Upgrading from 55 > 100w bulbs?

[Sleeper6]

Hey just curious if any of you engineer types might be able to help me in converting my headlight bulbs over from 55 to 100w. I have the jdm glass lamps with h4 bulbs and love the extra light but have tried running some 100w bulbs a couple of times and love that but I am seriously worried about the meltdown affects as I can already see some scorching on the plugs from when I had them in. Is there any type of relay setup I can use to run these safely? Ive already thought about HIDs but but I dont want to give up my glass lens for cheapo projectors. Any ideas appreciated!

Thanks!

[Ryan]

Since you're doubling the wattage, I'd suggest upping your wiring.

Its not hard to run a new set of wiring.

Fuse(20ish) a new hot wire from the battery, using 16 or lower gauge wire, run it down the the headlight location.

From the wires that currently power the headlight, power the trigger side of a (at least 20A) relay.

Now that you have switched power, run it to your headlights in parallel. Run new grounds for them too. The ground sees the same current as the power side.

use the stock low beams, or do this 2x.



There must be an easier way to do this though, you'd probaby have to chase the wiring back to the headlamp relays and re-wire from there. Maybe that wouldn't be easier... cleaner though. And way easier to troubleshoot.

[Sleeper6]

Alright let me see if I have this straight. Im running a power wire to a relay then a power from the relay to the bulb to supply the extra juice and just using the power from the harness now to switch the relay on? (btw with the jdm lamps there is only one bulb that is an H4 I think you might have had these confused with projectors so that way I have to do it for both hi/low.)

As for upgrading the ground am I just relocating the ground in the harness or are you talking about grounding the relay. And most importantly will this prevent the plug in at the bulb from melting or should I just run individual tabs to it instead of the plug.

harness Hi power > first relay power on switch.
Low Power >Second relay power on switch
Ground > Ground to body?

Relays: power on switch from original harness, with power supply from battery and independant ground. Then main power to bulbs?

^ something like that?

[Ryan]

Yeah you got it.

What I'm saying is ground the other side of the bulbs, instead of just tapping into a another ground.

I knew it was one bulb, but is it one filament? The H4 bulbs use the same connector? Well, perhaps go find a car in the JY with the same connector and beefier wiring?

[Sleeper6]

I believe they are dual filiment. QUick question though am I grounding the ground from the bulb and the harness independently or should i leave the harness hooked up as the original ground

[Ryan]

Its a bulb, I don't see why you couldn't do both. Fancier circuits need a clean ground.

If its dual filament, there's now 3 wires going into each light. You need a relay to control the low beams and a relay for the high beams. You could still run one wire down there, as they're only ever both on with "flash-to-pass" or if you hold it halfway between lows and hi's.

[MrMazda92]

Makes me want my glasslamps... Just a few more days... *drool*.

[Sleeper6]

well worth it in my opinion to be able to run the 100W bulbs. Project complete with write up in my WL.

[MrMazda92]

Awesome! FAQ Material anybody?