[charter.pa]

I am installing a WOW kit. I have a 16V bulb. The motherboard has a 12v supply. Will there be much of a power loss using a incandescent bulb ? Will it run dim at 12V ?

 

[traction fan]

Dim bulb

I am installing a WOW kit. I have a 16V bulb. The motherboard has a 12v supply. Will there be much of a power loss using a incandescent bulb ? Will it run dim at 12V ?

charter.pa;

The 16 volt bulb will run fine on 12 volts. It will be dimmer tha on 16 volts, but will also last longer.

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:

 

[charter.pa]

Thanks. I did run into a bit of a problem. The bulb is too long for the headlamp. I found a 1.5V bulb. Very small and it fit nicely. The TCS WOW motherboard says it has a built in voltage reducer for LED's. Should I add a resistor to the blue 12V positive light wire ? To be extra safe.

 

[DonR]

What voltage does the motherboard maker claim
for the LED output? If more than 1.5 volts your
incandescent bulb would soon die.

If there is no information, you would best use
your multimeter set on DC to find out the
voltage before connecting the bulb.

Don

 

[Tom_C]

What DonR says may indeed be true, and if it tried to produce some preconfigured current (X) then it could increase the voltage way beyond 1.5V trying to get to X.

That may not be an issue, or the bulb perhaps might go poof.

 

[Lemonhawk]

I think the WOW board being set for LED's is a big hint that an LED should be your first choice. It may be set up to pulse with modulate the signal to the LED to do dimming and MARS light simulations. Also save you from continually replacing the incandescent light.