Brighter tail lights

[DAY8293A@...]

THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOME GOOD ADVICE. I HAVE HAD SEVERAL TRUCKERS THAT
PULLED INTO REST AREAS BEHIND ME AT THE SAME TIME, THAT HAVE ,AND TOLD ME MY
LIGHTS WERE NOT VERY BRIGHT. I WAS THINKING ABOUT GETTING SOME DIFFERENT/NEW
RUNNING LIGHTS FOR THE BACK, BUT MAY TRY YOUR "NEAT SHINY TAPE" IDEA....
THANKS,,,,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ,,,,,,,,,,DAY-IN
SUNNY,WARM,JAX-FLA-83-PT-40,,,,,,,,,,,,


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[mrdonut12]

My old 81 FC didn't have very bright tail/brake lights and
I'd read here about using aluminum foil (chicken pot pie)
dishes put behind the bulbs to make a reflector to brighten
them up.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find aluminum
plates in a microwave world? I ate a bunch of pot pies
in search of the elusive metal plates. ;o) I finally
learned how to peek into the packaging to see if the plate
was the right one or not before I bought them (and had to eat it).
Armed with 4 new clean plates, I cleaned up the tail
light lenses, trimmed the pie plates and installed them.
Yes, it did brighten them up, but it greatly reduced the
lit surface area. Only part of the red lens lit up. It looked funny.
So, I made a visit to my local glitzy auto parts store
(the one with the yard signs in front advertising a deal
on cashews). Cashews in a parts store?
I found a roll of chrome tape. Wooohooo. I took the lenses
off, cleaned everything again and installed the "custom, cut-to-fit
chrome tape" and it worked great.
The entire red lens now lights up brightly. It worked so good
I did the front turn signal lenses as well.
Brighten up your life for only a few bucks. ;o)

George Witt
81 FC 35
Lincoln, Nebraska

[krminyl@...]

Just a little addition to Jeff's post...

I liked the look and low current draw of LEDs also, and replaced all
clearance, turn/stop/tail lights with both Maxxima LED's and TruckLite
LED's...what
a difference.

I also drag a 24' enclosed trailer behind the BB, and replaced all those
lights with LED's also. I plugged the trailer into the BB's trailer
receptacle,
and the trailer lights wouldn't come on. Worked with my Ford Superduty, but
not the BB. Long story short, the BB plug was only getting around 7 volts,
not enough to zap the trailer LED's. I had to rewire the plug wiring, put in
Bosch relays for stop/turn/tail/clearance lights, and now get the full 12+
volts to the plug. Had me confused (more than usual) for a little while, but
what a difference. LED's are definitely voltage dependent, where standard
filament bulbs will still light, however dim.

FWIW...

Have a great day!

Kevin McKeown
Yorba Linda, CA (off to cut the grass)
1986 38' PT


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Tom Warner]

George in most cases the cause of dim lights is low voltage. It was on my
1982 FC35

Tom
1982 FC35
Vernon Center,NY

At 09:25 AM 6/9/2005 +0000, you wrote:
>My old 81 FC didn't have very bright tail/brake lights and
>I'd read here about using aluminum foil (chicken pot pie)
>dishes put behind the bulbs to make a reflector to brighten
>them up.
> Do you have any idea how hard it is to find aluminum
>plates in a microwave world? I ate a bunch of pot pies
>in search of the elusive metal plates. ;o) I finally
>learned how to peek into the packaging to see if the plate
>was the right one or not before I bought them (and had to eat it).
> Armed with 4 new clean plates, I cleaned up the tail
>light lenses, trimmed the pie plates and installed them.
> Yes, it did brighten them up, but it greatly reduced the
>lit surface area. Only part of the red lens lit up. It looked funny.
> So, I made a visit to my local glitzy auto parts store
>(the one with the yard signs in front advertising a deal
>on cashews). Cashews in a parts store?
> I found a roll of chrome tape. Wooohooo. I took the lenses
>off, cleaned everything again and installed the "custom, cut-to-fit
>chrome tape" and it worked great.
> The entire red lens now lights up brightly. It worked so good
>I did the front turn signal lenses as well.
> Brighten up your life for only a few bucks. ;o)
>
> George Witt
> 81 FC 35
> Lincoln, Nebraska
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

[Fred Hulse]

George
You shoulda put 6 volt bulbs in,
That's what the parts man at the cashew selling parts house would tell you!
Fred & Jeanne Hulse
Morristown Arizona
1997 Wanderlodge PT41

[mrdonut12]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Tom Warner
wrote:
> George in most cases the cause of dim lights is low voltage. It was
on my
> 1982 FC35
>
> Tom
> 1982 FC35
> Vernon Center,NY
Tom,
You're absolutely right. Low voltage and bad grounds
are the leading causes of dim lights.
In my case, the bulbs were of normal brightness with the
lens off. Bluebird used a brown background behind the bulb
and this didn't reflect much, so with the sun shining on the
rear of the Bird, it was hard to see the lights.
The chrome tape fixed that. On my front signal lights,
the silver backing had dulled considerably and the chrome
tape helped that as well.
Step one is being sure the bulbs are as bright as they
were designed to be, the chrome tape takes you past that.
Thanks for the observation.

George Witt
81 FC 35
Lincoln, Nebraska
>
> At 09:25 AM 6/9/2005 +0000, you wrote:
> >My old 81 FC didn't have very bright tail/brake lights and
> >I'd read here about using aluminum foil (chicken pot pie)
> >dishes put behind the bulbs to make a reflector to brighten
> >them up.
> > Do you have any idea how hard it is to find aluminum
> >plates in a microwave world? I ate a bunch of pot pies
> >in search of the elusive metal plates. ;o) I finally
> >learned how to peek into the packaging to see if the plate
> >was the right one or not before I bought them (and had to eat it).
> > Armed with 4 new clean plates, I cleaned up the tail
> >light lenses, trimmed the pie plates and installed them.
> > Yes, it did brighten them up, but it greatly reduced the
> >lit surface area. Only part of the red lens lit up. It looked
funny.
> > So, I made a visit to my local glitzy auto parts store
> >(the one with the yard signs in front advertising a deal
> >on cashews). Cashews in a parts store?
> > I found a roll of chrome tape. Wooohooo. I took the lenses
> >off, cleaned everything again and installed the "custom, cut-to-fit
> >chrome tape" and it worked great.
> > The entire red lens now lights up brightly. It worked so
good
> >I did the front turn signal lenses as well.
> > Brighten up your life for only a few bucks. ;o)
> >
> > George Witt
> > 81 FC 35
> > Lincoln, Nebraska
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >

[Tom Warner]

Guys those taillights on the FC models at least are the very same ones that
are used in school buses . If they are dim its because of low
voltage. They passed Federal standards when they were new. I ran new
larger gauge wires to mine and that corrected the problem. Same with the
headlights.

Tom
1982 FC35
Vernon Center,NY

At 06:15 AM 6/9/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>George
>You shoulda put 6 volt bulbs in,
>That's what the parts man at the cashew selling parts house would tell you!
>Fred & Jeanne Hulse
>Morristown Arizona
>1997 Wanderlodge PT41
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

[Harvey Lawrence]

I agree with checking grounds and even the bigger wires but i would
shy away from th 6 volt bulbs because 6 volt bulbs running on twelve
volts tend to run pretty hot. One thing I did was to place( Paste)
aluminum foil around the light behind the lense for better
reflective power. They paint the light housing black and I think
that is not too smart. Harvey Lawrence 84 PT 40 --- In
WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Tom Warner wrote:
> Guys those taillights on the FC models at least are the very same
ones that
> are used in school buses . If they are dim its because of low
> voltage. They passed Federal standards when they were new. I ran
new
> larger gauge wires to mine and that corrected the problem. Same
with the
> headlights.
>
> Tom
> 1982 FC35
> Vernon Center,NY
>
> At 06:15 AM 6/9/2005 -0700, you wrote:
> >George
> >You shoulda put 6 volt bulbs in,
> >That's what the parts man at the cashew selling parts house
would tell you!
> >Fred & Jeanne Hulse
> >Morristown Arizona
> >1997 Wanderlodge PT41
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >

[Stephen Birtles]

The lights met code for their intended purpose but not for a school
bus there is a completely set of standards for school bus ie upper and
lower warning lights and running lights
Stephen



--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Harvey Lawrence"
wrote:
> I agree with checking grounds and even the bigger wires but i would
> shy away from th 6 volt bulbs because 6 volt bulbs running on twelve
> volts tend to run pretty hot. One thing I did was to place( Paste)
> aluminum foil around the light behind the lense for better
> reflective power. They paint the light housing black and I think
> that is not too smart. Harvey Lawrence 84 PT 40 --- In
> WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Tom Warner wrote:
> > Guys those taillights on the FC models at least are the very same
> ones that
> > are used in school buses . If they are dim its because of low
> > voltage. They passed Federal standards when they were new. I ran
> new
> > larger gauge wires to mine and that corrected the problem. Same
> with the
> > headlights.
> >
> > Tom
> > 1982 FC35
> > Vernon Center,NY
> >
> > At 06:15 AM 6/9/2005 -0700, you wrote:
> > >George
> > >You shoulda put 6 volt bulbs in,
> > >That's what the parts man at the cashew selling parts house
> would tell you!
> > >Fred & Jeanne Hulse
> > >Morristown Arizona
> > >1997 Wanderlodge PT41
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >

[George Lowry]

And if you want some real bright lights, go to your local school bus
dealer and get the new LED lights. Our local BB dealer has them on
the shelf. They are much brighter and last longer. Unfortunately they
don't have LED's for the snap together Volvo lights I have.

George Lowry
"95 WBDA 4203 & GM 4106 (for sale)
Spearfish, SD



Tom Warner wrote:

> Guys those taillights on the FC models at least are the very same ones that
> are used in school buses . If they are dim its because of low
> voltage. They passed Federal standards when they were new. I ran new
> larger gauge wires to mine and that corrected the problem. Same with the
> headlights.
>
> Tom
> 1982 FC35
> Vernon Center,NY
>
> At 06:15 AM 6/9/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>George
>>You shoulda put 6 volt bulbs in,
>>That's what the parts man at the cashew selling parts house would tell you!
>>Fred & Jeanne Hulse
>>Morristown Arizona
>>1997 Wanderlodge PT41
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>