> The factory wiring actually does a very poor job of supporting even stock > lights. The current flow from the alternator through undersized wiring to the > battery, then to the fuse box, ignition switch, headlight switch, back to the > fuse box for each filament makes for a lot voltage drop. The bad headlight > grounding makes things even worse. Typical voltage at the lights can be as low > as 10.5 volts with the hi-beams on. Not good for lighting. Putting 4 100 watt > lamps on that circuit will fry the headlight switch and ignition switch in > short order. At this point, almost half the alternator capacity is used for > lighting. Add the radiator fan on high speed with the AC or heater fans in > winter and you have some issues here. > > To get the most out of lighting, the wiring from the alternator to the fuse > box needs upgrading. Then the relays should be added to get that connection > directly to the lamps.The factory uses individual fuses for each filament so > that if one shorts out, the fuse blows and the remaining head lamp stays > lighted. American cars do not use separate fuses. They use a self reseting > circuit breaker which creates the flashing light syndrome when a lamp shorts > out. The next step to brighter lights is to shorten the ground wires tot he > lights. Connect them directly to the sheet metal near the headlight mountings. > Of course the real problem Vanagon lights is the optics. Brighter bulbs really > only give you more bad light. > > Dennis > > Personally, I do not think 100 watt lamps are a good choice. > Saved this email from Dennis awhile back & now have installed Ron's Euro grille & extra lites, except for the actual wiring. There were no instructions w/ the grille kit/lites, my Bentley says nada about these extra lites, & I am not sure how to proceed w/ wiring them up, based on above email & the additional lites. Help? Tom-follows instruction well, when they are available. |
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