brighter lights?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:09 am

does anyone know which wire on the back of the plug that goes onto the bulb is the ground? would the lights be brighter if that wire was grounded directly to the chasey.i have a 91 turbo legacy

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:18 am

Are you talking about the headlights?

Our headlights don't ground directly. They are "switched ground," meaning that the grounding is controlled by the switch.

If you want to improve your lighting circuit, you should really just put in relays. Have the stock wiring activate the relay coils, and then run big fat wire from the alternator or battery for +12v and to the engine block or battery for ground.

91scoobiesubie · Post by **91scoobiesubie** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 12:43 am

what kinda relay and where can i get it . and if possible a little more on the explanation of how to do. thanks alot

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:08 am

Read through this tech article:

http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/relays/relays.html

It'll explain what I'm saying better than I could. Note that Subarus have ground-switched systems.

91scoobiesubie · Post by **91scoobiesubie** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:44 am

do i just connect ground from the bulb to 85?have you done this with relay. what did you experience? and what guage wire did you you use and fuse?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 5:31 am

The way I did it was more or less as follows:

There are three wires going to the headlight bulb: common (C), high beam (H), and low beam (L).

For the low beams, I took the car's C and L wires and hooked them up to terminals 85 and 86 of a relay. I hooked terminal 87 through a fuse holder to the positive battery terminal, and terminal 30 to both bulbs' L pins. I grounded both bulbs' C pins.

Then I did the same thing for the high beams: connected the car's C and H wires to terminals 85 and 86 of another relay. 87 went to another fuse holder connected to the positive battery terminal, and terminal 30 went to both bulbs' H pins.

To avoid cutting my stock wiring, I made a connector to go into the car's stock headlamp bulb plug by cannibalizing an old bulb.

I used 10 gauge wire for the high-current circuit, and 15 amp fuses.

The improvement is quite noticeable. The stock circuit has significant voltage drop, and light output of halogen bulbs drops superlinearly with voltage drop.

eastbaysubaru · Post by **eastbaysubaru** » Fri May 28, 2004 7:45 pm

In searching for more information I discovered the website that vrg3 mentioned has changed. The new URL for the Relay information can be found here:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... elays.html

-Brian

ej22t · Post by **ej22t** » Mon May 31, 2004 4:16 pm

I just put a set of upgrade wire harness for the H4 and it did better then the stock wire harness, since it draws power from the battery and you will lost your day time running, since when you pull down your hand brake, the light will turn on full power.
But it did make the light brighter and you are allow to use higher wattage bulbs.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:16 pm

Canada had DRLs in 1992? That sucks.

Steve

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:43 pm

I'd still avoid overwattage bulbs in the stock 92-94 North American lights. They have plastic reflectors and plastic lenses. I tested it on the bench and it started smoking after only a few minutes.

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:53 am

Just wondering, is a 10 guage wire necessary.

I wanted to use 80w bulbs for lowbeam.
(BTW i have my altima now but i cant keep away from here) the subie is up for parts.

I figure the bulb being 100w max on highbeam running at 12v.. would be about 8 amps... correct??

would 14 guage wire be sufficient?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:12 am

What year Altima do you have? In most cars on American roads, overwattage bulbs are actually counterproductive... some just have bad beam patterns that just get worse, some have plastic reflectors and/or lenses that burn, some use bulbs whose contacts can't safely carry that much current...

But anyway... you really should use as heavy a gauge as you can manage. 14-gauge wire will certainly cause a noticeable intensity loss at 100 watts.

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:01 am

i have a 94 altima, the beam looks good very dispersed and gives a wide range of light. Problem is they are simply dim. That being a combination of bulbs and my yellowed lights. They have replacement lamps which look like they have better reflectors in them on ebay. I dont know if these are at all better than original not too many people have them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=33710
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... gory=33710

But i am often weary of these ebay parts...

Or i figured I would get a super clear pair of original headlamps ive seen online from a popular altima/maxima part place.

Also i understand the whole deal with bulbs.. i've seen alot of these crappy ass imported bulbs that are simply crap. Or they advertise 100watts but yet they are a rediculously high temp like 8000k.. producing much less usable light. Do you recommend any yourself?
Ive seen these hella Yellow star bulbs which seem reputable 100/130 and also 80/100 . Though i am having trouble finding a reputable dealer. I think 80 is a reasonable increase.. over that as you said before i worry about melting things

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:09 pm

Oh, cool... your lights actually do have a fairly good beam pattern -- much like 92-94 Legacies (in fact, this whole discussion applies to 92-94 Legacies as well as your Altima). The dimness can partially be fixed.

Don't buy those eBay lights! They're absolute junk and will be worse than your stock lights.

Buying brand new OEM lights for your car, while expensive, will help get rid of the yellowing for several years at the least. You could also use the sand-and-clearcoat method to eliminate the yellowing.

As far as bulbs, run fast away from any bulb that has a "temperature rating" on its packaging. Ditto for bulbs with any bluish tint at all. Ditto again for bulbs that claim to perform like a wattage higher than their actual wattage. These three often happen together.

I'd also avoid any overwattage bulbs in the plastic headlight.

Hella Yellow Star bulbs are available in stock-wattage and overwattage forms. Susquehanna MotorSports (http://www.rallylights.com/) carries them and is a reputable vendor.

There are some high-output stock-wattage bulbs for your car. The easiest to find is the Sylvania Xtravision; most auto parts stores carry it and it's not especially expensive. This is what I recommend.

But before you buy new bulbs, you should certainly do something about the yellowing, and upgrade the wiring harness as we're talking about in this thread. A halogen bulb's light output drops greatly as voltage is reduced.

If you upgrade the harness, get rid of the yellow, install high-efficiency bulbs, and aim your lights properly, you'll probably be

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:09 pm

I use metal polish on my headlights every few months and it works wrell to get rid of the yellow. Just polish it on as if it were metal and wipe it off. If you clear coat it after you probably won't have to do it over like I do.

Steve

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:58 pm

Are the Xtravision bulbs better than the SilverStars?

Also i was thinking of using the
HL78158Y H4 Bulb, 12V, 80/70W, Yellow Star

A slight increase but not too drastic? Sound good? Hopefully there would be no melting. Wish manufactures still used glass like the good ol days

But these bulbs also have a yellow thin like bad weather lights.

"A Yellow Star bulb is a coated bulb that emits a yellow color - this is commonly called an "all weather" bulb because the yellow/amber color makes it significantly easier for on-coming traffic to see you in bad weather. The color is toward the warmer end of the visible light spectrum and has a longer wavelength which does not diffract as much as cooler colors therefore causing less eye strain.
"

I guess that is a good thing??

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:24 pm

Steve - Metal polish does help a lot, but it's not as effective as properly sanding in my experience.

omegax - The Sylvania Silverstar is not a good bulb, because it meets the second warning condition I listed above -- it has a blue tint. The Xtravision is better in every regard.

80W/70W probably won't melt or burn your reflector or lens if you almost never use your high beams, but I would really recommend first bringing the rest of the system up to a good standard, and even then using stock-wattage bulbs. You might well find that you're satisfied, and you won't be taking unneeded risks.

Realize also that if you've had your current bulbs for a long time, their output is significantly less than it was when they were new.

Heh... That marketing speak is mixing up a few different facts, but it's basically right... The yellowish light of the Yellow Star is indeed very well suited for bad weather, because it has a smaller high-frequency component than regular halogen light, so it won't scatter as much in our atmosphere. And it will cause less glare under all conditions, because lower frequencies are easier on the eyes. Also, you will perceive higher contrast because high frequencies are normally out of focus on yoru retina. It will hurt color resolution as the color rendering index will be lower, but that's not really that big a concern.

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:16 pm

Oh yeah one last question. I dont belive altimas have a grounded switch setup, what change would i do to the wiring from what you showed. That daniel stern page's FAQ is down , i tried looking there already.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:05 am

Daniel Stern's web site moved, but it's still up. Follow the link Brian posted on the first page of this thread.

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:14 am

Yeah i know it is still up but his lighting wiring faq is down for whatever reason.
Either way i did a little reasearch online and i figure it out. I did not want to botch this up so i got all the proper connectors, wraps and ties. I only completed one headlight on low beam so far but i have to say. HOLY SHIT, the difference is almost night and day. I dont know if it is as dramatic on the subarus but for me anyway i am impressed.
You were right screw the high watt bulbs. I did end up using silverstars though since my friend had a spare that i talked hiim into giving me.

Once i complete all the wiring i will tape and wrap it to make sure it all lasts. Overall i would recommend this to ANYONE complaining about crappy headlights.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 4:36 am

Nice.

See! Everybody! I told you!

The difference is very big on Subarus as well.

You really should try a pair of Xtravisions if you can find $17.88 plus tax and time to take a trip to Advance Auto Parts. It'll be even better.

Oh yeah, the lighting FAQ is down because it's somewhat outdated and he hasn't gotten around to updating it. I don't recall it addressing this issue, though, and his page specifically about it does a good job.

eastbaysubaru · Post by **eastbaysubaru** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 6:26 am

Did you use relays and whatnot? Are the kits on his site a good value? I'm really thinking about this now that my headlights are all sanded and clearcoated

.

-Brian

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:10 am

yup i used relays, i basically tried to replicate the ones i saw online, i did not want to purchase the ones i saw on ebay because i am like 99% sure they use the crappiest parts possible.

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 10:00 am

Arg, i fubared something

when i made the high beam relays maybe i crossed some wires or something but when i plug the relay into the lowbeams of the light and ground the bulb directly the low beam is very dim,.. but when i plug the same power source into the highbeam prong the highbeam seams to shine the proper output.
I gotta unwrap all the crap and recheck everything:-/ Is there any chance i fried the bulbs in someway... any ideas before i take this damn thing apart?

omegax · Post by **omegax** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 12:30 pm

Ok.. forget all that lol, I fubared the wiring. I am suprised i did not start any fires or ruin the relays or bulbs. Oh well no harm done. As a warning to everyone, DO NOT RUSH , do not try to get things done before going to work... and always double check. Or even better have some one else check lol.

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brighter lights?

brighter lights?