Headlight / Headlamp Conversion.

[Barrie]

Good afternoon from a very sunny South Wales in the U.K.

The drivers side headlight on my A1 has blown and as you're all probably aware they are 24 volt 'sealed beam' units.

Has anyone changed or converted the headlights to a bulb unit ?

[SturmTyger380]

Some of the classic car crowd here in the states want the original headlights on things like their 1960's Impalas. I think it is a T5 marking on the glass.

What they do is carefully cut out the back of the bulb and somehow fix a modern bulb in place of the filament. I bet if you googled around a while you would find something about it.

[rickf]

I put the later Military LED's in mine. It may not be original but it sure does make it easier for these old eyes to see at night.

[muttguru]

Has anyone changed or converted the headlights to a bulb unit ?

Hello Barrie.....I found that Hella H4 headlights (the same as in the early Golf/Polo) are exactly the same mounting. The reference details are:-
Hella Halogen H4 7"
Ref: 1L6-002-395-261

The differences between the Hella and the original GE are:-
1. Hellas have a flat lens, not convex (you can live with that, I reckon);
2. They take a separate bulb (and I use a 24v Halogen bulb...which is great);
3. They also have a "pilot" bulb socket (which you can use for sidelights);
4. The main drawback is that they DON'T have the rubber push-on connectors. So to avoid damaging the original harness, you need to get a plastic connector which fits to the rear of the bulb (you'll get two from a scrapyard)...then after fitting the headlight bulb, you add the connector to the rear of the bulb, then use bullet connectors to adapt the headlight connector to the harness. Not as difficult as it sounds. And if a bulb fails, you can replace it really easily.
I understand that the British Army has a very similar headlight unit (similar to the Hella), the differences are that it has a convex lens and is also stamped FV XXXX .
I've seen them at fleamarkets, but never bothered swapping the Hella units I already have.

PS... there's also a great writeup on Mr Garbee's website at http://www.garbee.net/~cabell/headlights.htm
Ken

[svramselaar]

hi

sorry ken
golf or polo don`t fit the size is the same bud the mount don`t fit
he must have the ones from a MG / old mini / Austin
it are the 7 inch size ones h4 with three notches at the back
for more light i use 90/100watt bulbs


george

[Barrie]

Ken,

Thank you very much, that was the sort of info I was looking for, knew I could rely on you.

George,

Also thanks to yourself, I now know where to go with this conversion.

[eaglevets]

Anyone have this issue? Wiring and ground check out OK, but keep blowing the low beam on my passenger side headlight. Eventually I lose the high beam too. Very perplexing.

[kmam]

Not had that problem and do not know what would cause it. However, assuming you are using 24V lights, so far as I know the only reasons it will blow are:

1. if it is a sealed beam then a crack has developed in the glass - maybe the sealed beam is under stress in its mounting for some reason leading to a fine fracture over time;

2. it has gone overvoltage on that light. Would seem to be pretty odd to happen to one light out of all those in the vehicle but I would be checking the output from your alternator just to be sure.

As I said, I don't know, but my money would have to be on 1.

Howard

[rickf]

Are you using the after market lights? They tend to be very short lived.

[Cliffaliff]

This happened to me too. You need 28 volt headlights. That’s the upper limit of the alternator. The 24 volt headlights burn out pretty quickly because of the charging system putting out 27 or 28 volts.

[rickf]

Any 24 volt system will be running at 28 volts, Military or civilian. That is what is needed to maintain a charge in a 24 volt battery system. Automotive lighting is designed for the 28 volt running system voltage. I suspect that the stuff coming from China was not properly vacuumed down and there was oxygen left in the bulb which is an oxidizer and causes the filament to burn out.

[kmam]

I originally used off-the-shelf sealed beams which, at least in Australia, were still available at suppliers of auto parts (but not the mass marketing ones for petrol heads). Later I used off-the shelf-LED lights from eBay which suit 12 or 24 volt systems and are fitted the same as the sealed beams (although you may need to modify the wiring connections).

[Mr. Recovery]

I used 24 volt LED from e-bay, I used the 3 wires from old burned-out bulbs and spliced them onto the wires that came with the new lights.

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[kmam]

Same LEDs I have on my Austin Champ, Dan

[Mr. Recovery]

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