Wanted: Bright Ideas!

[Mr Basil]

Hi,

The '68 280SE is fun to drive, but with winter darkness, rain, increasing oncoming traffic and foolhardy deer, the headlights are inadequate for my wife's level of night vision. Maybe we just need more intense lamps? Can the alternator handle the increased demand or do I need to get a bigger one? I've seen pictures of Mercedes like ours in foreign lands with interesting extra lights, maybe something like that.

Your bright ideas welcome!

Basil

[riethoven]

If it currently has round, sealed beam headlights there are a number of European non sealed beam headlights that should switch right in for your existing lights. This allows you to change the wattage of the bulb. Standard is around 50W low and 55W high. You can get wattages over 100 I think. The European lights also have better optics than the US sealed beam lights.

To see if your alternator is good enough, you should add up the amperage of several of the systems such as rear defrost, blower motor, AC, headlights etc. and compare them to the amperage of your current alternator. I would think you would want at least 15% over what the max. current draw is. Does your car have a generator or alternator?

[kpb]

On my 108 I swapped in euro headlamps which helped a bit and also, since the euros have built-in turn signals, I took off the "faux-fog" lamps and put real driving lights in, wired into the original swith fog lamp function (pull out the knob when running or headlights are on). Greatly increased night illumination (yet, I still hit a deer in May 06 ) There are a few threads on here about this conversion. If I can remember how, will post pix.

[MattBelliveau]

kpb, that sucks about the deer. Looks like something that can be worked out, though. I'm assuming no structural damage? Where are you in Ohio?

[Arthur Dalton]

Sealed beams can be changed out to halogens . Cibbie makes a good one.
Excellent lighting mod without any current draw changes..
Try Stern Lighting site

[kpb]

Originally Posted by MattBelliveau

kpb, that sucks about the deer. Looks like something that can be worked out, though. I'm assuming no structural damage? Where are you in Ohio?

Yeah, less harm than I first assumed -- nothing structural. unfortunately, it has sat since May, just now picked up a fender, have replacement euros, just got decent vintage looking driving lights, now I gotta find a hood and some fiddly bits and pieces. Sure hope I can get a paint match and avoid an overall respray. I am 30 miles SE of Columbus in Fairfield County. Not too awful far from Canton and beautiful Stark County (Massillon FOOTBALL!!!)

sorry about the mini-hijack. back to lights!

I've looked at the Stern site, lots to learn about illumination. After I put my driving lights in, I even swapped up to 130W bulbs but could not figure out precisely how to wire in a resistor so I downgraded back to the originals, 55W I think. I didn't see much difference between the watts anyway. Figured better to have less light than risk a fire from overdoing my wiring.

[t walgamuth]

deer can come at you with no possibility of avoidance. one ran into the side of my brothers car... one of my sisters too.

but having good lights is a great help.

tom w

[Larry Delor]

Sealed beams do get "old" after some years, and slowly loose their potency. If you don't want to spring big bucks, you might just want to try a new pair of sealed beams - they make some that they claim are brighter than reg. - not sure of the exact difference (besides the $5 a light).

My 300D lights were getting old - the left side had lost its silvering, and the right one was like some people that I know - a bit dim. Putting on a new set of lights made a big difference.

[250 Coupe]

Some interesting reading on aftermarket bulbs.

I'm hoping for a set of cibie csr lamps from Danial Stern for Christmas.

Michael

[Shab]

I put off the shelf Sylvania sealed beam halogens in my W108. Big difference in brightness for very little money and zero aggravation. Nice clean white light, no modification needed, just pop em in. A whopping $6.99 each.

Have 2 NIB GE halogens in the garage, GE & Osram Sylvania part number is H5006. I think the high beam is H5007.

[barry123400]

I agree with all the above posts. One thing not to overlook. Make sure your lights are getting about 12 volts when on. If voltage is down they will also be dimmer. Poor grounds could also drop the effective voltage somewhat. Part of the energy is the voltage drop across the ground being lost. Measure the voltage from the hot prong to the ground prong on each light. You usually can slide the plug back to get it . If not from the immediate wiring. Any major current increase with newer lights should incorporate a relay to handle the current. Just a good ideal in general.

[Wodnek]

You can get the Hella H4 for 75 a pair if you shop around. They made a huge difference on my 85 300D

[JMela]

I second the Hella H4 setup. They are plenty bright on my 108 and really improve vehicle visability and safety. If you modify all four headlamps you'll have enough light while highbeaming to see into next week. Takes about 15 minutes to install lamps/ bulbs.

One note is that the Hella lamp's profile is slightly different from the stock lamps. As a result there is about 1/8 inch of lamp which protrudes beyond the chrome lamp cover. I believe the Cibies and perhaps others have a stock-appearing profile.

[MikeTangas]

Originally Posted by Shab

I put off the shelf Sylvania sealed beam halogens in my W108. Big difference in brightness for very little money and zero aggravation. Nice clean white light, no modification needed, just pop em in. A whopping $6.99 each.

Have 2 NIB GE halogens in the garage, GE & Osram Sylvania part number is H5006. I think the high beam is H5007.

That is exactly what I did, sealed halogens. Someday I'll spring for the flat lensed round Euros.

[Q45Denver]

Try the Sylvania Silverstars-big difference.