I changed the headlights on my ‘63 wagon to LED sealed beams from Octane Lighting. They are very bright, but unfortunately the lenses don’t have any fluting, so light goes everywhere. I live out in the country, so they’re a huge improvement, but are too much for city driving, I was thinking about putting a rheostat on the headlights, so I can dim them in town. I don’t know if the LEDs used in headlights are even dimmable, like home LEDs. Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?
Resistors in that range are a bit of a problem. You might test out putting some large (think battery charger) diodes in series to drop about 3/4V per diode. If you take an alternator main bridge and connect the + output to the lights and the - ground terminal to the source, you will have 2 diodes in series. It will need some heat sink, not nearly as much as in the alternator. Just use a switch to short across the diodes for full brightness. Make one of the connections to the 3 coil connections for just one diode drop. good luck, Bruce Roe
What housing are you using that has no fluting? I'm guessing not DOT approved? You can't aim them lower enough to compensate?
