Neil, the tail light bulbs bulbs I'm using come from Lordco and are numbered
7506  P21W.

Jake

On 4/6/07, Matt Roberds <mattroberds@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > From:    Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
> > Date:    Fri, 6 Apr 2007 01:28:20 -0500
> >
> > So when are compact flourescents coming to automobiles?
>
> Inside or outside?  :)
>
> For outside lighting other than headlights, probably never.  The
> required ballast/control gear will probably always be more expensive and
> bulkier than a simple filament lamp or LED.  The accountants don't like
> "expensive" and the engineers don't like "bulkier".  You only pay for
> "extra" energy for a filament lamp when it's on, but you have to pay to
> haul more weight around all the time.
>
> For headlights... maybe someday.  The main problem with fluorescent
> headlights is probably designing a reflector to spread light from a
> fluorescent tube into an acceptable headlight pattern.  HID lamps allow
> for a lot more light output over a relatively short length, so the
> reflectors are a little easier to design.
>
> As has been mentioned, LEDs are probably the "next" technology for
> everything other than headlights.  It remains to be seen whether the
> industry will develop some standard LED modules that can be plugged
> into different lens/reflector combinations.  That way if the LEDs do
> burn out, you could replace a $5 LED module at the car parts store
> rather than replacing a $50 side-marker light at the dealer.  "But LEDs
> don't burn out!", you say.  Well, if your alternator never misbehaves,
> and if the accountants never substitute the "100 for $1" LEDs for the
> nickel LEDs the engineer specified, sure.  :)
>
> Another reason for LEDs is for the alleged 42 V charging system that
> will eventually happen maybe someday - 36 V battery, 42 V alternator
> voltage.  At this voltage, if you want a 3 W filament lamp for a running
> light, you have to make the filament really thin and short - so much so
> that it tends not to hold up to the normal vibration experienced in a
> car.  On the other hand, 42 V charging systems have been kicking around
> for a while now, and they haven't been widely adopted yet.
>
> There is a 2008 Audi that will have LED headlamps.  An acquaintance that
> does vehicle lighting feels that this is the first time that forward
> lighting technology has been driven by the stylists rather than the
> engineers.  I asked him about the possibility of developing a DOT/ECE
> legal LED headlamp in the shape and size of a sealed-beam, for retrofit
> purposes - he thought it would be possible but wondered if the potential
> market would be big enough to warrant the cost.
>
> Matt Roberds
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com