headlights

b12 · September 2007

hi guys help naman...

exactly a week ago, pinalitan ko yung headlights ko kasi bigla sya napundi while i was on the road (heck nahuli pa tuloy ako ng makati police!). i bought a pair in the mall, 12v 160/140w...that was the only thing available. sabi naman nung mechanic, ok lang kasi may relay naman yung sasakyan. though may naka-mark dun sa car na 12v 60/55w. ok naman sya after ikabit and then last night napundi na naman yung isa...yung dim na lang yung gumagana. worry ko is bka pati yung isang ilaw masira na rin. is it because of the wattage??? kakafrustrate lang kasi mejo mahal din yung bili ko sa ilaw...

shun_sakurai · September 2007

I bet it's the wattage.

When in doubt always get parts that match your car's specification.

shun_sakurai · September 2007

Alternatively, someone may have touched the bulb while installing it.

As with most halogen bulbs, any contact of the glass bulb with skin will make it break (something about our skin's oils is bad for the glass). If there was contact, you can clean it with denatured alcohol.

slamm · September 2007

As with what Shun said, it's a good practice to wipe the bulb glass element clean before installation. Was it with aftermarket relays and with upgraded wirings and ceramic sockets? that is SOP when headlight wattages are upped... it's worth it.

A relay-wire-socket upgrade costs around 1.5K or so in a good electrical shop then use 90/100W or 80/100W bulb like Philips or Osram.

b12 · September 2007

thanks for the responses. i'll bring my car to an electrical shop this saturday and will ask about the upgrade...or i'll probably just buy 60/55W bulbs hehe

btw sa wattage ba makikita yung brightness ng ilaw? para kasing nadidiliman ako with my old headlights before then when i installed the 160/140W parang ganon pa rin (maybe due to lack of upgrade?). tho tinted ang front windshield ko

slamm · September 2007

The wattage will help increase the lighting power, and the headlight aim as well. How old is you car (is it a B12 Sentra by chance?)? As a car ages it's electrical system also suffers so upgrading your wires and adding a grounding kit (and having the headlamps cleaned) helps. I also have the front of my car tinted and i use 3M Magic neutral as this still has good visibility at night.

b12 · September 2007

something newer naman hehe. it's a 1996 Corolla

thanks again learned a lot, threads such as these are really helpful for car dummies like me

maporms · October 2007

question: i recently installed yellow h4's and h11's for my headlight and fog lamps. I was very specific that the h4 should be 60/55w since i dont want to do upgrades on the relays and the socket. but to my dismay, the h11 installed was 80w (yeah yeah, stupid me). I wanted to have pure yellows for my h4 and h11 but its very hard to find 60w pure yellows for h11's nowadays. Will the 80w h11 ruin the sockets for my fog lamps? or kakayanin naman since di naman over 100w yung h11 ko?

shun_sakurai · October 2007

60W ba yung stock wattage ng H11 mo? Even at "just" 80W there's still the danger of the sockets melting on you. Your bulbs are asking more from the sockets than what they're designed for.

I'm not too sure if there are relay kits for foglights, either.

mc_316 · October 2007

Not to thread hijack but, i'll post my question here anyway.

I have a B13 SS 95model, my left deadlights dim just conked out on me recently and i bought Hella Halogen 130/100 H4s then installed a booster kit that i bought from a friend. He also uses the same bulbs and booster kit on his corolla and the booster increases the brightness by around 30%, parang HID na din na low-end.

Anyway, when i installed the kit on my car, nabaliktad, ang nangyari, pag nakabright ako, dim ang buga ng ilaw, pero pag dim naman, bright. Me and my friend tried to install his kit on mine and the results were the same. Pag binalik ko naman yung stock wiring(remove booster) normal din naman. Pero dun sa friend ko, ok naman pag nakakabit yung booster sa kanya. Ano kaya problema neto? Anyone can help me? Thanks!