Candle in the wind...

[HugoHarris]

Hi, does anyone have experience of upgrading the headlamps? My Dino is a liability after dark and I am looking for guidance on a halogen or similar upgrade in the lighting department. At the same time I want to keep things looking as standard as possible.

[Georg]

Hi Hugo, factory standard bulbs have H1 55Watt. There is a H1 100 Watt version on the market. With a minor modification on the base of the buld, these fit with the Dino headlamps. Makes the night a little bit brighter.
Georg

[Ribolla_67]

Hi Hugo and Georg,

I have significantly improved the brightness with my standard programme that every classic receives:

1. Check / cleaning connectors
Classical winter project:
- opening all connectors
- cleaning corrosion to reduce contact resistance
- sealing with battery terminal grease before closing to avoid future corrosion

2. Relais for headlamps
- All 4 beams get current now via 4 relais - higher voltage AND protection of switch contacts

3. New better bulbs
- Replaced the original bulbs with OSRAM night breaker H1

4. Washing /cleaning the headlights
- First, I replaced the original Carello beams with the usually available copies, but the optical quality of the lenses is poor.
- So I washed, rinsed and dried the original Carellos carefully (when my wife was not at home btw )

- in total the light is perfect now for night drives, bright and focused

[Ribolla_67]

Addendum:

similar project on the rear side.

Most LED bulbs do not fit into Dino sockets, but fortunately, I found out that there are some perfectly fitting LED bulbs with significant improvement of rear and brake light (and much quicker brake light response!)

Bulbs come from a peculiar tribe living on an island and adoring the god of darkness.

[HugoHarris]

Thank you Georg and Ribolla - alway brilliant knowledge and experience from this community. I will go through the system as you suggest and report back!

[Scalino]

I got some rear/brake lights from: https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk

Not the best of pictures, but it shows even in bright sunlight which side is LED and which is not:



It is a serious improvement in real life!

[HugoHarris]

Thanks Tim. Do you have any experience with their LED headlight bulbs?

[Scalino]

Thanks Tim. Do you have any experience with their LED headlight bulbs?

No.

[Ribolla_67]

Most LED headlight bulbs are illegal, furthermore need more or less technical modifications, therefore I would recommend to try the classic way of improvement for the headlights.

The procedure I described above gives really good light for long night drives, (even in rainy conditions - if the old carello lenses are re-used )

For rear and brake lights the LED bulbs are cheap and easy to fit - if they are the correct ones. I tried several brands, most of them did NOT fit.

The bulbs from "classiccarleds" DO fit - at least for Fiat, Alfa and Jaguar vehicles around 1970.

[Dario]

Mine improved considerably after fitting relays under the dash. The are operated by the poor, oxidised contacts in the steering stalk and power the lights with a fresh +12V sourced from the connector. I also wired them so that the high beams would not turn off the driving lights, giving really good lighting Changing the bulbs for 100W (that is 10A though the wire) is risky and illegal in places.

Good luck,
Dario