Hi there,
Re my 1959 Ninety Eight it appears I have found a headlight problem and after testing seams about time to just replace all four lights and be done with it.
(High beam is fine with only one light on low beam).

I can head on down the 50 watt path same as factory as I do not drive all that much after dark anyway so the factory yellow 10 candle power is sufficient for my needs.
Just toying with an idea so the question is:
Taking into consideration the age of the wiring how much higher in wattage

can I safely go before cooking that wiring. 55 watt or 60 watt maybe if at all?
Im not really that interested in adding fancy L.E.Ds or relays just putting new lights in.

I can get sealed beams straight up but also may be able to get some 2nd hand buckets that can fit replaceable bulbs I am curious to know If Halogen globes in these would be detrimental to the wiring but if okay what wattage Halogens would you suggest?

Thanks
John.

 

Off the shelf Halogen sealed beam replacements ought to be sufficient and not overload the wiring or headlight switch breaker.

 

^^^THIS^^^

You'll be able to see better at night with halogens.

 

I might have to look at other stuff first as today I went to check on things one last time before buying new lights. As soon as I pull the light on to first indent parkers come on. When I pull the light switch back it goes straight to high beam (all four) and the red high beam dot is illuminated and won’t dip when I tap the floor dip switch.

 

Sounds like you need to trouble shoot the floor switch.

 

Are you pressing the floor switch all the way in until it clicks?

 

Sure am.

 

^^As Eric states^^

I can only imagine what a 64 year old high/low beam floor switch might look like. Hopefully, after removal, you can give it a thorough evaluation & decide if it's able to be rebuilt (cleaned, new wires, etc.). Good Luck.

 

Before changing them, approaching newer cars at all seemed sketchy especially on back country roads. I even made a relay harness to make sure it wasn't anything to do with the wiring in my car. Oncoming cars would blind you to the point of having to stare off to the far right while approaching them and even then it took a minute to readjust after passing them. Maybe my night blindness is just worse than most, who knows. I definitely didn't feel safe driving that way. Now it's not a problem. I did take about an hour adjusting them till I was happy with the results in order to not just be blinding everyone else coming at me. They must be pretty decent in that aspect because I don't get people flashing their hi beams at me ever and half a mile down the road lives a state boy I pass most mornings coming home on way to work. If they were all jacked up, I'd sure he would have eventually had enough and flipped around.

The set I have is somewhat like these on eBay now.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/19607878814...wEiwAzQTmc-u5P

Mine just don't have the amber turn signal light as well and came off Amazon at the time.. So far they've been great and my car sees all kinds of weather. Rain, fog, snow, ice, all of it. It's my daily in Indiana. We can have a tornado and snow within 24 hours of each other.

 

Is it just me or do I smell a bot? How does adjusting ones headlights prevent being blinded by oncoming vehicles?

 

I think he's talking about his eyes re-adjusting after being blinded by oncoming lights.

 

Watch this before you replace the head lights. It is very informative.

 

Good day to the group, Happy Memorial/Victoria Day. May as well chime in here, for years I have always seen fit to upgrade lights on our cars because of previous night shifts, and long drives home from the country place, and cruises far from home. It started with upgrading to halogen lights, either sealed beam, or for better pattern control, Bosch or Hella H-4 style headlamps. These were great improvements for the standard incandescent sealed beams. But then as always, and now, proper aim is critical to avoid being a nuisance on the road, and, to the surprise of many I have helped in the past when they said folks were flashing lights at them, proper aiming actually made their own beam patterns better. The nice thing about lights made for conversion halogens, or, as this topic states, LED bulbs on low beam is that you get a very sharp cut-off at the horizontal. From 25-feet away from a wall the cut-off should be 2-inches below the horizontal center line of the light when the car is literally touching the wall. The object of this exercise is to keep the bright light below the eye level of approaching drivers while still properly lighting the road ahead of you. For the high beams I use the generic housing available on line, they give a decent high beam with a lot of spread. Have I used LED's in stock housings on newer cars? Yes I have, but, as many reports have followed, they can scatter light and be annoying to oncoming drivers. I have mitigated this by lowering the beams more then the standard 2 inches and use another car a distance away in a line that simulates an oncoming vehicle to see if there is annoying glare. Doing this has resulted in nobody oncoming flashing lights at us on dark 2-lane roads. I say to beware of some of the so called light conversion kits on Amazon or E-Bay. They claim to be ok with LED's but are not, they cause tons of glare. Really nice units, more expensive, will use projector style systems that give what is called a sharp cutoff Z type beam. We have them on our Suburban, they are called Ramjet 4X4 and those do make a huge improvement over stock. Pictures included. Pictures include the conversion of our 1966 Ninety-Eight Luxury Sedan, one shows the LED compared with a halogen on high beam. We have not been on any night excursions yet with the 66, but when we are, I will get pictures showing the beam patterns. There are still many things to discuss doing this such as effects on your eyes etc. Best regards to all, Howie.




RamJet 4X4 on low beam 2001 Suburban

Ramjet 4X4 high beam 2001 Suburban