SEV Marchal Spotlights

[Amma122s]

First off the lights have different lenses..fogs fluted and spots clear.

The fogs give a wide beam so you can see the side of the road better..the spots are more a long range pencil beam..the standard dip/main falls in the middle. I'm connecting mine up so all four come on when operating the main beam but I have a swtch under the dash to turn off the four lamps if and when I want too.

Found a pic that might explain things better...

[arcturus]

Originally Posted by Amma122s

Not really .. If you drove yours where I do mine and as often and especially during the long dark winter months you'd be thankfull for any extra lighting I just happen to have been lucky enough to get some age related spots...the cloud had a silver lining in the end...

Just a bit of leg pulling. With my 6 volt PV I could do with twice as many!

[Derek UK]

As a side note, adding relays to the standard lighting circuit can usually find a lot of extra voltage at the bulb socket. Metering the socket can often find it way down around 10.5 volts(example). Although you might not get it up to the actual battery voltage when running, the extra 1 - 1.5v you can get by fitting relays will make a BIG difference. Spots/fog are invariably wired through relays and will of course be brighter for the same reason. As a test, and with a light coloured wall about 20 feet in front of the car, compare the brightness of the normal main beam at idle with what you get when you pull back the flasher lever. I think you'll find an obvious improvement and this is due to the main beam being switched via the relay.

George, 6v halogen bulbs are available for your headlights. Way back when, in pre halogen days, I fitted Cibie H180 concave lens headlamps to my 6v Amazon. There was a big improvement in beam pattern and how far you could see. This was all down to lens design.

[arcturus]

Yes, when I get everything sorted I will go down that road. The car i almost ready now. With a bit of luck should be on road at end of week. Just need to get the lights focused, oil change and filter then brake adjustment and off to test center.

[Ron Kwas]

Amma; Your installation looks super...and period correct...I too have 2X55W additional lighting (round! Hella Fogs, not long-range lights whose lighting pattern is shown in the graphic, because I place a higher value on seeing the sides of the road, to better see the road edges during poor weather conditions, and to get maximum notice of animal threats on twisty, lonesome New England roads) but I have a 60A Alternator powering the system...

From your grills, I estimate the car is a '66 which means I have to assume it has Generator (I don't see that you've uprated the Charging System, or I missed it)...if that is the case, there is literally not enough extra power in the Charging System to power any additional lighting...meaning that as soon as you turn them ON (2 only pulling ~9A...heaven forbid all four, pulling twice that...), the voltage of the electrical system will collapse to the mid 12s and the battery will be being discharged, supplying the additional Lights (before we even consider voltage drops in the wiring/relay/control system Derek speaks of...more on that below)...so I hope you have considered the electrical system budget situation...

Derek; I certainly agree assuring ALL system loads have adequate (read: Full) voltage is important, but this is not only a function of installing a relay to control it. The entire system must be considered (in other words, as I often say: The entire Current Path)...from the source: the Charging System, to the control system to the wiring, to the vehicle body return path and all lowly connections in between...

My point is made above...the Charging System must first have the output to be able to power the load, and all wiring must be properly sized...having a relay is NOT absolutely required...it is only a matter of wiring convenience (much smaller control wires can be run to the dashboard to be controlled by stylish, dainty or vintage components which we don't want to subject to the full load current).

...we can just as easily wire without a rely...we would just have to assure we have all components and wire in the path sized correctly (so this also means longer, heavy gauge wiring to the dashboard, a heavy duty (expensive) switch, but correctly considered, there is absolutely no technical reason we couldn't wire the lights without a relay.

Cheers from Connecticut!

[Amma122s]

Many thanks for that useful information regarding the electrical set up.Yes my Amazon is a '66 model but has been upgraded to a B20 with an alternator, so I hope there's no problem. The lights will be wired up to a Bosch wiring kit I bought and fitted..it has a 12v 30 Amp relay so running all four through it should be ok too ?? Appreciate your views on this Ron



Rechecked and bolted things up tight today and took it for a spin..nothing fell off so good to go....