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Running 110watt headlights without melting something

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Old 07-12-03, 04:19 AM
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Running 110watt headlights without melting something

I have searched but I am not sure if this is what I have to do to get these lights to work properly

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=164931

that is the best thread i could find.. Is this what I have to do or is there a simple thing I can do to increase the power handleing? Thanks

Tyler
Old 07-12-03, 05:03 AM
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I'm not sure what year car you have but the alternator sucks major *** on the 86-91. The worst are the 86-88 which has the 70amp alternator. No matter what you do, you won't get the bright lights you're looking for unless you upgrade the alternator. Adding grounds do help a little but the problem is the low amperage alternator. 110W headlights? Sheees! You better hook up a relay to the headlight wiring.
Old 07-12-03, 08:30 AM
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http://www.fc3s.org/how_tos/electrical/hid.html

this is a very good write up on how to install a complete HID kit i suggest you do this instead of just throwing in brighter bulbs
Old 07-12-03, 01:00 PM
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I do like the brighter bulbs rather then the HID's that have only one setting.. backroad racing would suck and it does from what i have heard.. I have used 115/110watt headlights on my 1st gen race car and they are sweet.. I am running PIAA GT-X bulbs now that are 135/125 and hyper whites suck.. If you can stick to a normal bulb it would be better.. go take a 100watt normal bulb and a hyper white made to look like 100watt and pair them up.. you wont use a hyper white again..

and yeah i was wondering where i would have to install a relay.. My alt is good and i have added grounds everywhere.. any help is great... Thanks!

Tyler
Old 07-12-03, 01:07 PM
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That thread was for the parking lights, and would not be applicable for head lights.

Well shifting from the stock 55 watt bulbs to 110 watt bulbs, would result in a amperage load increasing from just under 10 Amps to around 20 Amps.

Which would require upgrading of the stock wiring, which is really maxed out at 10 amps. At very least you would want to replace the head lamp wiring with 12 awg wire, instead of the 18 awg wire that is there.
Old 07-13-03, 05:03 AM
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If you look at the headlight wiring diagram you'll see the headlight wiring goes from the 30A fuse in the engine bay to the headlight relay and then to the headlights. It would be a simple task to add supplemental wires in parallel with the stock wires to take the extra load.

I think a S5 alternator would be a minimum for this. As Mark said, the load would be ~20A, which is a big chunk of the S4 alternator's 70A capacity.
Old 07-13-03, 02:55 PM
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thanks guys!
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