Max legal headlight bulb wattage?

[edc]

Can't seem to find an answer to this, so sorry to post an uninteresting question , what's the max wattage/brightness I can go with on headlight bulbs?

[t-c]

65 Watts!

[Mad Dave]

So my 80/100watt bulb is illegal then?

[ohopkins]

Just a little note to extort the people who are upgrading their bulbs to upgrade the wiring also, otherwise it can get very hot and cause a fire.

[Targarama]

Mad Dave said:

So my 80/100watt bulb is illegal then?

My old Chimaera had 80/100 watt bulbs in for the 6 years I owned it. No problems from anyone. I didn't even know until a sidelight bulv failed and I had a closer look in there.

[mcflurry]

there is a bloke on ebay called energy13

Top bulbs at top price with excellent service, all bulbs are emarked too. Got 2 sets of H1 and H7 in 3700k white (100% brighter) for £20

[KITT]

ohopkins said:

Just a little note to extort the people who are upgrading their bulbs to upgrade the wiring also, otherwise it can get very hot and cause a fire.

Very true! The previous owner of my old Almera uprated the bulbs and one failed. I thought it had just blown so brought a replacement blub. Upon changing it I noticed all the wiring around the plug was melted Luckly it was easy enough to fix but do take care peeps!

[sadako]

I put 80/100 bulbs in woof and the wiring is fine. I actually now produce as much light as everyone else on the road. I think my parabolic mirrors may have degraded...

[edc]

I've only bought lowly Philips visionplus so should be no need to uprate wiring. Will use existing bulbs as spares.

[Mad Dave]

I only use it on the bike where the lights were total crap. Wiring seems ok so far

[mcflurry]

sadako said:

I put 80/100 bulbs in woof and the wiring is fine. I actually now produce as much light as everyone else on the road. I think my parabolic mirrors may have degraded...

Sadako, today you tell us about your OTT bulbs, last week it was the fogs - are you trying to blind everyone else on the road

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=117088&f=10&h=0

[jvaughan]

Mad Dave said:

I only use it on the bike where the lights were total crap. Wiring seems ok so far

really, my lights are awsome .. standard 55watt

[Buffalo]

IIRC there is a manufacturer age limit on vehicles after 1982 (can't remember month/day) whereby cars after this date "have to" have a maximum of 55/60W.

My car is older than that and i run significantly higher wattage than this for various reasons, but i make sure my headlight alignment is spot on as often as i can.

[Mad Dave]

jvaughan said:

Mad Dave said: I only use it on the bike where the lights were total crap. Wiring seems ok so far really, my lights are awsome .. standard 55watt

With the standard 60/55w the lights on the Bandit were rubbish - with 100w on main beam, theyre now much better. Remember your bike is a lot younger than mine - mines old tech.

[Dwight VanDriver]

t - c can you advise where you get 65 W from?

Quick perusal of Schedule 5 Road Vehicles Lighting Regs 1989:

Requirements re obligatory main beam/dipped beam headlights:

Motor vehicle other than motor cycle first used after 1.4.86 - No requirement in relation to wattage.

Now I know FiF is well versed, amongst other things, on lights so am I missing something?

DVD

[sadako]

mcflurry said:

sadako said: I put 80/100 bulbs in woof and the wiring is fine. I actually now produce as much light as everyone else on the road. I think my parabolic mirrors may have degraded... Sadako, today you tell us about your OTT bulbs, last week it was the fogs - are you trying to blind everyone else on the road www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=117088&f=10&h=0

er, yes I am blinding people with lights that are extinguished when there is oncoming traffic. </sarcasm>

[5ltr-chim]

Supposidly european regs permit 80/100W dipped/main and if the vehicles electrics meet EU regs then it "should" be capable of handling the extra curent safetly.

I personally have been using then since ~'85.

It is however even more essential to ensure that your lights are correctly adjusted.