high beams via the dipper switch.
The advantage of my setup is that the dipper switch, one more point of
resistance, is removed from the high amperage circuit and the wiring changes
are all easily made under the bonnet. The benefit of Gary’s configuration is
that the changes can all be easily hidden under the dash so that the car
appears totally stock.
“Mark 1” Mark Stephenson Phoenix, AZ
52 XK120 S673129; 59 Mark 1; 84, 85, 86, 95 XJ6
VERY GOOD POINT. AT THIS POINT CHANGING TO A ALTERNATOR SEEMS LIKE A GOOD
IDEA.
THEY ARE CURRENTLY ON ALL NEW WIRING TO AN ON / OFF SWITCH.
ONCE BOTH HEADLIGHTS AND DRIVING LIGHTS ARE ON NEW WIRES AND RELAYS IS
THERE ANY REASON YOU COULD NOT USE THE FOOT DIMMER?
In reply to a message from F. Ronald Rader sent Mon 11 May 2009:
The foot dimmer should be used to supply signal voltage to relays
used to energize your headlights or driving lights. One relay for
low beam, one relay for high beam and (if you choose) a switched
signal voltage for the driving lamp relay.
I set my driving lamps up to work only with my high beams and with
a switch on the signal voltage from the foot dipper switch.
Thus I have three relays for my head and driving lamps. One high
beam, one low beam, one (with toggle switch) for driving lamps.
All getting their signal voltage through the dipper switch, all
getting their load voltage from (what was) the voltage regulators
main load terminal, all using heavier guage wires.
A alternator is a good idea, but a generator in good fettle will
serve you well enough, as long as its output voltage is up to snuff
and it’s current capacity is adequate. XK gennys are 20 or 30
ampere output. This is barely adequate even when in good and
proper operating condition. (Add up all the wattage of all the
bulbs, and other loads & then add 20% for battery charging & then
divide by 14 to find your net amperage load under the BEST of
conditions. Divide by 12 for less than good conditions)
Roger–
The original message included these comments:
VERY GOOD POINT. AT THIS POINT CHANGING TO A ALTERNATOR SEEMS LIKE A GOOD IDEA.
ONCE BOTH HEADLIGHTS AND DRIVING LIGHTS ARE ON NEW WIRES AND RELAYS IS
THERE ANY REASON YOU COULD NOT USE THE FOOT DIMMER?
–
Roger, 1954 120 DHC BRG, S678300
Tamarac, South Fla., United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
–Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php –
In reply to a message from Velocette sent Tue 12 May 2009:
I almost had a solution, but a large alternator might be needed. At
a local weekend flea mkt. a guy had a few boxes of GE airplane
landing lights and they were the same diameter as the 140/150
driving lights. They put out 250 watts each, I think a regular high
beam is around 50 watts. I took a light housing to him, to see if
they’d fit and the diameter was perfect, but the bulb was about
1/4’’ too deep and I couldn’t close the light. The MK2 lights are a
little different, maybe the bulbs will fit in them, i’ll have to
check.
Phil.–
PhilW
Virginville, Pa., United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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Phil,
You could blind yourself with those, with whatever they reflected off of. If
you flashed an inconsiderate driver with those, you’d probably burn out
their retinas. Are they 12V? Halogen, tungsten or something else?
Modern bulbs certified for on road are 55/60W (low/high) although the
halogens are brighter than tungstens for the same wattage. HIDs are even
brighter, I believe.
“Mark 1” Mark Stephenson Phoenix, AZ
52 XK120 S673129; 59 Mark 1; 84, 85, 86, 95 XJ6-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xk@jag-lovers.org [mailto:owner-xk@jag-lovers.org] On Behalf Of
PhilW
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 1:22 PM
To: xk@jag-lovers.org
Subject: Re: [xk] looking for brighter driving lights.
In reply to a message from Velocette sent Tue 12 May 2009:
I almost had a solution, but a large alternator might be needed. At
a local weekend flea mkt. a guy had a few boxes of GE airplane
landing lights and they were the same diameter as the 140/150
driving lights. They put out 250 watts each, I think a regular high
beam is around 50 watts. I took a light housing to him, to see if
they’d fit and the diameter was perfect, but the bulb was about
1/4’’ too deep and I couldn’t close the light. The MK2 lights are a
little different, maybe the bulbs will fit in them, i’ll have to
check.
Phil.
PhilW
Virginville, Pa., United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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Phil W;
Better check the Voltage, as well Most Aircraft Systems are 24volt!
Charles #677556.----- Original Message -----
From: “PhilW”
I almost had a solution, but a large alternator might be needed. At
a local weekend flea mkt. a guy had a few boxes of GE airplane
landing lights and they were the same diameter as the 140/150
driving lights. They put out 250 watts each, I think a regular high
beam is around 50 watts. I took a light housing to him, to see if
they’d fit and the diameter was perfect, but the bulb was about
1/4’’ too deep and I couldn’t close the light. The MK2 lights are a
little different, maybe the bulbs will fit in them, i’ll have to
check.Phil.
When I was much younger and had a Bugeye Sprite, I got a pair of
landing lights and installed them on the car. Besides being very
bright they got devilishly hot along with the wiring. Everything
including the relay has to be heavy duty if your going to try those
things. They put out a helluva lot of light though.
Brian
" I almost had a solution, but a large alternator might be needed. At
a local weekend flea mkt. a guy had a few boxes of GE airplane landing
lights and they were the same diameter as the 140/150 driving
lights. … "
I ran a single GE aircraft landing bulb (4522 I believe) as a passenger side high beam in a 62 Pontiac Tempest when I was in college. Using two them caused the circuit breaker to flash off and on. Of course that car had an alternator that could keep up. I recall I had to notch the mounting to fit the lug on the back of the bulb and achieve the proper orientation.
Brian
In reply to a message from Mark Stephenson sent Sun 17 May 2009:
They were an old stock of bulbs from the late '60’s or '70’s. They
were 12 volt and the guy put one on his old farm tractor and he
could ‘‘go spotting deer’’ with it. It would certainly need some
serious direct from battery wiring/fuse/switch.
I’m sure even in my part of the country, there are laws against
them.
Phil.–
PhilW
Virginville, Pa., United States
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