Club 80-90 Forums

Have just received some Super Bright H4 100/80 VW Transporter T25 Headlight bulbs (Made in China...what is'nt!) off 'fleabay' any problems using these..battery drain?...overheating?...legallity? Do they need a 20 amp fuse? or am I a complete pillock for buying them!...don't answer that one!

buy first.ask second.wrong way around methinks..

OK... so it was a rush of blood to the groin!

Go the whole hog and do the relay mod, you'll have a really good setup.
You should have no problems.

Agree, buying brighter bulbs isn't actually the answer. Its the wiring thats the prob. All you'll be doing is putting even more load on it just to get thuppence worth of difference.

I too went down the 'bright' bulb route but nothing transformed them anywhere near as much as relays and a ballast unit.

Ballast Unit - What's that then?

As mentioned before... RELAYS!

its all down to voltage drop, and actual working % of the bulb. If the van is early fuse box type, the relay route is so simple. I have done them in the past and the difference is enormous.

If you do a search through the wiki or search the site, I remember cumbriankeith posting some excellent stuff a couple of years ago.

Also remember that if you use relays, you will only have to uprate the cables FROM the fuse box to the lamps...
(if you go the other way, by rights you should increase the light swith on your dash.... I dont think ya wanna do that!?)

just be aware that anything bigger than the 55/65w are for "off road use only" unless tha law has changed recently.......

Please remember to dip your headlights, drives me nuts when I have to put me sun glasses on ......at night!

Titus A Duxass wrote:Ballast Unit - What's that then?

Mine is fitted with a ballast unit under dash that maintains the right voltage etc. Not seen any since but got mine from fleabay for about £30 from china. Really works too. I mentioned ages ago that I first fitted Osram silverstar bulbs (and they're legal by the way) but with the ballast unit fitted, first time I switched em on all the neighbours came out and every cat in the neighbourhood vanished up alleyways. I've since (gradually) brought down the dip to the right level and all seems well. Definately big difference as light is now white instead of beeswax yellow.

Ballast unit was described as a 'headlight booster' and a little like an HID unit except it works with standard bulbs but as I say, can't find any on fleabay at mo. Cured mine for good anyway. Relays were also included in the kit and lights are powered direct from battery instead of through dip switches etc which now only operate the relays.

As Mocki says anything over 55/60w is not legal for road use.
Better results even with standard wiring can be achieved by fitting Philips Extreme headlamp bulbs which are the same power consumption as standard bulbs.
The wiring from the fuse box to the headlights is pretty good with little appreciable voltage drop. The main voltage losses are through the ignition switch; headlight and dipswitches fitting a relay to bypass these can give you another couple of volts.

The picture below is a Philips extreme on the left and what is supposed to be an 80/100W bulb on the right but actually worked out at 70/88W. Osram And Ring does similar bulbs. The Ring bulb is slightly brighter but has a less defined beam and the Osram is nearly comparable with the Philips.
[img:640:452]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee16 ... ropped.jpg[/img]

Heres a pic of the headlight booster by the way. Knew I'd posted it somewhere. It has all the relays mentioned in previous posts but just gives an extra boost to bulbs on top of that. Tis possible that bulb life might be limited using these but been on a year now with no probs

[img:596:641]https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/images/Headlightbooster.jpg[/img]

bigherb wrote:As Mocki says anything over 55/60w is not legal for road use.
Better results even with standard wiring can be achieved by fitting Philips Extreme headlamp bulbs which are the same power consumption as standard bulbs.
The wiring from the fuse box to the headlights is pretty good with little appreciable voltage drop. The main voltage losses are through the ignition switch; headlight and dipswitches fitting a relay to bypass these can give you another couple of volts.

The picture below is a Philips extreme on the left and what is supposed to be an 80/100W bulb on the right but actually worked out at 70/88W. Osram And Ring does similar bulbs. The Ring bulb is slightly brighter but has a less defined beam and the Osram is nearly comparable with the Philips.
[img:640:452]http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee16 ... ropped.jpg[/img]

man I think you have a halfpipe in your garage

Thanks everybody for your enlightened replies... have ditched ebay bulbs and am now searching out 'Phillips Extreme' ...and there was light!