Re: Halogen Lights and generators

[John Teufel <phantom@annapolis.net>]

Here is my 2 cents worth on both halogen headlights and generators.
I don't remember the number, but all the major lamp manufactures make a
7" round halogen sealed beam headlight that is a drop in replacement for
the non halogen headlights. They draw no more current from any cars
electrical system than the regular bulbs and give much more light. From
the time these came out I have always replaced my regular sealed beams
with them and have had no problems. The list of cars I have done this on
includes the '61 Met I had. If the car has a generator they will still
dim down at idle, because at that point the generator is not charging
and the cars electrical system is drawing what it needs from the
battery.
As for generators, I had the one on my '61 rebuilt. On a bench test it
put out 50 amps at just under 15 volts. I had an amp gauge in the car
and if I had really run the battery down it would show the generator
charging at 30 amps (this being where the regulator was set).
I would not recommend changing the tail light bulbs to hooligan because
of the heat factor.

John