Technical 6 volt driving lights, are they worth it?

got my 38 stude, its 6 volt lights are as dim as 1 candle right before it blows out !!!
I literally can hold my flashlight out the window to get home most nights from town, its a ton brighter !
anyways was thinking of getting some 6 volt clear driving lights off of egay and want to know if they're worth the money or just 5 candlepower instead of 1 ?
thx
for help
goatboy

 

Check your connections and clean them. 6V lights aren't necessarily inherently dimmer, but poor connections really affect them.

 

Just for shits and giggles, run a 8 gage wire brom the hot post on your battery to the terminal for one headlight. You might be surprised. Or not.

Ben

 

How about a little more detail. I assume they are bulbs, is the silver good on your reflectors? I assume you are not running a lens in front of a later sealed beam. As others have said run wires straight from the battery post and see if they are bright enough. A bad ground will wreck havoc with a 6 volt system.

Charlie Stephens

 

IF battery direct wires cause bright enough headlights, use relays which cause battery direct voltage. Done it myself and it worked great for me. Basically it eliminates the voltage drop though the switch and extra length. Locate the relay as close to the headlight as you can. If your headlights are in a pod, put relay in the pod and use heavy wires back to the battery. Pos and Neg.

 

When my Crosley was 6v the lights were ok for about up to 30mph or so but oncoming traffic would wash the 6v lights out..Had amber driving/fog lights and didn't think they added much except healthy draw on charging system till I shut them off..Big difference..

 

Replacing dim or yellow tungsten bulbs with halogen (for example) isn't the solution - yours is a voltage problem. They won't be any brighter, maybe less. Conventional incandescent bulbs brightness or lumens will drop off a cliff whenever the voltage drops even slightly. In the old vintage stuff rust and corrosion in the ground cables and connections and switches is the culprit.

Relays work great, but you should always fix the underlying problem first. You can bet if the lights are starved for juice, so is everything else, including the ignition. It will run noticeably better when you get everything squared away, and the relays will work that much better.

 

Charlie Stephens hit on one thing that I have had trouble with in the past. Reflectors that have just flat lost their shine and don't reflect no matter what bulbs you have. I had that issue with some Cibie H4 lights I had in my 48 for a number of years an got pulled over for the headlights being dim with 55 watt low beam bulbs in it.
The other thing he mentioned is GROUNDS bad ground connections equal dim lights no matter what bulbs you have or if the reflectors are good.
Adding relays and just having the light switch and dimmer switch trigger the relay with full power sent to the lights is a good idea on any headlight system.

 

Answer to the driving light question - I had a pair of GE 40?? 5'' sealed beams marked "Passing" in King Bee 98-99 buckets on a '46 Chev truck. Once I changed the 25 amp Chev charging system parts to Buick or Cad 40+ amp., it was amazing ! I also used a relay for them - draw was too high to run thru a switch.

 

Thx for all the responses guys im gonna try some of these things, have put new wiring on everything from the dash forward for lights but no help. May try new sealed beams that sounds good.
Thx again

 

If your car came with bulbs don't try to put the sealed beams behind the original lens or it will defocus the light.

Charlie Strephens

 

well I put the new sealed beams in, put on new ground wires to each, and boom tons better light !
kinda had to modify the original parts but I wanna drive this thing at night some, so what the hell.
thanks for the help and ideas guys