Swedish Snowflakes help required

[Buscowboy]

I have an OG one owner before me '61 Swedish Deluxe and I am trying to make the rear lights brighter. It is an unmolested car so looking to make the og lights work as good as possible. Still running 6 volt and happy with that so not looking to go 12 volt or LED's just yet.
What have you guys done to get the best out of your stock rear lights?

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1962 Gulf Blue Patina Deluxe Beetle
1963 SubHatch Westfalia MG/PW
1967 Fastback RHD Regatta Blue
1970 FI Auto Squareback
1999 T4 Transporter 2.5 TDI Reimo

http://www.youtube.com/@BuscowboyClassics

https://www.instagram.com/buscowboy/

[Sharp64]

Clean the bejesus out of every electrical connection so that they are nice and shiny instead of tarnished and corroded. This applies to EVERY connection in the car including the ground. Make sure all your grounds are clean and grounding on nice clean bare metal. Check your fuse panel and clean the connections. Consider soldering up the backside.

Get rid of the cheap crimp on connectors like you have pictured and get open barrel connectors with the proper crimper

Solder every joint or splice instead of using butt connectors.

I had great success using a dremel with a small wire wheel to clean all the connections. Its tedious as hell, but makes a world of difference.

Print out a diagram of your electrical system from the drop down technical tab at the top of the forum.
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1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[Dougy Dee]

As I remember there is a dark, plastic, bathtub shaped, lens behind the glass snoflake lens. Work the tabs loose (4?) and remove the bathtub. This'll help but a large aftermarket 'Stop' light or 3rd brake light will be more effective for daytime diving.

[Buscowboy]

[Buscowboy]

[calvinater]

maybe some reflective aluminum tape behind the lens?
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[Frederik]

Originally it should have as mentioned an extra plastic lens sandwiched behind the outer lens. Its thinner, slighly ribbed on the inside and is deep/dark red and of course rob some light output, but I personally like the color tone it gives to the light.

+Good reflector makes a huge difference for light output.

[Eric&Barb]

Got to have all the voltage getting to the lights.

If you have the earlier bell shaped switch, and you can handle tools, especially a soldering iron, you probably can fix it.

http://www.type2.com/library/electris/vw-hauptlicht-schalter.html

While you are at it, solder up the fuse box internal connections for less voltage drops thru it.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=608964&highlight=fuse+box+soldering

Even with the TLs working as bright as possible, you still need more to show who is following you. So at least a center brake light or even better is a pair of accessory yellow signals on the license plate frame. Fellow drivers just do not see the red TL signals, especially when their headlights are reflected back at them from the reflectors built into these TLs.

Found that out after restoring the 1963 KG. Even with 12 volt system would constantly get attitude from fellow drivers when changing lanes on the highway. Switched to yellow topped Euro TLs and about 95% of the attitude vanished.
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[bluebus86]

[Buscowboy]

[Buscowboy]

[56Cabrio]

Remove the diffuseres. Please post what style you have,dotted or the line ones. I cant remember what diffusers came out of my Swedish taillights.

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1956 Rag Top owned since 1988
1956 Convertible owned since 2000
1963 Hard Top

RIP Dad 4/20/1951 - 2/4/2023

[Buscowboy]

I will check in the morning and post up the results.
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1962 Gulf Blue Patina Deluxe Beetle
1963 SubHatch Westfalia MG/PW
1967 Fastback RHD Regatta Blue
1970 FI Auto Squareback
1999 T4 Transporter 2.5 TDI Reimo

http://www.youtube.com/@BuscowboyClassics

https://www.instagram.com/buscowboy/

[Buscowboy]

[Eric&Barb]

If you want max from the reflectors, have the OG ones silver plated, and then clear coat them. Modern glass mirrors use aluminum for a reflective coating, back in the day all mirrors were silvered. Aluminum reflects back only about 10%, where silver does 90%. Thus the reason why those who grind their own telescope reflective mirrors use a coating made of silver.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[bluebus86]

[Frederik]

[Buscowboy]

Well you learn something new everyday, thanks samba peeps. It turns out the lenses do have a diffuser. I have tried the lights without this diffuser and although brighter I don’t quite like the light it gives off. Think I will go through all connections and try a higher watt bulb 💡.
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1962 Gulf Blue Patina Deluxe Beetle
1963 SubHatch Westfalia MG/PW
1967 Fastback RHD Regatta Blue
1970 FI Auto Squareback
1999 T4 Transporter 2.5 TDI Reimo

http://www.youtube.com/@BuscowboyClassics

https://www.instagram.com/buscowboy/

[bluebus86]

my diffusor had turned black, scrubbing improved it, still not as bright red shown in you photos. do consider an led light, less heat, so the diffuser wont melt, red light so most of it gets thru the red lense (white light is in part blocked by the red lense,)
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[hitest]

Modern cars have conditioned everybody to look straight up for signals and brakes. Unfortunately there are two generations of drivers who cannot look for a car's lights, but rather only respond to lights placed right in their faces.

For a daily driven car I truly believe you have to play the game and put a bright as hell third brake light in their face- and possibly wire it in combination with the signals. This can be done without butchering the original wiring, but does require hard to swallow conformity.
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