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LED headlights 5.75 inch

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DaemonForce View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DaemonForce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/29/2017 at 3:11pm
Majority of laws I've seen have no requirement or restriction on my lights. If there's any part in Revised Code of Washington that restricts headlamp use to 4 lamps, I can't find it.
Originally posted by billd billd wrote:

Note that with the sort of voltage drop I had with the factory wiring that was decades old and almost 200,000 miles old, I was running at LESS THAN HALF light output!!

This is terrifying and those ratings look pathetic below 14v but this is accurate. I believe the H4 kit I have in storage is a set of Hellas stamped 12V 100/90W P43T. They look like sealed units but the rubber base looks like a screw on cap. They have a real nice bright white intensity with no discernible blue or yellow. 2900/1900 lumens @12v is pretty good for halogens but because they're not LEDs I can expect them to consume 4x my target power consumption for this circuit.
Originally posted by 304-dude 304-dude wrote:

Maximum number of functional headlights is 4.

Fog lights cannot be on with driving lights or low beams, but some older cars do not override the function.

I have just finished rewiring my driving lights to be the new circuit trigger to my foglamps and need to find this 4 lamp excerpt since my car no longer overrides foggers. It makes sense as a rule of courtesy in town but not where I live. I love the foglamps. They scatter enough light to be more useful and courteous than flashing brights wherever. I get maybe 100ft of straight foward visibility with stock low beams and a 25ft gap up to 150ft of intense straight forward light on high beams. The foggers scatter light in a way that I'm able to see in an unusually broad 135º scope for several feet, which matters to me more than direct straight forward light. The way this area is populated with deer, elk, bears and the occassional bull or cow that stops up the I-5 with everyone in a panic, I put the foggers to better use and it will be much safer than the years of conditioning I've had on junky Ford pickups that have no options and an extremely unsafe limited scope of visibility no matter the beams used. I really should switch this out for a light bar. Ermm
1971 Javelin SST
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1983 American Limited
Jeep 4(.7)L S-MPFI | 1982 NWC T-5M (4.03/.76) | Dana30IFS/35-2.72
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 304-dude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/29/2017 at 3:32pm
I am forced to have fogs on on the 09 Honda, even though I can turn them on indefinitely by themselves, or through both high and low. Mostly because the factory projector beams are so limited with the upper and lower cutoff along the vertical portions of the beam. Fog lamps make up for what projectors lack, but are no better than a good set of H4 Halogens by themselves. It makes me wonder how much tech is overly recognised as better when introduced, and rarely enough to justify.

By the way, in some places fog is so thick, only fogs are used, as any beam higher than the lower part of the bumper is not close enough to show paint or lane delineations.




71 Javelin SST body
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/29/2017 at 9:32pm
lol, my roadster has only low beams. high quality reflectors (brand forgotten) and H4 bulbs and excellent, low drop wiring. aimed correctly. i so rarely use high beams i never wired for them! 

i'll switch to LEDs when the price drops enough, but there's not a lot of inducement for me.

1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 990V8 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/30/2017 at 4:44pm
Measured the voltage at my headlights. 11.5V with engine running. No good. Started installing an additional fuse box and relays. Going to snip into the existing loom, albeit with awareness that the H4/H1 plugs may be corroded, we'll see.
Would like to go to 4-lamp dip, but the additional draw would overwhelm the original 35A alternator.
Could put in a bigger alternator. Too easy to erase one by one the vintage characteristics of a classic car.... slippery slope.

Ivor
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 304-dude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/30/2017 at 4:58pm
Halogens actually consume less power than oem bulbs, so upgrades should not be detrimental.
71 Javelin SST body
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/30/2017 at 8:13pm
I don't think you will be pulling too much from the 35A alternator with four head lamps on at all times. The high beams on your car run all four and consume more power than four low beams would. I have mine wired so that all four are always one, low and high beam, through relays. I just cut the wires to the headlights near the front and ran those to the relays (trip the relays) and ran new wires to the headlights with new connectors. I'm running a 42A Delco 10SI, not much more than you have, but also have power seats and AC. I've never had a power issue even with everything running... but it's not like I adjust the seats while going down the road with the AC running and stereo blasting! You can only use so much at one time.

Sealed beam 9004 halogens are rated 65W high, 45W low, at 12.8V. Modern H4 bulbs are 60/55W... so more low beam light than older, but a little less high beam. So your little 35A alternator is okay with 260W at high beam now... don't see why it wouldn't like 180W at low beam, or 220W...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 990V8 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/04/2017 at 1:56pm
Well I also have an electric rotary fuel pump, haven't measured the current but it must be 5A or more.

Nevertheless, I'm going for the 4-lamp dip.

I put in two relays. Haven't run the engine again but the voltage with no engine is higher now than it was with the engine running, so obviously an improvement there. That encouraged me to try fitting the last of the four halogens, an inner H1, which for some reason wouldn't work when I installed them so I left the one GEC sealed beam in there.

It still wouldn't work!! After a lot of fiddling about I found the adaptor that fits on the back of the bulb was bad, and I got it to work out of the car but it still wouldn't work when I installed it. Such a simple thing. Grrrr.

So I'm going to junk it, and fit a pair of Cibie H4 that I have in store. I put in the extra wire connector and now I'm awaiting delivery of two bare H4 blocks so I can use the two existing wires plus the new one. No point cutting off perfectly good cable and connectors.

Then I'm going to take it somewhere with a flat area and a wall where I cam align the beams. The Gubmt test just ensures they're not too high, and I'm sure they're far from where they should be.

Onward.
Ivor
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 990V8 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/09/2017 at 4:47am
Mission accomplished. Nearly.

Now, British cars for the most part, the wiring to the headlights runs to one side and then across the front of the car to the other. So, when I went to run a cable across to power the inner left dip, I was somewhat disconsterned to realise that there is a separate loom to the left heads, running from the back of the engine bay.

You can guess... I'd cut into the right-hand loom, used that to power the relays, connected the relays to the right loom.... so now I have the right heads powered by the relays, and the left heads - other than the dip of the left inner - still running via the original circuit.
Duh.

Anyway, I have a four-lamp dip. In half an hour's time we'll be going out, shouldn't as they were gritting last night but anyway, and this evening we'll by lit up by our new lights for the return journey.

Ivor
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/09/2017 at 12:30pm
In your case I'd just run the wiring the way most Brit cars are run and abandon the left hand original wiring. Then you don't need another pair of relays. I wired my 63 that way. I don't recall if it had a second set of wires for the left hand side. It's a different year and a six cylinder car, which often had a different wiring loom than V-8s, so it may have been wired from one side from the factory. Did the wiring 3-4 years ago...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bruce Clarkson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/09/2017 at 9:21pm
Perhaps I was Lucky. For my 67 Ambassador the headlights were terrible when I got it. Various connections were dirty. While I was at it I replaced all four lamps with halogen sealed beams while I cleaned up the existing connections. With my stock 40 amp alternator and air conditioner running full lights are quite effective.  I not only had to mess with the connection at the headlights but also under the dash and at the fuse panel.  I also carefully set the aim. I find the lighting comparable to my Merc Marquis.

Still, the comments from others about voltage levels to incandescent bulbs are spot on. Whatever fix you do, it's all about getting voltage to the lamps.

Bruce Clarkson
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