H3 35w bulbs???
- Thread starter DarrenGT
- Start date
dark_knight
Member +
don't worry mate. 55w bulbs won't melt your fog lamp enclosures. i'm living proof. i wired my fogs to act as daylight driving lamps, so they come on with the ignition and are on each time i'm on the road - which is a lot! ..but i also set up a kill switch allowing me to switch them off even though the ignition is on, like when i'm on sleeperMODE cruising.. lol.
i've only recently seen 85w bulbs but a little hesitant to try these out as they go get pretty hot. they look awesome though with their color temp giving you the cool blue hue..
i've only recently seen 85w bulbs but a little hesitant to try these out as they go get pretty hot. they look awesome though with their color temp giving you the cool blue hue..
dark_knight
Member +
i don't think so.. i KNOW so mate.. 
i swapped mine out for 55w ones in march when i was re-wiring them for daylight driving and they've been going strong since with about 4-hours total daily drive.. so including weekend sprints, the bulbs have done 300+ hours of illumination time..
your case may be slightly different since i don't know how your fogs are wired in but i would presume that they come on only when you turn on your parking lights and the fog switch is also on, correct..? if you are like me, you may want to tap a feed from an ignition-on line (gets energized only with the key in IGN position) so that you don't have to have your parking lights on..
i swapped mine out for 55w ones in march when i was re-wiring them for daylight driving and they've been going strong since with about 4-hours total daily drive.. so including weekend sprints, the bulbs have done 300+ hours of illumination time..
your case may be slightly different since i don't know how your fogs are wired in but i would presume that they come on only when you turn on your parking lights and the fog switch is also on, correct..? if you are like me, you may want to tap a feed from an ignition-on line (gets energized only with the key in IGN position) so that you don't have to have your parking lights on..
Thats correct! Mine are standard wiring lume from toyota so were would you bring the feed from the ignition to the fog lights?? would it be direct to the fog lights?? direct to the on/off fog light switch... Are you saying when you turn on your ignition your lights are constantley on???
dark_knight
Member +
fog light rewiring
@DarrenGT: yes, my fogs a.k.a daylight driving lights come on every time my engine is on. it's actually a safety feature i'm mimicking from car brands like volvo, porsche, mercedes, audi etc which have their daylight driving lights activate with the ignition.
what i did was tap the feed from the rear window demister, which runs on a 30A fuse and is activated only by the key on IGN position. if you take off the fog switch from the dash panel, you will noticed that it only has 2 wires:
a) one is energized (when the switch is OFF) and most likely taps from the parking light loom, and
b) the other heads to the lights to energize them when the switch is flicked to ON
all i did was cut off the energized one and fed the new feed from the demister line. i then used the parking lights feed to illuminate my boost gauge..
reason i taped the feed from here is:
1] you MUST fuse your fogs regardless of what kinda re-wiring you are doing to them, and
2] the fuse must be large enough to take the load when you have both your demister and fogs running
here's a little math behind it;
P = I x V where; P = power (in watts); I = current (in amps); V = volts (in volts)
so, in my case, power consumed by the fogs would be 110 watts (55w x 2 bulbs)
car voltage is constant at 12v
so current flowing through the circuit would be;
I = P/V
I = 110/12
I = ~9.17A (let's round it off to 10A shall we)
so 10A plus whatever the demister is drawing (assumed at around 17A will still leave you with some safe room for normal operation without popping any fuses.
does it all make sense..?
@DarrenGT: yes, my fogs a.k.a daylight driving lights
come on every time my engine is on. it's actually a safety feature i'm mimicking from car brands like volvo, porsche, mercedes, audi etc which have their daylight driving lights activate with the ignition.what i did was tap the feed from the rear window demister, which runs on a 30A fuse and is activated only by the key on IGN position. if you take off the fog switch from the dash panel, you will noticed that it only has 2 wires:
a) one is energized (when the switch is OFF) and most likely taps from the parking light loom, and
b) the other heads to the lights to energize them when the switch is flicked to ON
all i did was cut off the energized one and fed the new feed from the demister line. i then used the parking lights feed to illuminate my boost gauge..
reason i taped the feed from here is:
1] you MUST fuse your fogs regardless of what kinda re-wiring you are doing to them, and
2] the fuse must be large enough to take the load when you have both your demister and fogs running
here's a little math behind it;
P = I x V where; P = power (in watts); I = current (in amps); V = volts (in volts)
so, in my case, power consumed by the fogs would be 110 watts (55w x 2 bulbs)
car voltage is constant at 12v
so current flowing through the circuit would be;
I = P/V
I = 110/12
I = ~9.17A (let's round it off to 10A shall we)
so 10A plus whatever the demister is drawing (assumed at around 17A will still leave you with some safe room for normal operation without popping any fuses.
does it all make sense..?
dark_knight
Member +
fined for being safety conscious?
@weeJohn: 30 pound fine?!!!
your law is not serious. so what if you have a volvo or audi that you can't switch off the daylight driving lamps..?!! what will the law say to that..?
&.. why would you want lower-wattage bulbs..? thought the idea was to have the most light you can get from the fogs..?
@weeJohn: 30 pound fine?!!!
your law is not serious. so what if you have a volvo or audi that you can't switch off the daylight driving lamps..?!! what will the law say to that..?
&.. why would you want lower-wattage bulbs..? thought the idea was to have the most light you can get from the fogs..?
Last edited:
dark_knight
Member +
trust me mate, the 55w bulbs will not blow the relay or any fuses for that matter.. i replaced my 35w bulbs with the 55w ones before re-wiring the lamps for daylight driving and they were fine then. good to be cautious though..
i replaced my 35w bulbs with the 55w ones before re-wiring the lamps for daylight driving and they were fine then. good to be cautious though..
dark_knight
Member +
fuses & relays
@DarrenGT: not sure if the front fogs run off a relay. if they do then i suspect they run off the tail lamp relay located on the left panel on the left side foot well, and are protected by the F10 fuse (located in the engine bay fusebox & indicated here as dome [10A]) which also protects the interior lamps, rear fog lamps, door mirror adjustment, clock & audio system. pm me, i can send you a doc with the list of fuses and relay locations for starlets. can't rem where i got it from so i can't link it..:|
@DarrenGT: not sure if the front fogs run off a relay. if they do then i suspect they run off the tail lamp relay located on the left panel on the left side foot well, and are protected by the F10 fuse (located in the engine bay fusebox & indicated here as dome [10A]) which also protects the interior lamps, rear fog lamps, door mirror adjustment, clock & audio system. pm me, i can send you a doc with the list of fuses and relay locations for starlets. can't rem where i got it from so i can't link it..:|
weeJohn
Lifer
No shit mate, plenty of lads here will tell you that one. Its the fact that the fogs are not diffused to stop glare for other drivers coming the other direction that this law applies to. Its like taking a LHD car and converting it to RHD, the headlights are configured to dip the lights towards the right rather than the left so they need changed as well.
Fitting 35W bulbs means they are like side lights so dont need difussed.
Our laws are fucked up, £30 for that or a small licence plate, but its also a £30 fine for not having a car with an MOT certificate to prove its road worthy and not possibly going to fall apart and cause a fatal accident.
dark_knight
Member +
@weeJohn: sorry to drift off a little but any way the law can be amended..? suggestion to parliament or something like that..? or the thing is just to fit diffused fogs and you won't be bothered by the law...?
dark_knight
Member +
stray not, we must
well, in order not to stray from the theme of the thread, i guess we'll wait for you DarrenGT to get back to use on how you do with the bulb swap and wiring check etc. just don't get in trouble with the uniformed boys..
well, in order not to stray from the theme of the thread, i guess we'll wait for you DarrenGT to get back to use on how you do with the bulb swap and wiring check etc. just don't get in trouble with the uniformed boys..
weeJohn
Lifer
The history of this island shows they tend to try and amend laws in a different way than that, but I dont think this warrants that to be honest.
I would be afraid if the £30 fine for this "offence" was brought to the notice of our government, the greedy money grabbing bastards would put it UP if they knew thats all it was!!
Alri lads ive put the 55w bulbs in to my car.. i got two 55w bulbs and had to grind some of the metal on the actuall bulbs to make them fit because as you may no already the the 35w bulds have way bigger slots on them bulbs (the half moon and square) i have the bulbs in about 2 weeks now and there working fine.. Even the alingment of the bulbs are perfect After grindind them a bit... I was going to do some pictures BUT as you can see i havent ha....
dark_knight
Member +
half-moon & square
are you sure you got the proper h3c bulbs..? regardless of the wattage, the half-moon and square notches are always there on them, and it should have been a direct fit..
anyway, glad they are wired in and working. noticed any difference..?
are you sure you got the proper h3c bulbs..? regardless of the wattage, the half-moon and square notches are always there on them, and it should have been a direct fit..
anyway, glad they are wired in and working. noticed any difference..?