is it ok if i use a higher wattage on headlight and fog light bulbs?

 

i'm by no means an expert, but that is almost never good. Either they will overheat the housing or something else. Circuits are designed with certain elements and usually have very little in terms of leeway.

 

increasing the wattage on halogen bulbs means that it'll emit more light and heat. the heat can damage the headlight housing and the extra voltage necessary to power the bulb might cause you to blow a fuse or melt a wire (i've seen this happen). if you run HIDs, they have more lumens (light/brightness) while running cooler than halogen bulbs. the downside to this is that you need to but a kit that has a HID ballast. also, the headlight housing you have now is a halogen housins, so your HIDs would basically be shooting all over the place...blinding people. this can cause you to be pulled over, high beamed by others, and what not.

 

I've seen housings melted by higher wattage bulbs. Its not pretty, and its not cheap either.

 

While everyone is speaking the truth, as long as you don't go crazy you are probably fine. Just keep an eye on things, especially for the fogs as those aren't typically setup as well for higher wattage bulbs.

I changed my 35w stock SuperDuty fog lights to 55w (common mod for those trucks as the fogs suck) and never had an issue while running them almost continually. Just keep an eye on the housing and you'll likely be fine. Of course, do this at your own risk. haha!

 

+1

The guys around here, when they're designing stuff that doesn't directly endanger life and limb, I think use as little as 25-50% safety factor. Meaning a 65 watt fixture, electrically and thermodynamically might go to 75 watts and not much more.

However, if I'm designing a ceiling bracket that holds hundreds of pounds of fixture, I generally go for 200% to yield as a minimum.

 

ok.... so, does it mean my 9006 hb4 80w 8500k/7000k halogen bulb are not good?

 

What does the manual say the stock bulbs/sockets are rated at? You just have to ask yourself, is it worth the risk of a ~$600-$1200(if you're HID) pair of housings if they melt them.

 

Also, just because the packaging reads 80w, does not mean the bulb actually is. I have seen some brands packaging that refer to the wattage as the sum of both bulbs. So 80w is actually 40w per bulb.

 

It depends on how far you're pushing it and with what bulbs. For fogs, I wouldn't go above the stock rating at all given that it's a small space and heat can thus build up quickly. By contrast, I run 65W headlight bulbs (which are 10 over stock) and haven't had any issues yet nor has anybody on NASIOC with the same setup. If it calls for 55W and you run 80W though, you could have serious issues.

 

yahu - what do you think on this one?

 

Let me guess, you saw them in Parts Source? For the love of god, stay away from cheap bulbs like that.

 

this is prolly off topic, say you get a Projector Housing (kinda what comes stock HID-ready, only without the HIDs), are you better off going with brighter/whiter halogens (like those Osram night breakers) than doing some aftermarket HID setup? assuming these are stock, factory Projector housings without HIDs

 

If you get HID projectors (say from a wrecked Ralliart with factory HIDs), running HIDs is fine and probably the best option. If you have halogen projectors, halogens are best.

 

I'd go HIDs myself. E.g. - We had a 2006 Pilot as a family vehicle that came with projectors. Installed HIDs and there is definitely not a strong cutoff, but they weren't bad. You could definitely tell they weren't as focused but they were still much better than halogens and not overly annoying for oncoming cars.

One really nice feature of HIDs is the spectrum of light that they produce (on the applications I have used) really hit reflective material much further. You can see the little reflective "turtles" on the road further, signs, and also animal eyes. Very good when driving in Montana in the middle of the night!