Tail light socket source

[Fastback50]

Okay guys---I've Googled, Ebay, and searched the links here for a source for two wire, six volt tail light bulb sockets. Mine are shot with corrosion and need to be replaced. Anybody know who makes these? I can find plenty of two wire, just not in 6 volt....

[knuckleharley]

There is a difference?

If there is,you should be able to find what you want here.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=6+volt+tail+light+socket&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[YukonJack]

I don't think the socket knows if you are running 6 or 12 volts. A 12 volt socket should be fine.

[knuckleharley]

3 minutes ago, YukonJack said:

I don't think the socket knows if you are running 6 or 12 volts. A 12 volt socket should be fine.

Well,if you are splicing a 12 volt pigtail into a 6 volt cloth wiring harness,you would need a dual gauge crimp connector. I don't think there is enough amp draw difference between to two to make heat anything to worry about with tail lights or turn signals.

If that worries jxc330,he can always go to an auto parts store and buy a dual contact pigtail,cut the wires off right behind the contact points,and then solder them to his 6 volt wiring.

[rb1949]

No difference, just some fabrication to attach the new one after removing the old. Make sure the new socket matches the pin offset of your bulbs.

[1949 Wraith]

I used some 12 volt dual element sockets on my '49 to get additional brake lights at the rear corner running lights. I kept the new leads as short as possible, it can't be much worse than the original 68 year old wiring.

[Fastback50]

8 hours ago, knuckleharley said:

Well,if you are splicing a 12 volt pigtail into a 6 volt cloth wiring harness,you would need a dual gauge crimp connector. I don't think there is enough amp draw difference between to two to make heat anything to worry about with tail lights or turn signals.

If that worries jxc330,he can always go to an auto parts store and buy a dual contact pigtail,cut the wires off right behind the contact points,and then solder them to his 6 volt wiring.

Yeah I was worried about the potential for heat, so maybe I'll go the soldering route.  If many of you guys have spliced 6 to 12 v without issue then, I'll just move forward.  ALMOST have all the lights running on this old gal (knocking loudly on wood).  Electrical issues seem to be a game of whack-a-mole   Thanks all.

[desoto1939]

a 12v pigtail wire and a 6v pigtail socket is the same. The socket does not determine if it is a 6 or 12 volt.  The setup of the pigtail button also do not care if 6 or 12 v.

What you are concerned with is the gage of the wire.  If the gage on you car is 16g and the new socket and pigtail also have 16g wire then there is no issue.  The gage of wire is the same when they were made back in the 30,40,50,60 and upto the current time.  So there willnot be any heat issue that you have to worry about. You can yuse a modern wire connector or solder the wire or even twist and tape them together.

case in point. If you get a new wire harness  and lets say its from Rhode Island wiring. If you pulled back some of the cloth covering you would see that they are using plastic coated wire, modern wire and then just slip the appropriate color coded wire over the platic sleeve. all they are doing is using new wire in the appropriate gage for your car. The car needs certain gage wire for specific locations but gage is gage is gage no matter when the wire was produced .

Rich Hartung

[Fastback50]

1 minute ago, desoto1939 said:

a 12v pigtail wire and a 6v pigtail socket is the same. The socket does not determine if it is a 6 or 12 volt.  The setup of the pigtail button also do not care if 6 or 12 v.

What you are concerned with is the gage of the wire.  If the gage on you car is 16g and the new socket and pigtail also have 16g wire then there is no issue.  The gage of wire is the same when they were made back in the 30,40,50,60 and upto the current time.  So there willnot be any heat issue that you have to worry about. You can yuse a modern wire connector or solder the wire or even twist and tape them together.

case in point. If you get a new wire harness  and lets say its from Rhode Island wiring. If you pulled back some of the cloth covering you would see that they are using plastic coated wire, modern wire and then just slip the appropriate color coded wire over the platic sleeve. all they are doing is using new wire in the appropriate gage for your car. The car needs certain gage wire for specific locations but gage is gage is gage no matter when the wire was produced .

Rich Hartung

Thanks guys.  In that case, my brother's idea to just use the heaviest gauge wire called for in the wiring diagram for the entire car would not be wise, correct?  I'm a fairly "by the book" person, so wasn't planning on doing this, but the simplicity of the idea was appealing.  I have already bought rolls of several gauges anyway...

[knuckleharley]

34 minutes ago, jxc330 said:

Thanks guys.  In that case, my brother's idea to just use the heaviest gauge wire called for in the wiring diagram for the entire car would not be wise, correct?  I'm a fairly "by the book" person, so wasn't planning on doing this, but the simplicity of the idea was appealing.  I have already bought rolls of several gauges anyway...

I would not say "not be wise",but I would say "would not be cost efficient". Thick wire will pass current just as readily as thin gauge wire. It just won't get hot while doing it.

However,copper is and always has been relatively expensive,so no one ever uses any gauge thicker than what is necessary to do the job because it is not only not necessary,but it also cuts into their profits or makes their products more expensive and harder to sell.

Let's say for examply that you are building a trailer to haul your riding mower. You KNOW that 1/4 inch steel and angle iron is sufficient to carry the weight,so why would you decide to make it from 3/4 inch thick steel instead. You CAN,but it it's not necessary and it's wasting your money.

You just can't go wrong if you use wire of the same gauge as the Mopar engineers that originally designed your car or trucks wiring harness specified be used for each circuit. They were some pretty smart guys. Trust them.

Edited February 14, 2017 by knuckleharley

[knuckleharley]

1 hour ago, desoto1939 said:

a 12v pigtail wire and a 6v pigtail socket is the same. The socket does not determine if it is a 6 or 12 volt.  The setup of the pigtail button also do not care if 6 or 12 v.

Rich Hartung

Rich,the socket is the same,but the wire leading away from the contacts is a heavier gauge in a 6 volt pigtail than it is a 12 volt pigtail

[Fastback50]

1 hour ago, knuckleharley said:

Rich,the socket is the same,but the wire leading away from the contacts is a heavier gauge in a 6 volt pigtail than it is a 12 volt pigtail

Yep, looks that way. 

[Young Ed]

4 hours ago, 1949 Goat said:

I used some 12 volt dual element sockets on my '49 to get additional brake lights at the rear corner running lights. I kept the new leads as short as possible, it can't be much worse than the original 68 year old wiring.

I did the same thing. Soldered the heavier wire to the new lead and its been great for almost a decade.

3 hours ago, jxc330 said:

Thanks guys.  In that case, my brother's idea to just use the heaviest gauge wire called for in the wiring diagram for the entire car would not be wise, correct?  I'm a fairly "by the book" person, so wasn't planning on doing this, but the simplicity of the idea was appealing.  I have already bought rolls of several gauges anyway...

I didn't do that but I did upgrade all of the 16g to 14. I feel that it gives me better lighting and using all 14 cuts way down on the variety needed to rewire the car. 

[Fastback50]

14 hours ago, rb1949 said:

No difference, just some fabrication to attach the new one after removing the old. Make sure the new socket matches the pin offset of your bulbs.

Yes, the light bulbs in mine have pins directly in line with each other.  Went to three places today and can only find sockets with the offset pins.  Back to the drawing board on the internet search.  

[1949 Wraith]

20 minutes ago, jxc330 said:

Yes, the light bulbs in mine have pins directly in line with each other.  Went to three places today and can only find sockets with the offset pins.  Back to the drawing board on the internet search.  

Switch to offset post 6 volt dual element bulbs

[desoto1939]

7 hours ago, knuckleharley said:

Rich,the socket is the same,but the wire leading away from the contacts is a heavier gauge in a 6 volt pigtail than it is a 12 volt pigtail

How do you know what guge of wire is being used just from the posting. The poster will need to determine the gage of the wire. 6v wiring has been recommended to go with at least a 14 gage wire situation.  Acutually the  movement of the electricity on the standed wires is carried beeter on thicker gage wire.  So you can not say that the 12v wire is thicker or smaller gage then the original pigtails.  The only way that you can tell the original wire gage without phycically measuring it is that Mopar used a stricker system on their wires and the combination of the amount of stricker determined the gage of the wire

I have a Mopar Catalog that shows the type of wire and gage that MoPar used for the various electrical connection and also the sockets and other terminals. This is on a CD.

Rich Hartung

[oldodge41]

When I did my rewire I used all #12 wire. Paralleled where it could have been #10. I did it for simplicity, bought one spool of wire and did the whole car. I soldered the #12 to as short a lead as I could at a couple new tail light sockets that had thinner (probably 16 or 18) gauge wire. .

[knuckleharley]

3 hours ago, desoto1939 said:

How do you know what guge of wire is being used just from the posting. The poster will need to determine the gage of the wire. 6v wiring has been recommended to go with at least a 14 gage wire situation.  Acutually the  movement of the electricity on the standed wires is carried beeter on thicker gage wire.  So you can not say that the 12v wire is thicker or smaller gage then the original pigtails.  The only way that you can tell the original wire gage without phycically measuring it is that Mopar used a stricker system on their wires and the combination of the amount of stricker determined the gage of the wire

I have a Mopar Catalog that shows the type of wire and gage that MoPar used for the various electrical connection and also the sockets and other terminals. This is on a CD.

Rich Hartung

Argue about it if you want,but 6 volt tail light wires are a thicker gauge than 12 volt tail light wires.

[Young Ed]

15 hours ago, jxc330 said:

Yes, the light bulbs in mine have pins directly in line with each other.  Went to three places today and can only find sockets with the offset pins.  Back to the drawing board on the internet search.  

I didn't buy new sockets just the pigtails that go inside them. 

[casper50]

I just bought a bunch on line.  Can't remember this sec where from.  I'm at work right now, if you need the company let me know and when I get home in 4 hours I'll post it.

 

[DrDoctor]

   While the gauge of the wire is very important, almost (I said “almost”. . .) as important is the strand-count within the wire. Voltage isn’t the main issue, either, but rather – amperage. Electricity doesn’t flow thru the wire strands themselves, but rather on the surface of each strand. So, the more strands within the same gauge wire, the more electricity can flow thru that wire. If you had two wires of the same gauge, and one was solid, it would carry significantly less load than the stranded one. Therefore, the finer the strands (obviously, up to a certain point), the more load it can safely carry.

   As for bulb sockets, voltage isn’t an issue, since they’re not voltage dependent. They’re amperage sensitive, however. But, a light bulb isn’t going to have enough electrical resistance to create any problems. Our car’s rewired with a Ron Francis 6-v harness about 2-3 years ago, and we’ve not experienced any problems whatsoever since I completed that project.

   Thx.

[DonaldSmith]

Beg to differ, on the surface effect. That's for alternating current only.  I googled this:  (my underlines)

Note that in a perfect conductor (zero resistance) nowhere can a static electric field be sustained. For real conductors, DC current flows evenly over the cross-section. But AC current flows mainly near the surface (the so-called skin effect). AC current can exist only on the surface of a perfect conductor.Aug 19, 2014

[Fastback50]

9 hours ago, casper50 said:

I just bought a bunch on line.  Can't remember this sec where from.  I'm at work right now, if you need the company let me know and when I get home in 4 hours I'll post it.

 

Thanks Casper--ended up ordering some of these with the light bulbs that he throws in free:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/160945121361.  The pins on those bulbs are indexed so should be easier to find in the future   

[DrDoctor]

Donald Smith,

   You’re correct, and I do stand corrected.

   Thx,

[50 coupe]

I found several 2 wire sockets at my local auto parts store when I needed them.