THIS IS CRAZY

[SQ4MN]

My BOSS HOSS has had a strange problem for a long time. The tail lights are not the same brightness. Both lights work but its really easy to see the difference in the brightness. My front brake handle was also making the brake lights stay on so I fixed that and decided to try to fix the brightness issue when just the taillights were on. When the brake lights came on they were both the same brightness. Both bulbs are 1157 12 volt bulbs but one has a brass base and the other is tin. On closer inspection I see that each bulb has a long and a short filament. On the brighter side the short filament is lit and on the less bright side the longer filament is lit. I thought that maybe the contacts were somehow switched in one side. Before I started snipping wires and reconnecting so that each side would light the short filament I made a test. I put each bulb in the same socket and to my surprise each bulb lit the opposite filament in the same socket. This meant that they were different even though they were both 1157 bulbs. I went to the auto parts and bought 2 new bulbs and they each lit the short filament and both lights are the same brightness. How can two 1157 bulbs be wired different is beyond me but they were, new bulbs cured everything without doing anything else.

[Paul H]

2057 fits the same socket but spose to be brighter???
OR maybe the bulb was wired wrong at the factory???

This is quite interesting though??? For a few bucks
you can buy socket pig tail and try each bulb in the
socket and see if it's the bulbs that were in it first???

Paul H

[Orlando606VetteTrike]

Great find.

[rocketsteve]

Would low power LED's be an idea?

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/tail-brake-turn/