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Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:57 pm
by Dan Haynes
When the 1914 came to me, the headlights had been converted to electric bulbs. About 15 years ago I had de-converted a friend's car from bulbs back to gas and I wanted to do it now on this car.

After removal of the bulbs and wires and replacing it with burners and gas pipe and hose, it was pretty much just a matter or putting the calcium carbide in the generator and filling the water tank.

I couldn't remember how much carbide I put in the generator of the other car (I only lit those headlights 2 or 3 times), I put about 3/4 of a cup in the basket.
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I turned on the dripper and waited about a minute to try to light the headlights, but it took much longer than that. After several minutes, two little blue buds popped up with a match. After maybe five more minutes, the little buds grew together into the beginnings of some light.
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After a bit more, the headlights were doing their thing, they were at least as bright as the electric bulb conversion had been. The amount of carbide I put in fed the headlights for 2 hours and 4 minutes.
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Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:05 pm
by CudaMan
On that type of basket, I was told to put the carbide in the V shaped trough, not in the bottom of the basket. I guess it will work either way. :)

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 8:47 pm
by Drkbp
Dan,

Looking great!
Carbide produces about 4 cubic feet of acetylene gas per pound.
If you are using 3/4 burners (standard for our T lamps) you should get about 2-1/2 hours out of a pound.
The clip below is out of the 1904 "Acetylene Journal". Carbide does go in the basket like you have it.

I have a Victor generator and about the time I was getting ready to use it I got a Prest-O-Lite "B"
tank at the welding supply house. A lot easier to use, less mess and expense.
Drove my '14 Touring a couple of hours looking at Christmas lights week before last.
A lot of stop and go but my grown kids love it and we had great weather this year.
I can light the kerosene and acetylene lamps in about 4 minutes

My Victor had the instruction sheet still in it. If you don't have that, I can post it.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:12 pm
by Dan Haynes
Hi, Mark -

I've seen a couple of instruction sheets that say "Fill the basket with a good grade calcium carbide..." "Fill" it? Yikes - that basket holds a LOT; I could easily pour a whole one-pound can in the basket. Filling it really seems like overkill to me, I don't need lights for all night and into the next day. I used about 1/3 of one can and got two hours and that was a good test. I have only seen one person who puts his carbide in the water spreader trough instead of putting in in the basket. Maybe if a person wants lights for only a half hour or so?

For my test, I set the pointer on the top tank to about 15 drops of water per minute, but I don't know how many drops it made in reality. At first I did try dialing the pointer open wide to speed things up, and in a few seconds I could hear the generator start making a boiling noises. It wasn't really boiling, but the gas pressure was blowing back through the drip hole and bubbling up through the water reservoir and escaping through the vent hole in the water cap. Normally the weight of the water in the tank is the pressure regulator; after it drips on the carbide and gas is made the pressure builds, making the water stop dripping for a bit. As the pressure drops the water drip resumes.

I was pleasantly reassured that the light the gas provides is ample and it really is as good as the bulbs were. The lamps don't flicker or hiss. The flames do vary in size a little bit, though; sometimes the flames are the size of a dime and other times they are the size of a quarter. The car was in the shop while I conducted this experiment and the chimneys smelled like hot stuff. Scorching polish residue? Fingerprints burning off? Hot brass? I dunno, they just smelled hot. They took on a very faint rainbow effect, too, but the rainbow colors polished off the chimneys with no effort at all.

Ken -

I have a car with a Prest-O-Lite tank and you are right! They are much easier, cleaner and instant. I am a Prest-O-Lite fan! I considered putting a tank on this car but the generator was in mint condition (probably N.O.S.) and it was begging to be used. And like I said, I had deconverted a car before and it was an adventure - it also had a carbide generator. I remembered washing out the generator and it is a stinky, messy chore. But I don't care (for now). After I've done this for a while, I know myself well enough to realize there will probably come a day - or evening - when it will suddenly not be any fun and it will have become a pain and the next day there will be a tank where the generator currently is.

And yes, if you have an instruction sheet I'd like to add it to my collection. I have one scanned version, is yours like this? I hope not, because I'd like to see a different one.
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Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:26 pm
by KWTownsend
Good job, Dan!
Nothing increases the cool factor of a Model T more than operating acetylene headlamps!

: ^ )

Keith

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:54 pm
by Drkbp
Dan,

My Victor is NOS and the picture of the instruction sheet wasn't clear
so I typed it where it could be read (below). This doesn't look seem too clear either when posted. :?
It refers to the "hook" valve which is the style Victor used. The one you posted is Corcoran.
Thomas Corcoran owned both Victor and Corcoran companies.

Unlike the square kerosene lamps, the gas lamps are really meant to be air cooled by the car moving.
It doesn't take much movement to cool the bonnets but I don't leave the acetylenes burning while I am not driving.
The other night, there was a crowd looking at lights so I had one place I went twenty minutes or so stop and go low pedal.
That is pretty much pushing it for me on the bonnets. In just general night driving, my bonnets don't get near as hot as the radiator.
FWIW I have lined the inside top of my gas lamp bonnets with manifold wrap and I notice no effect on the brass/polish.

Flame size may be a little difficult to maintain with a generator. Let us hear how you make out with it.
Ken

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:28 am
by Bud Delong
Just a reminder that you need to clean your tank quickly after each use!!!!! Also good is to blow out your lines with compressed air!! Carbide is nasty crap!!! Bud.
:D

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:29 am
by Original Smith
I'm new to using gas headlights. Because of dedicated members, I was able to duplicate all of the gas lines for my car to original style. I was able to find a brass Tee for the radiator, and for the first time in my life learned how to do a double flare! My only wish now is for Ron Gocek to get busy and make the correct red tubing for our cars again. Oh, by the way, the headlights worked fine, so good in fact, I did my '13 touring next!

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:31 am
by TWrenn
To add to Bud's great advice, when you do clean out the remaining carbide, use a tool that will NOT create sparks if you
get a bit aggressive scraping out any stuck crud. Yes, you CAN blow yourself up! It's been known to happen.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:58 am
by Dan Haynes
Original Smith -

I kept hitting dead ends with red rubber tubing, too. But you know who has it? The place where most everybody gets everything now days - Amazon.

It comes in 10' lengths and was cheap, around $4 for 10'. I bought 20' because the other car, the one with the Prest-O-Lite tank, needs new rubber lines.

Any chance of you showing off your routing of the metal lines from the generator to the radiator?

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:21 pm
by Russ T Fender
Larry how did you find the hose on Amazon? A quick check shows 30 pages of red, rubber tubing.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 11:22 pm
by Drkbp
Bud is correct!
If you wish to use the generator, follow the "Useful Hints." in the instructions above.
I've read the moisture carries lime and can plug the gas burner jets. They are tiny!!
If you plug the back jet, I would imagine your Mangin will be cracked in just a few minutes.

I have burned the equivalent of about thirty pounds of carbide rocks since I started using the POL
tank gas and do not open up any gas lines or hose. No moisture, flicker, etc. but it may not be that big of a deal.

I have opened up a couple of partially blocked 3/4 burner jets with a very fine copper wire just to see if I could.
I do have several I have never been able to use/fix. This is another reason I stopped short before
firing up the carbide generator I have. Let us know how it works out for you.

Dan,
How long does it take for your lights to go out when you turn off the water?
Mine go out in about 15 seconds.....this is fun stuff and folks do get a kick out of seeing the cars all fired up

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:48 pm
by Hudson29
Are Prest-O-Lite tanks available someplace? I have a '14 that was converted to electric sometime in the past and might consider going back to gas.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:15 pm
by Dan Haynes
Ken -
I don't know how long they would go if I turned the water off, I only used the generator that one time and I let it run its course... about 2 hours.

Yes, Hudson, any welding supply will have them. They are the same size as they always were and some of them still have the Prest-O-Light script pressed in the wall of the tank. Maybe I'm extra lucky, but the guy at the local supply shop lets me take my pick from his inventory.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:50 pm
by Drkbp
Hudson,

The local welding supply houses have them, Praxair & Airgas. I find
the Prest-O-Lite tanks with the off-center valve are mixed in with
the other "B" tanks. You have to look carefully to spot them. This rack
had two and I took the one in the back corner.

The POL center right has the fine valve and works best if you "crack" the
valve for gas. I use a small regulator so I like the POL in the back
with the knurled knob which indicates a coarse valve.

Re: Converting gas headlights from electric back to gas

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:55 am
by Been Here Before
From Page: 1926.
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