Thinking of fitting LED headlamp and other bulbs to your Austin Seven?

The following notes may be of help - but your initial response might be, "But I never drive my A7 at night." While that may be your intention, there could be occasions during the daytime where brighter-than-standard lights might be a life-saver e.g. in fog, heavy rain, driving through dense woodland, being delayed from getting back in daylight or other occasions where daylight running lights might be beneficial. However, if you want to keep the original lights and don't motor too frequently or far in the dark, it's possible to do so. It is, though, as well to take into account the very bright lights that modern cars have and that brings into train a number of difficulties for the Austin driver. Approaching a bind brow or corner in your A7, will your headlamp beam be sufficiently powerful for a car coming in the opposite direction to know you're there? It's unlikely, as the opposing car's lights drown out your beam, leaving you with, as a minimum, a few seconds or so of high beam in your eyes before the other driver sees you and dips. A similar problem happens on roads where a constant flow of traffic in the opposite direction brings into sharp relief the relative feebleness of your lamps. And today, of course, with most cars having daylight running lights, drivers are not so accustomed to spotting ones without.

Developments in LED Bulbs

Today, the most effective replacement headlamp LED bulb is the "bulls-eye" projector version, a version of which is fitted to many modern cars. This type has the distinct advantage of not needing a reflector - nor any complicated form of glass lens in front of it, it's an entirely self-contained unit. Until recently, reflectors in perfect condition were essential - and the only way of achieving that was to have them re-silvered regularly and kept clean. During the 1960s, and early 1970s - and with my 1930 Chummy in daily use, with standard R47 headlamps, perfect reflectors and 35-watt bulbs -  there was sufficient output for pressing on along country roads. There was no dip facility, but at the speeds run, this hardly mattered. The problem was, of course, that the dynamo could not keep up and, with the ammeter showing a healthy discharge, the battery was flat within a few hours.

Keeping the Battery Charged

LED bulbs have now solved the flat battery problem. While two 6-volt, 5-watt filament bulbs use 1.7 amps, the equivalent LED bulbs consume only 0.05 amps. Two 6-volt, 24-watt filament headlamp bulbs use 8 amps, but two 36-watt LED bulbs just 4 amps. Hence, with filament bulbs, when the two 5-watt tail lights and two 24-watt headlights are illuminated, a supply of almost 10 amps is needed - and so beyond the maximum safe 8-watt output of the dynamo. Add in a dash light, a stop light, electric windscreen wiper and indicators and the situation worsens. With LEDs and all lights on, the current draw is just a theoretical 5.7 amps, though in practice, according to the writer's ammeter, this is never as good as promised and usually the consumption is more like 6.5 amps.
Will LED bulbs provide a complete answer? No, they will not, but they are a significant improvement to both safety and the ease of driving.

Bulbs and Fitting Them - It's Not Always Straightforward

Simply replacing your ordinary bulbs with LED ones that fit the holders will give a brighter beam - but one that will, inevitably, be unfocused. As originally equipped, the reflectors had bulbs with their filament at the "point of focus" to give a theoretically parallel beam. An LED bulb outside of this position will produce a beam that, though brighter, is scattered and - in the experience of many - pretty well useless. Other than the bull-eye type, the only LED headlamp bulb I know of to have performed well - and only available in a fitting to suit the Ruby - is the one shown in illustration B below. It takes the form of a narrow rectangle with one LED on top and another beneath to give high and low beams. With good reflectors, these give an excellent, well-formed and bright beam. Unfortunately, this bulb appears to be currently unavailable (early 2024) in the Ruby P15D-30APF 'big flange' fitting - though this might change as supplies become available again. Happily, the bulls-eye type can be had in BA15D (the standard twin-base contact, 15 mm diameter body with level pins) and the P15D-30APF for some models of the Ruby. The special double-filament Lucas/Graves bulbs used from 1931 are replaceable by the "Bosch" version of the bull-eye bulbs - there is just enough room, a few mm, behind the glass for them to fit. This brings us to bulb holders and getting the bulb fitting correct. On an A7 the common fittings are:
BA15S: a bulb with a 15 mm diameter body, level pins and a single contact (originally known as Single Centre Contact SCC)
BA15D: a bulb with a 15 mm diameter body, level pins and a double base contact.
If your bulb holders are a single-contact type, they will need to be changed - and replacements in a variety of types are available from several suppliers including this double-contact, parallel-pin holder (picture A) from https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p/ba15d-parallel-pins
How is the double-contact holder fitted? In one case the writer managed to bend back the metal tabs holding the ceramic contact unit and fit just the latter into an existing holder. If this is not possible, the original holder will have to be swan off and the hole enlarged to fit the new. Cutting the old off with a Junior hacksaw is easy, but how to enlarge to the 17 mm diameter of the new holder in a rather delicate reflector? The writer managed this by using, with great care, an adjustable reamer and taking very small cuts until the new holder was a snug fit. Next, how to retain the holder: solder can be used, though this can be tricky and a far easier way (with which the writer has had success) is to use Araldite or a similar two-pack adhesive. If everything is cleaned thoroughly - finishing with alcohol - the job will be successful. Before getting the glue ready, remember that the bulls-eye bulbs need to be fitted so that the black line on their body is exactly at the top. With the Araldite still flexible, the holder can be positioned. IMPORTANT: If your reflector is the push-in-and-twist type ( like an R47) you'll need to install it into the headlamp shell and make a mark indicating the 'real' top. Next, with the bulb fitted into its holder, position it so that the black line on its body is at the top and mark this on the holder. With the glue still not set, the two marks can then be aligned--but, if the positioning is found to be slightly out, bulbs are provided with a small hex-head screw that allows the body to be twisted a little for final adjustment.
If you have early R47 headlamps with deep-rim reflectors and want to save a lot of time and trouble, austinrepro.com might be able to supply new reflectors with handy, drop-in twin-contact (BA15D) bulb holders. If you can, especially with 6 volts and LED bulbs, wire all the earth points back to the battery and not the car body shell.

Arranging Switches

You can, of course just use the existing switch on late-model cars with a sidelight, dipped and main beam settings but pre-Ruby models - with just sidelights and headlight positions - using those connectors would mean the dipped beam replacing the sidelights. Alternative solutions are to wire in a separate switch for the sidelights (which might means installing sidelight bulb holders) or fitting a new, separate switch of the three-way type that gives off/low-beam/high-beam. This also has the advantage of bypassing what can be a rickety original switch and its perhaps uncertain contacts. Various inconspicuous switches are available including ordinary three-position ones with off/on/on and even one that gives off/dip/dip+head with both on together. The following company has a wide selection: https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/

Rear Lights

Rear lights are usually very easy to convert, even the pork-pie type on the late cars is available with an LED board and, if you have, or want to fit indicators, bulbs are available that combine a white and amber function. A note on the commonly-available and often-found replica rear lights fitted to the rear mudguards. The writer has found examples with quite hopeless brass contact strips that failed to work. One solution is to solder the brass strip onto the bulbs, or, even better, solder a short length of cable to the brass contact strip and another to the bulb. Join the two cables together with an easily-removed, miniature screw-type connector and then the bulb will be easy to replace when it fails.
Text continued below the pictures:

Suppliers

In addition to the companies already mentioned, the following can also help with advice and supplies of suitable bulbs and lamps.
https://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com

https://vintageandclassicspares.co.uk/classic-auto-bulbs

https://www.classicbulbs.co.uk/

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/

https://www.s-v-c.co.uk/

Fitting Indicators? See this page

Austin 7 headlamps, dipping and dimming systems:
Legally speaking, there is no requirement to have dipping headlamps. The lighting regulations relate to the necessity of having a "matched pair" and also that if they are not capable of being dipped that they are permanently directed downwards so as not to dazzle oncoming traffic.
Depending upon the year and month of manufacture, if original, by 1926, the CAV switch panel incorporated a knob which, when pulled out, dimmed both lights and, when pushed in, gave full brightness. i.e. there was no main or dipped beam. In December 1926, the CAV switch was replaced by the Lucas SM3 (identifiable by its two-pin socket for an inspection light) and then, in October 1926, by the Lucas SM with its charge warning red light. None of these cars had any form of main or dipped beam; the headlamps were first described as "incorporating side and driving lights" and later, by 1929, as "two bulbs, 1 driving, I standing" a sidelight and a single filament headlamp bulb only. The first true dipping system was fitted in 1931 in response to a law requiring an anti-dazzle system. The first models to be so equipped appeared in late 1921 using the  "Lucas Graves" system and fitted with Lucas R47 BA headlamps.

More on Austin Seven lights

Austin 7 Headlamps - data gathered from questions and answers on the forum https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum/

1922 - circa 1924    CAV bell-shaped headlamps Type FWP 5-inches in diameter. Then came the CAV Type AP, again 5 inches in diameter with a screw-on rim and no means of directional adjustment.
1924 - 1928        Lucas R510 scuttle-mounted and, for a brief period (September 1927 to January 1928), forward-mounted. 5-inch diameter. No pilot lamp.

More on Austin Seven lights

Austin 7 Headlamps - data gathered from questions and answers on the forum https://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum/

1922 - circa 1924    CAV bell-shaped headlamps Type FWP 5-inches in diameter. Then came the CAV Type AP, again 5 inches in diameter with a screw-on rim and no means of directional adjustment.
1924 - 1928        Lucas R510 scuttle-mounted and, for a brief period (September 1927 to January 1928), forward-mounted. 5-inch diameter. No pilot lamp.

The first wing-mounted lamps (the 5-inch diameter Type R40M, I believe) were fitted in September 1927; however, the police claimed that this did not accurately represent the width of the car,
and so in January 1928, they were relocated to the scuttle. Following a successful appeal by Austin, they were not only moved back to the wings in August 1928,
but were of an improved type, the larger 6-inch diameter Lucas R47. With the dispute settled, Austin then offered conversion brackets to allow the owners of
older models to position their (frankly almost useless) smaller scuttle lamps to the wings, though their new position did help better light the way.

1928 - 1931(2)    In August 1928, the lamps were mounted on the front wings and of the improved Lucas 6-inch diameter, Type R47. The R47 has several variations: some models have pilot bulbs, while others do not. Additionally, earlier models have a reflector with a very deep rim that engages in three spring-loaded, slotted cylinders riveted to the shell. Later ones were built more economically and have a reflector with a narrow rim featuring three slots that engage with three spring-loaded fingers attached to the bowl.
The R47 is scarce - the R40S and R47S lamps are similar but have significant differences. The R40 is made from thicker brass, and the rim is much heavier. The rim is deeper and thicker than that of the R47 and engages with the bowl differently. On the R47, there are three lugs riveted to the rims and three slots in the bowl into which they engage. On the R40, the lugs are on the bowl, and the slots are in the rim.
A significant problem with the R47 is that three springs push the reflector onto the glass, allowing rims to become detached. A solution is to omit the bottom lug and replace it with a 4BA screw, threaded through the rim into a nut silver-soldered to the inside of the bowl.
R40 reflectors fit the R47, although they are often not equipped with pilot bulbs. Unfortunately, there are numerous ways in which R40S are mounted that can make them impossible to convert for use on an Austin 7.

A quotation from a rebuilder of headlamps:
"I have several R40, some of which I have converted to R47. You need to remove the three rim locating studs from the R40 shell and cut three L-shaped slots as per the R47. Once you have done this, an R47 rim fits straight on, and you can use the R40 Reflector. I have not noticed any difference in the thickness of the brass that the buckets are made from, but I have never actually measured their thickness with a wire gauge. The rims are, of course, completely different on the R40 and of no use to us in an A7 context. There are also some R40 variants which have a three-hole mounting for the base stalk. I assume these are the ones you refer to. These are much more difficult to convert, but they can be done if you are desperate."

The R47 fitted to the Ulster was mounted in such a way that the Lucas badge was not at the top, but at an inward angle.

1931 - 1933   Lucas Type 35/32. The 32 refers to the angle of offset to facilitate wing mounting. Fitted with the Lucas/Graves twin filament dipping bulbs. Reeded glass, pilot lamp fitted.
1933 - 1934       Lucas  LB130. Flat 'Diffisa' glass and fitted with a N/S Dipping solenoid mechanism. O/S lamp off when dipped, on when on main. Pilot lamp fitted.
1934 - 1936 (Ruby)   Lucas LB130. Curved tear-drop glass, dipping as above. No pilot lamp.
1936 - 1939        Lucas L131, and later the 133, this having a more pointed shell with tear-drop glass. Fitted with a N/S dipping solenoid mechanism. O/S lamp off when dipped, on when on main beam. No pilot.
Sports models had the same profile lamps, but were mounted vertically.

Side lights
R510S were wired such that their single filament bulbs were in series when on 'side' and in parallel when on 'head'.
1934 - 1935         Lucas LD 108. with a reeded-effect glass. Twist on rim
1935 - 1939         Lucas LD 109, screw-fitting rim. The reed-effect glasses appear to have been phased out over this period.
All glasses in this series are marked LD 108.