Date:         Fri, 16 Feb 2001 18:17:30 -0500
Reply-To:     Gary Stearns <gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Gary Stearns <gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject:      Re: H3 bulbs
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Ok, here goes.  First, I connected 2 parallel 10 gauge wires to the +
terminal on the battery.  From here they both go directly to a 40 amp marine
circuit breaker. The breaker is in the battery compartment enclosed in a
plastic box.  Out of the Circuit Breaker the 2 10g wires are encased in a
plastic wire conduit, go through a hole (w/grommet) in the seat base, come
out under the passenger's feet and disappear under the rug (notched the
floor pad to allow room).  They come out behind the glove box and serve to
power a fuse block (quality marine stuff) with 6 open fuse slots.  From the
3 slots being used, I ran a single 10 gauge wire to each of three relays,
also mounted to the steel crossmember behind the glove box (to check fuses,
you drop the box). From the output of the relays again ran 10 gauge to each
of the 3 pair of light filaments(through the firewall again the hole has a
rubber grommet).  I went to alot of trouble to be sure that where these
wires terminated at the bulb plug, it was a soldered, direct connection.
Not crimped, and not running through a pigtail of the original small guage
wire. Finally, each light is grounded (10 gauge) to a ground point that I
created next to the fuse block.  The relays are triggered by lighter guage
stuff tapped into the original light circuit. The first part of the circuit
(up to the relays) is live all the time, hence the circuit breaker.  The
signal to the relays gets turned off with the key, so the lights behave as
they always have.
Probably sounds like a ridiculous amount of work which it was, but hey if I
didn't enjoy doing this stuff I'd own Caravan or a Toyota or something. The
end result though is amazing.  I live in a rural area of Connecticut with
alot of very narrow, winding, up and down roads. Compared to the flashlights
of the stock Vanagon, well there is no comparison.  I do have to be very
careful about dropping the hi beams when there is oncoming traffic.  They
literally could temporarily blind someone.

Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Sullivan" <sullivan@openmarket.com>
To: "'Gary Stearns'" <gstearns@optonline.net>; <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 5:50 PM
Subject: RE: H3 bulbs


> Dear Gary,
>
> I assume you put the relays in the dash somewhere? where?
> I assume you replaced the wiring to the lights? with what gauge?
> I assume you have a large gauge wire directly from the battery to the
> relays? what gauge?
> Any other details you can tell us?
>
> Cheers,
> MJS
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Stearns [mailto:gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET]
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 5:38 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: H3 bulbs
>
>
> By "auxiliary" do you mean high beams or fog lights? In either case, you
> might pop the fuse, you probably will fry the switch, and most
importantly,
> the stock wiring can't supply the amperage needed.  The load actually
> reduces the voltage. You be pretty disappointed with your new killer
bulbs.
> If you are going to go to hi watt bulbs, you really have to upgrade the
> wiring and add relays.  I have had some experience in upgrading wiring and
> relays but sticking with stock bulbs.  Makes a bigger difference than
going
> to hi watt bulbs!   I now have H3 fogs &  H3 hi beams at 100 watts, and
the
> H4 headlights are 80/100's.  All 6 are backed up with massive wiring,
heavy
> relays, and soldered connections.  If I could go 100 mph, I'd still be
> nowhere near outrunning the lights.  Yes, it made a huge difference.
>
> Gary
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Cassidy" <pcassidy@APPLE.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 4:22 PM
> Subject: H3 bulbs
>
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> >      'nother quick question; anyone tried using 100W H3 bulbs in their
> > auxiliary lights? Improvement? Did it fry your wiring? Did the standard
> > 10A fuse pop?
> >
> > Pete C (getting ideas)
> >
> > --
> > Peter Cassidy,                   pcassidy@apple.com
> > Sr. Dev. Engineer                 +353-21-4284316
> > WW Operations Engineering
> > Apple, Cork, Ireland.
> >
>