Headlight Upgrade

[Raize]

I've been looking at upgrading my headlights as they are rather weak.

I've found bulbs at 21W and 50W+ but nothing in between. Is there a reason for this massive gap? My car apparently has a maximum of 96W so I can't use the 50W bulbs and would really like something about 40W or so.

[DaveCWK]

All sounds very odd. What car is this? Typical wattages for halogens are 55 to 65w.

[Raize]

DaveCWK said:

All sounds very odd. What car is this? Typical wattages for halogens are 55 to 65w.

Poverty Porsche 924 from 1980. The current lamps are awful and possibly OEM.

[DaveCWK]

Raize said:

Poverty Porsche 924 from 1980. The current lamps are awful and possibly OEM.

I think they are standard h4 combined dip/main, in which case there are lots of options. High output versions from Philips or osram are decent, and if your wiring will take it you can get h4 in wattages upto 130 or so (not technically road legal though)

[DaveCWK]

Osram nightbreaker:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BREAKER-UNLIMITED-halogen-...

[Raize]

The issue is my 96W maximum. The 55W bulbs could melt the light circuit, otherwise they'd be great.

[accident]

Raize said:

The issue is my 96W maximum. The 55W bulbs could melt the light circuit, otherwise they'd be great.

so how is 55w more than 96w?
its amps that start fires you need to look at stuff better

[Raize]

accident said:

so how is 55w more than 96w?
its amps that start fires you need to look at stuff better

55w x 2 = 110W???

Am I missing something very important, or are you?

[MC Bodge]

If they are a standard size reflector then you can replace them with something like these:

Crystal Halogen Headlamp Kit, then fit heavier gauge wiring directly to the lamps (switched by relay from the original wiring) and better bulbs eg. Ring Xenon Ultima.

I've done all of the above to my motorbike, with superb results.

[steveo3002]

have a look at fitting a couple of relays and some suitable wiring , you can spec that to run whatever wattage you like with very little load on the original switch

even with your standard bulbs theres probably some gains to had by using a relay to ensure they get full battery voltage

[PhillipM]

Seems a little strange, most bulbs are 50-55w even back at that age, if it's the case that it'll take those I'd just stick a set of the Philips Xtreme's in.

[Private Pile]

OP, years ago I used to be on a 944 forum and the poor lights were a common complaint.
I'm going from memory here, but there was a electrical expert on there ( maybe called shark / sharkey ) who made and sold a plug and play wiring kit to solve the problem. There should be some decent information out there.

[accident]

Raize said:

55w x 2 = 110W???

Am I missing something very important, or are you?

seperate fuse for each light so yes you are
8 amp fuse at 12 volts calculates at 96w