Date:         Wed, 1 Nov 2000 08:06:10 -0800
Reply-To:     pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Subject:      Re E4 Wiring.
Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Volks,

WRT the H4 wiring.  I recommend using at least 16AWG to wire those new
sockets.  You can buy male spade lugs to fit into the existing harness and
thereby jumper the old 9004 socket to the new one.  Just crimp or preferably
solder the lugs onto the new wire pieces.  Generally you can slip the
connectors out of the new plugs you bought by carefully depressing the catch
device with a small (0 or 00) flat blade screwdriver or a trained cockroach.
Then open the connectors and remove them from the original wire.  You can
then solder the connectors onto the other end of the 14AWG harness you just
fabricated and re-insert them into the plastic housing.  Viola, a jumper
set!  (Viola is the trained cockroach)

I bought a prefabbed harness designed to carry the higher current necessary
for running 100/90W H4s.  If you like I'll post the mfg and the p/n.

Jxxxxx on the list, (I don't recall his name)  will be offering custom
harnesses soon.

The objective is better lighting.  The existing DOT rectangulars have a very
poor reflector design.  Adding more powerful lamps to these reflectors is a
lot like giving strong coffee to a drunk.  When you're done you're out the
cost of the coffee and you now have a wide-awake drunk on your hands.  Add
more lumens and you get a brighter example of really bad light pattern
design.

The EURO code E-Code reflectors are interchangeable physically with the DOT
ones and offer a tremendous increase in lighting effectiveness using the
normal 60/55 H4 lamps provided by the various vendors.  Smacking into only
one full 55 gal trash can at 40MPH in poor visibility more than offsets the
cost of the upgrade.

I personally feel that the optimum system for the "tall" vanagon involves
independently aimable high and low beams.  When one adjusts the 7" round or
the rectangular beam one must compromise between the high beam pattern and
the cutoff pattern of the low beam.   For an effective cutoff pattern, the
high beams are useful for disturbing owls.  With a properly positioned
highbeam the cutoff pattern is useful for jacklighting tarantulas ten feet
in front of the car.

The problem is that the manufacturer has to assume a mounting height for the
lens design.  For most of the 7" round euro code headlights  this height is
much lower than the location of the Vanagon headlights.  For the
rectangulars, I hope the designer took the mounting height into
consideration as these lights are Vanagon specific, if not, back to the owls
and spiders.

Marchal in all their wisdom made a 7" round headlight called an AmpiLux.  It
had a complex reflector set up that used two H1 bulbs per headlight.  For
endurance racing where the headlights are often no more than 12" above the
ground the high beam can be adjusted to  fit the location.  The inverse of
course works for the vanagon.  That's the good part.  The bad part is the
last set of these that sold on Ebay went for more than a set of E-code
rectangulars and they were "used in good condition".

So maybe the answer is what the Quattro Rally guys did in the eighties.
Junk the original headlights.  Mount six Cibie Oscars on the front and wire
to suit your photon preferences.  With the lamps full on you draw 130x6 or
780w just for the lights.  BUT, the illumination problem vanishes.

Hella makes a set of auxilliary driving lights approved by all 50 states
that nicely fill in the gap of the original rectangulars and coupled with
100W in the square highbeams you already have there's plenty of light.

Personally, I have used sharp cutoff European headlights for thirty years on
a wide variety of vehicles and for poor weather driving I would have nothing
else.  A flat topped beam with 90w (relay driven)  provides a clearly
superior lighting solution for inclement and city conditions.  High beams
are for dark two-lanes and off pavement.  Since most of my driving is of the
urban or freeway type in all weather my investment goes for the sharp
cutoff, bright solution.

As usual YMMV and we'll keep the light on for ya.

pensioner