Not to bright

I have 56 Packard tail/stop/turn lights on my '53 Buick. Severial people have tolf me that its hard to see the during the day. (I won,t change the lights) What else will solve the problem. I am usinf L.E. D. bulbs.

 

Check for a bad ground. The simple things are what trip you up.

 

LED bulbs might not be the best. Usually the LED bulbs that replace regular bulbs are just pinpoints. The reflector was designed by the factory for a bulb with a large 'glow'. Hence, LED retrofits by using LED replacement bulbs often fail. Suggest using a plain old bulb like the car came with. Clean the inside of the lens and paint the metal reflector with glossy white. You'll be fine.

 

I agree as to the regular 1157's instead of the LED's--as to the ground issue, don't forget to make sure not only that the taillight housing is grounded well to the body but also make sure the car body is well grounded to the engine block, as in a good ground strap running from the firewall to the engine block.

 

There are some "bright bulbs" sold by Ron Francis that are supposed to be more brighter than regular 1157's, but I've heard that they also get very hot.

R-

 

Paint the inside silver for better reflection behind the lens and use a normal bulb!!

 

Use shiny duct tape (see pics) and a 2057 bulb much brighter.Gary

 

Clean the inside of the lenses thoroughly and the inside of the taillamp housing.
Paint the inside of the housing with gloss white paint being careful to mask off the sockets.
Use 2057 bulbs which are much brighter on the brake light filament than the 1157 bulbs.
Of course, checking all ground wires and ground points is the first step to better lighting.

I've been telling folks this for well over 30 years now and there are a whale of a lot of brighter taillamps in the backends of hotrods than there were before.
It doesn't hurt a bit to periodically take out and clean your taillamp lenses especially those of dark ruby glass prior to 1951 or so. The refractor patterns in the inside of the lenses can get pretty dirty even though you're sure they don't.

 

Thanks guys. I'll be under the car in the early
am before it gets to hot
I'll keep you posted
thanks

 

You could also drill a hole and put a second bulb in the housing.

 

I've used these, but not to good effect.
You see, the standard bulb is 7/21 watt, or, put another way, the brake is 3 times the wattage of the taillamp.

'Bright" bulbs are 21/50 watt, or, the brake is twice the taillamp.

In practice, many told me that the brake was hard to distinguish from the taillamp.

And, for that, I changed back.

Cosmo

 

use led that are 360 deg wrapped in diodes, these worked for me, 30 little diodes hit any reflector in ant style taillight....

 

I just went through this with my '39 tail lights. I used a halogen H-3 bulb conversion from Julianos which are much brighter than the 1157 style bulb. But, I also repainted the inside of the tail light housing from silver to WHITE. What a difference this made, as the '39 lens/light assembly has to be one of the hardest to see at night.

 

I've used, and liked, the Ron Francis Brite Bulbs. I've got some in a late model plastic housing/plastic lens taillight unit and had no problems with over-heating. I think there is a significant difference between the brightness the brake vs tail light-plus I run a very not-yet-traditional 3rd brake light.

We don't need to digress, as we usually do, as to the merits or demerits of a third light-I merely point out that this helps differentiate whether I am stopping or turning. The RF bulbs have worked well for me.

 

I tested this on a trailer light set: painting the inside WHITE is better than SILVER. Reflects best by far.

 

I went back to the orginal 1157 and what differance, toon thr good. thanks guys

 

"toon thr good" WHATZIT?

 

Huh?

 

Loose the LEds and either get a factory type of bulb or a halogen replacement bulb for the factory type bulb.


Someone mentioned that the reflector is not going to work well with the LEDs and they are absolutely correct.

 

Normal bulbs. White paint is best. Look at the link I posted at the end of this old thread.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64606&highlight=white+tailight

 

This worked for me, buddy told me he couldnt see my brakes in daylight. Painted the backing plate silver and now visible as can be.

 

^^^^^ Thats the winning ticket hands down. And a good ground if thats part of the issue as well.

 

White is the reflection of all light, black is the absorption of all light.
Silver is the relection of some light.

 

The ink is Black
The page is White
Together we learn
To read and write

 

this works great! i looked inside some 39 taillights to see why they were so bright compared to the 3 other cars with 39 tails i was following down the road to a show. lots of wrinkles in the tape also. man they were much brighter.