I had halogen sealed beams as well, and tried several switches, both original Ford and aftermarket by Standard. They all would eventually start tripping the circuit breaker. Doing my due diligence, I cleaned all the connections and grounds, and made sure everything was 100% - no difference. So, I punted and installed the relay kit with great results. My halogen sealed beams were definitely brighter without any tripping issues. After that, I switched to Cibie/Valeo glass housings with Hella H4 halogen bulbs. Total cost was about $150 and it was probably the best money I'd spent on the car in a long time.
Hemikiller, that's interesting, thanks. I switched to Halogen seal beams probably 10 years ago and never had any issues with circuit breakers tripping. Now, to be fair, I don't often drive this car at night, I'm usually home from car shows long before darkness sets in. Perhaps not driving with the lights on for extended periods of time has an impact. For now, I'll stay informed, but the old adage applies, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Those look tempting, something else to spend my Covid 19 saving on!!. I would think the draw on those would be considerably lees than Halogen bulbs. Without checking, are the plugs the same between 71 and 73?
Geoff, Hang tight. I can't find them on Amazon now either. Even if I click my order, it takes me to a different part number. Grr.
The Hella kit comes with Halogens and the boots for the halogens, that I just put in a drawer. I really just wanted those globes. 71-73 are the same. H4 connectors and 7" globes. Insane amount of different cars ran those back in the day. Super common.
The original incandescent headlights drew about 50 watts (4.2 amps) on high beam, halogens draw 60, or more, watts (5 amps). This is an increase of 12% current draw across the switch contacts. Some high power LEDs also say they draw 60 watts. The LED headlight bulbs from SuperBright LEDs draw 2.5, or less, amps.
From what I can find on mine which are essentially the same as what I linked Geoff to These lights are roughly 1.5-1.8A and the wattage is roughly 40W per bulb.
I really like those Chris. That's what I've been looking for. Too many of the LED headlights look gaudy to me. Thank you for the links!
