CHALLENGE: who knows where I can get this bulb?

Is there a Ferrari part number . I assumed you have called the standard Ferrari parts sellers ? Also have you called Orsam and discussed this with the technical folks.

 

Post a picture of the bulb. I'll bet someplace like Newark sells it.

 

call these guys and ask for Steve


http://www.trutlands.com/

 

call these guys and ask for Brian

AW Auto Parts 732.542.5600

5 bucks says he'll tell you the part number off the top of his head... you can hold me to that.

 

Well Rob, that is a pretty obscure item to be laying that kinda coin out on a bet. :-o
Truth is there is no part number for that specific bulb, only the complete fiber optic cable assembly. I have checked the TR/512TR parts books to see if the console lighting in those cars is of a similar design. Again, no bulb part numbers. Hey AML355, have you thoroughly scanned the owners manual to see if any info is included under the bulb specification section?
I owe you the fiver Rob. :-(

 

Can you fit a normal bulb? Maybe you'll get a slight reduction in brightness but......
My 1980 Lancia Montecarlo has a fiber optic harness to light up switches but uses a standard 5 watt bulb.

Do you have a photo of the bulb? Just curious to see what it looks like.

 

Just a wild suggestion, but would a lighting store have (or be able to order) this bulb? By lighting store I mean one that sells commercial and residential fixtures, bulbs, etc.

 

Just a suggestion. Mercedes 123 bodies (81 - 85 300TD etc) had max fiberoptics in the center panels to light the switches and heater controls. Post a picture - if its the same you can have a hundred of them from your local boneyard.

 

I'd be happy to send you 2 spares I have (PM me with your addr and I'll send them from the UK).

I replaced the entire optical harness with 4mm LEDs. You can get prewired LEDs from eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&item=320023832055) with an in-line resistor to make them suitable for 12 v systems. I hot glued them into the same receptacles where the optic fibres fit. I used red LEDs on all but the row around the cigarette lighter, the fan speed and heating temp controllers where I used white LEDs to ensure the panel colors showed up correctly.

I'm happy to post pictures, but I wired the LEDs in parallel and soldered them to the wiring loom for the original bulb. The result is that I have a really visible switchboard, about 8-10x the fiberoptic system which works perfectly with the dimmer control.

Side effect, the RPM gauge doesn't jump around when I have the lights on, on idle and with the dimmer in any position other than 100% on.

Alternativley, you can replace the lightbulb with a hyperbright white LED BA9S (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200144344298) size bulbs. These will also replace the bulb in the AC button device also making it visible.

I replaced all instrument cluster bulbs EXCEPT the 3 red ones for the brake indicators in the RPM gauge with BA9S LED bulbs with matching colors as required (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250157414979). Gives a cooler (temperature noot bling factor) tint than the filament bulbs, no more heating and draws less than 10% of the power of the filaments.

I also replaced the dipped beams with HIDs (6000K so to maintain whiteness) H1's for Europe, I'm not sure for USA. Forget the bling factor, night vision is up by at least 100%...

LED tail lights (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170149450495) dual intensity brake lights, turning signals and LED flasher unit (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280154356345) so to not have to use the resistor units, will all add up to the alternator load dropping by over 75% under full night loading.

This means less current, less heat, less... well you know, less electric gremlins in the old lady...

PM me if you need more info on these and other electric mods...

Marco


All in all

 

It looks to me like this would be a perfect example of where an LED would actually be superior to the original incandescent bulb. One of the weaknesses of LED's for taillights etc. is their narrow angle of projection. In this case it's probably exactly what you want.... shooting most/all of the light straight into the ends of the fiber cables. It seems that's what they were trying to do back then with the magnifying or concentrating portion of the glass on the bulb yet a lot of light is probably wasted lighting up the sides. Of course they had LED's when your car was built however they did not have white LED's back then.

You may get more brightness with an LED bulb but it also may have a bluish tint. If you go that route let us know the results.

 

If you'll provide some more information, I can probably point you to the right bulb. The ruler gives a good notion of scale, but more exact measurements would be helpful: What diameter is the base, what diameter is the glass, what is the bulb's overall length? It's not an automotive bulb, per se, so looking at automotive catalogues isn't going to get you very far.

 

Well, you've done a very rare thing, as it seems: You've shown a picture of a bulb I cannot fully identify! From studying your pics closely, I can see this is a 12v, 5w, T10mm-glass w/lens end, BA9s-base, C2R-filament bulb of slightly over 1" overall length. Possibly plain tungsten, possibly tungsten-halogen. This bulb does not exist in any of the big manufacturers' master catalogues going back at least 10 years. Osram has a miniature bulb plant in Italy; my best guess is they provided these on a contract basis to Ferrari. It would certainly not be the first nor last time Osram provided special bulbs to an OEM without releasing those bulbs for general availability. If you require that exact bulb and nothing else, then I fear your only option will be to go through the Ferrari parts system.

The suggestion to replace with an LED is a good one, though to optimise the function of the optical illumination system, you need to be very picky about which LED unit you pick. I do not agree with the selection made by Marco B, and would suggest instead that you get this one:
http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/b321/default.asp

The optical characteristics of this bulb will be a very close match for those of the lens-end T10/C2R filament bulb. Operating temperature will be lower. Lifespan will be very much longer.

(I also very strongly disagree with Marco's "HID kit" headlamp hack and "LED bulb" brake/rear lamp hack, which are neither legal nor safe in his country or in ours, and which have not improved his nighttime vision or conspicuity as he thinks they have. That discussion, however, is probably best left for another thread.)

 

I deal with OSRAM at the commercial level I could find you a rep......but you have an offer of two FREE ones in the post above mine!!

 

Yeah, unfortunately it looks like the MOQ is five, and I don't know anywhere you can pick up just one. But once you've got it in and installed, you can keep a spare for when this one (never) burns out, and sell the other three on... ;-)

 

Hey Sheinwervermann,

My car passed the MOT (vehicle testing by government) with the HID and LED brakes, turn signals etc. They are legal as I asked this SPECIFICALLY to the testing agent.

You can fit any very high intensity led to the harnes providing it fits a BA9S profile - the one you suggested at 6500 mcd is 60% less bright than the one I suggested and 30% less bright than the original filament bulb.

The bulb I suggested will give you better ligting than the original bulb (which I have now sent to AML55). However, wether or not you agree with the selection, adding LEDs directly to the faceplate works. I chose red as it does not affect the night vision, and white for the last row so the red/blue and greens of the stencils come through as intended.

The HID bulbs I have used are 5400K. These are of exactly the same color tint as those on my Merc and have the same lighting arc. In fact their best is when I'm in the "country" where the comfort of city lighting is not available.

Besides, I also appreciate your terminology, which I believe is a humorous jibe. If you want to call them a hack, fine, but I suggest you at least do your groundwork and bother getting the details etc. than just throw out such a pretentious tone.

I compared the hid bulb intensity with an exposure meter and the referential value a) exceeds the legal requirement for the UK and b) is comparable (7% less to be precise) to that of filament bulbs.

I'm sorry I offended your sensitivity by adulteratig a Ferrari and distributed my poisonous knowledge to pollute the forum, I'll revert the hacks to the dimmer 55W H1 dipped beams, shorting turn signals, and safely invisible center console back lighting.

Cheers to all,

Marco "FerHacki" Bussadori

 

I ordered 2 of these: http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=112

They have 3 LEDs in each and should plug right into the fiber harness.

1 for the lower console, 1 for the upper console.

Will report...

 

Today I received the 6-LED bayonet mount lamps, http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=110, that I am trying out as replacements for the Osram fiber optic light source bulb, (that is apparently only available if one purchases the harness for 60 odd dollars). So far I have only tested the upper console plate that I reconditioned and it looks good. Still, I may take it apart one more time to lightly sand the primer that I put behind the icons so that more light comes through. They light up but not as nicely as I like, especially the one for the filler cap, where I know I ended up with a thicker layer of paint. Also I think that I will rough up the black plastic with some coarse grit sandpaper so that the spray adhesive sticks better. It sticks fine to the decal, but not so well to the black plastic. I tried a white 6-LED bulb and a red 6-LED bulb - I think the white will work fine on my lower console, and the red looks pretty good on the upper, however they also offer an amber yellow that I think will look better than either, so I am going to order one of those, along with a special single LED model that is supposedly much brighter, http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=186, but will be a bit of a fiddle to make fit. If I can get it to fit, that will probably be best for the lower console.

 

Hey AML. I bought almost the same bulb at West Marine a couple of years ago....It was made buy Aqua-Signal and went to a marine side marker light but looked almost spot on like yours. 12volt 5watt mini-bayonet size.

 

OK Really bored here.......but check with these guys....there must be a half dozen 12v/5w bulbs listed http://www.allferrariparts.com/search.php?description=true