Head light conversion MCI 5B

richardkillmon · June 05, 2016, 02:53:36 PM

How hard to do and where can I purchase a headlight conversion kit for a 1976 MCI 5B?

bevans6 · June 05, 2016, 04:13:25 PM

What part of the headlights do you want to convert? My 5C has square headlights. Difficulty not very hard, I think the previous guy bought a kit, you have to cut some of the stainless steel valence for clearance, but it can be done in a couple of hours. As far as the lights are concerned I recently pulled OUT a 12 volt conversion kit and installed halogen headlamps with 24 volt bulbs - by far the best thing for lighting in my opinion. If I had a 5B I would get on with daniel stern lighting and buy new 5" dia round lamps and 24v bulbs and have great headlights (with a couple of spare bulbs on board, obviously).

richardkillmon · June 05, 2016, 04:28:03 PM

How do I get in touch with him?

Ed Hackenbruch · June 05, 2016, 05:05:40 PM

If you are going to do that you might check out an outfit that is making 7" round led headlights that are a little spendy,( about $249? each) if i remember right. Supposed to be really good lights. Can't remember who they are but i think that i posted about them on one of the boards about a year ago. Might have their info but we just moved so i may not find it for quite a while.

uncle ned · June 05, 2016, 06:21:17 PM

ED find a new Harley Davidson with the 7in led light and see how they work. Looks like daylight in front of one.

Can be bought on the ebay thing .

uncle ned

eagle19952 · June 05, 2016, 09:17:47 PM

Quote from: rkillmon on June 05, 2016, 04:28:03 PM
How do I get in touch with him?

you google it... then you grab your jewels with one hand and your wallet with the other...and start rethinking your priorities, unless you have a bushel basket of money getting moldy...

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

luvrbus · June 05, 2016, 09:41:57 PM

I found a set of 7in LED 24v for my Humvee for under 200 bucks and he had some military Halogen 7in for 70 bucks a set

blue_goose · June 06, 2016, 11:02:16 AM

Quote from: uncle ned on June 05, 2016, 06:21:17 PM

ED find a new Harley Davidson with the 7in led light and see how they work. Looks like daylight in front of one.

Can be bought on the ebay thing .

uncle ned

Ned you would have to find two and be real quit while you are getting them.
Jack

Lin · June 06, 2016, 11:31:59 AM

We switched out our original 5a headlights for a Hella set of E-Code halogens. I have no doubt that better exist, but they are a significant upgrade anyway. I do not remember the cost, but they were not very expensive.

RJ · June 06, 2016, 03:42:22 PM

NAME?? -

My preference is to stick to the stock round headlamps, but replace them with Cibie E-code units, available from
http://www.talbotco.com/cibie_main_frameset.htm

Will set you back about $400 for the four, but considering their superior lighting pattern, consider it a SAFETY upgrade.

Ask about 24V bulbs, if that's what your 5B has - some have been converted to 12v headlamps.

As previously mentioned, Daniel Stern is also a good source for the E-code lamps.

I don't like the small 4x6 rectangular headlamp "upgrade" because of it's lousy US DOT output, but sadly I'm stuck with it on Tortoise, as when they were installed, the stainless panel was cut in such a way that I cannot reinstall the OEM round lamps. Bummer

FWIW & HTH. . .

Oonrahnjay · June 06, 2016, 04:07:19 PM

Quote from: uncle ned on June 05, 2016, 06:21:17 PMED find a new Harley Davidson with the 7in led light and see how they work. Looks like daylight in front of one.

Can be bought on the ebay thing .

uncle ned

Ned, the guy who is renting the storage unit next to mine put a "concave" lens LED on his 2013 Harley. He says that they work about $700 worth (that's for one). I don't think that that's the way I'LL be going!

richardkillmon · June 06, 2016, 04:20:48 PM

Would it be better to get a conversion kit for 12 v

or

Get the 24V replacement bulb?

bevans6 · June 06, 2016, 06:34:08 PM

I went with 24v bulbs in Cebie halogen lamps, re-converting from an unacceptable previous 12v conversion kit. why? the wiring to the headlights on an MCI is quite small gauge, designed for the low current of 24 volt bulbs. 12 volt bulbs draw twice the amperage, hence need larger wires. so you need to rewire the whole headlight package - not easy or quick to do it right. Second - where do you get the 12 volt from? The stock bus does not have a 12v power source large enough to run the lights so you need to engineer that. Can it be done? Absolutely. Is it easy? Not really, and to do it right is surprisingly hard. Doing it wrong is surprisingly easy, hence me redoing my factory MCI conversion. The cost difference of the 24v bulbs is not that much, and upgrading to the quartz halogen lights is a great upgrade anyway, so the downside amounts to carrying your own spare bulbs rather than knowing you can pick up a new one at the next truck stop. The new LED upgrades? The next coming thing, all the new buses have them, and the way of the future. Cost is still an issue, and spares are even more expensive.

luvrbus · June 07, 2016, 07:03:18 AM

Government Liquidators has lot of 64 -24V LED 7 inch round head lights ea up for bid now the last time I checked it was around 70 bucks for the 64 located in OH.I would be interested in going in on 1 lot if they go for under a $1000.00 a lot

RJ · June 07, 2016, 08:05:09 AM

NAME?? -

This is a follow-up to my previous post, after visiting the Cibie website.

An excellent alternative to the Cibies are Hella e-code lamps, also made in Germany. They have the same light pattern, but are more reasonably priced. The first link is for hi/low beam lamps (the outer lights), the second link is for hi beam only (the inner lights) and the third and fourth links are for 24v halogen bulbs - H4 hi/low, H1 hi only:

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-002850811-Halogen-Conversion-Headlamp/dp/B001G7A9YS?ie=UTF8&keywords=hella%205%203%2F4%26%2334%3B%20round%20e-code%20headlights&qid=1465310530&ref_=sr_1_fkmr2_1&sr=8-1-fkmr2

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-002425811-Halogen-Conversion-Headlamp/dp/B001G76Q9K?ie=UTF8&keywords=hella%205%203%2F4%26%2334%3B%20round%20e-code%20headlights&qid=1465311321&ref_=sr_1_fkmr2_3&sr=8-3-fkmr2

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-HLA-H83140041-24V-100-90W/dp/B000H0QRYG?ie=UTF8&keywords=24v%20H4%20bulb&qid=1465311403&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-HLA-H83115071-Halogen-Bulb-Road/dp/B000COBLCA?ie=UTF8&keywords=24v%20H1%20bulb&qid=1465311439&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Some folk think that using four of the hi/low beam lamps will really put out the light on hi beam, but IBME that the inner lamps dedicated to hi beam only project a lot further due to the different optics of the lens.

As stated earlier, definitely rewire with a relay in the system, taking the amperage load off the headlight switch.

FWIW & HTH. . .

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