

| Subject: | Tail light lense temps with brighter bulbs |
| From: | mark drillock |
| Date: | Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:37:03 -0700 |
Today I bought a couple 50 watt bulbs from Napa just to try them out in my 87 Syncro. I had already upgraded the tail lights from 5 watt to 10 watt bulbs so the 50 watt bulbs went in to replace the stock 21 watt turn signal bulbs. These 50 watt models were $$ halogen bulbs so I doubt that many folks will get them but I wanted brighter bulbs and could not find a store that stocked anything else. I installed one 50 watt bulb in the passenger side turn signal and a stock brand new 21 watt bulb in the driver's side turn signal. I turned on the 4 way flashers and waited to see what happened. The 50 watt bulb was noticeably brighter, naturally. I own a digital infrared temp gun so I used that to monitor the temps of the lenses in the area lit by the turn signal bulbs. After 10 minutes I started checking the lenses to see what the temps were. The 50 watt side was hotter, of course. It kept climbing for a while and after 15 minutes of flashing these are the temps I saw. 50 watt side, 165 degrees F. 21 watt side, 115 degrees F. The areas not lit by the bulbs read about 70 degrees and the air temp was in the 50s. I may try the experiment again with the brake lights and then I will prop the brake pedal such that the brake lights stay on constantly. Mark
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