Light bulbs

[tvrgeek]

Gad, what a search to figure out all the light bulbs. Repair manual had errors, not too sure of some of Rimmers numbers but managed to figure most of them out. They Sure used a lot of different ones.
A lot of them are actually only listed by the Lucas number, not a more generic GE/Sylvania/Phillips number.

No wonder I can barely see the dash indicators. 1.5W. Just not enough. 2.2 is more like it.

Another odd design, left and right door switches controlling cabin lights left and right with two independent bulbs in the t-frame. Crazy.

I will be converting most of them to LED. Probably just Halogen headlights as I have not seen LED with really good beam shape. Guess I should put in relays if I go 45/55W instead of the US 35/50W. Found several more "fixes" I need to go and actually fix. Not as screwed up as some, but clearly by someone not really understanding how harsh the auto environment is.

[StagJonno]

If you do go the relay route, I'd strongly recommend you put individual fuses per headlamp element, so a single bulb failing in short circuit doesn't kill all your lights. Don't know if you can get "superbright" halogens over there - I found they made a vast improvement, though a reduced life is to be expected (as well as higher cost).

[tvrgeek]

Reading today, planning on the new Hella H1/H4 headlights unless someone convinces me some new LED light has as good a beam control.
TR already did provide 4 fuses. Depending where I put the relays, I can likely use the same fuses.

Note: Incandescent bulbs fail OPEN. Never heard of one failing short. Ever. Fuses in a light circuit are only to protect the wire. Now, an LED has a driver circuit in it and I guess there is a possibility of a fault in the driver being a short.

Motors fail stalled, or close to a short, so motors should be fused for both the motor and wiring. Relays are to take the load off the light switch. I do not know about how rugged the Stag switch is as in the home market, they did come with H1 and H4 bulbs, but Lucas headlight switches are infamous for burning up.

Took the entire day to figure out all the bulbs. Getting to some of them was "fun". Tomorrow I start fixing what someone already "fixed"

[Phil S]

my h4 led's are from Gil at better car lighting. not cheap but good beam pattern and in warm white or daylight

[StagJonno]

"Note: Incandescent bulbs fail OPEN. Never heard of one failing short. Ever. Fuses in a light circuit are only to protect the wire. Now, an LED has a driver circuit in it and I guess there is a possibility of a fault in the driver being a short."

You must have different light bulbs over there. Agree, in most cases, the filaments fail open circuit but I've had enough instances where an incandescent failing has taken out the entire lighting circuit on overcurrent, to want to factor this in, especially if driving briskly on an unllt road. The original Triumph arrangement with 1 fuse per light element supports this view.

[tvrgeek]

I would to do analysis on a bulb that has shorted. Only thing I can think of is some bulbs have a shield in them that could have a defective weld, break lose and short. Very hard to imagine. Maybe a Baja racer could break the tabs off and they bounce around hitting something. For you to have seen more than one is a mystery to me. Many cars have no fuses in the headlight circuits. TR used 4, not 6 or 8. In my MG, I have an 80A master fuse that will blow if a dead short without damage to even 14 gauge wire. ( my headlights are wired with 12) Now, I have seen fires due to corroded terminals and when enough insulation melts, cause a short. When our cars were built, the wire insulation was not the modern cross-linked stuff that chars instead of melting flaming and dripping off. Someone melted the ballast wire into the harness in my car, so I need to unwrap, inspect and repair.