Hi-Power Bulbs Warning

I put 80/100 9007 bulbs in my 03 Baja a few months ago. Yesterday the left one failed. I discovered if I jiggled the connector it would come on for a while then go off again. Upon closer inspection I found the connector had started to melt at the end where one of the bulb's three prongs was inserted. Luckily, it hadn't gotten too far and switching back to the standard bulbs seems to work so far.

I've used high powered bulbs in most of my vehicles for over 30 years and this is the first time I've ever had a problem.

Reply to
jMon
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The heat problem can be worked around by simply using the CORRECT high powered bulbs. Xenon bulbs burn much cooler than conventional bulbs. Also the capacity of the wiring harness comes into play. If the load is too much for the wiring not only will the harness get hot but you will not get the

80/100 watts ! The correct way to do this mod is with a home made harness stubbed to the original harness....the original relay, switch, etc. is used but on the bulb side of the real the power goes directly from the battery with proper gauge wire. TG
Reply to
TG

In news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com, TG spewed:

And yet another sucker falls for the "Xenon" ad line. Watts are watts, and if a 100/80 bulb draws what it says it does, it's going to pull 8.33/6.66 amps of current regardless of what ad copy is pasted on the box. The stock

60/55 bulbs pull 5.00/4.58 amps of current. The heat problem isn't the temperature of the bulb, it's the fact that the dinky little wires in the headlight system and the spindly little contacts on the bulb simply can't take the increased current draw. I burned out both sides of my headlight system running cheap ('cause no-one reputable makes overwatt 9007s) 100/80 Heliobulb POSs. I had to install a relay kit simply to restore my headlights to functionality.

That said, a relay kit combined with a set of Sylvania XtraVision bulbs will give you more usable light (albeit without that stylish ricer-blue color) than anything that says "Xenon" on the box. Also, the cost of the relay kit ($50 or so from Daniel Stern Lighting, hint-hint) and the bulbs ($14.95/pair from Advance Auto Parts) will be comparable in price to a pair of any POS PIAA "Xenon" or "Superwhite" bulbs.

Reply to
Ned Pike

Sucker? All I said was "Xenon bulbs burn much cooler than conventional bulbs." That is a fact, just like a 40 watt neon is cooler by far than a 40 watt incandescent. Of course they draw the same amperage. TG

($14.95/pair

Reply to
TG

First, I'm pretty sure that any incandescent bulb of a given wattage will

*generate* identical heat to any other incandescent bulb. (I might be wrong here -- The heat generation could be different if different filament materials are used. But to the best of my knowledge, all modern incandescent bulbs use a tungsten filament.) But the different immersion gases that might used in different incandescent bulbs might have different thermodynamic properties, meaning that one gas transfers heat from the filament out to the glass (and therefore out of the bulb) faster than another gas. This would cause one bulb's filament to run cooler than the other, despite *generating* an identical amount of heat. (The same way a heater creating "X" BTU's of heat will keep an insulated building warmer than a non-insulated one.) And it is the filament's temperature that by and large determines the temperatures at the electrical connections to the bulb. (Though the thermodynamic properties of the bulb base material and the electrical conduits inside it also play a small part.)

But I think what Ned was referring to wasn't the actual bulb temp so much as the temp of the wires supplying power to the bulb. *This* temperature is directly related to the current passing through them and nothing else. And for a constant voltage, a higher-wattage bulb *must* draw more current, and therefore must generate more heat in the wires that supply it. The only way to draw more current through a wire without generating more heat is to replace it with a different wire -- either of a larger gauge or a less resistive conducting material.

Secondly, putting genuine HID bulbs (and I've seen "Xenon" used to label both real HID lights *and* incandescent upgrade bulbs) into reflectors designed for incandescent bulbs is both annoying to other drivers and potentially dangerous for you. Such kits do exist, but should not be legal. The only safe HID conversion is one that includes new reflectors. (See

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I don't know whether the "Xenon" bulbsto which you refer are actual HID bulbs (complete with a high-voltagetransformer) or just fancy-named incandescent. But your remark aboutdrawing less current (which real HID's do) caused me to suspect the former. Thirdly, putting over-wattage bulbs in your car is extremely *selfish* as it improves your night vision to the detriment of everybody else on the road. Running over-wattage bulbs is roughly equivalent in driver courtesy to refusing to dim your high-beams for approaching traffic. It makes the statement "I can see better and I don't give a damn what price you're paying for it." I'll grant that there are some poorly-designed headlights out there that just don't do a good job of illuminating the road. But these are by-and-large aiming and dispersion pattern problems. And they're not a legitimate excuse to make the rest of us suffer.

The headlights in my wife's old Mercury Sable station wagon both blinded approaching drivers (even on low-beam) *and* did a poor job of illuminating the road (even on high-beam). The bulbs threw out plenty of light, but none of it seemed to hit the road -- it was all aimed too high. And no amount of adjusting seemed able to alleviate these problems. So while I was confident that obstacles (like deer or people or other vehicles) would have been safely illuminated had they jumped out in front of the car, these lights made driving at night very discomforting, because you couldn't see the

*road* very well.

Had we decided to replace her car's bulbs with over-wattage versions, we might have improved my wife's ability to see the road at night, but we'd

*definitely* have worsened the blinding of approaching drivers. I considered, but eventually rejected, the idea of adding driving lights, because they would have worsened the already-bad blinding of approaching traffic. (Which, BTW, is also dangerous in addition to being rude.) So we just lived with it until we got rid of the car. We eventually gave the car to my wife's sister, who's managed to avoid getting into any night-time accidents with it so far. But I'm still optimistic. :-) If I had it to do again, I probably would go ahead and install some auxiliary lights that were aimed nice and low, so as not to badly affect approaching traffic while still illuminating the road directly in front of the car. But I will never install over-wattage bulbs in any car, nor will I abide those who do.

- Greg Reed

Reply to
Ignignokt

Sorry, it's just not possible to break that law. :-)

-John O

Reply to
John O

I agree with your point up to a point... yes it sure is rude and dangerous to blind oncoming drivers with over powered or even normal powered lights but if they are properly aimed, what is the harm (to oncoming traffic) of using high powered bulbs?

Reply to
jMon

You're right John. I wonder if people are getting confused between the actual wattage of a neon/fluorescent/whatever bulb and the (higher) wattage a incandescent filament bulb would need to get an equivalent amount of light.

At home I use compact fluorescent bulbs that I could touch in use without getting burned. The package said they have the same light as a

60 watt regular bulb, and it looks bright, but it's only using up 15 watts so it feels much cooler to the touch.

Greg is correct in that it is usually the wiring and switches that are the weak link when higher wattage headlight bulbs are swapped in. I had a VW I modified to keep the low beams on when the high beams were activated. I had to replace the headlight switch twice over 3 years because of the increased electrical load. Wasn't the smartest thing I ever did.

- Byron

Reply to
Byron

Reply to
jMon

I think what the chap was getting at was that it is not the temperature of the bulb that caused the harness to melt, but the heat came from too much current in a small wire.

Henry

Reply to
oothlagre

Yeah, I think. The number of photons (or some such yap) you get for a given amount of power varies tremendously between bulb types, fluorescent gives off a lot more light-per-watt, and LEDs are even better. But power=watts=heat...no matter what the subject. :-)

-John O

Reply to
John O

Reply to
Mark Bergman

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, jMon spewed:

Lamp reflectors are designed for a certain luminance. Shove more luminance into the lamp and glare happens. Also, since no reputable bulb manufacturer makes overwatt 9007s, the bulbs available in that wattage range are not built to the same tolerances/specifications as quality bulbs. If the bulb filament isn't in the exact position in 3D space that the headlight designer expected, the reflector will not work properly. Finally, the mere fact that no-one flashes their high beams at you as you pass by with your massively glaring headlights can't be taken as an indication of lack of glare. Since glare levels are up all around (ref:

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drivers just accept it as part of the landscape.

Reply to
Ned Pike

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, jMon spewed:

He doesn't have a web store; all transactions take place via e-mail or phone. That said, I was 100% satisfied with my transaction. In my experience, DS is always willing to answer questions from those who are installing stuff they've bought from him. He helped me greatly in my installation. (Unsolicited mad props).

Reply to
Ned Pike

I for one am glad your blinding of other drivers has finally bitten you in the ass.

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Reply to
Todd H.

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