6 Volt LED Cowl Lamp bulbs?

[bluesman31]

Anyone know where to source some bright LED cowl lamp bulbs for a stock single socket.

6v positive ground.

[Christoph]

Jeff

Read your private-mail and try to answer here.

Back when i bought my car, it had a old-fashioned-flasher-system right out of the 1950s (?) using normal bulbs

I hated, that my Amp-meter allways did a backflip once i used the flasher and i figured out that it is an extra load which the generator wasnt made for.

Someday, during a nice cruise, i used the flasher (an oldfashioned electro-mechanical-relais) and the flasher itself ( the relais) started to burn.

flames and smoke occurde inside of the car (near to the tank)

Imagine my wife screaming….

Time to do some changes (no - not the wife)

As i had generator-load trouble in common (back than), i decided to go to LED (As there was no flasher in the car when new, i feel free to built any "survival-extra" just "my style").

In my cowls there where BA15S 6V 19W (flashing white !)

In my rear lights where BA15D 6V 5/21W brake and light whitebulb
(both red due to glas-cover-colour)
in my rear lights where BA15S 6V 19W flashbulbs whitebulb
(amber due to glas-cover-colour).

Main step was to change to an all electronic flasher (m-flash by motogadget)
http://motogadget.com/en/electrics/d...inkrelais.html

I love this device and its stable from 5V to over 20 Volt and to any current.
Interesting is, that the LEDs are brighter if attached (tiny) resistors are used....

I had to learn, that in common, LEDs need correct direction
(Sadly they are made for negative ground)

Got to tinker for a while... I bought LEDs, demounted them and turned the contacts.

I did that with all flasher-LED and back-light-LED and still use them.

As the LEDs (even under coloured glass ) appear to be white, i coloured all LEDs themselfes. Red- and Amber-lacquer to be found in all electronic-shops ( to be used with a brush)

In the backlights (cloured LEDs under coloured lenses) this worked out great.

In the cowls (just amber LEDs under white lenses) it still appeared somewhat white.
I added a plastic-lens, used lacquer the this lens too and the
amber shine of the cowl-flashers is great.

Have fun

Greetings
Christoph

To use the cowls as flasher is strictly forbidden in germany

Later i found that the cheap China-LEDs (EBay) often hold that electronic to make it
insensible to direction of current.


Find attached pic flashing left (on a bright day).

[columbiA]

To make a neg grd LED work on pos grd,just reverse the grd & power wires and it will work fine.

[bluesman31]

It seems most LED's are rated for close to 12v.

[Bruce Adams]

I believe SUPERBRIGHTLED.com that has LEDs that fit into regular sockets and work OK.
I am pleased with my hi capacity incandescents in the cowl lamps because they provide the load to work the flasher since I have LEDs aft.
Think about WHEN forward flashers are required. Pretty much only at a light and I am surprised at how often I am waved ahead at a left turn on Long Island, NY, which is not fameous for people waving someone ahead at a light.

[MrTube]

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For color LEDS I would highly recommend switching the LED for the proper color rather than painting one.

For example, a red LED will only produce red, no matter what color lens it has, even with a clear lens. A white LED will never look as good with a red lens over it as a red LED will.

LEDs are not brighter when in series with a resistor, they simply won't self destruct. an LED is a diode and as such when in use it essentially looks like a dead short to the circuit. Because of this you need a current limiter (a resistor).

LEDs are pretty much all low voltage by nature. You can usually run any LED off of 3 to 5 volts, with a resistor in series of course.

I am not saying the LED units sold for use in tail lights are not made for 12 volts, but what I am saying is there is a darn good chance you could modify it for use with 6. If the LEDs are all paralleled each having their own resistor (the way it should be) you would simply swap all of the resistors out for lower values.

[bluesman31]

Bruce., what output bulbs to you run in the cowl? Seems like every vendor offers them. I have seen 3, 6, 10 candlepower. What do you have and where did you get them? Thanks

[Bruce Adams]

Hi,
My 10 CP bulbs work nicely.
I PURCHASED some amber bulb paint a year so so ago, and I may paint them some day.
They do have nice output as I check them occasionally in day time and I see they light my Quail's tail at night on turns in the dark.