24 to 12 volt bulbs

[Chop Parlor]

My 715 has been converted to 12 volt with a small block chev motor, Alternator, starter and battery. I'm wondering if I have to do anything as far as the head lights, tail lights, black out lights and dash lights are concerned. The fuel guage has never worked, so I'm just gonna get a universal 12 volt sender and new guage to take care of it.

[BubbaWilkins]

I would think everything would have to be replaced.

Bad case, nothing works at all with the wrong voltage.

Worst case, you end up destroying the existing wiring because they are now carrying double the ampacity to make up for the loss in voltage.

OR, you can install some sort of 12v to 24v converter and leave everything else as is...but I'm not sure the battery would fair with that kind of load.

[brute4c]

If it has a 12 volt battery and alternator AND the lights work right, you are good to go.

You cn put 12 volt bulbs in pretty much everything that needs them by just buying new bulbs and replacing the 24V ones with 12V ones...there is a list or crossovers like this here:

http://www.m715zone.com/vb/pages/man...rsionChart.pdf

The blackout headlight can be converted with this info:

http://www.m715zone.com/vb/view.php?...dlight_convert

There is even a page showing the fuel sending unit replacement:

http://www.m715zone.com/vb/view.php?pg=12v_fuel_swap

I think that covers it...unless the turn signals dont flash...let me know on that...

[brute4c]

One note on the wire size...a lot of people have changed from 24 to 12 volt and didnt change the wiring...it is ample for the job.

[randyscycle]

All the above is correct. The bulbs will burn at half intensity if they are still 24V bulbs. No damage will happen.

The sending unit will definitely need to be changed as will the gauge for a 12V unit. NAPA has a unit that I used and it works really well.

The original 24V harness will work just fine, but I ditched mine and rewired with a Painless just for ease and the fuse box capacity.

[Kaiserjeeps]

This site can be fun to look through.

http://classicautobulbs.com/