100 watt high beams

[19bonestock88]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Go HID.

You get 3 times as much light as a 55 Watt halogen bulb for just 35 Watt.
Chinese HID replacement sets can be had as cheap as about $25 including shipping, that is for a complete set with bulbs and ballasts (like this one and this)

I replaced the halogens in my (projector) low beams because I could hardly see at night, and got overlooked by other road users too
HIDs took care of that, and the pattern was perfect.


I would not recommend using HIDs for low beams in reflector housings designed for halogen. High beams though - all the way

Apparently a H9 bulb is a H11 style lamp with a slightly modificated connector. The difference is the slightly higher power use (65 Watt) and light output.
See Difference between H9 and H11 bulbs?
That said, a H11 HID set should outperform any halogen H9 set with ease.

Many 'H11' sets do not have connectors at all; they come with 2 metal pins that need to be plugged into the (female) H11 connectors of the car. The H9 to H11 conversion should be quite easy on that one
If you go with a loose pin set mind that they are +/- dependent.
Check which end is + with a volt meter or simply swap the pins if the light won't shine.
As with halogens, never touch the glass. Clean with paper and pure alcohol if in doubt.

There are HID kits in any color.
Mine are 5000K which means white with a slight hint of yellow (much whiter than halogen tho).
6000K is most common, which is white with a hint of blue.
8000K are distinctly blueish, above that verges to purplish and attracts the attention of the law.
I've seen 3500K, which are much like halogens, just 3 times as bright - or 5 times if you go with 55W HIDs (which seems like overkill to me).

My Saturn has HID lighting, with Mini H1 bi-xenon projectors, and I seldom fail to see anything on the road, but I wish it had been retrofitted with a better projector...

I couldn't plug HID bulbs into my reflector housings and feel okay with myself(glare and all), but if I had money and time, I could do a projector retrofit... The way my lights are wired anyway, the low beams would stay on(I'd have them on a low beam HID projector(55W), and high beams come on as needed, which would be a halogen projector(100W)... At the time of the incident, I had SilverStar Ultra low beam bulbs and stock high beams...

[LeanBurn]

IF you go 100W halogen, your reflector will have issues after a while due to the heat buildup, resulting in the silver coloring turning a dull gray just above the bulb.

Also your wiring may not be able to handle it.

What about aftermarket aux lamps...removable after deer season is over?

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I considered LEDs also. I already put LEDs on the fire bird and suburban. I found LEDs will ice up in a good winter mix storm even when they are on, they just don't make enough heat to prevent ice build up.

With that giant heat sink the head light housing cover wouldn't fit. If that heat sink ribbon did fit under the cover, putting the cover over the heat sink kind of defeats the purpose of having a heat sink.

Same with HIDs.
Where you can feel the heat if you put your hand in the beam of a halogen lamp, you can't with HIDs even though the light is much brighter. But my headlight covers are curved and slanted sideways, so there is not much buildup. At highway speeds it clears itself basically. At low speed snow sticks, I have to clear it once in a while.

For the heat sink you are supposed to bore a hole through the housing and let it hang out... but if the housing has metal, you could make it touch that. Maybe fold it back against the lower part of the reflector.

[oil pan 4]

I replaceded the head lights in my wife's car right before I did the 100w high beam mod. I still had the old head lights housings so I used them as test subjects.
To make sure the high beam wouldn't over heat I put a 100w bulb in one of the old head lights and connected it to my samlex 13.8v power supply. Then ran it for 2 or 3 hours.
It didn't do anything to the housing.
The 100w high beams have been on her car since January 2016. I think the longest they have ran continuously is maybe 20 minutes.

In the original post I already warned that OEM circuitry won't handle 100w high beams.

[teoman]

I had installed 100W HID's (100W chinese watts = 75 SI Watts) in instead of 55W halogens on my motorbike. Luckily my reflector could handle it and i got away with just lowering the low beam a little bit. It really depends on the type of reflector you have.

As the other fellow said, if you use it for the high beams (and live in a relatively rural area) go for it.