I am not sure how thinner wire results in bulbs burning out more quickly?
Smaller gauge wire means higher resistance in the electrical path, more
resistance means less voltage to the bulb. Less voltage means less
current. Less current means lower filament temperature. Lower temperature
means longer life of the bulb. Or am I missing something? However, the
most interesting thing is the US motor industries continued stupidity to
adopt better technology. They have such an enormous NIH attitude. When I
bought my first American car in 1968 I asked for "radials". The salesman
had no idea what I was talking about and insisted there were no such
things. I was racing on them 13 (THIRTEEN) years earlier !!!! Oh god,
just realised that has dated me!!!!
At 01:25 PM 11/7/2003 -0800, Dodd, Kelvin wrote:
>I think I was blessed with a tad bit of night blindness so during my
>mis-spent youth of night time high speed raiding I got a lot of experience
>with headlights and driving lamps.
>
>The federal history of automotive lighting is pretty depressing. During
>the 60s there was a wealth of European manufacturers building high quality
>headlamps, all of which were ilegal in the US. The DOT didn't trust US
>citizens to dip their lights appropriately and the US lamp manufacturers
>made a pretty effective lobbying effort to prevent foreign technology from
>getting a toe hold. Quartz Halogen headlamps made by such companies as
>Cibie and Sev Marchal were illegal to install, although they were
>available. This made many of us sports car nuts criminals, as we thumbed
>our noses at the politicians and gendarmes in our little sports cars with
>hot head lights. (oh well it was a bit romantic at the time)
>
>For this reason we got 4 tiny headlamps in the XJS and Rover SD1 instead
>of the cool Eurospec units designed around modern bulb, reflector and lens
>technology. During the 80s there was no stopping the higher efficiency of
>the halogen bulbs, so standards were relaxed to allow halogen bulbs to be
>legally available to the US motoring public. But the lobbyists got their
>punch in, Halogen bulbs could only be sold in SEALED lamp units. With one
>swift slash of the political pen the playing field had been leveled
>allowing Westinghouse and company to design, build and sell old fashioned
>technology sealed housings, but now with halogen bulbs
>installed. Suddenly we had brighter lamps, but with the same old
>reflectors and lenses, a real step forward. Not to mention when the bulb
>failed, you had to throw away the whole lamp assembly which did nothing to
>forward the cause of high quality optics. The only European manufacturer
>to come to the plate was Cibie who introduced a sealed la!
>mp enclosure with high quality optics that had a pocket at the back to
>accept a replacable H4 bulb. Thus showing that the French were smart
>enough to bend the laws even if they wouldn't let the British do the same
>thing at Le Mans.
>
>Finally I believe we have the automakers to thank who figured out if they
>made the lamp assemblies unique for each car they could sell lots of
>expensive high quality optical units through the crash repair
>aftermarket. I don't think Westinghouse et al were very happy about this
>idea, but I think it indicates who has more political clout. I do have a
>sinking feeling that there was some kind of agreement that the
>manufacturers would undersize the wiring in their vehicles so that the
>replacement bulbs made by Westinghouse et al would burn out more
>often. I've no proof, but for some reason the operational life of all
>bulbs in current US vehicles seems to be very short.
>
>So we have a grand conspiracy, a government with no trust in the common
>man, criminal sports car drivers and an on-going battle of the optics.
>
>Now don't get me started on rear fog lights, but every time I see some
>idiot driving on a clear night with the &*$(^&%&%* rear foglights on, I
>realize that perhaps the government was right not to trust us.
>
>Now I had better get back to work.
>
>TTFN
>
>Kelvin.
>
>
> > > I thought sealed-beam halogens died a well-deserved death
> > around 1980
> > > or so. The only advantage they have is they're brighter,
> > which means
> > > inflicting oncoming drivers with more blinding glare because the
> > > crummy Coke-bottle lenses have no effective cutoff pattern.
> >
> > David, I think you may be a touch confused. Sealed-beam simply means
> > that the bulb and lens/reflector are replaced as a single unit. The
> > halogen version has a halogen bulb inside. These are still readily
> > available as replacement items for cars orginally fitted with them.
> >
> > In the US, bulbs like the H4 with seperate reflector/lens
> > didn't really
> > take off until the federal regs changed, and you started seeing
> > 'composite' headlamps on new cars. Cars like the MG with standard 7"
> > round lamps can be fitted with Cibie, Wipac, or other units
> > with a bulb
> > of your choice. Or you just spend $7 on a new sealed beam
> > halogen when
> > the existing ones burn out.
> >
> > The lens pattern is more a result of federal regs than
> > anything else, so
> > while a US-spec Cibie or Wipac will be an improvement over
> > the standard
> > lamp, if you want a good pattern and cutoff, you need to get E-code
> > lights. They are, of course, technically not legal for road
> > use in the
> > US, but given the fact that they won't dazzle other drivers,
> > and there's
> > such a wide variety of headlights out there these days, it's
> > unlikely to
> > cause any problems.
>
Regards
Barrie
Barrie Robinson
barrier@bconnex.net
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