100/80w bulbs, with harness

[Klutch9]

I've had a headlight harness now for about 6 months. With OEM style bulbs, it made a nice improvement. I've been thinking a lot lately about stepping up to a 100/80w 9007 bulb. I know the harness can handle the extra wattage no problem (12-guage wires), but my concern is the headlight housing itself. I've run high wattage bulbs in one of my older cars in the past, and the housing was fine. In that case, it was 20w over what it should've been, on factory wiring... oops. Still everything was fine.

The car in question is my Focus. The volume within the headlight housing itself is quite large, so a little excess heat doesn't worry me too much. What most concerns me is the reflective surface directly next to the bulb, taking the brunt of that extra heat. I'd hate for it to fade.

For those who don't know, the OEM wattage on a 9007/HB5 bulb is 65/55w for high/low.

 

[Quest]

Aside from current drain/voltage drops due to wire gauge (resistance within copper wiring, relays, switches, etc.); I'd be more worried about headlight housing melting due to heat dissipation problems.

Q.

 

[Smokescreen]

The housing is only one of the areas to consider as you mention...the reflective coating may turn a dull tarnish color and not be that reflective at all especially right above the bulb (one of the most important areas for beam pattern) where the heat will rise and affect.

Another area to consider is the housing optics themselves might not be able to handle the excessive output resulting in internal reflections causing glare. At those wattages, that would be of concern as the beam pattern could be messed up causing issues for the other cars on the road.

This would be the better bulb for the job: http://store.candlepower.com/bfcopo90hbpo1.html

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
This would be the better bulb for the job: http://store.candlepower.com/bfcopo90hbpo1.html



I have considered these bulbs before. The price isn't bad. Do you know what the luminous output is for these on high/low?

Here's one thing I still don't understand though... Take the bulbs you just mentioned, the Xtreme Power bulbs in that link. They are a standard 65/55w draw, but they are worked harder to create more lumens. Now, a 100/80w bulb worked 'normally' creating a lot a lumens is too much for the housing to handle? I don't quite understand that. If a housing can only handle and work properly with so much light, how does it matter whether the bulb is high wattage or not, both creating higher lumen output? I do believe that it's true, but I need help understanding it

 

[Smokescreen]

Filament quality and coil integrity.

A precision filament with coils manufactured within a spec with extreme tolerances can mean the difference between a beam pattern that is excellent with a precisely placed pool of brighter light and mediocre splash.

Take this link: http://www.candlepowerinc.com/pdfs/SBL_Headlamp.pdf , look at the beam pattern map, same bulb wattage spec, totally different outcome.

Regarding the overwattage..the housing on your Focus was designed for a specific bulb type and level of lamp intensity. If you were to put nearly double the light intensity on the same mirrored finish, the light ends up reflecting off of surfaces it wasn't meant to. The inside of the plastic face, the metal pieces of the bulb itself and/or the bulb shield. Not to mentioned that the high wattage bulbs are meant for pure output not so much focus, so the filament and coil placement can put a hot spot in an area that is not designed to aim it correctly. Its kind of like putting an HID kit into a halogen lamp assembly. The placement of the arc and its intensity can cause the beam pattern to be totally corrupted. In addition, the majority of the overwattage bulbs out there are chinese made junk whose manufacturing specs are not up to a good standard.

There are a lot of things going on in that small 2-3mm space, its down to the micron level to where it is projected.

 

[NateDN10]

Originally Posted By: Klutch9
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
This would be the better bulb for the job: http://store.candlepower.com/bfcopo90hbpo1.html



I have considered these bulbs before. The price isn't bad. Do you know what the luminous output is for these on high/low?

Here's one thing I still don't understand though... Take the bulbs you just mentioned, the Xtreme Power bulbs in that link. They are a standard 65/55w draw, but they are worked harder to create more lumens. Now, a 100/80w bulb worked 'normally' creating a lot a lumens is too much for the housing to handle? I don't quite understand that. If a housing can only handle and work properly with so much light, how does it matter whether the bulb is high wattage or not, both creating higher lumen output? I do believe that it's true, but I need help understanding it

Bulb wattage is based on electrical power input, not light output.

Halogen bulbs are typically less than 5% efficient, meaning that 95% of the electrical energy going in is converted directly to heat! The 100/80W bulbs have the same efficiency but more electrical power input, which means that more heat is generated. The Xtreme Power bulbs are more efficient, generating more light (and thus less heat) from the same electrical power input.

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

Originally Posted By: Klutch9
I've had a headlight harness now for about 6 months. With OEM style bulbs, it made a nice improvement. I've been thinking a lot lately about stepping up to a 100/80w 9007 bulb. I know the harness can handle the extra wattage no problem (12-guage wires), but my concern is the headlight housing itself. I've run high wattage bulbs in one of my older cars in the past, and the housing was fine. In that case, it was 20w over what it should've been, on factory wiring... oops. Still everything was fine.


Did you try it?

How did they work? I used the 100/80W in the past and really liked them.

Usually the bulb harness connector melts/distorts before anything else happens. That happened in my application. You can get ceramic 9007 connectors nowdays.

Also, you need to try and make sure you dont sit around with the engine idling in the heat of summer when you have no airflow and high engine bay temps also adding heat when on 100W.

Good going on the headlight harness. Those make a huge difference on all the new vehicles using PWM to regulate headlight output.

 

[Klutch9]

I never tried them. I got scared

I didn't want to risk doing damage to the headlight housing. Lately, I've been more satisfied with my headlight output than usual, so maybe I'll just leave them alone.