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Pre Focus Halogen bulbs
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nqtraderman



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 66
Location: Southport, Merseyside

PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:08 am    Post subject: Pre Focus Halogen bulbs Reply with quote

My car uses the pre focus dual filament headlamp bulbs and I'm thinking of upgrading it to Halogen bulbs. I know you can get a pre focus Halogen replacement bulb but they are 3x the price of a standard modern Halogen bulb.

Would a modern Halogen 3-pronged bulb fit into the back of the pre focus unit and secure with the spring clip ?

If so then it would then be an easy job to make up 3 spade terminals to connect it up.
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Phil - Nottingham



Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 1252
Location: Nottingham

PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Only if you are very lucky - by definition the PF bulbs and the halogens have lugs to give exact focus ie postioning of the filaments to get best light output with galre/dzzle. It will be very unlikely they will swap over.

Old prewar lamps had to be manually adjusted to focus them each time a bulb was changed
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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 822
Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The quick answer is "No, they won't!".

Your original bulbs have a BPF base, circular with a small alignment indent.
More recent H4 halogens have a P4T (I think) base, larger & with 3 extended lugs. They won't interchange.
(By the way, BPF headlights don't have a spring clip, just a twist-on bayonet, so I'm wondering if your headlights are in fact original ones).

The easiest upgrade is the 'expensive' halogen BPF bulbs.
The alternative is to change the headlight units for either halogen sealed-beams or halogen bulb units - either way you'll need to change the BPF plug on the wiring harness for a 3-pronged one.

Hope this helps.
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nqtraderman



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 66
Location: Southport, Merseyside

PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're right. My headlamps have the twist plug at the back. I was going from memory thinking they had a spring clip.

Actually I never use the car in the dark, it won't get a lot of mileage on it in truth so I probably wouldn't get much benefit from halogens. I'll just stick with the pre focus bulbs .. and put the money I've saved towards fixing the overdrive oil leak Sad

Thanks for the reply, your analysis was spot on and very helpful.
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Jim.Walker



Joined: 27 Dec 2008
Posts: 1229
Location: Chesterfield

PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not sure whether we are talking 6 or 12 Volt here. But 6volt British Pre-Focus (BPF) halogen bulbs are well worth the expense in my book.
I have one fitted in my 1959 6volt Triumph motorbike and the improvement is tremendous. Easily comparable with a normal 12volt bulb output.
I can't say how much improvement it would make on 12volts. But if you are on 12volts it might be better to consider changing your BPF light units to halogen types. The 12volt Wipac Quadoptics fitted to my car are amazing compared with the old Lucas BPF type units.
Jim.
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