Perentie front - Parking and Indicator Lights. Which brand?

[Carzee]

Having some of each here I will put down some comparison notes for posterity.

As yet I have not grabbed any spare round Stop Lights as the perentie has the Hella combo unit... but its safe to assume the quality comparison would follow the RTC5012, RTC5013 and replacement (from 1995) XBD 500040 lights.

This is about Defender/Perentie lamp assemblies. The Series 111 lamps were changed in minor ways - they are very similar. I will not bother noting the different selling prices and that LED assemblies are there for the asking at 3 times the price and they have their fans no doubt - they look like a sealed unit for a start. The ones I saw have a flush rear and can be mounted on all models. I have tried LED bulbs in the standard assemblies and they worked for 4 years okay. But then they stopped. Rattled to bits perhaps. Along the way I realised I prefer the old soft light and old fashioned look of the 21watt bayonet bulbs.

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In general, my pet hate about RTC5012 and RTC5013 is the plastic mount for the lamp lens' two self tapping screws - a pain. As a young player you mix up the screws or simply install new screws with different threads or longer screws or whatever that split the plastic thread up. Lesson learned a few times.

Anyway. Starting with my old Lucas set as fitted to the Perentie front end at the factory. The RTC5013 Indicator lamps are a little warped from 25 or so summers perhaps and were replaced with Wipac clones of the XBD500040. The original Lucas RTC5012 Parker lamps are still on the vehicle: "LEP England". (Lucas Electric Products)

[Carzee]

RTC5012 by Britpart.
Made in India. Complete with short bulb already fitted. Bulbs are easier to fit with your fingers and remove in this lamp design when they are long. I have had occasion to used bullnose pliers to get short bulbs out of the well on older LR with same/similar design bayonet lamps. You have to break the glass first.

The lens has a single marking, the "E" criteria compliant marking.

The two metal lens screws have a rubber flat washer in style of the Series 111 lamps.

The gap in the lens' weather seal (plastic rubber) is not well moulded.

The weather seal around the two loom wires out the rear of the lamp are not as tightly moulded.

"The stalk of the mushroom", the lower section that fits inside the mudguard aka wing was not perpendicular to the lamp section that sits on the outer part of the wing. Would it make a difference to the fitting? No.

The box is blue and recyclable. I will stop there.

[Carzee]

WIPAC RTC5012 Parker Lamp

"Made in GB" and "made In China" variations...

First "made in GB". I purchased this spare about 2017 and it is older than the other WIPAC in the same packaging that says its "Made In China".

No bayonet bulb fitted ('no bulb' is normal).
The lens is marked with "WIPAC" and "E" compliance.
The mouldings are perfect. Feels solid and well built.

But does "GB" stand for Greater Beijing I wonder.....


... because it is all but identical in packaging and manufacture quality with the "Made in China" RTC5012.
IMHO it is the same exact product. In this case the importer/distributor has put their system label over the original product label. That distributor grades parts <A> <B> <C> indicating quality and price...
where
C is usually a clone part maker. Enough said. There are at least 4 brands in the market, I don't know exactly how many...
B is usually OEM, and most often Bearmach.
A is usually Genuine LR part or older genuine part that is superceded.

[Carzee]

    

Caution. All these lamp designs, RTC5012/13 and Stops are easily damaged by incorrect fitting of the bulb, the bulb's bayonet prongs are metal. The well and the stops for the bulb prongs are plastic...

If it is a rushed job in lowlight or if you do not inspect the lamp socket with a torch FIRST to see where the bulbs prongs are going to slide in... you can easily damage the plastic socket. been there done that.

[Carzee]

RTC5013 Indicator lamps.

Here are some Bearmach lamps which are simply WIPAC units, and each is in slightly different packaging, again 2 or 3 years apart. Note the <A> on the label. Again, perfect quality, compares favorably to the original LEP. I think the main rubber seal moulding is better on the WIPAC unit than the LEP.

(and much better made than the lower price clones IMHO).

[STDDIVER]

Brillaint work Ross!  You have explained lots in just a few posts!   Enlightening!


Frank

[Carzee]

Thx Frank, and the worry is that if this is the future... what if the transmission parts etc are also sus?

Bearmach is the line IMHO, under the line... you are in the weeds. If you spend money and expect longlife, its new genuine or local recondition job when it comes to important parts.

eg, master cyls, slave cyls and brake boosters - I trust the local reconditioner.

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I bought a set of the front indicators and park lamps for the front of one of my vehicles a couple of months ago. When I went to remove the mudguard  two weeks ago, I found that the bulb was loose and would no longer hold in its fitting. It was a blue box starting with "Br" part. I know - it was available within Queensland and it was a reasonable price.

Prior to this, some years ago,  I had bought a couple of complete lamp sets which I had ordered from the UK. The lamps looked great. That was until I took the rubber shroud off the base so I could mount the units to the car. The plastic base had cracked on the majority of two sets worth of lights. I contacted the seller and advised that they check their stock. In response, I received new sets free of charge and a notification that they had now changed their supplier. The set I received were really good and were from the new supplier.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Carzee]

Lionel it seems you found a very worthy supplier. Excellent.

Bushranger 6x6 Perenties and other builds (rebuilds) after 1995 used the more modern design Lucas front indicator part "XBD 500040" (genuine LR part made in the UK). The loom connector clip is the modern "twin pin" type, not bullet connectors. 
There is a modern design for the Parking Lamp as well - "XBD 500050".

The pictures are worth 1000 words - in short a big design improvement in the two-screw-lens mount, globe mount and weather sealing. In fact the globe and its socket are inside a separate bayonet mount module - the globe pins are much more positive lock when fitting and easy to see so there is zero chance of ruining the globe pin sockets like the Parking Lamp design.

I like them best and have them fitted. An EMEI mod? Maybe. Or was it down to luck - my Perentie was based at Bandiana school. It has the original RTC5012 parkers and the later XBD 500040 indicators. Could be a common thing...

Top marks. Recommended upgrade.