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driving lights
driving lights
hey guys i have a 1.6L carby vitara and i am going to wire up 4 100w driving lights on the roof is there any thing i need to change and are there any problems i need to no about
driing lights
Good luck running 400 watts plus your existing lights from a standard alternator! If you're going to run active wire inside body to roof fit an inline fuse at BOTH ends of wire. In the event of a rollover, at least one fuse will blow and prevent a fire. Cheers.
Happiness is life in low range!
Re: driing lights
400W = 33+ Amps on top of your existing load - pushing the wrong side of a stock alternator...Pat Murray wrote:Good luck running 400 watts plus your existing lights from a standard alternator! If you're going to run active wire inside body to roof fit an inline fuse at BOTH ends of wire. In the event of a rollover, at least one fuse will blow and prevent a fire. Cheers.
One fuse, fitted before the relay(s) will be fine. A second fuse will add no more safety and just provide another potential failure point.
If you go ahead, remember you will be running the wiring MUCH further than a standard driving light install so use much thicker wire to minimise voltage drop.
( usual disclaimers )
It seemed like a much better idea when I started it than it does now.
It seemed like a much better idea when I started it than it does now.
Re: driving lights
Save your $$ and get a couple of good 55watters with decent wireing and quality globes, you will be suprised by the light output of it.vitara guy wrote:hey guys i have a 1.6L carby vitara and i am going to wire up 4 100w driving lights on the roof is there any thing i need to change and are there any problems i need to no about
Keep you alt happier to boot.
" If governments are involved in the covering up the knowledge of aliens, Then they are doing a much better job of it than they do of everything else "
Otherwise just come and buy a H4 HID Hi/Low 6000k Upgrade kit for your headlights. THey run at 55w and will poo all over your standard lights. Probably won't even need to run spotties.
In this day and age I just don't see the need to run heaps of Halogen spotties when we have HID technology around.
Here's a link.
http://www.4h.com.au/prod336.htm
These are plug and play, So all you do is plug the existing 3 pin H4 plug into the HID loom and mount the globe in the headlight, assuming its not a sealed beam unit.
cheers
Dan
In this day and age I just don't see the need to run heaps of Halogen spotties when we have HID technology around.
Here's a link.
http://www.4h.com.au/prod336.htm
These are plug and play, So all you do is plug the existing 3 pin H4 plug into the HID loom and mount the globe in the headlight, assuming its not a sealed beam unit.
cheers
Dan
[url=http://www.4h.com.au]The 4wd Shop[/url] - (03) 5977 7233
Driveline, winch/winch upgrade, Bullbar, HID, 4"/6" GU/GQ Liftkit, 60/80 Series Liftkit, Recovery, Snorkels, Air.
Driveline, winch/winch upgrade, Bullbar, HID, 4"/6" GU/GQ Liftkit, 60/80 Series Liftkit, Recovery, Snorkels, Air.
the HID headlights are the way to go. my mates got them on his hilux, they r great, i have 2 nightstalker roo lites on the front of my vit, dont have a problem with my alternator(only stuffed it a few times going through deep mud) and i am also running a uhf, stereo, big fuel pump, gps and waeco 35L fridge when im going away.. your 4 spotties should be finecheers mate
EA falcon is unsuitable.
EL/EF is the go.
But as stated, do a search. This is convered in GREAT detail.
However - I have to add - HID conversions into standard headlight inserts are illegal. If you go ahead and do this, please have your lights correctly adjusted to ensure you are not blinding other motorists.
My last three road cars have all had factory HID and it's a great thing, but there is a responsibility that comes with using it.
Personally, unless you were desert racing, I can't really see the point of 4 forward facing 100w lights. I have 80w headlight inserts and loom and 2 100W roof lights on my car and it's PLENTY of light for offroad work.
I'd HID a pair of rooflights, put a loomin the car and run quality halogen globes in the headlights if it was me - I always seem to have water in my headlights.
Steve.
EL/EF is the go.
But as stated, do a search. This is convered in GREAT detail.
However - I have to add - HID conversions into standard headlight inserts are illegal. If you go ahead and do this, please have your lights correctly adjusted to ensure you are not blinding other motorists.
My last three road cars have all had factory HID and it's a great thing, but there is a responsibility that comes with using it.
Personally, unless you were desert racing, I can't really see the point of 4 forward facing 100w lights. I have 80w headlight inserts and loom and 2 100W roof lights on my car and it's PLENTY of light for offroad work.
I'd HID a pair of rooflights, put a loomin the car and run quality halogen globes in the headlights if it was me - I always seem to have water in my headlights.
Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
Danssurf 
I think you might have that back to front....
bugden23 -
Only when the alternator was charging at higher than the maximum amperage delivered by the stock alternator.
I don't know the efficiency of an alternator, let's say it's 50% (it isn't 100% - a quick search didn't net anything) They get hot enough, in some cases to melt, so that's indicating some heavy inefficiency to me, so.. lets say it's 50%.
roughly - a 100A alternator delievering 100A at at 13.8 volts - 1380W or 1.38Kw.... or 2.76Kw at 50% efficient at full load, or roughly the same draw as the airconditioning compressor running....
This would be about twice the engine power consumed by the stock (55a) alternator.
Basically, yes, you might feel it if you could turn it on or off, but the "extra" drain on engine power is only when required, so shortly after startup or when your high drain accessories are turned off there is no effect. for the same job completed though, the draw on engine power is the same in total, it's only over less time with the bigger alternator.
Hope that makes sense.
STeve.
I think you might have that back to front....
bugden23 -
Only when the alternator was charging at higher than the maximum amperage delivered by the stock alternator.
I don't know the efficiency of an alternator, let's say it's 50% (it isn't 100% - a quick search didn't net anything) They get hot enough, in some cases to melt, so that's indicating some heavy inefficiency to me, so.. lets say it's 50%.
roughly - a 100A alternator delievering 100A at at 13.8 volts - 1380W or 1.38Kw.... or 2.76Kw at 50% efficient at full load, or roughly the same draw as the airconditioning compressor running....
This would be about twice the engine power consumed by the stock (55a) alternator.
Basically, yes, you might feel it if you could turn it on or off, but the "extra" drain on engine power is only when required, so shortly after startup or when your high drain accessories are turned off there is no effect. for the same job completed though, the draw on engine power is the same in total, it's only over less time with the bigger alternator.
Hope that makes sense.
STeve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
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