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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGB Technical - LED Bulbs

Has anyone been to this site?

http://autolumination.com/

They have an incredible number of different types of automotive led bulbs that fit into the standard sockets. From tail lights to E10 miniture screw base.

Also have them in 1895's (side marker lights).

All pretty cheap.

Wondering if anyone has bought anything from this sight or tried the bulbs.

The E10's might be a good low watt alternative to the instrument bulbs.
Arkansas

Hi.

Lots of useful bulb specs here, worth a visit.

Don
Don

Definitely worth a bookmark and a viewing. Better info and PHOTOs than most and offering a variety of designs depending on your needs. Thanks, Arkansas.
Bob Muenchausen

Two comments about LED's in general...

1) They are VERY sensitive to voltage fluctuatins which don't bother a standard resistance filament type bulb, and,

2) They are also very short lived in any sort of environment where vibration can get to them BUT there is a caveat here. That being they vary a lot as well even within a given brand depending on when and who made them.

Good luck but buy carefully.

Cheers , Pete.
Peter Thomas

FWIW. I tried the LED's for my rear lights last year, adn after installing one LED and leaving one regular bulb, I could see no difference. I went back to the guy selling them, and even he couldn't guess which one was LED. In fact, He picked the old lights.

Ken
70 B
Ken Harris

Does anybody know if LED's would help brighten the MGB dashboard? And do they work with the standard Rheostat?

philip
Philip

www.lbcarco.com has all the halogen bulbs figured out. Expensive ($12 a bulb) but several times brighter. I just got brake and tail lights to improve safety. Might go back for map light some time.

JTB
J.T. Bamford



The LED bulb seemed like the way to go, but I have tried many different versions in my 63 MGB. From those to fit the stop/tail, dash and turn indicator.
The problems I have found are as follows:

The stop/tail LEDS I tried were a 24 LED array with 6 radial LEDs around the circumfrence. These were no brighter than my normal bulbs and not as bright as the halogens I am currently using. Also, the light from the LEDs was very directional, infact when fitted to the tail/stoplight they looked very dim from the side. As I understand it, the LED bulbs only shine light out at an angle of 30 degrees or so, compared to a normal or Halogen bulb that shines from almost 300 degrees. In an MGB or any other car that has a reflector built into the lamp a LED bulb would have the same poor result.

I tried some of the dash bulbs with the same results as above. Very dim, by comparison to halogens and so directional that the light only shines out the end. No good on the smaller instruments that have the bulb shining in from the outside.

The turn signal bulbs had another problem over the ones listed above. They don't draw enough power to make the flasher flash! I contacted an Auto Elec and he suggested a electronic flasher. This did work but the light given off by the LED bulbs was again no better than normal and less than my Halogens.

So with all of the expense of LED bulbs, electronic flasher, etc I have decided to go back with what I know works the best for my MGB. Halogens!

What we need is a LED bulb that shines in all directions with the same brightness. Given time I am sure the LED bulbs will improve but for now the standard type bulbs suits older vehicles the best.

cheers
Ian Buckley

Thanks for the info everyone!

Sorry I signed the original post with only 'Arkansas'.

Iain, you have answered many, if not all, of the questions I had yet to ask and I appreciate the time you spent with your response. I was particularly concerned about the current issue when using them for the signal bulbs. I was wondering, if they were brighter, whether I would have to ballast them with a resistor in order to get the current up. And thank you for stating that you tried the 24 LED arrays. There are some on the market that have 30 LED's (one web site wanted about US$38 EACH!) but I doubt there would be a significant increase in brighteness over the 24 LED array.

On the flip side, I recently installed the Sylvania Silver Star brake/tail bulbs and noticed something I can't explain. My turn signals now blink at a faster rate, even with the main lights off (e.g. daytime). How can this be as they are on a different circuit? If I examine the situation I do note that I usually noticed the slowing blinking rate while stopped at a traffic light with my foot on the brake. Prior to the new bulbs, I had noticed that there was quite a bit of draw through the brake light system causing a noticeable voltage drop (I have a voltmeter in my console). We have all talked about bulbs getting dimmer over time but we haven't talked about bulbs drawing more current over time. And this appears the case because, although the new bulbs are a slightly higher wattage, the voltage drop at a traffic light does not seem as great. Note that with bothe old and new bulbs, I had clean sockets and used dielectric grease.

Sylvania lists an 1157 bulb for turn signals but my turn signals are single filament with a different pin arrangement on the base. Can anyone confirm that the signal light actually takes an 1156 rather than 1157?

Any comments appreciated.
Richard Smith

Timing is everything. Just happened to run across this list this morning:
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/electrical/bulbs.html

Wayne
Wayne Pearson

www.autolumination.com is a good site. www.superbrightleds.com is another site with a similar product line. If you switch the turn signal bulbs to LEDs you will need to change the flasher to an electronic grounded flasher. www.spiderlight.com has them in two and three pin flashers (the ground is a wire with a Y-spade terminal). They also have LED lights with what looks like a real nice design, but I don't think they will fit in MGB.

I'm running all LEDs in the tail, turn and marker lights. If you put in LEDs, use dielectric grease in the sockets as you are not likely to need to remove the lights for a long time.

For instrument illumination, the standard lighting arrangement is less than ideal. Even a very bright bulb will not improve things much. I doubt an LED will help here either. With a brighter bulb, I would worry about the additional heat. I used EL wire instead. www.elwirecheap.com sells electroluminescent lighting in wire form. It's low-power and although it isn't very bright, it works very well if installed in the correct places. In the big gauges, I installed it right on the back side of the reflector ring. The illumination is even all the way around the gauge. The odometer is more difficult, requiring removal of the face. Also, this was less than perfect, but still better than the original.

The internally illuminated small gauges are similar, with the wire being installed between the two faces of the gauge.

Externally illuminated small gauges are more difficult, requiring removal of the blue tinting. The wire remains on the outside. It can either be wrapped around the gauge after installation, or a better solution is to attach two small tubes to the ends of the U-bracket and run the wire in a loop between them. This allows for easier removal and reinstallation of the gauge.

The 'white' EL wire is just about the same color as the gauges end up being with stock illumination (just a hint of blue). For something (more) different, other colors may be used. I used double stick tape and clear plastic tape to attach the wire. The clear plastic tape is similar to electrical tape, except maybe not so insulating. I'm going to have to go back and redo some of the places I used double stick tape. I may use superglue instead this time. The clear plastic tape seems to work good.

I've been running this way for a couple of years now, and I wouldn't go back.

Oh, the EL wire doesn't dim (or not easily), so the dimmer rheostat is no longer necessary if you replace all the gauge lights. I put a period hazard switch in that location.


Dave McCann

Richard - Your turn signals flash at a faster rate with the new bulbs in the rear, for the same reason that they will not flash at all with LED bulbs, that is the new bulbs are drawing more current (the flasher doesn't work at all with LED bulbs because then draw too little current). The standard flasher is dependent on a specific amount of current flowing through them to flash at a given rate. More current will make them flash faster, less current will make them flsash slower (thus the slow down when sitting at a signal idling, the generator or alternator is putting out a lower voltage, as you noted, which in turn causes a lower current flow through the light bulbs). This current draw is dependent of two 21 watt bulbs being in parallel in the circuit (front and rear on one side of the vehicle). If you add more bulbs to the circuit, such as plugging in lights for a trailer, the flasher will operate very fast. If one light, front or rear burns out, the flasher will usually come on and usually stay on or flash extremely slow (about once a minute). When you put a 50 watt halagon bulb in place of the normal 21 watt bulb, the flasher is going to flash very fast. The fix for that is either an electronic flasher unit or a heavy duty (hazard) flasher. This will make the indicators flash at the correct rate, but will also continue flashing at that rate even if all the bulbs are burned out, so you have to check the indicator lights periodically (how often do you do that? I never check them). cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Dave,

I am aware of the current level changing the flash rate. In my situation, however, I changed the stop/tail light bulbs - not the turn signal bulbs. Turn signal bulbs are the same 15 year old bulbs but now flash faster since installing the Sylvanias as stop/tail.

But I do know that before replacing the stop/tail bulbs, I had a significant draw (that I had been trying to determine the source of) with my foot on the brake (noticeable while idling with foot on the brake) and the new stop/tail bulbs seem to have reduced that draw. And I had previously done (approx. 6 mos. ago) a meticulous contact cleaning on the entire circuit and applied dielectric grease at all contacts. Since the only thing I did (the old single variable)was to change the bulbs, the change MUST be related to bulb replacement, i.e the Sylvanias drawing less current on the circuit even though they are higher wattage(!?!). Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me but I am reporting an observation.
Richard Smith

I have used all the types of lamps we have discussed here in my car with an electronic flasher (I could give you the number and make if needs be) and it seems to handle them all equally well. They flash at a moderate rate and all lights work. Like you, Richard, my experience is simply empirical, not terribly well grounded in physics or electronics. Maybe I've just been lucky?
Bob Muenchausen

Richard - Your comment about an excessive current draw when you had your foot on the brake pedal sounds very much like a situation I had with our MGB a number of years ago. We were on a trip to California, when I noticed that when I stepped on the brakes, the warning buzzer to let me know that I had left the lights on with the ignition off would buzz very quietly. Then I noticed that the tach reading would drop to almost zero when I stepped on the brake and the idle would drop and the turn signals, if on, would slow almost to a stop. Investigation turned up the wire going into the socket for the right hand brake light was being pressed hard against the edge of the socket by my camara case that I had stowed in the right hand fender well, right in front of the tail/brake/turn signal assembly. Once I got things rearranged, the problem went away, but would come back if I was not careful how I put the camera case into the fender well. When we got home, I made up some protective shields for the sockets and the problem has never returned. I am wondering if you haven't been experiencing the same sort of thing and replacing the bulbs didn't clear the short (or in your case, probably a partial short). Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Dave,

Very interesting observation. As a matter of fact, you have made me recall two situations that I had forgotten about:

1) I had a water pump failure about 3 mos. ago and had been carrying some one gallon milk jugs full of water in the trunk before I found the source of the coolant leak. Continued to carry them around after pump replacement (sometimes as MG owners we are a little gun shy after a repair...). Guess where the bottles were stowed? Exactly as you describe because they fit well there.

2) While replacing the stop/tail bulbs, I discovered that the dual connector that connects the tail lights and marker lights was shot and the bullets were barely making contact. The wires were falling out as well. I replaced the connector with a new one.

What I really love about this board is that there is always someone who has had such a close experience as someone else. There truly is so much knowledge available on this board that I am pretty sure the total of it surpasses (by a large margin) the knowledge that the old MG dealers and factory had altogether.
Richard Smith

I just read with interest Dave McCann's solution to the instrument illumination problem. Dave, your solution is ingenious, but I've been using Jeff Zorn's (LBCarCo) halogen instrument bulbs for several years now and the difference is remarkable. I too was concerned about the heat, but it has been no problem. One caveat: don't use the dimmer rheostat. I burned out two rheostats before I learned this. Including the dimmer rheostat in the first place was an act of incredible optimism, if not outright fantasy, on the part of the Good Folks at Abingdon.

Perhaps somebody a little less electronically challenged than I can recommend a replacement "pot" that will handle the load. Otherwise I might be tempted to replace it with simply a rotary off-on switch - or perhaps a stepped switch: off, medium, high. Suggestions are welcome.

I have not tried halogen bulbs in the switch illuminators ('73 model). There, I feel that surely the heat would melt the plastic. But I don't need brighter lights to locate the switches.

BTW: I tried the new Sylvania ("Silver Star"?) bulbs on my stop-tail lamps. ' Be darned if I can tell any difference.

Has anybody mounted a third center brakelight on a GT? I'm trying to think of a neat way to do it without a lot of effort to make something that looks good.

Allen
Allen Bachelder

Richard - If you will send me your e-mai address, I-ll send you the write up and drawings to make the socket protectors that I put on the sockets of our MGB tail lights. They are made out of bits of PVC pipe and some pipe clamps. I ended up with a much neater wire routing and the ends of the sockets protected from whatever I decide to store in the fender wells. Those fender wells are just too handy of a storage space to not have something in them. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Dave,

Thanks for the offer. My email should be hotlinked above.
Richard Smith

Re replacement flashers:

I changed the front signal lights on the front of my '67 MGB and got a weak rapid flash because the new bulb wasn't drawing the same current.

I found an electronic flasher on ebay from K&S for motorcycle use. It had 3 connection blades as did the old flasher, but it wouldn't work.

I finally determined that the stock flasher had one hot connection and the other two connections were one to the dash lights and the other to the exterior blinking lights. No connection to ground required.

The new had one blade for ground, one for hot and the other for the blinker circuit. I connected the one blade to ground, the other to the hot side and the third to the blinker dash wire AND to the wire to the lights (both on the same blade).

Voila! I now have a modern blinker switch that maintains a constant blink rate no matter what the load. Max load is 15 amps. Min load is virtually 0.

The downside is that if a light goes out, the blinking rate will not change and I will not be aware that a bulb is non operative.

I am sure there are many other compatible electronic blinker switches out there.

This one is K&S 24-2005 and was $15 on ebay. The email address is Lonni@peakmoto.com

Barry
Barry Parkinson

Allen, I have a third brake lamp on my '67 GT. It was installed by Bob Mason who was the previous owner. Bob could not remember the brand when I asked about it but he did remember that he bought it in England many years ago.

Here's a photo showing the lamp from the outside...

http://www.lbcnuts.com/mg/mgbgt/DSCN2152b.jpg

And here's a photo of the hatch raised, looking up at the lamp...

http://www.lbcnuts.com/mg/mgbgt/thirdbrake.jpg

In this photo you can just make out the wire exiting the hatch and entering the headliner...

http://www.lbcnuts.com/mg/mgbgt/67gt6.jpg

I can send hi-res versions of these photos to you if you like.
Steve Simmons

This thread was discussed between 25/06/2005 and 15/07/2005

MG MGB Technical index

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