Halogen Headlights

[jap tin]

Took the 52 J out tonight and the headlights leave something to be desired. Has anyone replaced the stock sealed beams with some 6 volt halogen H4 bulbs? I was thinking of using a couple of relays to power up some new 60/55 H4 bulbs. I put a 6 volt positive ground alt on it and it's putting out 20 amps at idle so I think I should have enough juice for them.

[Fid]

You may want to check your grounds and wire gauges as the headlights always work fine on all my six volt cars. In fact I often felt they were brighter than many of those on modern cars.

[jap tin]

Thanks Fid. Will do in the morning.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

FID is correct on the grounding issue.  The connections that are exposed to the elements will corrode as a consequence of time, no matter how well a vehicle is stored.  6 volt wiring is more succeptable to this sort of thing than the 12 volt systems as the lower voltage means more current draw & corroded contacts/connectors cause flow problems.

[StillOutThere]

Also a lot of us have used simple in-line relays to get full battery power to our 6V headlamps.  The reason for that being that aging headlight and dimmer switches lessen the power that reaches the bulbs.   I have relays on a couple of Chrysler 12V cars I own and a 6V Stude all for the same reason.

[Fid]

That's a good point StillOutThere - the headlight switch in the Henry J is cheap (remember the car was designed as a cost cutter, not a commodity to last 60 years) and the rivets crack around the terminals which can cause the lights to flicker on and off so I suppose it could also cause them to go dim. I've replaced all the switches in my Js more than once.  The J only uses a switch and no relay as most other cars do.

[jap tin]

I was looking at some continuous duty solenoid's like Cole Hersee 24097. Anyone use these ?

[Henry's HenryJs]

I use standard 12V relays on our 57 Chevy wagon for the headlights, if you can get them in 6V I'm sure they would be good also.
Here are some options for 6V items.
http://www.calibex.com/6-volt-automotive-relay/zzcalibex2zB1z0--search-html

[Fid]

Thanks for the tip Henry! I may try one of those. I always find it very questionable when I look at that cheap little switch and think with my brights on, that's a lot of current flowing through it. A relay would help.

[jap tin]

Just ordered two continuous duty solenoid's. One for low beam, one for high beam. See how that works. If it's not bright enough for my old eyes I'll put some H4 bulbs in the J.

[Dino]

I am looking for Tires for my 47 Fraiser Manhatan where can I get Tires and can I buy Tires anywhere or do I have to order them from the states. I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. CANADA

[StillOutThere]

Jap Tin,
Suggest you start a new thread about your tires or read some old ones through a search.  The Topic here is halogen headlights.   That is, if you expect answers!
 

[jap tin]

Stilloutthere, I'm still talking about halogen lights. 
Dino might have a question about tires.
By the way I had one bad 6006 bulb so I ordered a pair of H6006 bulbs through Rock auto. $19.52 for the pair shipped to my door. Not a bad price.

[jap tin]

Put in the new halogen bulbs and it's nice and bright. Much better than it was. One thing I noticed is the dimmer switch is wired wrong. Low beam turns on the high beam indicator on the dash and on High beam the indicator goes off. Some thing else to repair .