OSP car bulbs

seems car bulbs have OSP in the description now anyone know what the stands for

formatting link

Reply to
Mark
Loading thread data ...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Possibly OutSide Processed

Reply to
Berty Blenkinsop

I'd say that Chris is probably correct as OSP only seems to apply to amber indicator bulbs. (BAU15s)

Reply to
Berty Blenkinsop

Nice theory, but the bulb in the photo doesn't look to have offset pins and why would you need them in a single filament bulb?

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Ah thanks never come across an Amber/indicator bulb that was like that

-
Reply to
Mark

Having googled a bit, it looks like the offset is pretty subtle (at least in the photos) and they do exist. I still don't understand why one would ever need offset pins for a single filament bulb though...

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

There are two types of offset. One is where one of the pins is further up the cap than the other. The second is where the angle between the two pins is something other than 180 degrees.

Reply to
Berty Blenkinsop

Yep, the latter type seems to be the one in the photo. But why??

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

So that you do not fit the regular equidistant bulb in its place. The OSP single filament bulbs are coloured orange, if you fitted a regular non OSP bulb then it would be a clear bulb and you would have white indicator light showing, which is wrong.

Reply to
MrCheerful

Dunno but you can get domestic fittings with the non-180 degree pins. The pins are offset to only accept low energy light bulbs which seem to be three times usual prices. I've only seen them in modern houses and they invariably get ripped out and normal bc fittings wired in so I'd guess that the car bulb has the offset for the same reason, i.e. to ensure that only a specified bulb is fitted.

Reply to
Berty Blenkinsop

Yes, in this case an orange one, or in the case of twin filament bulbs to ensure the right wattages are used (the only car I came across this on was certain models of Sierra, it foxed me for a while trying to get a regular stop and tail bulb in, only to realise that the pins were staggered and offset)

Reply to
MrCheerful
[...]

PROBABLY?!!!!

It's so well-known I'm slightly surprised the question was ever asked.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

It's the orange tinted ones isn't it? So you don't put clear bulbs in there.

Reply to
Clive George

Well out of a half dozen of us two obviously didn't know.

Reply to
Berty Blenkinsop

Amber and clear bulbs have different pin arrangements.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.