Tail light/electrical questions

[RICH MUISE]

question 1...what is a safe way to check individual circuits, such as determining which wire in a 1057 bulb socket is the brighter filiment. I haven't been able to get my 10 amp battery charger to work on it (I think bacause my charger has a sensor circuit in it which will not allow the charger to power up unless it determines a correct battery polarity connection). I have not attempted to use my portable car jumper battery because I'm sure the very high amperage is not regulated.
I checked continuity on the socket (with the bulb inserted) with a AA battery powered circuit tester, and noticed the tester light was brighter on one wire than the other. I'm assuming the brighter filament would have more resistance and use up more amperage from the tester, leaving less amps left over to light the tester lamp...in other words, the dimmer light on the tester would actually indicate the brighter filament??
question 2...a 1057 bulb/ socket has staggered pins...i assumed to time the bulb so the brighter filament is connected to the correct feed wire of the two wires feeding the bulb, but the sockets I am using have wires that are not fixed into the socket...they are encassed together in a plastic which is an elongated oval shape, and can easily be pushed out of the socket and rotated 180 degrees. I'm thinking this would be an easy way to get the wires mis-connected?? I think it's odd that they make the bulb so it can only go in one way, but don't fix the wires so that they can only go in one way. Down the road, it seems like it would be real easy to change a bulb, and in the handling process, have the wires slip out and get them put back in backwards. Am I missing something here?
P.S....I'm having to do this because I haven't been able to find a new one wire socket that would fit the socket hole for the back-up light on the '63 Galaxie lenses I'm using, but I was able to find a 2 wire socket using a 1057 bulb..so I need to eliminate the wire feeding the lower intensity filament.

[gasman826]

Hook both wires to the backup light feed.

[RICH MUISE]

LOL...there's an easy way to do some things?? thanks Gary.
I've got answers to some of my questions if anybody is interested....
Sources for better quality wire: Painless sells prepackaged wire in the TXL grade, which is the thinner insulation of the heat resistant wire. They have some colors with stripes included in their selection. Ron Francis recommends GXL or SXL where you have room (engine management systems with tons of wires may have to use TXL), and I was able to find the SXL in bulk at www.wiringproducts.com . I ordered the SXL wire for my grounding system, and the wire came in a few days priority mail for 6.50 ship charge. The wire is made in the USA.
How to "power up" a segment of the wiring to check as your going along: Got a great tip from my restoration shop buddy, Cody, today. He uses a battery from a battery powered drill. As luck would have it, my Ryoboi tools use a battery where the contacts are flush with the housing..no place to attach an alligator clip. I stopped at Harbor Freight and bought a battery and charger fo 19 bucks..not great batteries I know, but for this purpose it'll be fine. It's 18 volts, but with the amperage so small, it will work fine as long as you don't try to power a computer modul with it.

[RICH MUISE]

hmmmm....the second or third thing I checked out using the 18v drill motor battery was the license plate light. It blew the bulb immediatly. I thought maybe this wasn't such a good idea, and I'd better look for a 12 volt drill motor battery, but on taking the fixture apart to get a bulb number, I noticed the bulb that came assembled with the new light assembly was a 6 volt bulb! replaced it with the 12 volt bulb it should have had and no problem.

[gasman826]

You could just use the car's battery.