Interior light,... making it brighter

[ausubaru92]

Has anyone noticed that the interoir light is less than bright

I was thinking of putting in a higher wattage globe, but higher watts = more heat > chance of fire

 

I also want to add a boot light as i cant see a damn thing back there

 

Anyone got any suggestions

[MilesFox]

any kind of light you would use is rated for the bulb inside and the enclosure to house it.

 

as long as you run a wire for the total amp draw, and properly fuse it there will be no risk for fire

 

you could connect them to your own swithch if you chose, a relay optional depending on how many lights and how bright they are

 

the dome on the roof, one of the wires is hot at all times, and the other hot with the door switches, the selection between on for the door and on all the time grounds through a screw to the body

[All_talk]

Mine seems reasonably brite, but I noticed that mine is brighter with the roof switch than the door switch, I suspect that voltage loss can be an issue with this circuit. Check the voltage at the bulb under load (with the bulb on), if its less than battery voltage fix that problem first.

 

Gary

[RXTurbo]

Ausubaru92, take a look in this years Jaycar catalogue (just been released on the front of Silicon Chip mag), they have PCB's designed to take 2 or 3 bright white LED's using the end caps from a blown (intentionally) globe, this should solve you light brightness problems without increasing electrical load.

[ausubaru92]

the electrical load is not what i was worried about, it was if i put a brighter globe in the oem lightholder, would it melt?

 

Aren't those high brightness LED's expencive?

[RXTurbo]

Ausubaru92, From your sig you are an apprentice electrician, I assumed you actually knew something about electricty.

 

Light output is not related to heat output. With incandescent lighting (normal resistance type) there is a lot of heat, brighter globes will increase the heat output. LED's emit virtually no heat for their brightness.

 

Yes, LED's are expensive but they last a lot longer than incandescent globes and are a whole lot brighter.

[HattoriHanzo]

LEDs(light emitting dioides) are more costly but should last indefinately, at least 50000-100000 hours typical, probably draw less than an amp, I found mine a little weak also, so I'm gonna replace it with one out of a semi that uses a 1156 bulb, looks nice too, they sell em at Car Quest, you might just try cleaning the contacts at the door switches as these will cause weak output, or you could just remove the lens, a larger bulb can and will melt the lens-but the lite would have to be on for quite awhile.

[85Sub4WD]

I just replaced mine with a stock type sylvania - a LOT brighter - I think the bulb had aged and dimmed - LED's are your best option for an upgrade, in every way possible - they will last forever too

 

I do theatre tech on the side, and we use halogen lamps that take up to 750 watts of power - that gets VERY hot - I see your concern about heat, but most of the heat in those lighting instruments comes from waste heat due to their inefficentcy - visible light has virtually no heat associated with it (if you have enough it does, but that amount of light would instantly blind you)

 

using LED's will eliminate the need for your concern about heat and current draw, they are one of the most efficent means of generating light available today (little waste heat - in fact there is virtually none), they have a good color temp (which means they are white), and various other desireable characteristics (extremely long life)