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Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:41 pm
by rdmstewa
Hi all
Been ages since I posted anything...there again , since most of my recent problems have concerned the dreaded tinworm, I might have got a degree of sympathy, but...I took it to my tame welder up the road. he took a few weeks, but at least it's stitched back together again now. The rust in the screen surround is, however, another issue...
Today's problem - I've run out of spare sealed beam units and decided to take the plunge and convert to halogens. My dear mate Mr Radford has assured me that I'm competent enough to do this. So, onto the interweb to find a kit, usual suspect in Lincoln offering said kit for £114 all in. But before placing the order, I did some research and found enough advice to suggest that this might not be such a good idea - comments about quality, source country and all that. So my question is - where's the best place to buy all the bits?
Many thanks in advance!

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:21 pm
by Alan Chatterton
Don't do it!!!!!!!

Choices. Either buy good used stag units off eBay (stag is same but not sealed so you use H4 and H1 bulbs)

Or, you can buy the units new off eBay for about £50, I did last year on Bradley's car, they are just fine, like these

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1802496894



Don't forget you MUST relay them.

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:36 pm
by rdmstewa
Thanks Alan - good to hear from you, hope you've forgiven me for being like a bear with a sore head :evil: at the National evening do! Just needed food, wife assures me that I'm rubbish when the sugar levels go potty...
I'll look into this then.
Cheers

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:55 am
by Mike Stevens
Hi Malcolm,

Good to hear you on here again!

I have bought the brother's kit but only in the past when it was on offer! They include a couple of relays but I didn't use them.

There are a lot of Halogen type 5.75" units about new and used which should do the job. However, be a bit careful when buying used Stag types as most of the UK cars used 4 off H1 units (rather than 2 off H1 and 2 off H4), with the outers set to give a dipped beam all the time. Main beam then put the inners on. You really want H4/H1 types, with the H4 (outers) having both dipped and main filaments and the H1 inners.

When I rebuilt the Stag, I bought some 'low cost' new units but I was never very happy with the dipped beam pattern. They were marked 'PAL' I think. In the end, I bought some used Stag H4 types at Stoneleigh, from the Yorkshire Triumph guys. They seemed to sort it!

A halogen convertion will give an appreciable increase in light output, but if you also add relays, this can improve it by another 30% or so! Then of course, you can fit uprated bulbs (still legal) which helps even more. I've got night breaker plus types in mine.

Cheers,
Mike.

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:10 pm
by rdmstewa
Thanks Mike

So having discounted the Lincoln offering I now seem to have some choices - I assume the Stag units you refer to are as they are, so if you get H1/H1 units you can't change them.
I'd certainly prefer to have main beam on both lamps, so assuming I get some of those, I now need relays - I understand the need for them. The question is, what do I buy and where from?
Cheers

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:47 pm
by Alan Chatterton
If you are not a competent wiring person, you can buy pre wired relay kits from Halfords which come with wires, connectors etc. You may wish to shorten some cables. Take the switching feed from the old headlight cables and all will be well.

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:15 pm
by rdmstewa
Thanks Alan!

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:46 pm
by johnnydog
And ask Mr Chatterton to change your status to orange Malcolm....being a Register member you know!!!!!!!!

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:53 pm
by Dave B
Malcolm, be aware that on the original sealed beam units the three locating lugs on the back of the lamp unit are in slightly different positions on the outer dip/main lamp and the inner main only lamp. This is to prevent inadvertently fitting a main beam only lamp to the outer lamps and vice versa. That is to say, if you buy four lamps of the same type, only two will fit the headlamp bowls!
See you at 'Uddersfield next week !

Regards, Dave.

Re: Halogen conversion kits

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 8:10 am
by rdmstewa
John - thank you - I'm sure Mr C will spot this and do summat about it.

Dave - good to know. I'm still undecided what to do. Since I've now detected a problem in the steering department, I'm going to have to look at that first. See you at 'uddersfield (although Clayton West might be more accurate!)

Cheers