Rewire Driving Lights

[HondaBoy]

ok, so i have some driving lights, or what most people say fog lights. anyway, they came with a wiring kit. ive had them on there a while and they are nice. but they came with some chicken shit 19 gauge wire. i went and looked at the wiring kits at the auto parts stores and they are mostly all chicken shit! that wiring would probley burn up if i put bigger bulbs. they are running 55 watt now. i wanted 100 watt, and when i put those on they couldnt handle the higher wattage. so, ive been seeing what needs to be done and of course bigger wire should be put in. so i got 25 feet of 14 gauge wire. i think they gave me more than that so thats cool. its never a bad idea to have more than you need! i was going to try putting new wiring in tonight, but i know its going to end up taking more than an hour. im thinking of puttin on a 30 amp relay. i wish someone could tell me more about putting in 100 watt bulbs. i know bigger wire is needed, bigger fuse. but other than that, i dont know about the relay. ive seen them use just one relay for high wattage lights. well for now i guess ill stick with 55 watt bulbs and wait to get something else. i need to get some connectors also, so ill have to use some my friend has. maybe i should look on the off road truck sites because im sure they have some good info for auxiliary lighting.

[DanLXI88]

Well if your lights are now rated for 55w and you put 100w bulbs in then heat should be an issue. The higher bulb will produce more heat then the 55w I'm sure you don't want to melt the lense..

[HondaBoy]

the lense is glass and the part where the bulb fits in is metal.

[smufguy]

the 19 gauge wire should help, its not a bad issue. Higher the wattage the smaller the wire can be i guess due to less resistance. Im not sure. I think its more for voltage but heck, fack that.

i want to put in a 100w bulb in my fog light (not driving light) cause they came with 35w shit-kickers. I might be well off by putting just a reg 55w then.

I dont know about the min required amperage for a 100w bulb, but how much amperage does our high beams take up? 30amps right? and they are only 65watts, so i think a 30 amp relay could compensate for the extra 35amps that ur foggies are gonna be pulling. or be on a safe side and bump it to 40amps if u want. Also, best way to check is to fry fuses :d you would know it instantly. hehehe :lol:

[Blkblurr]

Here is what you need to know. A 100 watt bulb will draw about 7.4 amps per bulb at 13.6 volts. Your relay needs to be capable of handling both bulbs. Your wire is not large enough to handle the current without heating up especially in the hot weather. I would go to 14 ga. The final issue is the light housing is most likely not able to handle the extra heat and may crack the lens when it gets wet. It depends on the size of the housing mostly. Hope this helps.

[carotman]

Heat could crack the glass lens like Blkblurr said.

[HondaBoy]

yeah, but if it does crack the lense, i can always get nicer fog lights. i was planning on it anyway, but until something goes wrong with these i wont. anyway, i got it all wired up. my first relay was bad, so i took that back this morning and got another one. i have a 30 amp breaker in there. someone told me to use that. the wire is now 14 gauge through out the fog light system. i redid all wiring including ground wires. the look brighter, but i cant really tell till night time. i wonder if i can now put in 100 watt bulbs. bigger wire, 30 amp relay and circuit breaker. with that, i believe it should be able to handle it! i will see if my dad has some 100 watt bulbs when i go over there on saturday. it seems most of the off road guys i try getting info from dont know squat about wiring! that sucks for me, but i guess not since i know a bit more. i soldered all connections and made sure none of the positive wires could ground themselves. ok, so i went from 19 gauge with one fuse, to 14 gauge with the relay and breaker. i'll put up a thing i found that was pretty helpful in explaining how to correctly wire up the relay.

[HondaBoy]

CHECK THIS OUT! its a diagram that clearly and visually shows how to wire your fog/driving lights up with a relay. believe me, this really helped me out! im more a visual person than following written directions.
How To Wire Fog/Driving Lights w/ Relay Correctly (http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/bosch/foglites.htm)

[Blkblurr]

That's a good diagram. One nice addition might be wire size and relay capacity for 55 watts as well as 100 watts.

[HondaBoy]

well night time is here. i had to readjust the driving lights because i somehow bumped them. i guess also they were misaligned because i tightened down the bolts that hold them on. i'd never gotten a chance to tighten them because they are behind the bumper cover and i couldnt get anything in there. anyway, they shine a bit brighter and farther. they do have to be used along with the low beams, but they are supposed to assist the regular headlights and not be used alone. anyway, they work much better. i made sure everything was good. the wires dont even get warm, they used to get quite hot. even the ground wire is good. the relay stays pretty cool, very little warmth along with the circuit breaker. i really want to try some 100 watt bulbs because im really picky about night time vision. really thats not a bad thing.

[Blkblurr]

Try putting in some of the Sylvania Silver star head lights for very bright headlights. they have a nice pattern as well. That's what I have and I love them. I also have fog lights I use with 55 watt bulbs. Mostly for daytime driving so other drivers can see me.

[HondaBoy]

oh, i did a product test on the Sylvania Silver Stars. i didnt like them, they also werent as bright as my GE bulbs. they were very nice white though, not dim, but not as bright as i'd like. since i've been driving around tonight i've really got to see how well the driving lights are working. its amazing that some new wiring made them brighter. but then that means less resistance, and more power flowing through them. i think i could have just gone with 12 or 10 gauge. thats big, but it could really handle some big wattage! tomorrow i may try out some 100 watt bulbs if my dad has some extras. cuz i dont wanna have to spend any more than i have to! you can under stand that. ok, well my lights are brighter than most of the other cars ive pulled up next to. i made sure that they dont shine too bright, upward glare. i aimed them just right. i may be taking some pix if i can find a good parking lot long enough and dark enough to show their range. just for reference, i'd say if your going to do you own wiring for driving lights or fog lights, get some where around 40 feet. i had to go back and get more, and it was fairly cheap, under 5 for all the wire i bought, about 33 feet total. having more than you need is a good thing i found out.

[Blkblurr]

What bulbs are you running? You mention GE.

[HondaBoy]

my headlights are GE super blue 60/55 watt halogen. and the driving lights are 55 watt halogen. well im guessing my lights are too bright! i kept asking my friends if they were blinding or made high glare, no they said. i got a lot of flashes when i had em on tonight. although that was on a road with 1 lane in each direction, not the free way or city roads. i aimed them down some more, but they still give off glare. i parked it infront of my house and walked down the street a bit. they give off a glare, although its not bad, but i guess some people just have to be dicks. they are low to the ground so i dont know whats up with that. im going to have to work with them to get less glare. i may get some nicer driving lights with integrated real fog lights. i want them in the rectangle shape, about the same size. as long as it fits nicely under the bumper. anyway, i can see good with those lights. another thing was i aimed the driving light on the driver side more to the center because more glare came from the side. but then, HID head lights are just about as bad! and those are high mounted.

[Blkblurr]

I put similar blues in my 97 Accord and ended up taking them out. They reduce the amount of light being put out by the bulb because the blue coating is a filter. You get a significant reductiion in light output when you compare them to standard bulbs. Nearly 25% according to my light meter. That's why I went with the Silver Stars. HID's if used properly shield most of the upward aimed light. They have projector lenses with shields built into the assembly. I have them in my S2000 and they are bright amd i get no complaints. Most lighting problems as far as others complaining about your lights are a result of improper adjustments. Just my thoughts though.

[88 Accord DX]

going above 55w in fog/driving lights is highly discouraged. depending on their mounting location, you wont have to worry about the actualy light melting, but the plastic bumper around it. you may want to install some heat sinks if your housings do not already have some, or you may want to upgrade to some better lights.