MTFCA Forum

As some others have posted on other threads, I am looking for LED headlight bulbs that work on 6 volts. I have not found too many choices.

Has anyone tested the 6 volt LED headlight bulbs sold by ledlights.com? They offer three different versions 74475 (141CP on high), 87455 (70 CP on high) and 78989 (60CP on high).

I found two references to these in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14107&p=107003&hili ... ts#p107003 I agree with Gonenorth that I probably will not drive a lot at night but I would prefer to be seen in case I do. Novice reported a "funny C or U shaped pattern" in the same thread.

According to ledlights.com the brighter bulbs #74475 work on either 6 volts or 12 volts.

Has anyone else tested or used these bulbs? What were your results?

Thanks

I know of a few folks who use this item. Then you can use easy-to-find 12V LED's...

https://www.amazon.com/DIGITEN-Converte ... 481&sr=8-3

There are several different ones to choose from.

James the lumen numbers You listed are incorrect. CP is much higher. I tried both the 74475 and the BA15D The 74475 had funny pattern and was too bright but worked on 6 volt never tried it on 12 volt car. also You had to be concerned about the headlight sockets in Your car. many have incorrect polarization which should have the filament horizontal when seated in the socket. most replacement incandescent headlight bulbs sold by vendors have vertical polarization and to correct it You haft to change headlight socket. One of My Ts has one old socket which is Horizontal and one newer one that is vertical. Not a problem with the BA15 but was a problem when I tried the 74475s I tried them both and for several reasons mentioned prefer the BA15D plenty bright on 6 volt. high and low brightness. no worry about incorrect sockets. Bright just on battery alone and really bright when the engine is running which bumps up the voltage. spec sheet from ledlights.com below.

BA15D LED Bulb 6 Volt 1158 60 SMD
BA15D LED Bulb 6 Volt 1158 60 SMD
Product Code: 68465
BA15D LED Bulb 6 Volt. Up to 900 Lumen output. Up to 700 Lumen for low beam. Dual filament both a brake and taillight. BA15D 2 contact with parallel bayonets. 6 Volt Positive or negative ground vehicles, motorcycles and tractors. Since this bulb is dim-able using a variable voltage supply such as your dashboard dimmer switch. Works great if your vehicle has older wiring where all the volts do not make it. CE and Rohs listed. Comparable to a 35 to 55 watt incandescent light bulb. Viewing angle is 360 degrees. The Smd's are optically aligned with your reflector so you get maximum light output. Available in White 6000 K, Warm White 3000 K, Red 625 nm, Green 526 nm, Blue 464 nm & Yellow 594 nm. CE and Rohs listed. Long life up to 30,000 hours. The bulb is led so no more worries about broken filament or glass bulb. The maximum overall length M.O.L is 1.944 inches. The maximum diameter is .741 inches.

The ones I have installed are the BA15D with high/low beam functions. Before switching to them I ran 25 watt halogens. I would say on high the BA15D LED bulbs are comparable to the halogens I ran previously in the headlights. However, the amp draw is only a fraction of what is required to power the halogens. Don't notice any difference in the light patterns between the BA15D LED bulbs and the halogens.

Would you show us a picture of those headlights at night? You say the 12V work just fine on 6V?

Source and cost please.

I purchased catalog number 87455 from Ledlight.com in Arizona. Note that Ledlights.com is a different company. The 87455 seems to work well although my car is not on the road and I have the new coated reflectors from Snyder's. They have four pages of 6-volt bulbs. The 87455 item is at: https://www.ledlight.com/6v-led-headlight.aspx . The item description specifically states it fits Model T Fords and 6-volt negative or positive ground.

David. The BA15D is a 6 volt only bulb. The 74475 is a 5-30 volt bulb and will work on 6,8,12 and even Military 24 volt systems.
Cost was about $7 for BA15D best I remember. and about $15 for the 74475 still half price or less for the same LED from other companies. The 74475 wedge shaped bulb must be horizontal in the socket in order to be focused even so it produced a U or C pattern depending on bulb position being vertical or horizontal. which could go away or be reduced with focusing which I didn't try.

I installed the horizontal type and with the Ford H fluted lenses it doesn’t give an even spread.

Thanks for all who have replied. I apologize if I caused confusion in my original post with the reference to ledlights. com instead of ledlight.com. I did not know there were two companies with very similar names.

I will try to digest all of the comments and let you know if I have more questions.

Thanks again for all of the replies.

Mark try the BA15D works much better in my estimation. plenty bright. it is made in both 6 & 12 volt. and pattern should have a more even uniform spread. 74475 was well built. super bright to the point of being too bright on a road with other drivers. unless Your driving out in the sticks with Jeff. It will light up the road. Jeff could use a set for His night time trips to and from OCF.

I prefer these guys, might be a bit more pricey, but their durability and ease of use (nothing special, you put your switch to dim the lights are dim, put them to bright and the lights are bright), without any modifications to your car.


http://www.logolites.com/products/led-headlights/

They can also be focused from your focus screw at the rear of your headlights.

I have been experimenting with some of the 74475 style lights that were given to me. Headlight adjustment and focus are very important and hard to obtain.I set up my car in a dark area with marks on the wall according to the service manual. Note that there are two variations of these dimensions in the manual and service bulletins, I believe one is for 26-27 cars where the headlights were mounted higher than the 19-25 cars.

My car was lighting up the whole wall! No wonder I was always getting "flashed." I first tried to get some sort of focus so I could determine where each light was pointed. The sockets did not move, or hardly moved, so I disassembled the headlights, and cleaned the tubes that the sockets go through and put in new sockets, springs, and adjusting screws. One slid in easily, and one was still too tight, so more cleaning and a little massaging was needed. After getting the new sockets installed I could "sharpen" the blob on the wall enough to determine which light was shining where and by disconnecting one at a time I could begin to adjust or "aim" each light. This is accomplished by bending the headlight mounting stalk on 19-25 cars (mine is a 25) or by loosening the mounting bolt on a 26-27. I got a thick (about 5/8") piece of steel and one of our club members made an adjusting tool according to the dimensions shown in the manual. This tool works well for up and down adjustments although it will damage the paint on the stalks and leave some marks too. It doesn't work so well for side to side adjustment though, and I ended up filing the flats on the stalk where it seats in the fender iron so that I could turn the light a little.

Now that I had the lights pointing in the proper direction, I could go back to focusing the light beam. As others have noted, the 74475 makes a "U" or "C" shaped light depending on whether your socket positions the light vertically or horizontally. However. I found that as I tightened the focus screw, pulling the light deeper into the reflector, the odd shape became more of a blob of light. I reached the end of travel, the focus spring was fully compressed, but the focus was better, so I removed the spring allowing me to bring the light further back, and the blobs were becoming sharper patterns, but again I ran out of travel on the screw. I was able to obtain a semi satisfactory pattern on the wall, and I don't get flashed now, but the pattern could still be better.

I am now thinking of modifying the position of the focus screw tab on the socket, or the slot in the tube in the bucket, or maybe both, so that I can pull the light even deeper into the reflector, to see if I can get a better, or hopefully "correct" pattern on the wall.