Headlight bulbs

[focusedontheprize]

I was wondering what ones you guys went with? I am not too familiar with electronics and wanted to get a brighter set. The new harness is a 12v system.

Thanks

[OKGMC4]

You could spend a ton of money on some H4 conversion bulbs and it would help some, but all the standard halogen bulbs work fine if you wire them to relays to stop all the power from going through the switch first. When they get power through a larger wire that is closer to the battery it causes them to be MUCH brighter. I did it and my 56 lights are as bright as my 08 Ram. Would you be willing to do that?

[Dan in Pasadena]

The timing on this thread is good.

I have a small local shop that does really nice work and is cheap. I took my truck to him (Henry) when I first got it and told him to, "...fix everything. If you wouldn't want it on your truck, fix it". He did all repairs, cut out some nastiness, everything was properly soldered, shrink wrapped, put in wrap and zip tied. He charged me I think it was $225 or $235 for all of it. I was and am very happy with it.

I just recently pulled my headlight buckets to wire wheel, prime/paint them, reinstall with new sockets and seals (60 years service is long enough). I also bought new signal housings and lenses - mine were rusted solid. I couldn't even get the light bulbs to come out but the lenses fell apart when I pulled them. As it happens, I also have a headlight relay & wiring kit that were for my old 911 I never installed them. I see no reason they can't be made to work for the truck.

Tomorrow, I'm dropping it off with Henry. I'll take Before and After photos of the light they give AND of the relay mount location. Hopefully this will help someone down the line.

Oh and P.S. I'm going to my local auto parts store today to buy new sealed beams (no idea how old my current ones are) that are hopefully brighter. I don't know if that's all hype or there's some (perhaps minimal) actually brighter sealed beams of good quality out there(?)

[Russell Ashley]

I'm using Sylvania 2D1 halogen sealed beams in my truck, with all new wiring and light switch, but no relays. They have worked fine so far but I haven't used the lights for an extended length of time yet. I've used halogens in all of my previous cars that had sealed beams with no relays and no problems. I have the relays but elected not to install them when I rewired my truck, so I can always install them if needed.

[thotfulspot]

Relays and a heavier gauge wire to the bulbs make a huge difference. I upgrade the lights on all my vehicles. New wiring with a relay helps them all.
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[Dan in Pasadena]

I just bought Sylvania Silverstars.



I KNOW they're nothing like H4's. I don't expect a HUGE difference over what a new non-"high performance" light would do but compared to the yellow, dim originals along with the relays I expect nice, bright semi white headlights. That'll be plenty fine for me as I drive the truck very little in the dark but if/when I do I don't want to take a chance at losing all the work I've done up to now.

[broey]

t3's!!!

[Rude Dude]

Maybe this will help you guys if you want relays wired in

[Dan in Pasadena]

Rudy,
I dropped my truck off with my auto electric guy this morning. He told me not to bother with relays for my sealed beams. He said with a generator that doesn't charge at idle I was going to get the same dimming but that if I upgraded to an alternator I would have the same voltage at the lights all the time. Sounded reasonable to me BUT I thought the whole point of relays was to not run full battery voltage through the headlight switch?

Bottomline is I agreed to go to an alternator - I was probably going to do that eventually anyway. And I will rarely drive the truck after dark anyway but if I ever go to H4's I suppose I will wire in the relays, but for now no relays. I hope I don't regret it.

[thotfulspot]

Relays can be added at any time. The advantage is running a larger gauge power wire from the alternator or battery and just a regular gauge wire to the headlight switch to act as a trigger. Lots of companies sell upgrade kits. For a regular sealed beam it's overkill. If you go to H4s it is the best alternative. Especially with the age of most wiring on old vehicles. They will work with stock wiring, but there is the danger of drawing too much power through small gauge wire and the switch. Drawing too much power can cause the wiring to heat up and can possibly melt and cause a fire.
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[oldcouple]

The replacement HL switch has a breaker that is marginal when it comes to running the H4s. Sitting in traffic at a accident site, breaker switched off lights, as I started for the off ramp, the cop directing traffic just had to tell me they were off. Duh, glad he was directing traffic and could not chase me down. So a relay would probably avoid this problem.

[mr48chev]

We install relays because high output headlights draw quite a bit more amps than stock headlights. It has nothing to do with the volts but all to do with the amp load of the headlights.

The T3's are cute but don't put enough light out for the way and where I drive. They are fine in a stock restored truck where you want the original look or maybe in a "traditional" custom truck where you are shooting for a period correct look right down the headlight bulbs. They don't put out enough light far enough down the road for my eyes to see what is in the road ahead though. If your daily has high output halogens you will think you have gone blind the first time you drive on a dark highway late at night.
The Silverstars are probably the brightest plug and play halogen sealed beams you will find before you go to H-4 lights. You also don't have to modify the headlight buckets to run them as you do with some H-4 lights.

I've run H-4 lights for years in the 48 and in my 71. Cibies in the 48 and after several failed tries with Ebay junk I found an Ebay vendor who goes by Rimiinc and has the Ebay store Autopal lights http://stores.ebay.com/Autopal-Lights?_rdc=1 I've had real good luck with his lights which are made in India and he is in the Dallas area.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oldcouple - I looked at my new headlight switch and it has an old fashioned glass fuse. Is that what you meant?

Mr48 - You're ALMOST "speaking in tongues" to me, ha ha. Not QUITE, but almost. You noticed I took my truck to an auto electric guy, right?

I know what a sealed beam is and I assume the Silverstars are not a true "high performance" light(?) so I don't really need to be too concerned about drawing too much current, is that safe to assume?

I have no idea what a "T-3" is or if it's "cute". What is it?

As for H4's - What I know about them could be written on the head of a pin! It comes from having had them on my old 911. They looked like sealed beam headlights but were much brighter - even though mine were never on relays. Any remedial "Idiot's Guide to Headlights" explanation - including terminology - would be appreciated.

Thanks everyone for the input so far. - Dan
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[thotfulspot]

H4s are a halogen bulb. The lights look like your sealed beam lights but with removable bulbs. H4 is a common size. There are different colors available. Normal lighting is 4300 lumen. There are white bulbs available that are 6000 lumen. There are also bluish or purple bulbs that look brighter but when driving actually put out more light. I would stick with the standard 4300 because they are the color range you are used too and won't blind oncoming traffic. You also want to make sure they are aimed correctly.
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[Dan in Pasadena]

Ok, thanks for clearing up my confusion on the H4's. Kinda what I thought but was uncertain. Yes, I knew about the colors. Anything beyond just a clean white looks stupid to me, but hey I'm older and un-hip! ha ha.

I remember from discussion on a Chevy diesel forum there was a WHOLE "thing" about all the different light patterns different lights throw. Some that go "up" on the sides to illuminate road signs without blinding oncoming traffic. I hope I never get that into lights. If I can see further than with stock lights, I'm goo.

[thotfulspot]

What they were probably talking about were projector lights found on newer vehicles. They are aimed with a cutoff that goes up on the side for road signs. I've got them on my BMW and it's a whole different world. They look like cones in the headlights.
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[Dan in Pasadena]

I'm sure you're right. This was in a discussion of improving lights for my '08 Chevy 3500 LTZ Crew Dually 4x4. Those guys want Everything on the truck to be bigger, preferably huge!

[oldcouple]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Oldcouple - I looked at my new headlight switch and it has an old fashioned glass fuse. Is that what you meant?

Dan
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The glass fuse is a 3 amp for the instrument panel lights, the breakers are part of the switch,. look here:

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...55csm1204.html

Other switch info here.:http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...php?tid/33652/

[JellyBeanDriver]

Originally Posted by thotfulspot

Normal lighting is 4300 lumen. There are white bulbs available that are 6000 lumen. There are also bluish or purple bulbs that look brighter but when driving actually put out more light.

4300 and 6000 is color temperature. Lumen is brightness.

[thotfulspot]

Sorry, I was trying to simplify it. Most people don't know the difference and buy too high of a color temperature thinking they will see better.
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[SCHRUMGMC]

Interesting, I still have the Original Head lights for my 59

[focusedontheprize]

Been without the Internet for a few days....

Thanks for all the responses. I figured I could walk into Advance and just grab any sealed light bulbs. After doing some research (a lot of people are saying the H4 upgrade is pretty simple), at this point I am going to stay with the sealed bulbs until the winter. I am going to grab the Silverstars which are suppose to be the brightest sealed bulbs.

I'll let you know how it goes.