Kestas
Staff member
Anybody have a cheap way to repaint the amber coating on turn signal bulbs? I've seen a number of good bulbs in my stable lose their amber coating due to flaking. Fix it with yellow magic marker?
Flaking yellow bulbs
- Thread starter Kestas
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time to upgrade to the pricey LEDS.
How old are the bulbs? Chances are, even if you go through the trouble of repainting them, they may burn out soon anyway. I ended up just replacing mine as they were pretty old. Plus they're rather inexpensive.
But yeah, how c-r-a-p-p-y that they can't use some good dye that won't start flaking after just a few years.
But yeah, how c-r-a-p-p-y that they can't use some good dye that won't start flaking after just a few years.
Kestas
Staff member
My european cars are 7 and 13 years old that have this problem. Bulbs have gotten better (and more expensive) in the past couple decades. I don't replace them as often as I used to.
LEDs won't work becsuse they have a different resistance value. They'll trigger the "light-out" feature in my car.
LEDs won't work becsuse they have a different resistance value. They'll trigger the "light-out" feature in my car.
Originally Posted By: Kestas
LEDs won't work becsuse they have a different resistance value. They'll trigger the "light-out" feature in my car.
Is this just the "fast flash" problem (where the signals flash fast to indicate that a bulb is burned out), or some other light-out "feature"?
If it's simply the fast flash problem, that is often very easy to fix by simply swapping out the flasher unit with an "electronic" flasher designed to work correctly even with the low current draw of LEDs. Such flashers are usually pretty cheap (I think I spent around $13/each for the ones I put in the family cars), but you have to hunt around for them.
OTOH if you actually have some other "light out" warning system built into your car, you are correct that LED modules will present something of a problem. You can get around that problem with resisters (to cause the LED modules to draw the stock power levels, and thereby make the "light out" circuit happy), but then you lose any power advantage of the LEDs (but still have the "LEDs last longer" advantage). And, depending upon how the "light out" feature works, there might simply be an easy way to disable it.
Still IMHO a car with a built in "light out" warning (that you can't easily disable) is a PITA (especially if/when you are trying to do a LED conversion) IMHO. And if you are going to try LEDs with such a car, you will have to take extra steps to either disable the "light out" feature, or trick it into being happy...
LEDs won't work becsuse they have a different resistance value. They'll trigger the "light-out" feature in my car.
Is this just the "fast flash" problem (where the signals flash fast to indicate that a bulb is burned out), or some other light-out "feature"?
If it's simply the fast flash problem, that is often very easy to fix by simply swapping out the flasher unit with an "electronic" flasher designed to work correctly even with the low current draw of LEDs. Such flashers are usually pretty cheap (I think I spent around $13/each for the ones I put in the family cars), but you have to hunt around for them.
OTOH if you actually have some other "light out" warning system built into your car, you are correct that LED modules will present something of a problem. You can get around that problem with resisters (to cause the LED modules to draw the stock power levels, and thereby make the "light out" circuit happy), but then you lose any power advantage of the LEDs (but still have the "LEDs last longer" advantage). And, depending upon how the "light out" feature works, there might simply be an easy way to disable it.
Still IMHO a car with a built in "light out" warning (that you can't easily disable) is a PITA (especially if/when you are trying to do a LED conversion) IMHO. And if you are going to try LEDs with such a car, you will have to take extra steps to either disable the "light out" feature, or trick it into being happy...
Kestas
Staff member
My light-out system is a dash warning light. (I hate these lazy-man features that cause more problems than they solve, just like tire pressure monitor systems).
Couldn't they use yellow glass for production of these bulbs? I don't see how it would raise the cost of production for these bulbs.
Couldn't they use yellow glass for production of these bulbs? I don't see how it would raise the cost of production for these bulbs.
I haven't seen painted amber bulbs in years. I only see the "natural amber" (ex. 1156NA) bulbs nowadays. They used to make amber painted bulbs (ex. 1156A).
I used to paint my bulbs different colors back in the day.
I got the best results with Tamiya transparent model paint. Tamiya paint is an acrylic which stands up to bulb heat better than enamals.
I had a setup where I would dip the bulbs and then power them up. The heat would "cure" the paint and then I'd re-dip as necessary to get the right tint.
I used to paint my bulbs different colors back in the day.
I got the best results with Tamiya transparent model paint. Tamiya paint is an acrylic which stands up to bulb heat better than enamals.
I had a setup where I would dip the bulbs and then power them up. The heat would "cure" the paint and then I'd re-dip as necessary to get the right tint.
Originally Posted By: Kestas
My light-out system is a dash warning light.
Yuck.
I don't suppose it's easy to get to the dash light, and simply remove that small bulb (effectively turning off that "feature")? Probably not, but it might be worth looking into just to see if that is a "reasonable" way to deal with the situation...
Originally Posted By: Kestas
(I hate these lazy-man features that cause more problems than they solve, just like tire pressure monitor systems).
I'm with you on that one. In many cases you end up just disabling the "feature" anyway, if/when you want to do something intelligent (but not exactly "stock").
For example, the "rapid flash" problem (that a lot of cars have with LEDs) is also technically a burnt out bulb warning "feature" (i.e. the flash "speeds up" when one or more bulbs is "bad"). And my swapping of my flasher unit with one that always flashes at the correct rate (even with low current draw LEDs), is how I went about "disabling" that "feature" (so my LEDs always flash at the correct rate, but at the "price" of no longer having a burnt out bulb warning). And for another example, my car has a couple of "your belt is unfastened" lights above the rear-view mirror. Well, since I often have nobody in the passenger seat, the passenger light would usually stay on almost all the time (unless I just "buckled in" the empty seat next to me), providing unnecessary distractions for the driver. I finally got so tired of that "feature", that I found the wires leading to those seat belt lights, and pulled the plug on them (effectively resulting in those "seat belt" lights always being off, no matter what was done with the seat belts).
BTW: I'm not exactly worried about disabling either of these "safety features", as they weren't IMHO very useful info anyway. After all, I know (by the pressure of the belt against my skin) if/when I'm belted in, so why do I need an "idiot light" to tell me? And as for the burnt out light indicator, I figure that's not exactly a crisis either, as the odds of having a burnt out LED module are much less than with stock bulbs (incandescents generally burn out much quicker than LED modules). Besides which, in the off chance that a LED module actually did burn out, you should still be easily able to tell that by doing a quick "walk around" of the car looking for bad lights (which I generally do every few months anyway, often at the same time I get the oil changes done).
So yes, I know exactly what you mean about "features" that think they are more intelligent than the driver/owner of the equipment...
My light-out system is a dash warning light.
Yuck.
I don't suppose it's easy to get to the dash light, and simply remove that small bulb (effectively turning off that "feature")? Probably not, but it might be worth looking into just to see if that is a "reasonable" way to deal with the situation...
Originally Posted By: Kestas
(I hate these lazy-man features that cause more problems than they solve, just like tire pressure monitor systems).
I'm with you on that one. In many cases you end up just disabling the "feature" anyway, if/when you want to do something intelligent (but not exactly "stock").
For example, the "rapid flash" problem (that a lot of cars have with LEDs) is also technically a burnt out bulb warning "feature" (i.e. the flash "speeds up" when one or more bulbs is "bad"). And my swapping of my flasher unit with one that always flashes at the correct rate (even with low current draw LEDs), is how I went about "disabling" that "feature" (so my LEDs always flash at the correct rate, but at the "price" of no longer having a burnt out bulb warning). And for another example, my car has a couple of "your belt is unfastened" lights above the rear-view mirror. Well, since I often have nobody in the passenger seat, the passenger light would usually stay on almost all the time (unless I just "buckled in" the empty seat next to me), providing unnecessary distractions for the driver. I finally got so tired of that "feature", that I found the wires leading to those seat belt lights, and pulled the plug on them (effectively resulting in those "seat belt" lights always being off, no matter what was done with the seat belts).
BTW: I'm not exactly worried about disabling either of these "safety features", as they weren't IMHO very useful info anyway. After all, I know (by the pressure of the belt against my skin) if/when I'm belted in, so why do I need an "idiot light" to tell me? And as for the burnt out light indicator, I figure that's not exactly a crisis either, as the odds of having a burnt out LED module are much less than with stock bulbs (incandescents generally burn out much quicker than LED modules). Besides which, in the off chance that a LED module actually did burn out, you should still be easily able to tell that by doing a quick "walk around" of the car looking for bad lights (which I generally do every few months anyway, often at the same time I get the oil changes done).
So yes, I know exactly what you mean about "features" that think they are more intelligent than the driver/owner of the equipment...
Kestas
Staff member
I do my quick checks anytime I find myself parked against a large window, such as a store front, or the living room window of my neighbor across the street.
Remember the seat belt interlock system of 1974? You couldn't start the car unless the driver was first buckled in. Thankfully the engineers designed it so all you had to do was pull one wire at the bottom of the B-pillar to disable it. This design lasted only one year.
Remember the seat belt interlock system of 1974? You couldn't start the car unless the driver was first buckled in. Thankfully the engineers designed it so all you had to do was pull one wire at the bottom of the B-pillar to disable it. This design lasted only one year.
Originally Posted By: Kestas
Anybody have a cheap way to repaint the amber coating on turn signal bulbs? I've seen a number of good bulbs in my stable lose their amber coating due to flaking. Fix it with yellow magic marker?
Just buy new bulbs. They are relatively inexpensive to buy and replace.
Anybody have a cheap way to repaint the amber coating on turn signal bulbs? I've seen a number of good bulbs in my stable lose their amber coating due to flaking. Fix it with yellow magic marker?
Just buy new bulbs. They are relatively inexpensive to buy and replace.
Yellow bulbs nowadays use a low quality coating. In the past the glass was made with cadmium that gave the glass its color. Cadmium has essentially been outlawed in manufacturing due to environmental concerns.
FWIW, I want to try true yellow (not amber) signal lamp bulbs on my truck, but can't get them in my size. I found this product "Vitrea 160 Glass Paint" which is made in France. It's used for glass art and seems pretty tough, dishwasher safe etc. Available at Michales Arts+Crafts and others.
You paint on the product (I dipped the bulbs with a cloths pin holder), let the excess drip off for a while and remove any thick drips. Let the glass dry for 24 hours, then bake in a home oven at 325'F for 40 minutes to cure. This sounds like it may work pretty good for indicator bulbs that don't get crazy-hot.
I just dipped today and see how the stand up for a few weeks.
I used the transparent "Sun Yellow"
http://www.cheapjoes.com/art-supplies/7445_pebeo-vitrea-glass-paint.asp
Drew
You paint on the product (I dipped the bulbs with a cloths pin holder), let the excess drip off for a while and remove any thick drips. Let the glass dry for 24 hours, then bake in a home oven at 325'F for 40 minutes to cure. This sounds like it may work pretty good for indicator bulbs that don't get crazy-hot.
I just dipped today and see how the stand up for a few weeks.
I used the transparent "Sun Yellow"
http://www.cheapjoes.com/art-supplies/7445_pebeo-vitrea-glass-paint.asp
Drew
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