LED replacement numberplate light?

take a look here:

Thanks for that MrC ... but if you put in 03 Transit Connect they don't seem to list any form of lamp for the number plate? ;-(

According to this the cap is a BA15s

Cheers, T i m

The issue isn't the polarity of the vehicle its the polarity of the lamp holder that accommodates the led , led's work one way if the led can not be reversed b in the fitting its unlikely to work . another issue is can bus led lamps can occasionally give it a headache if the vehicle is not designed for them

IMHO, more likely to be a poor connection that is effectively pulsing them on and off faster than the eye can see.

I would go over all connections, starting at the lampholder. You may be able to measure voltage drop from wherever it connects in the vehicle. Pay particular attention to wiring where it joins the door.

FWIW, my Son's current (real) Transit is a '59 plate that he has had for six years, and I checked with him that he's never had a number plate lamp fail. It's on 165k, and gets heavy use.

Chris

Understood, the things is, aren't most conventional bayonet lamp fittings connected to ground by the cap and the connections are live? By that I mean I could understand if the eBay seller was saying the 'cap' needed to be positive and the connections to the filaments negative but since when has that way round been common?

Luckily this isn't a can bus vehicle. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

They do a heavy duty bulb in that size, with a four year guarantee. the 207 twenty/20 on this page

By 'pulsing' you mean an intermittent feed causing the lamps to flicker? I'm guessing 'going on and off regularly' wouldn't be an issue or we would see more indicator and brake lamp failures. ;-)

I'll give everything a wiggle and thump and see what happens.

I checked one yesterday expecting to find it all corroded but it was nice and clean.

Understood (just been though that with the wires in the hinge on the Meriva).

The thing is, not all vehicles and the lamps they use are created equal so unless it also uses the same lamps and or the door has the same resonance or action when it's slammed shut etc, it may not be a fair / valid comparison.

I note from the link MrC gave me they actually make a particularly HD lamp for such reasons (shame it's 10W):

Cheers, T i m

They also list a 5w version

Found and ordered, thanks. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

The elasticity of the rubber gets the frequency down, also the acceleration so the inertial forces are less. As well as the fatigue cycles, so it's a win win.

For people who had regular tail light failures on motorcycles, we used to sell special bulbs with an extra support in the centre of the filament, that helped for some cases. Although I do suspect that excess voltage was a problem for the other cases.

Makes sense. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Not heard of that.

Weren't some of the bikes where the lights were driven off the alternator / magneto, 'regulated' just using a zener diode to limit the voltage?

The 5w rear lamp being more susceptible to momentary voltage peaks than the heavier wattage (so higher thermal mass) headlamp filaments?

Or you took too long switching from man to dip and the zener couldn't dump the extra voltage so it blew the rear lamp (and then sometimes blew the dipped beam / headlight as well). ;-)

I first learned the implication of wattage when I had a dynamo on my cycle. Upping the lamp wattage to (hopefully) give brighter lights had me sweating just to go along at walking speed! How much would I have given for an ultrabright LED back then! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Zener diode, luxury!

I used to dream of having an alternator instead of a Lucas (or was it Miller?) dynamo on my Venom. In the days before there were off-the-shelf conversions, I bought an alternator and started thinking about fitting it, but never got round to it.

:-)

;-)

The thing is, for most of us at the time the vehicles we were playing with were often our only or main forms of transport so such 'experiments' (when they weren't a plug-in kit) could be quite dangerous if we then couldn't get to work. ;-(

My BIL got an upgrade kit magneto / alternator that also provided electronic ignition for his Lambretta scooter but it (or a couple of replacements) never worked. ;-(

I built the Sparkrite SX2000 from a kit and fitted it to the (Company) Sierra and that worked fine for years and about the only 'mod' we made to the MkII Escort when we turned it into the kitcar (~30 years ago) was fitted a Luminition 'optical-chopper' ignition unit.

Fun and simple times. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

sierra had electronic ignition from the start IIRC, or maybe certain engines didn't?

My 1.8 certainly did.

Chris

My bad, I should have said '(company) MkV 1.6L Cortina Estate'. ;-)

We got an offer to have our vehicles put on the local Ford dealers new 'Diagnostic unit' for a few quid and as it was in for a service we opted for that just OOI. I explained that I had fitted the SX2000 and was doing some mpg experiments and requested they just *read* the vehicle, not make any changes to it.

I got a call to collect it last thing and as I did they mentioned that their new diagnostic machine said the ignition timing was out and they had had to adjust it!! ;-(

I went to drive it off and found it nearly un drivable but managed to get it home. I checked the timing myself and it was something like 12 degrees advanced, rather than the 6 degrees (or whatever). ;-(

I set it back and it drove fine again. I went back in the next day and had a little chat with the them but my questions re 'why' (considering the instructions I left them) just got a shoulder shrug. We gave them the same answer when they asked us to pay the extra for the diagnostic test. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I think this is the 'terracotta' colour like mine:

newshound submitted this idea :

Some of them had a crude form of alternator, just magnets running inside coils with a selenium rectifier on the output, directly feeding a battery. The only limit on charging, voltage out - was the lighting switch. It would connect the battery direct when the lights were switched on, then when off the charge was limited by a resistor. The lamps had to be the correct wattage or the battery would under/over charged and the bulbs blow/ be dim.

All long before the days of semi-conductors and zener diodes. Batteries expiring was a common failing.