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Thanks to those of you who replied to my question
about using 2357LL bulbs in place of 1157. To be safe, I thought I would
get some specs. from Sylvania, so this morning I called their customer service
number and spoke with a rep. I explained the application (using them in
collector cars from the sixties) and she very willingly provided me with
the information I wanted. Once I received the data, I called a
client who happens to be an electrical engineer and ran everything by
him. He listened, evaluated what I provided in the way of
specifications, and then told me to enjoy my cars with the brighter
lights! He said the amp. and wattage differences were miniscule and
would do no damage to lenses or wiring.
This is what I learned from the
rep:
1157
2357
Amperage
draw:
2.1 2.23
Wattage
(major/minor
filaments) 25.2/7
26.76/7
Lumens (major/minor
filaments) 402/37
503/37
As you can see, the major difference is the lumens
(translates to brighter bulbs). The other differences are
negligible. The rep. did mention the applications and some of them
happening simultaneously. For instance, the stop, turn and parking lights
could all be drawing current at the same time (your foot on the brake, at
night with the turn signal on). I may not be figuring this correctly
but if you take .13 amps. and triple them, you still are only talking about
between a quarter and a half an amp. difference (per side). I don't see
how that could possibly damage anything! Neither did the elec. eng.
The rep. just said they were instructed to suggest one use the bulb the
manufacturer recommended. I asked her if 2357s were even available back
then and she could find nothing indicating they were. I'll bet that is to
protect themselves from possible litigation should something go wrong with any
advice they might give regarding a brighter bulb. So, I am going to keep
the brighter bulbs I've installed in my car, but just wanted everyone to
know it appears to be ok to use the 2357s in place of the 1157s. I guess
if your wiring is compromised or your fuse box is damaged, anything could
happen. But if things are as they should be and your wiring is in good
shape, not to mention your sockets, I would say it is ok to upgrade. I
really like the brighter taillights and parking/turn signal lights since I
switched bulbs! Once I get my Imperial back from the resto shop, I will
look into changing the bulbs in its taillights. Those lights aren't
very large to begin with so brighter bulbs should help to make those '65
Imp. taillights much more visible!
Greg McDonnell
'65 Crown convertible
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