I've got a 63 beetle that's all stock, and I've never felt safe driving at night. Are the headlights dim cuz its 6V or because the connections are old and funky, or some other factor?
Do I need to convert to 12V for bright lights?
schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
6V is indeed not al too bright. But not that bad, so I'd check all connections for corrosion. I run with 6V and when i switch on the 'high' beam(?) people flash at me 'cause they are blinded, so bright enough I guess..Roger
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Definitely not.
Six volt lights are just as bright as 12v lights. Or 24v lights, for that matter.
The problem is that the voltage loses due to accumlated corrosion are proportionally greater.
Cleaning your contacts will cause a definite improvement but most of the corrosion (and thus most of the losses) will be in the switch and in the ground return path. In the VW many of the ground path connectors were riveted rather than spot-welded. Over time, corrosion builds up around the rivet -- often under the paint and completely invisible on inspection. Not only are such bad connections difficult to locate, they can be difficult to repair in that you need to get back to bare metal to ensure a low-resistance connection.
In the VW sedan, complaints of dim lights can often be traced to a high resistance ground path between the fenders and the body (!) That's because the grounding terminal for the head or tail-lights is attached to the fender... which is then bolted to the body. Providing a low resistance ground path in the form of a jumper from the light fixture to the body is often the best solution.
Converting to 12v usually results in brighter lights but it does not address the root problem. (It's a bit like taking a pain-killer when you have cancer -- you may feel better but it doesn't cure anything :-)
-Bob Hoover
You should also take a look at the contacts right at the light bulbs. They will probably be a dark color, but you can brighten them up to shiny copper with steel wool. You can also polish the base of the bulb. On the tail lights, I found this and cleaning the area under the boltsmounting the case to the fender made a big difference in brightness.
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