FYI: brighter H9 bulbs for fog lights

[bootymac]

Hey Bootymac, why do all the hard modification work when Osram supply a 65W H7 off the shelf?
http://www.passatworld.com/forums/42-vo ... bulbs.html

http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html

Those would be a good halogen upgrade for the low and high beams. The fogs use an H11 base bulb though... Unless I'm missing something

[murcod]

Hey Bootymac, why do all the hard modification work when Osram supply a 65W H7 off the shelf?
http://www.passatworld.com/forums/42-vo ... bulbs.html

http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html

Those would be a good halogen upgrade for the low and high beams. The fogs use an H11 base bulb though... Unless I'm missing something

Good point! Brain fade, I was thinking they were all the same, but of course they're not.

[KuroNekko]

Are these 65W halogens safe to use? Don't these create a lot of heat that can melt harnesses and damage housings?

[bootymac]

Are these 65W halogens safe to use? Don't these create a lot of heat that can melt harnesses and damage housings?

Based on other people's experiences, the increase in wattage is not significant enough to cause any problems or damages.

A lot of people have been doing this for years without any issues so I think it's safe to assume it's okay

[KuroNekko]

Are these 65W halogens safe to use? Don't these create a lot of heat that can melt harnesses and damage housings?

Based on other people's experiences, the increase in wattage is not significant enough to cause any problems or damages.

A lot of people have been doing this for years without any issues so I think it's safe to assume it's okay

I've heard and even personally experienced differently and I used to be into these types of bulbs in my former cars. High wattage bulbs running on OEM harnesses designed for 55W can melt the harness, wires, and damage the headlight due to the greater heat they generate. The solution is to upgrade the harness to handle the higher wattage. I used to have these kinds of halogens in my Impreza so I bought an IPF upgraded harness to protect my factory headlight harness for the H4 bulb connector.
The IPF harness worked great, but I was still rather dissatisfied by the halogen bulbs especially since the performance of these halogens degraded over time (filaments wear out) and these bulbs don't last long. After also trying high performance H7 halogens in my Mazda3 and seeing that they were damaging my factory harness (I did not have an upgraded harness for H7 bulbs), I finally decided to give a HID kit a try. There is no comparison. HIDs blow these halogens away in output while consuming less wattage and generating less heat all while lasting many times longer.

However, this was mainly for low beam use. Halogens are better for high beams, but more from characteristics of use than actual performance. Fog lights are the most forgiving and seem to do fine with HID, LED, or halogens. That being said, a high wattage, high heat halogen can damage the fog light's harness and possibly other components so you need to take caution.

Anyhow, this was the harness I had for my halogen bulbs:

[bootymac]

I wouldn't define 65W as "high wattage"

[KuroNekko]

I wouldn't define 65W as "high wattage"

They don't seem like "high wattage" until you take a look at how flimsy OEM headlight harnesses are and how easily they can be damaged from anything running hotter than 55W for which they were designed for.
Keep in mind incandescent bulbs generate more heat than light (why they are actually inefficient as light sources) and halogen gas merely amplifies light output but also heat. The wires and connectors in OEM harnesses are not very robust. H7 harnesses have very thin wires and the connector is a simple piece of plastic. My old H7 high performance bulbs in the Mazda were not even higher than 65W and still was able to slightly damage my connector. I knew that if I kept them, I risked further damaging my OEM harness wires and connectors. That's why I went with HIDs.

Perhaps the H11 harnesses for the fog lights are more robust with thicker, lower gauge wires, however I'd not risk running anything higher than standard spec wattage bulbs unless I have upgraded harnesses (the upgrade is thicker, lower gauge wiring plus heat resistant connectors).

Go research the topic of these types of high output bulbs. It's well documented that they can damage OEM components and that's why many brands that make these bulbs also make these upgraded harnesses. IPF is an example.

As I've already stated, I've personally had my harness connector get damaged. Heck, I've seen OEM bulbs melt OEM harnesses in other people's cars.

[murcod]

There's a risk with any head light bulb upgrade of the loom/ connector suffering long term damage. I've read where HID kits have "burnt" the wiring long term. Apparently, the ballasts draw a lot of current when initially "firing" to start the arc inside the bulb. Then the voltage/ current draw drops back.

[~tc~]

The solution here is a high quality HID kit with an independent power harness, like KuroNekko and I have from theretrofitsource

[murcod]

The solution here is a high quality HID kit with an independent power harness, like KuroNekko and I have from theretrofitsource

Except it's illegal to run those kits on public roads. The only legal option is the approved versions of the higher light output bulbs that are still 55 Watt. (The 65 Watt bulbs would be illegal.)