I'm looking to replace my headlight bulbs with a more serious higher wattage bulb. I'm not interested in doing a xenon or HID conversion, I just want to use a more powerful offroad grade bulb. I'm also not interested in any of the sylvania or other autozone type bulb upgrades. Can the factory wiring harness and headlamp assembly handle a 80/100watt bulb? My modified Land Rover runs a number of serious auxillary lights, but I still added Hella H4 80/100s to the factory lamp assembly for street duty. I'm aware that this brightness isn't technically legal, I just want to know if it works.

So has anyone had any success running a higher wattage bulb with the factory equipment?

thanks for your help.

 

I agree with you on the available "over the counter" H7 bulbs, I just put in a set of Sylvania Silverstar bulbs and I am a little disappointed. They are slightly better than the oem bulb but still nowhere near HID intensity IMHO. I would say they are maybe 10% brighter than stock, certainly an improvement but not dramatic. Still a worthwhile experiment given their relatively low price point.
FWIW in the latest Excellence they indicated it was safe to use 80W continuous bulbs with the factory wiring. I would still worry about burning up the plastic around the bulbs though. But I am certainly not a lighting expert. Hopefully there is a more cost effective alternative than a Litronic upgrade, if not I'll just have to suck it up.

 

I too would like to know if we can use a 100W bulb or even a 70-80W

 

on the similar topic: can fog lights be replaced to give out a blue light instead of a yellow it does now? never drive in the fog...

 

The wiring harness can handle it but unfortunately the plastic housing cannot. A higher wattage bulb will generate more heat and melt the plastic lens (and turn it an ugly brown). TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. If you want a brighter, whiter beam then get the Porsche Litronics Retrofit Kit (for 1999 - 2001 cars) or buy the bi-Xenon headlamps, wiring harnesses, etc. and do a custom retrofit (2002+ cars).

Regarding the fog lights... I replaced the H7 fog light bulbs with "XenonMatch" bulbs from Höen (http://www.hoen-usa.com/fog.htm). These bulbs have a blue coating so they shine a bit whiter than uncoated bulbs and more closely match the color of the Litronic headlights (plus they're still rated at 55W so you won't melt your fog light housing.) I wouldn't recommend you use these as replacements for your main beam though because with the blue coating they aren't as bright as the uncoated bulbs.

 

Here are some pictures.


Picture 1: I replaced the H6W city lights with L.E.D.s. The L.E.D.s are definitely not as bright as the stock halogen bulb but they are a lot whiter.


Picture 2: The L.E.D.s look whiter than the Hoen Xenonmatch H7 bulb I got for the foglight.


Picture 3: The L.E.D.s get a little drowned out by the Xenon/Litronic lowbeam but it is a good match. The Hoen Xenonmatch H7 bulb is pretty close to the color of the Xenon lowbeam as well.

 

Exactly what he said. If you want a significant increase in light output, Litronics are the only option, and they're even legal.