Amazon: New (to me) 1963 Volvo 122

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Yes, but not those, they're 24V!!!

Also no indication of the Lumen (Lm) output of those bulbs so no guarante they'll be bright enough for indicator or similar bulbs.

EDIT - you can also get combined DRL/indicator LED bulbs and also combined reverse/rear fog LED bulbs so you add rear fog lights to cars that only have reverse lights.




More likely to cause hyperflash than slow flash on a car Alan, either way a 6 Ohm 50W metal clad ballast resistor across each LED indicator bulb will draw enough power to make the flasher relay operate as it should or you could simply fir an electronic replacement relay.

Do you have personal experience of doing this modification Dave? I have, on lots of bikes (LED indicators are a very common modification for motorcycles).

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

EDIT - you can also get combined DRL/indicator LED bulbs and also combined reverse/rear fog LED bulbs so you add rear fog lights to cars that only have reverse lights.

... that reminds me, GAM's reversing lights are not wired up to a switch, I think I remember David (the PO) telling me the 'baccy tin switch on the gearbox fell apart when he was fitting the P1800 overdrive unit. I suspect the wiring is all there as far as the gearbox, what I may do is just wire that up to a simple switch somewhere on the dash (with a nice big tell-tale to make sure I don't forget to turn them off).

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Do you have personal experience of doing this modification Dave? I have, on lots of bikes (LED indicators are a very common modification for motorcycles).

Of course Alan!

Simple plug'n'play, swap the OE thermal flasher relay unit for the eletronic version. Plenty to choose from, i can't remember exactly which one i used out of this lot but the hardest part was finding the original as it was tucked away under the dash in a strange, unexpected place.

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/sea...prefix%5D=last

I haven't yet done my Volvo as the flasher relay is built into the hazard warning switch, i may need to get another switch and modify it with an external 3 or 4 pin floating relay socket to fit the electronic version into or i may find it is in fact an electronic unit built into the switch.

I have also used a pair of 6 Ohm resistors and half of a bridge rectifier so that only one pair of ballast resistors are needed to do both sides. Connect each indicator feed to an AC input on the bridge, connect the +ve output to a pair of paralleled 6 Ohm resistors and job done. That was what i had before i changed to the electronic flasher relay.

Just FYI, many motorbikes use a slightly different flasher relay to cars, cars tend to hyperflash (although there are some that just don't flash) if a bulb is out or LED bulbs are being used, motorbikes tend to go slow - all down to the different designs of flasher relay.

On GAM, i would guess you have a 2 pin flasher relay similar to this one that has an extra earth connection, necessary for the electronic operation :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/pro...bb415460&_ss=r

Do you remember on the Royal Barge, you renewed the instrument voltage stabiliser with an electronic one? Exactly the same idea changing the flasher relay for an electronic version.

[Othen]

I have just renewed the insurance on GAM for £38.10 with One Call! That includes a £40 discount for having the Barge insured with the same company.

I'm pretty happy about that

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

On GAM, i would guess you have a 2 pin flasher relay similar to this one that has an extra earth connection, necessary for the electronic operation :

... it is a 3 pin Lucas Dave:



... and getting a bit tired anyway. I may get a cheap Chinese electronic one as a replacement anyway, then if I do decide to fit some LEDs they will work:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402576596...Bk9SR47j1oerYQ

... £3.84 delivered to my house!

[Steve 940]

Originally Posted by Othen

I have just renewed the insurance on GAM for £38.10 with One Call! That includes a £40 discount for having the Barge insured with the same company.

I'm pretty happy about that

Blimey Alan,

That is definitely a great renewal, result.

Not wishing to pry, but if you're happy to share, any idea on what the annual mileage limit you have on GAM???

I did try to get my 940 on a classic policy, but as my daily driver with part business use, it was a no go, not unsurprisingly, but the silver lining I suppose, is that its just another 'excuse' to try to get my desired 145 as I could justify a low annual fixed costs to the better half

Cheers
Steve

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Steve 940

Blimey Alan,

That is definitely a great renewal, result.

Not wishing to pry, but if you're happy to share, any idea on what the annual mileage limit you have on GAM???

I did try to get my 940 on a classic policy, but as my daily driver with part business use, it was a no go, not unsurprisingly, but the silver lining I suppose, is that its just another 'excuse' to try to get my desired 145 as I could justify a low annual fixed costs to the better half

Cheers
Steve

Of course Steve: 3,000 miles (pleasure) but none business/year, plus other restrictions like no commuting, the car kept on a private drive, just me as a driver and so on. It comes with some basic breakdown cover (2 call outs/year and £20 for each one) but then I have Green Flag personal as the best way of covering my 4 motor cars and 2 motorcycles.

I think it is an excellent deal, and fine as long as one is a 'standard' customer and doesn't mind talking via a computer. One Call wouldn't suit a modified vehicle, a driver with a chequered history or a non-safe location. I suppose the company is cherry-picking the easiest vehicles and drivers to cover, but that suits me just fine.

Get that 145 bought!!!!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... it is a 3 pin Lucas Dave:



... and getting a bit tired anyway. I may get a cheap Chinese electronic one as a replacement anyway, then if I do decide to fit some LEDs they will work:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402576596...Bk9SR47j1oerYQ

... £3.84 delivered to my house!

Must be one of the earliest cars to have a 3-pin flasher relay then, from the times when Volvo were more British than anything else.

Difficult to tell from the pic, does it have individual wres to the pins or is it a floating (or even fixed) socket?
If t's a socket, you'll need to get the correct pinout to work properly but i can't help wondering how long a cheap Chinese flasher unit will last.

That said, it's rated at 180W so only running 42W + telltale (1.2W usually) it's not exactly going to work hard.

[142 Guy]

Originally Posted by Othen

Do you have personal experience of doing this modification Dave? I have, on lots of bikes (LED indicators are a very common modification for motorcycles).

Hyperflash is the normal result from fitting LED turn signal bulbs. Traditional magnetic flasher relays have this designed into them, the purpose being to alert the vehicle operator that a turn signal bulb has burned out (a lot of drivers appear oblivious to this feature). Because of their low current consumption, the LED looks like a burned out bulb resulting in hyper flash. The add in load resistor is a dodge to fool the flasher relay that the bulb is still there.

Not all flasher relays will hyper flash. Heavy duty / electronically timed relays will maintain a constant flash rate regardless of a burned out or LED flasher bulb. I never tried LED bulbs on any of the motorcycles that I owned so have no empirically derived results to report.

If you are inclined to try a LED in the front signal lights, be aware that true amber LEDs generally have very low lumen ratings. You can get 'white' LEDs with very high lumen ratings; but, they are not truly 'white'. There are some 'white' LEDs that were a combination of a red, green and blue LED that you perceive as white (like RGB on your TV screen); but, these are generally low lumen. The more common high lumen white LEDs are actually a high power blue LED combined with a phosphor which absorbs blue light and re emits in the yellow spectrum (the yellow phosphor is easy to spot in some LEDs). The combined blue and yellow light fools the brain into looking like it is white. The down side is that an amber signal lens is a filter that passes yellow light. Since these phosphor based LEDs don't produce very much yellow light their performance behind an amber lens may be underwhelming. Not a reason to not experiment; but, just be aware that you may not get the results that you are expecting.

There are purpose built high output phosphor based LEDs that appear amber like. Car manufacturers are using them for their front turn signals; but I expect that you will have trouble finding those high output amber like LEDs in retrofit form.

The ancient non halogen incandescent bulb works remarkably well behind amber and red lens because the predominant part of the bulbs emission spectrum is towards the orange - yellow part of the spectrum.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 142 Guy

If you are inclined to try a LED in the front signal lights, be aware that true amber LEDs generally have very low lumen ratings. You can get 'white' LEDs with very high lumen ratings; but, they are not truly 'white'. There are some 'white' LEDs that were a combination of a red, green and blue LED that you perceive as white (like RGB on your TV screen); but, these are generally low lumen. The more common high lumen white LEDs are actually a high power blue LED combined with a phosphor which absorbs blue light and re emits in the yellow spectrum (the yellow phosphor is easy to spot in some LEDs). The combined blue and yellow light fools the brain into looking like it is white. The down side is that an amber signal lens is a filter that passes yellow light. Since these phosphor based LEDs don't produce very much yellow light their performance behind an amber lens may be underwhelming. Not a reason to not experiment; but, just be aware that you may not get the results that you are expecting.

There are purpose built high output phosphor based LEDs that appear amber like. Car manufacturers are using them for their front turn signals; but I expect that you will have trouble finding those high output amber like LEDs in retrofit form.

The ancient non halogen incandescent bulb works remarkably well behind amber and red lens because the predominant part of the bulbs emission spectrum is towards the orange - yellow part of the spectrum.

The GaAsP (Gallium Ardsenide Phosphorous) LEDs do produce a good amount of orange/amber light, as you rightly point out it's the yellow Phosporous that turns them from red to orange/amber and they tend to be pricier than the "Chinabay" (allegedly) amber LEDs that come into the country.
However, due to having had multiple failures on Chinese sourced (they neglect to include the charging voltage of the car and insist on running the LED at Imax, usually ~30mA ' 12V so when subjected to 14V Vcc, they are actually passing ~40mA so expire prematurely), i now buy most of my automotive LEDs from :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/pro...41a29b83&_ss=r

That should link to a CANBus compatible orange indicator LED producing 700Lm, standard filament bulb of 21W (25W in the USA and probably Canada, measured at 14V instead of 12V in the UK) produces ~350-400Lm.
I picked that link to the CANBus indicator bulb because i'm looking at that one (or 4 of them anyway) to fit to my 1999 Jag S Type but it appears to have positive earth light clusters on the rear and potentially the same on the front.

However there is no polarity indication in the listing suggesting it may be suitable for either, especially as many CANBus systems use earth switching and therefore the outer case of the bayonet is +ve implying +ve earth. The stop/tail lamps i bought recently for it are definitely +ve earth and were bought as the listing for the -ve earth said "Unsuitable for Jaguar S Type" but the +ve earth variety says "They will work with vehicles fitted with 12v batteries Positive*Earth such as the Jaguar S Type.*"
I think their phrase is slightly unclear as the vehicle itself is -ve earth, it's just the rear (and possibly front) light clusters that are +ve earth by their definition.