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Model specific boards => Golf mk2 => Topic started by: philadams16V on 13 July 2004, 15:38

Title: Brighter headlights
Post by: philadams16V on 13 July 2004, 15:38
Anyone know wot the best bulbs to buy for hella headlamps are, and where to get them from?  I want them as bright as they can go  :P

                                                        (http://www.chu805.plus.com/vw.gif)
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: Gambit on 14 July 2004, 16:52
pm Rustynuts off here, he will do you an uprated loom for about ?25 delivered, piece of pish to fit and will make amazing difference to even std bulbs

you cant run anything higher that std watt bulbs on current loom or you run the risk of  blowing the light switch
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: Dizzie on 15 July 2004, 15:51
I thought the idea of the uprated loom was so you couldn't blow your switch. the relays took all the current out of the switch and you were limited to how phat the new wire is?
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: rubjonny on 16 July 2004, 10:55
Isn't that exactly what Gambit just said?  :)
Once you fit the loom, Philips Vision Plus are pretty damn good.
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: Colin on 16 July 2004, 16:47
If you or a friend know anything about electrics, spend ?3 on a 30A relay and use the original wiring to trigger the relay.
Run a positive feed straight from the battery to relay, then relay to bulb, bob's your uncle large amps to your bulbs.
I'm currently running 90/130W bulbs which lite the night nicely.
(although they are illegal, if they are not blue & aligned correctly who's going to check)?
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: Dizzie on 16 July 2004, 21:16
ah yeah. sorry. I'll be uprating the loom very soon and keeping standard bulbs. I'll try and take before and after pics to show the improvement of the uprated loom.
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: JMallows on 17 July 2004, 22:02
I had a go at this. Did just one side, to compare them... Read in lots of places that theres a voltage drop of 3V, so was expecting around 9-10V. Anyway, i did all the stuff, just to one side... Turned on lights, voltage on left side was 11.7V and on the relay light was  11.75. Seemed vry pointless! This may be cause i didn't connect the dim-dip etc... and prhaps cos the engine weren't on! Thought of this after i'd reassembled it, couldn't be arsed to try again!
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: rubjonny on 19 July 2004, 09:39
The main point of the relay wiring isn't to supply more voltage to the bulbs, its to stop your headlamp loom from melting if you use high wattage bulbs.  And to fix dim headlamp problems if your loom is in a bad way.
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: JMallows on 19 July 2004, 22:52
Found this out a couple of days ago... However, when this has come up in the past, pretty much veryone has said "matey-matey". Well on there it don't say that, it says theres a 2.5 volt drop, and the uprated loom will give less of a drop??


Quote
The main cause of this vaguely dangerous lack of brightness is a 2.5-volt drop between the battery and the bulbs. This is chiefly due to the rather long route the loom takes before it gets to the bulbs. When Andy fitted this loom to his Golf GTi, the voltage at the headlights dropped by only 0.1 volts which allows the full voltage from the battery to get to the headlights

Quote
If you measured the voltage before fitting the loom, measure it again and you should see a good improvement in the recorded voltage at the headlights.

Now i'm reeally confused!!
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: rubjonny on 20 July 2004, 09:56
Basically, the way it works is:
1. Do you have dim bulbs and/or a voltage drop?
Yes: Make an uprated loom
No: Leave it alone

2. Do you want to use more powerfull bulbs than standard?
Yes: Make an uprated loom
No: Leave it alone
Title: Re:Brighter headlights
Post by: JMallows on 21 July 2004, 14:03
Cool, thats very helpful! I thought it was ALL golfs that had dim/drop etc...

One final question for ya, or anyone... Is there a major problem with having both filaments on in thee H4 bulb at the same tme, will it drastically reduce the life??