Nels,
Dim bulbs (in MGs) are often caused by poor electrical connections in
the supply and ground systems. If you have cleaned all the connections
and the bulbs are still dim, there still might be an alternative to
driving lamps.
The old headlamps now in your TD might be of lower wattage than
currently available units. It doesn't seem likely that a sealed-beam
bulb can go dim, but all of us have seen old bulbs that are yellow when
compared to new ones.
The TD workshop manual table (N.18) showsHome market headlamps to be
36/36 watts. Export RHD cars had 42/36 bulbs. Export Europe cars had
45/35 bulbs. The table from which these #s are taken did not refer to
either dynamo, so I suppose we can assume that the smaller dynamo was
adequate for these lights.
What I am coming around to is that two good headlamps should put out
enough light for the sort of driving TD people do at night. There are
some halogen bulbs that are rated 45watts. It would appear that you could
safely upgrade to them without worry if you add the consumption of the
tail light bulbs (regular or halogen), side lamps, other electrical
equipment in use and the total is less than or equal to the dynamo
output. You don't need to count the brake-light filaments in this, since
the brake lights are not on for long.
My concern in going to halogen lights of much greater power than 45
watts is that the wires and light switch might be inadequate for the
current draw. Perhaps someone who knows their (wire & switch) capacity
can share information on this.
Bob
On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 15:32:10 -0400 Nels Anderson <nels@flightsim.com>
writes:
> Having now done some driving at night with the TD it's clear that
> some
> additional lighting would be nice. I see quite a few TD's do have
> fog or
> driving lights but the electrical system makes me wonder...the TD
> generator only puts out 19 amps so it seems like there's not a whole
> lot
> of excess capacity for adding additional lighting. Or am I worrying
> over
> nothing? If it matters, I have the Moss part #140-300 generator
> which is
> supposed to be an exact duplicate of the original. Is this up to
> powering a pair of fog lights?
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