Re: Taillight Bulbs - 1158??

Posted by Kevin On 2024/2/16 21:01:57
LED bulbs have polarity, so my first thought is that the bulb you bought is meant for a negative ground ("negative earth" in British parlance), and might illuminate if you could reverse the orientation of the bulb in the socket. Off the top of my head, I don't recall whether the small locating lugs on the side of the brass base of an 1158 are at the same height and can easily be flipped, or whether those are offset at different depths like the bulbs used in my 1955. This was intended to enforce a specific orientation of the bulb inside the bulb socket. Of course, if you have a polarity issue, these offset lugs will also prevent you from doing a simple 180 degree flip.

The Motor City Packard region of The Packard Club is running a project to locate and resell the proper LED bulbs for 6V positive ground Packards (as well as many other cars). You can go tohttps://www.motorcitypackards.org/shop/ and scroll about two-thirds of the way down where you'll find the LED bulb section. Click on the link for either the Excel ordering sheet or the PDF version to check out the availability and pricing,

Also keep in mind that the loads on your electrical system will now be a lot different from the incandescent bulbs, and it will throw off the normal operation of your flasher unit, as well as your turn signals. The CEC company makes some great LED compatible flashers. I was able to buy what I needed off of Amazon.

In my case, because my 1955 is such an odd beast (12V, but still positive ground -- Packard didn't move to negative ground until 1956), I ended up sourcing 12V, positive ground LED bulbs from a classic car parts supplier in the UK. That installation project is still underway, but the LED front turn signals that I finished first are a true revelation.

I'm sure that you will love your new LED bulbs when they are finally installed!

This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=267874