change alt to 105 amp and 55 watt light bulbs

Larry B. 1486 · Mar 5, 2014

I would like to increase my lighting on my 1486. These old IH tractors used 35 watt bulbs. Will the wiring hold up if I change the head lights to 55 watt halogen bulbs? I have had a couple of opinion's so thought I would run them by you all. One was to up the alternator to a 105 amp and run a additional 10 gauge wire from the battery post on the alt straight to the battery post, then run a wire from that to a additional toggle switch and split the load to the lights. The other suggestion was pretty much change some of the exsisting wires to a heaver wires. Anyone have a different idea or would the first opinion work?

carpenter · Mar 5, 2014

Could you install LED bulbs or lights.

More light and less power consumption.

Wish I could find 6 volt ones.

John G. Hasler · Mar 5, 2014

> One was to up the alternator to a 105 amp...

Ok.

> ...run a additional 10 gauge wire from the
> battery post on the alt straight to the battery
> post...

That doesn"t make sense.

> The other suggestion was pretty much change
> some of the exsisting wires to a heaver wires.

Yes. 10 gage or larger between alternator and battery, 12 between battery and light switch, 14 to each lamp.

Janicholson · Mar 5, 2014

Plenty of LED 6 volt bayonet bulbs Google! Jim

David G · Mar 5, 2014

I would do LED, a lot cheaper in the long run than upsizing the electrical.

Phil Tibbetts · Mar 5, 2014

If my electrical calculation is correct a 55 watt bulb will draw about 4.5 amps at 12 volts. Watts divided by volts = amps.

Larry B. 1486 · Mar 5, 2014

Phil. Am I correct that six 55 watt bulbs would be drawing about 27 amps? Thanks for that information.

John G. Hasler · Mar 5, 2014

Six lamps? Consider replacing the light switch or adding a relay.

Phil Tibbetts · Mar 5, 2014

That is correct, and John is right on too. You are going to need a very heavy duty switch or a relay to handle all that amperage. I have seen heavy duty toggle switches that will handle 50 amps and you want to go over the load by at least 50% so 50 amp should be fine. # 10 wire is rated at 30 amps so that would be the minimum wire size. 8 would be better. A good circuit breaker might be worth looking into as you would have both a switch and circuit protection in case of a short. IMO

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2014

Did this on my lawn tractor. From hong kong on Ebay. They are 1156 DAY light color and half again as bright. They are very nice for lawn tractors but not enough of a "beam&or a tractor. For your lite problem go to NAPA and have them look up the 4 inch sealed beam replacement lamps for Aircraft landing lighs. OHHH momma are they bright. Put them in a four headlight car I used to have and they just blew away any high beams. They kind of look like the old commercial battery hand lantern bulbs for power company lanterns and such. Jeffcat
PS if I remember it is a four digit number like 4509 or some such. Remember your standard car is 55watt. These babys are 100 watt! You can allll... most see into the next county.

TheDurk · Mar 5, 2014

(quoted from post at 22:39:34 03/05/14) Did this on my lawn tractor. From hong kong on Ebay. They are 1156 DAY light color and half again as bright. They are very nice for lawn tractors but not enough of a "beam&or a tractor. For your lite problem go to NAPA and have them look up the 4 inch sealed beam replacement lamps for Aircraft landing lighs. OHHH momma are they bright. Put them in a four headlight car I used to have and they just blew away any high beams. They kind of look like the old commercial battery hand lantern bulbs for power company lanterns and such. Jeffcat
PS if I remember it is a four digit number like 4509 or some such. Remember your standard car is 55watt. These babys are 100 watt! You can allll... most see into the next county.

Your memory is perfect:

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...eadlight-Bulb-Low-Beam/_/R-LMA4509_0117669321

These are what I have on my 140, two forward, one rear. My little Hitachi 14231 alt at 83 amps handles them just fine. These are the same lamps used in Piper Cubs for landing lights w/o the air certification. They have a limited life, so they are not for frequent use. I have them for when I absolutely HAVE to snowplow at night or to finish bush-hogging a field for an hour or so in the summer time. They are seriously bright.

I have them split between a forward toggle and a rear toggle. Those toggles are rated at 20 amps and the two 4509's draw 16.6 amps. Each toggle is fused at 20 amps from straight off the ammeter terminal as the load is too much for the key switch. I upgraded the light-wires to home-run 12ga. when I installed the alt. so no problem there, either. Also, 10ga. to the forward toggle from the ammeter and 12ga. to rear. You can absolutely forget the IHC rotary switches at these currents. The LO resistor wire would vaporize.

Jeffcat: I hope you didn't put that car on the road. These things are not aimed and would fry any oncoming retinas.

mkirsch · Mar 6, 2014

Be careful when shopping for LED. You need to go by LUMENS, and get the same or preferably way way MORE lumens than your halogen bulbs put out.

A standard 55W Halogen bulb runs about 1400-1700 lumens, and draws around 4 Amps.
An LED with a rated output of 1350 Lumens only draws a little over 1 Amp.

Don't fall victim to el-cheapo LED lights. Just because they fit doesn't mean they output the same light. Sure they draw almost no juice, because they aren't putting out any light!

Lumens, lumens, lumens. It's not perfect but its your best bet.

jeffcat · Mar 6, 2014

That was back in 1975 and I would use them out on the country roads. When I went through inspection I would need to put the originals back in. There is NOTHING like being able to see some dumb deer really far away! Jeffcat

change alt to 105 amp and 55 watt light bulbs

Larry B. 1486

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carpenter

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John G. Hasler

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Janicholson

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David G

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Phil Tibbetts

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Larry B. 1486

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John G. Hasler

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Phil Tibbetts

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jeffcat

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TheDurk

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mkirsch

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jeffcat

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