Date:         Fri, 7 Mar 2003 15:44:13 -0800
Reply-To:     TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         TJ Hannink <tjhannink@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: headlight bulb question... One more...
Comments: To: "James V." <tornadored@EARTHLINK.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <BA8E55D2.2AF4%tornadored@earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

--- "James V." <tornadored@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> But on Frank Condelli's how-to, it suggests
> that all that is
> necessary is a larger 15amp fuse (along w/ the
> relays) when going to 100w
> bulbs:
>
> http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/hdltrela.htm
>
> Again, maybe I misunderstood...?

If the higher wattage bulbs are the 100/80 watt
variety, the low beams would only draw 6.7 Amps
(80w/12V), as the high beams are on a separate
circuit/filament. I would leave the 10A fuses in place
until they blew (if they ever did). Fuses are sized to
protect the wiring, I would rather undersize them then
oversize them. The current low-beam wiring should
support up to 120 watts since that's what it's fused
for.

It's the opinion of some that these higher wattage
bulbs offer very little benefit due to the poor design
of the reflector in the rectangular headlamp unit.
I've never tried them, instead I installed a set of
auxiliary headlights in addition to the relay
modification.

The main purpose of the relay upgrade is to get the
low beam current out of the headlight switch. When I
originally measured the voltage at the headlight bulb
terminal, I found it was 1 vdc under battery voltage
found at the fuseblock. I found a .6 vdc drop across
the headlight switch itself. That's why I installed my
relay in the position it is in and didn't bother to
bypass anymore of the stock wiring and dimmer switch.


Good luck


=====
TJ Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers
http://photos.yahoo.com/tjhannink [Vanagon] Album

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