Lighting upgrad

[litumup]

I've done a little research on changing the bulbs to get a little better vision. Has anyone had success upgrading their system?

The Osram 7951's 45w/40w are insufficient for night driving. They draw 51-57 watts with 860/675 lumens

I was able to track down a 60w/55w bulb at bulbs.com. It utilizes a T5 bulb and will easily fit. It also comes on the P45T base. It draw 60 watts, but shines at 1450 lumens. It's an off-road bulb, but really shouldn't draw attention like the 100w bulbs that I've been blinded by.

6361 - W-6361

Realizing that they will draw more than the 45/40's, I've looked at also replacing the H3 55w foglights. To find a bright light that draws less than the H3, I went to an LED bulb. I also didn't want to add additional draw to the electrical system.

H3 25 SMD 1210 Fog/Driving L.E.D. Light - Automotive LED Lights - LEDLight

These look bright, but don't have the wattage to be a significant contributor to drivability. There are 25 SMD's, and from what I can glean, the more, the better, when it comes to LED's. It only draws 0.9mA.

I finished the lighting with LED taillights:

115x 1156 1157 automotive led lights

Plenty of them to choose from, but no need to go high-end since the lights are recessed in the clam. I went with the 28345 model.

 

[Phil]

Litumup:
I have a set of 100/80 watt, seems extreme but what a job they do. The lamps have a shroud inside the bulb that keeps the illumination on the low side at about 24" max height, the high side is all out, but needs a relay as the current draw on my other vehicle was smoking the headlamp switch.
I can look and check out the bulb numbers if you want, but if I remember it was a P45T.
You didn't mention what mount style your lamps have, I have seen H4 lamps in a 130/100 Watt configuration also...they draw quite a bit, about 10 amps each.
Check out bulbs.com, cheap prices and they have a great selection
Cheers
Phil

 

[litumup]

Thanks Phil.

I ordered from both bulbs.com and ledlight.com and they each shipped and delivered quickly.

You're right, I didn't want to increase the draw, and felt that the headlight upgrade was worth sacrificing a bit of brightness from the foglights.

In addition, while the amp draw of the taillights is about 8.4 amps total, the draw of the LED's is about 1/10th, so hopefully my headlights wont dim when I brake.

I'll take before/after pictures once everything's installed.

 

[Richard]

Question? When I turn on my "brights" it lights up the trees and almost nothing of the road. Is this normal?

 

[Phil]

Richard:
I have a suspicion that your low beam is going off when the high side is turned on, easy to check out. I have seen systems with it done this way, but with the sealed beam lamps. You may need to re-configure your headlamp circuit to keep the low beam on when your high is on, although this will draw quite a bit of current. I think a little bit of re-wiring and a relay setup will do the job.
Hope this helps
Phil

 

[Phil]

Litimup:
Almost forgot...I would like to see the photos of those LED taillamps, sounds like a nice setup.
How bright are they? I have seen some trucks with the LED replacements, and most of the traffic lights around here also are using the technology. I was at the electrical supply the other day and they have a display for home lighting done in LEDs, right now very expensive, but they last forever and I think your comment about the minimal current draw applies there also.
Cheers
Phil

 

[litumup]

Here's a shot of the new halogen lights over the sealed beams. As you can see, they're pretty bright. There is a disadvantage, since the halogens have a blocked tip while the R2's are fully clear. Phil, I haven't forgotten the taillamps, I'll post them after next weekend.

 

[litumup]

Hereitis

 

[Kevin L]

does anyone have a wiring diagram or instructions how to install a relay so that my headlight main power source is not going through the headlight switch? I upgraded the headlights and after a few min of use the switch gets hot to the touch.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[Seymour Snerd]

does anyone have a wiring diagram or instructions how to install a relay so that my headlight main power source is not going through the headlight switch? I upgraded the headlights and after a few min of use the switch gets hot to the touch.

Here's the (not entirely accurate but close enough) wiring diagram.

View attachment GT40Wiring.pdf

But.... the headlights are driven by a relay (fifth page) so I suspect your switch is hot for some other reason. ...... curious.... There's an individual fuse for each light (fuses 1 through 4, the horizontal ones, 5 amps). Possibly you're on the raggedy edge of their capacity so the fuses are heated up? For diagnostic purposes the first order of business would be to remove the switch panel and find out for sure what exactly is getting hot.

If you upgraded very much you might need to put another relay up front to protect the 1.5 mm (~ 16 ga) wiring and the existing relay as opposed to just putting in bigger fuses.

Sidebar to see if it's necessary: 1.5 mm wire is 3 ohms/ 1000 ft, so if we assume, say, 8 feet of wire that's 0.024 ohms. If we assume 150 watt bulbs at 14v, that's about 10A so the voltage drop across the wiring is only .24 volts; not enough to cause a heat problem in the wiring. BUT you'd be putting 40A through the relay so it probably isn't happy. I think those headlight relays aren't rated that high. Also the wiring upstream from the relay is 3 mm so it might be dropping a half a volt, so now we're at 0.75v total drop. This might not be good especially for light output. Headlights really like to be run at full voltage.

IAE, if I were putting in another layer of relays, I would get four relays and connect what were the filament wires to the relay coils, and then run a big (12 ga?) fused cable from the main dash feed (like at the ammeter) up to those four relays' contact terminals, and run the other side of the contacts to each headlight. So I'd probably mount a pair of relays in the fender behind the hatch forward of the front wheels, right by the headlights, assuming there's room (and I think there is).

I need to do the same thing so I'd be interested to know what you find out. What lights did you upgrade to?

 

[Grady]

I used this website and purchased the upgrade kit including relays, heavy wiring, and ceramic terminals.
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

 

[EGLITOM]

Here is a link to a quite smart tool to calculate , line size, Voltage drop. It gives a reco about the quality of wire dimensioning. 1,5mm square could be a bit wimpy for headlights if run directly from the switch. you will compromise the possible light output of your existing bulbs.
Besides Headlights, horn and coolerfans, there is almost no consumption unit ( except starter) else on the car for the need for 2,5 mm wiring.

Electrical Cabling

TOM

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Besides Headlights, horn and coolerfans, there is almost no consumption unit ( except starter) else on the car for the

In the factory SPF wiring, the loads on the headlight switch are:

Coil of headlight relay
Coil of spotlight relay
5 running lights (incl. license plate).
Door/Roundel lights (if any).

I can't figure out how that could heat up the switch itself unless the contacts or a terminal were just badenough /loose enough to drop the voltage for the ~35W represented by running lights by about half. In that scenario the switch would be dissipating ~17 watts which I suppose would warm it up. But what a balancing act that would be. So, I'm mystified.....

 

[Kevin L]

Hmm.. odd. Let me do a little more recon and I will get back. I thought (although potentially incorrectly) that others had also experienced heat through the switch and that SPF needed a relay... I may have confused it with another replica.

My car is in storage so I need to get out there and triple check the switch heat. Regarding the headlights, I need to look those up as well. I have a spare set in my garage so that will be easy.

Thanks for the help