H4 90w/100w bulb upgrade. opinions needed

[lindsey97]

I recently installed "those military guys" halogen upgrade kit in my m923a1. came with autopal lenses, and 70 low beam/ 75 watt high beam bulbs. works great and is worth the $55.

I am wondering if anyone has tried a pair of Phillips 90w low/ 100w high halogen bulbs in a m900 series truck. or perhaps a set of PIAA 55wlow/ 100w high. would like to know if this could cause blown fuses, tripped relays, or any other electrical problems.

thanks guys.

 

[renodogs]

From my experience in using 55-100 watt H4 bulbs, you need to concern yourself not only with wire size, but also heat dissipation. Most professional applications I have seen that run that high of wattage employ ceramic H4 connectors for blade connections. They get quite hot, and you'll notice some discolorization of the wires if you don't use a large enough gauge to handle the current draw. I had to upgrade the harness in an old car when I converted from sealed beam to H4's. A rule of thumb to use on circuit breakers or fuses is always double the trip rating amount of current used; if you use a fuse, use a slow blow type. That way you won't trip the breaker or pop the slow blow fuse when you power up the load from fast surge current.
I always use solder and heat shrink on connections, crimping is simply creating a problem down the road. However, never use standard solder on the terminal connections; always use silver based solder- it takes a lot of heat to make a silver soldered connection come loose. If you must employ crimp connections, make sure you crimp twice on the connector. Headlamps draw a ton of current and you certainly don't want those wires to come loose, unless you enjoy the nickname "Sparky'.

Don't touch the bulb with your bare hands, install them with painter's gloves on. Hand oil on the bulbs is bad ju-ju.

 

[lindsey97]

thanks for the advice renodogs. think I will just stick to the 70w/75w that came in the kit and add some off road lights when I get time. thinking about buying those ibis tech lightbars from one of the members here.