Dim taillights

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Sep 20, 2019 | 10:19 PM

bobj49f2

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From: SE Wisc. (the Rust Belt)

Dim taillights

My wife followed me home from the farm the other night and told me she could barely see taillights in the F-2. I have the larger keystone type used on later trucks. The next day I checked them and could hardly see them, I guess she was right. I noticed when I moved the left one back and forth the light bulb got brighter so that told me I had a grounding problem. I ran a wire from the negative post on the battery back to the lights and couldn't see a difference so I took the lights apart. I had a lock washer under the nuts that held the lights to the brackets on the rear bumper so I cleaned up the threads and installed a new lock washer to get a better bite. I also looked at the bulbs and the brass conductor casing was tarnished so I used a scuff pad to shine them up and the lights were a lot brighter. I also painted the inside of the black light cases gloss white. I read somewhere painting them white works better than painting them silver. The lights are noticeably brighter now. I installed the lights 25 years ago, I suppose they do get old and dirty after a while.

Sep 21, 2019 | 12:04 AM

electricmaniac

Mountain Pass

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From: Solvang CA

Good tips on keeping lights bright.

Sep 21, 2019 | 07:34 AM

CharlieLed

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From: Brentwood, TN

If you REALLY want bright lights you might consider looking into the LED plasma bulbs that West Coast Classic Cougars (WCCC) carries. I found them for a buddy of mine whose eyesight is failing...he thought that if he was having trouble seeing his taillights then so was everyone else.

Sep 21, 2019 | 08:09 AM

bobj49f2

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From: SE Wisc. (the Rust Belt)

Are they 6 volt?

Sep 21, 2019 | 10:03 AM

CharlieLed

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From: Brentwood, TN

Offhand I can't say Bob...6V bulbs are generally not a concern these days but I do have a couple of these bulbs here someplace and if I can find them in this lifetime I will test them with a 6V supply. From a purely engineering standpoint, LEDs are merely Zener diodes and they require a reverse bias of approximately 1.5V to turn on. Any larger voltage will cause them to glow brighter. Manufacturers add circuitry to some replacement LED bulbs to make them appear to be standard 1157s, I'll look into this a little more. Here is the website, https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.co...aledbulbs.html, they used to have videos on there that showed the difference between incandescent, regular LEDs, and these plasma LEDs...if you get a chance it's worth a look.

Sep 21, 2019 | 05:40 PM

CharlieLed

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From: Brentwood, TN

So I found the bulb and applied 6VDC on each element...light was emitted but not nearly enough to be considered usable for a taillight. Sorry...

Sep 21, 2019 | 07:07 PM

Harrier

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From: Jefferson City, MO

Grounds are always an issue with us. My left blinker stopped working yesterday. So today I was looking at it and at one point just knocked on the light and it started blinking.

Previously I ran a ground wire from the housing to the frame. I need to pull that and clean it up. I don't think stopping and running to the back of the truck and knocking on it is a good permanent solution.

What are our 6v bulbs?
Here is a 6V 1156 led: